bluedog59

I'm +1 on checking you've got good earth's and clean bulb holders/contacts. Could you try swapping wires between sides and see if it follows the wiring or stays with that side.

NOTE. Drink beer after engine is fitted.

The redline is there for a mechanical reason and over revving is not a good idea.

Disconnect the fuel line at the tap and test the flow. Does it initially flow well but slowly diminish the longer you leave it ? If so, open the cap and see if it improves (yes. blocked vent). If it is poor, suspect the tap is partially blocked. If it all seems ok then start searching further along the fuel's path to the carbs. Two things to check are, do you have an inline fuel filter that can't keep up or, do your carb vent hoses go into a common catch bottle and does it have some residual fuel/water in that the hoses are sitting in and thus stopping them working ?

Thanks to everybody for a good day out, it was nice to put faces to names and see some cool bikes in the flesh. Sorry if I bored anybody to tears but it was just nice to talk to people who "get it" and build bikes rather than cover them in bolt on tat. Thanks to Paul and everybody else for putting on such a good collection of smart bikes.

The talent is not in the mill but in the hand operating it. Yours appears to have an abundance at it's disposal.

I can't tell you much about the 750/800 but I have had a modded DR650 for about 20 years. They are a bombproof motor that is still basically unchanged since '96 and still sold in plenty of places around the world. In stock form they are a little gutless but this is easily sorted with a couple of well documented mods ( exhaust and airbox/jetting ) without affecting the reliability one jot. Drriders is a very good forum to look at with everything you ever need to know about them. I would think your biggest problem will be finding a post '96 in the UK as they are not exactly common, having said that, service items and day to day spares are not a problem.

If you are using buttons rather than circlips, would a cable tie round the pistons hold them in place as the block slides down ?

Sadly I fear that may also have passed him by.

He'd better get her a new set or there'll be no more homemade pies and pasties.

I would suggest you get this bike running right before you start the next project. There is far more to building a project than making it look cool. Finish it, learn from it and apply it to the next. No point in a string of pretty bikes that done run right.

I suspect those exhausts will also be helping in screwing everything up as well.

Starter clutch roller.

But Leela (Futurama) is fit all over.

If wonder if they are the same spacing as early w/c engines ? I have a set of w/c 38's that measure up at 38 I/d, 45 o/d, 85-90-85 spacing.

Very tidy, looks like it was made like that rather than 3 different bikes stuck together.

Is there not enough meat in the block to mill some fins into ? Even shallow ones would massively increase the surface area. Would it be possible to fit a sandwich plate to the oil filter and run a small, electric water pump and rad ? Just a couple of ideas that may help.

Even if you get calipers with the same bolt spacing, there's no guarantee they'll line up with the disc area. The early 4 pot Brembo's are 40mm spacing and could use quite simple and discreet adapter plates. They would also look "Period".

That pipe looks so much better.

I would think the short rubbers may be a handy way of reducing the inlet tract tuned length for higher revving engines given that the only other way ( given the same basic cylinder head casing ) would be to shorten the carb/airbox rubbers which could make more problems than it solves.* * Theory and I've had beer.

If you just need something to hold it steady on the bench while you work on it have you considered making a simple wooden one ?

Vm29ss (Slabside) measure up at 33.8mm I/d, 39.25 o/d and 78/90/78 spacing. They are 33mm on the inlet side side as standard, it's only the face plates on the airbox side you bore out to make them 33mm carbs. Spacing does match up against a set of stock B12 MK1 carbs.

If you're sneaking a GSXR1000 motor in it you need to make it look as boring as possible, topbox and BMF stickers. If it's going to be a sleeper, make it look positively comatose.

Any chance of pictures ?

Are those the pistons you're using ? I'm presuming you've shortened the liners because the piston skirt no longer goes there. Do they still spigot into the cases ? You can improve on the standard R+D where time/cost made it not worth them doing but there is nearly always a shifting compromise.