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Alloy Harris F1 - 1988...


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OK, firstly two apologies...

1)  I was here a couple of years ago, and got side-tracked posting unacceptable non-OSS photo(s) of A.N. Other motorcycle - got myself 'erased' for that, so thank you again for letting me back in!!

2) I used to work offshore in the oil industry, and bought this project over ten years ago.. got majorly distracted by all kinds of sh*t over the years, and made allot of progress some of the time, and next to nowt at others. She's back on track now & my #1 priority to get finished.

 

Back in 2008 (ish) I was working on the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan. Scouring e-bay for an oil-cooled GSX-R 1100 engine around which to build a special. I found one just up the road from me in Gloucester with a documented less than 10,000 miles' on it, and hit the 'buy now' button. When I got back to the UK 2 weeks later I borrowed a van to go and pick up the motor. When I got to the blokes house I picked up the engine, and spotted this Harris languishing in the corner of his garage. These two photo's I took with my 'phone at the time, the original Invoice surfaced after I'd managed to convince the owner to sell me the 'bike as well as the engine - he had a folder full of old invoices, brochures, etc.....  

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Edited by flatline
finger-trouble...
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Lots of photo’s of what’s been happening  with the project, but one of the most recent tasks was to pull the engine so I could get stuck in to that again... I'd originally re-built it some time ago, but common sense & a shite memory dictated that I'd need to start all over again... plus a slight change of the overall game-plan as well.....

The easy way was to lie the ‘bike on its side in the ‘workshop’ - unbolt the engine & lift the much lighter frame away, this old duffer even managed to lift the motor up onto the workbench afterward - result!!

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Edited by flatline
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The engine was originally stripped and partially re-built 8 years ago. APE crankcase and cylinder-studs, a balanced bottom end with Falicon Rods and forged Arias pistons at 1216cc & 8.5-1 C.R. ..... The barrels were bored out to suit, and piano-wired. At the time I was planning to turbo' the engine - probably a daft idea for what is essentially a road-race chassis, but WTF,  it seemed like a good idea at the time!! The cylinder-head was worked on by Roger Upperton...

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In the intervening years (8 or so) allot of things got in the way, moving from a bed-sit, to a flat... and then buying my own house (garage at the bottom of the garden was a must).... The Harris lived for a short while in a lock-up garage, and then the garage of the house that I bought - but mostly she lived in the house with me, as I was aware that she needed to be kept warm and dry !! When I'd originally built the engine I'd used allot of 'assembly grease' and coated cylinder bores, etc.. with the same - J.I.C. (Just In Case) :)

This idea paid off, when I took the cylinder head off last week - eight years is a long time, and I feared the worst... but the internals were/are mint... all as squeaky clean & pristine as when I buttoned her up way back when....

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53 minutes ago, flatline said:

The engine was originally stripped and partially re-built 8 years ago. APE crankcase and cylinder-studs, a balanced bottom end with Falicon Rods and forged Arias pistons at 1216cc & 8.5-1 C.R. ..... The barrels were bored out to suit, and piano-wired. At the time I was planning to turbo' the engine - probably a daft idea for what is essentially a road-race chassis, but WTF,  it seemed like a good idea at the time!! The cylinder-head was worked on by Roger Upperton...

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Still seems like a good idea to me ?

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Luckily when I was still offshore and earning good money I had the foresight(?) to buy allot of the parts that I thought I'd need; a hybrid Garrett GT2871R built by Turbo Dynamics in Dorset, + blow-off valve & PRV - I'd spent allot of time pouring over lots of books and working out flow-rates + all manner of sh#te, most of which I've probably forgotten - but I kept a log of allot of my calc's, etc... here's just a taster of what was going on!! O.o

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Soo... when I decided I need to get the project going again I also wanted an achievable goal.... the turbo was a great idea, and I'd thoroughly enjoyed the design/planning side of it, BUT there was still a very long road ahead... building an exhaust manifold, an intake plenum + intercooler... a shed-load of work.... What really got me & the project going again was Roger Upperton advertising a set  of new Mikuni RS 38's... and straight away I knew that this was the way to go; i.e. usable power & a fairly straightforward build (compared to the original 'turbo concept).

Here they are for an initial install, the intake rubbers needed some massaging with heat-gun & some DC-4 to get things together, but it all fits & there's even enough room for the 50mm bell-mouths :banana:

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I had a spare set of barrels, so they went first to http://alphaclassicmotorcycles.com to be vapour blasted to clean them up - a great service & really helpful people, and seriously into their Suzuki 2-stroke triples... Later the same day over to http://www.southcerneyengineering.com to get the barrels bored to take a set of 80mm/1186cc Wössner hi-comp (12:1) pistons... the blokes here are into their OSS big time; one of the engineers there was telling me about the slab-side 11' that he was building... currently 85mm bore... he had to manufacture his own bore-liners, but with the facilities they have probably just a Saturday morning job....

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5 minutes ago, clivegto said:

What happened to the gt28 ?

It's still here; I'm keeping the turbo, barrels + pistons, etc.. The engine has been built to take the power, so in the longer-term (once I've got the 'bike sorted) I'm planning to still pursue the original turbo idea (y)

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So that's basically where I am with the engine. The rolling chassis has evolved a little; this is a photo from a couple of years ago.... again these are all components that I bought when I was still offshore; reckon glad I did, as I'm driving HGV these days & could no-way afford this kind of kit now...

- forged magnesium Dymag's

- Öhlins R&T USD's

- AP Lockheed radial-brakes

- Harris adjustable yokes

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Edited by flatline
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Fairly early on I was looking at bodywork options. I imported this from the 'States; it's a 1992 Yoshimura USA F1 seat & full-fairing  - unfortunately it's a little 'long' for the 57" wheelbase Harris, a shame, cos' it's bloody nice..

Incidentally, Spike at https://www.raggededgeracing.com has just started producing this Yoshi F1 bodywork, which would fit later oil-cooled GSX-R's  pretty well methinks :)

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Edited by flatline
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Next I borrowed a different Yoshi' fairing from Spike, the bottom-half fitted pretty well, although clearly designed around a 750 as it would need 'blisters' let into the belly-pan to accommodate the wider 1100 crankcases... The top-half however was too 'short'... I was starting to think that the F1 is relatively short (57" wheelbase) and tall, which was making it tricky to find bodywork that would fit.....

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Edited by flatline
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A bit more fiddling around trying different fairing & seat units (Spike @ raggededgeracing only lives up the road) & I eventually ended up with this setup; it's a Harris F1 seat, with the 'nose' extended to fill in the gap between the original seat & the back of the 'tank, a mod that Spike had already done for his track-bike.

The fairing is a slightly modified version of the Yoshimura one above, but with more 'height' around the headstock area - sorted!!!

It still needs 'blisters' let into the belly pan on either side, as again the 1100 engine is a tad wider than the 750 the fairing was originally intended for.... 

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Edited by flatline
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The fuel tank has been off to Nick at http://www.realitymotorworks.co.uk in nearby Bristol, to have all the old paintwork blasted off, and a new bush welded on to take the dual-outlet Pingel fuel -tap that I'd managed to get hold of. The original was a twin-tap setup & was pretty rough, so needed fixing. 

Nick also pressure tested the tank afterward to check that there were no leaks anywhere (y) 

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4 hours ago, flatline said:

A bit more fiddling around trying different fairing & seat units (Spike @ raggededgeracing only lives up the road) & I eventually ended up with this setup; it's a Harris F1 seat, with the 'nose' extended to fill in the gap between the original seat & the back of the 'tank, a mod that Spike had already done for his track-bike.

The fairing is a slightly modified version of the Yoshimura one above, but with more 'height' around the headstock area - sorted!!!

It still needs 'blisters' let into the belly pan on either side, as again the 1100 engine is a tad wider than the 750 the fairing was originally intended for.... 

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Those belly pans Spike makes never fit. 750 and 1100 bottom ends are the same. I've fitted a few. I widen the belly pan at the bottom 50mm and cut holes for the ignition and starter cover.

Edited by dupersunc
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3 hours ago, dupersunc said:

Those belly pans Spike makes never fit. 750 and 1100 bottom ends are the same. I've fitted a few. I widen the belly pan at the bottom 50mm and cut holes for the ignition and starter cover.

From where can you obtain those fairings that fit the bike without modification? Is RER aware that the fairings they sell for GSXRs are too narrow to go round the engine I wonder? It's listed on their website as 'Yoshimura '87 GSXR ' but 50mm is quite a lot to be out by.

Edited by Dezza
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