The Bullet Board

Hey Guys. Finally uploading this. Won't be in order. More so relevant chunks.

After I got it home, it had seen a bit of neglect. Cases had some sort of acid wash attempt on them to get them clean which tarnish and left the cases in a bit of state. Sadly the acid used had eaten a lot of the chrome on the header pipe. Which is the standard steam pipe wall thickness header.

Brake Fluid was still original and was causing the brakes to drag. After a flush out and some fresh fluid that sorted the issue.

Temporarily welded a baffle into the tail end of the header just to quieten it up. With that revers megaphone it was borderline setting off car alarms it was that loud. Sounded great, but still way too loud.

Here's a photo after round 1 of polishing and general tidy up.



Next came stage one of the modifications.

Hitcocks Venturi Plate and K&N Filter. Carberry Plate, Fresh Oil change and Filter, Cam lash set and Cam end float adjusted with a extra 0.2 shim on each.

Crankcase breather hose fitted with a non return/check valve and exiting down to the left side of the bike and the airbox bunged off.



Power Commander V installed with the Hitchcocks map uploaded. Future proof for the modifications to come.
Factory loom tidied up under the tank along with the fuel line. Fitting the tank somewhat smooshes everything into place. That concerned me, so I sorted that out.



If you know of my other Iron Barrel Build, nothing really stays the same for long. I chopped the rear hoop off. Shortened it. TIG'd it back on.

Hoop chopped.


Shortened and tail light mounting section. Bit of flat bar with stainless weld nuts behind it. Got all dressed up and smoothed off.



Tail light trail fit.



Rear hoop finished. Few coats of high fill ready for a light hand sand and feathering.



And we're done! Now it's starting to looking like something of mine!



Trimmed the rear guard to tuck inside the rear hoop along with 2 extra brackets. Painted it with 2K Acrylic paint. All re-wired up

After seeing Taurims filter and velocity stack (other forum) and the way the world is right now with prices and shipping. I did a little research on K&N filter dimensions and decided to whip up my own using what came on the bike and some bits and bobs I have laying around.
Although I'm a dual trade Mechanical Fitter and Boilermaker, all of this work is done in my single car garage with mostly hand tools. Machines I have are Pedestal Drill and Bench Grinder/Linisher, which I haven't used for any of this. Later stages I'll be using the TIG though.

We'll make these 2 work together.





Lapping!
Progressively worked down from 240, 320, 600, 1200 and 1500 grit sand paper then a light buff with cutting compound on a little 2" buff pad attachment on a drill.

Essentially I've made a DIY venturi plate that Hitchcocks supplies with just a hacksaw, side cutters and sand paper. It's ID is the same, all you'd have to do is round off the internal diameter corner so there isn't a square edge.



Test Fit.



Next was to figure out a ring or insert that goes into our new mounting plate to locate the filter.
Long Story short. My Bullet, I've been having issues with a Indian reproduction Smiths speedometer I got (cheap). After 150km on the ODO the needle has gone from being accurate to waving around a 40km/hr guessing zone on the dial. Which I reverted back to the stock speedo after pulling the guts out of this one, the magnet that buffers the floating of the needle had given up the ghost. BUT, the OD of the housing looked very close to the ID of the new K&N filter. So I measure a trimmed a bit off, had to give it a little cut and tighten the OD up a little. Stitched her back up with the TIG and this is the result.

I had to open the ID of the new mounting plate up of course. I also offset its location further down to help with clearance of the side cover on the bike.

The ID differences between the venturi plate/old filter vs new K&N Filter. Quite substantial.



One of my favorites. Epoxy plastic Steel. This stuff has been a life saver on old bikes I've had in the past. Especially Hondas that used to love throwing chains and making a mess of the housing behind the drive sprocket. It can handle heat, oil and even can be drilled and tapped. Luckily it's only job is to hold the locator ring in place which is already a nice interference fit. Scuffed up the steel and plastic so it's got something to grab.











Took it for a spin. Wow. What a difference a good exhaust and velocity stack made!

Before it used to lose interest after 4500rpm. Now it has a nice linear pull till about 5500rpm.

I'm excited to get stuck into the engine soon. I've had enough of fabrication and everything else. Right now with looks and ergonomics its where I want it to be.
Motor is next!

Started the header. 44.5mm 304 Stainless mandrel bends.
I managed to lop a piece off the stock header. to use for the stepped section. The tail end of the stock header was about 50mm long at 33mm ID. Which the intake port is 32mm. Perfect! Especially when I do port/polishing work later down the track.
Keeping to my tradition of using what I got.

It's a stepped header. First 40mm is 33mm ID, then tapers out to the ID of the 44.5 (1 3/4") stainless exhaust. I couldn't get too scientific with the formula since I was stuck with what I have.

Getting that flange sorted and so it sits centered took time messing around. TIG welded on with 309 filler wire. Good for dissimilar metals such as mild steel to stainless. Not a clean looking weld though due to the residual chrome and the mix of stainless and mild steel in the weld. Anyway, a nice fat filled gluing all 3 components together. The rest of the joints will be welded with 308 filler wire.
Here's some snaps!













Finished!
This upgrade was by far the best along with the Filter/Velocity stack. I feel this is as far as I can take it without opening the engine up. Which will come very shortly.

For those who are wondering what's under that silver paint our friends at the Chennai factor love painting absolutely everything with.
Some lovely castings ready for a buff!

It's bubbles up very easily. Just a rub with scotchy pad prior then lather the paint stripper on. You can nearly peel it off in sheets. Looks like no primer was used at all.





Yes....
The Finish I wanted.

Metal Polish and scotchbrite pad. Then 2 soft rags. Looks raw and clean.

So this snowballed out to a big weekend project. Which was just to be stripping the paint off the fork legs! ::)

Originally I wanted to run Clubman bars. The original clip ons in the standard position are ok, but still have you positioned quite upright like a Bullet's riding position.

I ordered the Hitchcocks mount, but the mount put the clamp positions center above the fork tubes. Which makes the Clubmans mounted too far forward. Even the bar clamps are very close together, Doesn't even come remotely close to the knurling of the bars.



Typically I'd like them to be mounted here. I want Clubmans act as they should. The bar ends positioned in a "in-between" position. I've tried the standard clip ons below the the top clamps and they are too low. Where this will be a bar width forward and a bar width or so lower than standard.



After disassembling I tinkered around and swapped the mounts left to right and could see I could modify them so the bar clamps are more rearward to a typical position on the upper triple clamp.
The result was that it moved the bar center back 30mm to a more typical position and the clamp width line up spot on with the knurling. So also a small win.

As in my typical fashion, nothing is safe for too long without me having a go at it!



And the this is when it snowballed.
Since I was a tangent stripping the tacky silver paint on the fork tubes and other items. I figured I'd prep and paint the triple clamps with a industrial grade Gloss Black 2-pack that I seem to painting most unsightly things. ;D
The checkered sticker tape on the speedo cluster is my little nod to the "Ton-Ups" and "Rockers" as tacky as some may think it looks. It's only a sticker.

The modified Hitchcocks mount. The mounts swapped left to right and still line up with the milling profile underneath for the top triple clamp and all the standard hardware can be used. The excess cut off and new M8 holes drilled and tapped.



Mounted and the end result. The bars now are snugly sitting as they are intended with the more rearward mount. Clearing the tops of the fork tubes I'll be able to use the fork spring preload adjusters in the future.
Looks like it all belongs there!



Front end all back together with freshly painted Triple Clamps and raw polished alloy fork tubes, fork brace and light mounts. Also new gaiters as well. (I need to get some stainless clamps for the top!)

Since some of those posts weren't in order. This is the most up to date photo. Although I have a better rear tyre now compared to this photo.
Bridgestone accolade AC02 to match the front tyre. Handles great!
It's been through a fair bit of visual transformation. It's looking just how I like it!

The main thing is getting the 'air box' full of air, not full of an air filter. It's too bad no one at RE knows how air works.
On de-painting the forks, I remember Honda used to spray a clear coat all over their aluminum engine covers and more. Then it would get old, crack and generally look miserable. You can always buff metal if want to though.

Guaire wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 1:23 pm On de-painting the forks, I remember Honda used to spray a clear coat all over their aluminum engine covers and more. Then it would get old, crack and generally look miserable. You can always buff metal if want to though.

Yeah exactly. That silver paint looks tacky. And there's actually no primer holding that stuff on. Matter of time it the casting will go chalky and it will start lifting anyway.

Racked some big KM's on the girl this weekend. One of the guys on the ride was a talented photographer. Would take spare of the moment shots.
Colour and B&W. Enjoy.

Cafe racer/woodsman!