Welcome to the Winged Hammers Canamant

[KATANAMANGLER]

We are pleased to announce our latest addition to the OSS race team. Please give a warm welcome to@canamant

Ant tells me that Since 2005 he has run 2 slabby 750s  affectionately called Slabby Racer 1 and Slabby Racer 2 in the Aintree FE Championship and at one off races around Anglesey and Oulton Park.  Some seasons the spare bike has been ridden by a friend of his (not on this forum). Both bikes have also been raced at the Manx Grand Prixby him (2012) and Classic TT (2013 and 2016).  One of his bikes was also loaned to John Oliver ( yoshijohnny) and Nigel Rea in 2011 when their build couldn't be completed in time.

Plans for this year are Aintree all year and PreTT with CTT if the organisers play ball.  Ant tells me he is currently trying to get SuperSlabby1 built (1100) and Superslingy1 (1100) .

Welcome to the Winged Hammers @canamantPlease keep us updated on your race year. Race team sticker kits will be dispatched shortly.

Please use the race board for your future threads and feel free to upload some pictures. We like pictures.

[canamant]

Well where are we at this moment in time ?  One 750 is in one piece ready to run (well it was running last time I used it in September) so we'll assume that one is a goer for the coming season.  It has only done 6 or 7 meetings since getting it's 860 kit and cam tweaks so it's getting overlooked for now.

The other 750 has had it's rebuilt engine fitted into the frame and is getting built up again.  This one has had new cases fitted after the previous version shat its gearbox accelerating down Glencrutchery Road during the last practice of the 2016 Manx GP.  I missed the race as it happened on the Saturday afternoon and the race was on the Monday.

Slabby 1100 is in the process of being built from bits.  Frame has been stripped of some awful powder coating  and painted silver chrome which doesn't look too bad at 10 feet.

Following pictures show what I'm dealing with at the moment.

 

 

[canamant]

 

[canamant]

The powerscreen engine is orrible but we'll get it stripped and inspected and wee where we go.  Not looking for more power, just standard parts and a careful set up .  Maybe some carbs if anyone has any for sale.  Not sure about pipe yet.  

I'm also not decided about forks and yokes.  I've got a set of newly refurbished 750 forks which I believe are too short.  Might end up fitting the powerscreen stanchions to the slabby sliders and clamping them up in the powerscreen yokes or some shimmed B12 ones.  All fluid at the moment.  One thing I do know about the fron end is period Lockheeds are on the shelf and ready to go.

 

[canamant]

Slabby Racer 1 as a 750 in 2012 as a newcomer at MGP

 

Slabby Racer 2 Aintree 2017.  This scruffy thing carried me to 3rd place (one point off 2nd place) in te 2017 Ace of Aintree FE Superbike championship

Edited January 30, 2018 by canamant

[downtheshed]

scabby looking donor frame, keep me the side stand if you're scrapping it. 

[canamant]

Will do.

 

[canamant]

Well finally got the courage to get the head off the donor bike engine.  Came off without much trouble but what lurked under it was as I expected.  Cylinder 1 was full of rust. cylinder 4 better and 2 and 3 not that bad.  Getting the cylinder off was another story.  Didn't lose my temper but the hardwood block approach on the outerair ports did break 2 fins but they are pretty much useless there anyway.  I think the cylinders are way beyond a hone .  Pistons and rings have survived though.  What makes a previous dickhead owner leave it out in the rain uncovered for 10 years with no petrol cap on the tank ????? Good job I only gave scrap weight money for it.

[canamant]

Couple of nights in the shop trying to prise apart fossilized parts.  What I found inside was a welcome change.  No corrosion, just a bit of sludge and guk.  The water hadn't got above the sump plate.  I'll be putting it together with new crankcase seals but re-using the shells as there is precious little wear on them.  On hold at the moment because I need to get a timing chain.

[Rossco(Iceman Josros)]

On 15/02/2018 at 10:34 PM, canamant said:

Well finally got the courage to get the head off the donor bike engine.  Came off without much trouble but what lurked under it was as I expected.  Cylinder 1 was full of rust. cylinder 4 better and 2 and 3 not that bad.  Getting the cylinder off was another story.  Didn't lose my temper but the hardwood block approach on the outerair ports did break 2 fins but they are pretty much useless there anyway.  I think the cylinders are way beyond a hone .  Pistons and rings have survived though.  What makes a previous dickhead owner leave it out in the rain uncovered for 10 years with no petrol cap on the tank ????? Good job I only gave scrap weight money for it.

I’ve seen a lot worse Ant and yes why do they “do” it ??

Good luck with the build 

[canamant]

Not done much really over the last week or so.  Engine is giving me some headaches with the pistons and cylinders kindly donated by Dave Whitehead via YoshiJohnny.  Very low compression of 8.8:1 which I can get up to about 9.5:1 by skimming the cylinders to flush and skimming the head to the minimum valve to piston clearance.  Might just have to live with it.  I toyed with the idea of a DOT head but would run into carb/frame issues so staying with 1127 head.

Progress on chassis sort of coming along.  I've made up a couple of rods to mimic the rear damper.  315mm looked like a chopper with 1100 slab forks.  Made one up at 325mm ias shown in the picture.  Still looking like a chopper.  The rear end will be tipped up by about an inch with the front and rear tyres on but it still looks like it will turn like a barge.  Anyone know how long I can go on the shock before I run into clearance issues or the swingarm angle becomes too much ?

[KATANAMANGLER]

@Funkymonkracing does a billet replacement rear suspension linkage that raises the rear by 30mm. 

[canamant]

He had sold the last of the batch when we last spoke.  Think I've got enough clearance to get away with a longer shock absorber.  Had a mock up tonight with an old slabby 750 unit attached to the swingarm with a space piece between the top eye and the top shock mount.  No catching on the swingarm or frame.  Thanks to Creg Ny Baa for the advice.

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by canamant

[Funkymonkracing]

Can let you have one of my spares mate.

[canamant]

Brief update (because not had much time lately to get much done)

Finally got hold of a cutting tool to cut back the tops of the valve guides to give more collet to guide clearance.  I removed between 0.055 and 0.060 inch (1.4 to 1.5mm) to leave all the guides the same distance from the head face.  This was a touch more than necessaey but was done to allow a higher lift cam in future.  I removed sufficient metal to allow the valve springs to go just shy of coilbound when the collets touch the guide on levering down with a pry bar.  No point in removing any more metal.  A quick clean off of the guide bore with a countersink/pilot bit and all good to go.  Apart from on rocker.  See picture.  Anyone got one out of a scrap engine as I don't really want to put it back.

[nlovien]

On 30/01/2018 at 12:27 AM, canamant said:

  I've got a set of newly refurbished 750 forks which I believe are too short.  Might end up fitting the powerscreen stanchions to the slabby sliders and clamping them up in the powerscreen yokes or some shimmed B12 ones.  All fluid at the moment.  One thing I do know about the fron end is period Lockheeds are on the shelf and ready to go.

 

interesting i'm also looking to extend a set of slabby 750 forks - what do you gain by fitting the power screen stanchions /

thanks

[canamant]

The powerscreen ones are 4 inch (100mm) longer.

 

[nlovien]

13 hours ago, canamant said:

The powerscreen ones are 4 inch (100mm) longer.

 

jees thats huge - thanks

[canamant]

This dropped through the letterbox today.  The team at Hagon spent quite a while talking to me on 2 occasions about custom building this for my weight,  making it longer to compensate for the 17 inch wheels and road race application, and most importantly ensuring it doesn't foul the frame or rocker as happened when I fitted the R1 shock to Slabby Racer 1.  10 days order to delivery including the Easter holiday.  

[Funkymonkracing]

Slabby 750 fork stanchions can be "lengthened" by changing the rebound springs for 1100 slabby ones as they are half the length. 

This allows the stanchion to pull up through the slider. The compression spring setup will now be too short but a longer tubular spacer at the top to bring the flat disc back to its original position solves this. 

Had this setup in my race 750 and that lapped the isle of man in excess of 110mph

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Funkymonkracing
crap spelling

[canamant]

Thanks for the tip Funky Monk.  I'll give it a whirl and see.

 

[canamant]

Brief update.  This year's racing has been a bit of a flop to say the least with only 2 outings at Aintree because of family illness and other problems, and of the 2 rounds I did do, I had my first ever mechanical failure in 15 years when the gear lever broke in the final.  Sometimes the Gods are trying to tell you something and you have to listen :-)

1100 slabby racer has also hit a few problems in the engine dept.  "New" cylinders were cracked so the hunt was on for replacements - thanks to YJ for the 1216 set, and the crankcases turned out to be damaged.  Thanks to Creg Ny Baa for replacements also.  At least I've got the engine from the 2012 MGP 750 motor built up again and the 2013/2016 MGP 860 engine has been rebuilt with new crankcases and gearbox following it breaking up the gearbox bearings accelerating out of pit lane at the Manx.  It means that next year we will have the two 860s and two 1100s to choose from.  Roll on winter.

 

[canamant]

Well it has been a long time on hold and those of you on here who know me personally will know the reason.  It is also the reason why when SuperSlabby Racer is completed it will not be performing the function for which it was built i.e.  I won't be racing again.  However, as things hopefully slowly get back to some sort of normality I will be completing the build and it will have some non competitive outings.  Good luck everyone. Stay safe.

[cnap504]

I like slabbies.  I bought the first blue & white GSXR1100 (1986) to come to New Orleans.  They were a quantum leap in engineering and performance.  Sorry to this day that I sold it.