My 950 Refresh or Mission Creep...

If anyone is curious I've got a ride report going on our trip to Labrador on this bike. So far things are holding together.

Trans Lab Ride Report

So my bike now has somewhere close to 60K miles (I don't know exactly as I had to replace the speedometer once) and over the last year developed a rather pronounced leak at the rear base gasket. I wanted to spend some time over the winter to rebuild it but my Ducati Hypermotard was stolen while I was in Moab (from the dealer of all places) and that left my 950 as my only running street bike so it stayed on the road and I adopted the mantra, "Check the gas and fill 'er up with oil!"

I had my doubts about going but this past weekend turned out to be her last hurrah. Gino and I met up with our Canadian crew (Dan, Flanny and Johnny) to ride the Roaming Rally in Ontario. Well the wet weather produced some rather deep water crossings...



...and after a while my bike began stalling. After a few stall outs my oil light came on and when I looked in my tank it was a frothy mess - water was being sucked past the base gaskets into the engine.



We changed the oil on the trail and the oil light went out but then came back on. I could see clean oil being pumped back into the tank at the filler and the valves were quiet so I hoped it was a bad sensor or electrical gremlin from the water. I know my engine is tired so a part of me really didn't expect much. The bike sounded fine for the rest of the day but the light stayed on. I decided to just keep on riding but with one finger on the clutch the whole time in case she siezed.

Well, she went about 300 miles before a pop and she started running on one cylinder followed by no cylinders and there I was - stranded on the side of the thruway.





I got the bike home and was going to rip into it but an inmate (thanks guymanbro) put me in touch with Pyndon who was selling some engines and when we spoke he let slip he had a 990 as well as a couple of 950's. Well, I rode Flanny's bike over the weekend and we've had a friendly rivalry but I will admit his bike was a beast so when I heard 990 I said "Yes!". Pyndon sent me a photo of the new engine and I think Flanny should be worried:



I threatened to open a can of fabrication whoop ass on Flanny years ago and the time has come. Since my last update here I've aquired a mill, a lathe, a tig welder and the skills to use them. I don't have the time or money for this but that won't stop me. I'm going to build a Flannymobile killer. Get ready Beeeatch!

Gregor

This should be good (again).

So, have you done a postmortem on engine #1? I'm always curious about what takes these motors out, as I creep up on 50k.

Glad to see your bike in the spotlight again (enjoyed this thread earlier). Sorry for the bad luck/news/oil issues.

Keep up the build report on the engine...


I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

You and who's army?

Love the photoshop work on the case cover.

That's fucking hillarious! I missed it the first time!

Funny stuff man!

Gorgeous bike.

I am looking forward to seeing the next incarnation, but I am sure you will understand if I never park my bike next to it.

Who makes that front fender?

:dg

What are you waiting on, rounding up Super Duke parts?

Well Pyndon sent the engine yesterday from England and I was really hoping I'd be able to get it by the weekend so I could try to get it in the bike. I went to the shop today to try to finish putting together the cold saw I'm rebuilding and DHL rings the bell. Seriously?



Unbelievable. I can't get parts from Ohio in less two days but an engine from England comes overnight. Wow. I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Pyn says that this engine, coming from a 990SM is the same as the 990R spec which is supposed to be 20hp up from the standard bike. Well, we'll find out since we have our own dyno in the shop and I have runs from when my bike was running well. I'll simply swap the engine and do a pull and then we'll all know, once and for all, what the R engine does.

After that, and if I can financially recover, I'll order up some FCR's and we'll see before and after of the carbs since that's also a dyno run that seems to have never taken place. Finally, and if time permits, I'll redo my exhaust. That's a lot on my plate to try to do in 7 weeks before I move to Portland so we'll see what happens. It might be that the bike ends up staying here so I can finish work. I'm keeping my shop space and my studio so really I'm going bi-coastal and will travel back and forth.

Oh, and paint. I need to repaint the bike. Any suggestions? Flanny's looks freaking amazing which is good since it's so slow but I'd like some flash. Maybe bass boat metal flake orange?

Thanks Pyn! The second package didn't make it but the engine did so I'm sure it's right behind. Nice packing job too.

G

PS - The fender comes from Carbon-Performance. It's held up remarkably well for as light as it is.

Sweeeeeet. Dude, your shop is enviable...

I'll be waiting on all that data from the various dyno runs. Verrrrrry interesting!

I see you are making transplant surgery. If you are keeping the carbs, make sure you place the ignition gear on the new motor, so it runs with the 950 wiring.
Cheers.

This project is very interesting
I'm curious with the final result
Keep on going!

I am already having visions of the beast coming to life, with the exclamation of "IT'S ALIVE!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos2MnVxe-c&feature=player_detailpage

do they use the same silicone for sealing joints?

muchas gracias


From Pyndon's thread to Cyborg's on sealing the rims. I'd used silicon for years but hated how thick it had to be and was excited to try Cyborgs method as I'm always glad to see an improvement to an idea. Here's his method: Here's the link to Cyborg's rim sealing.

So I went back and forth all day from the rim to the parts. Here's the first nipple sealed with the Seal All - looks good:



I did two coats but the stuff seams to bubble up as it dries which is strange but Cyborg mentions small bubbles are okay - I hope so:



By this time I'd done the whole wheel so I'm going to hope for the best and add the GOOP tomorrow and then let it sit for a day or so and by then my new Conti Attack will be here and I'll see if it worked. I'm looking forward to getting a 170/60-17 on that new rim.

I've since updated this method to not include the SealAll - my experience was that it was too hard and brittle and spoke flexing made small voids which gave leaks. The GOOP however works fantastic and so I'd just say use that by itself and skip the SealAll but do at least 2 coats and three is better. Gino did his wheels on his 950 and they're holding fine and mine have been great too.

Don't expect it to be perfect right out of the box. Chances are you'll need to mount the tire and check for leaks and mark those spokes that leak. Remove and reseal those nipples and you should be done. Once it's air tight you don't need to worry about it again.

Gregor