My 950 Refresh or Mission Creep...

[schaffer40]

Just saw this thread and lost 1.5 hrs (maybe 2) reading it from the beginning. What the boss doesn't know won't hurt him.
Good luck with the build.

[Steverino]

Man I am having flashbacks to my rebuild. Mortimersickle was a lifesaver and the jugs I got from him are working like a champ on my 950. Rode it to Dallas a couple of weeks ago. 2900 miles in 4 days. Ran awesome and no leaks.

Now I need tires...

Good luck with the rebuild.

[Katoom119]

Bike's looking good. Don't know what you're doing as far as getting it to Portland but if you decide to ride it and swing down East TN way let me know. I'll shoot you some of the only dirt roads I know of between Shady Valley and Deal's Gap.

[sakurama]

Since the 950/990 project is going to proceed slowly I decided I needed another bike to explore around Oregon before the weather turned to the wet side. I was looking to replace my stolen Hypermotard with an old VFR or a Triumph Sprint ST - bikes that are on my "list of bikes to own someday" when I came across an ad on CL for a bike that was on my list but I didn't think I could afford.

MV Agusta Brutale 910R with full race exhaust:


Turns out I was very wrong about the price and got this for about the price of a well used Triumph or two used 990 engines!

I thought the 950 was fast but it is a pig compared to this bike which is a rocketship. I finally got out this weekend for my first real ride and if I manage to keep my license it will be nothing short of a miracle. It literally accelerates as hard in 4th and 5th as the 950 does in first and second. Brutale is exactly the right name for this bike as it is completely and utterly BRUTAL! It's complete crap on gravel of course...

Well, back to NYC this week and I'll have a full weekend coming up to put towards the bike. Hoping to get a lot done and maybe even try to squeeze in some evenings.

Gregor

[Steverino]

That's purdy...

[nomad guy]

your photographic talent is truly amazing. Oh, and the new bike as well

[Flanny]

Originally Posted by sakurama

MV Agusta Brutale 910R with full race exhaust:


Turns out I was very wrong about the price and got this for about the price of a well used Triumph or two used 990 engines!

Gregor

[sakurama]

Originally Posted by Flanny

That was worth the price right there! Ha!

You gotta come and visit Flanny and take her for a ride. I think Clipper might be out next week. I'll need another dirt bike for friends but the trail here is epic. It's a dirt bike paradise.

G

[sakurama]

So I've had the weekend to work on the bike and the goal was to get the new engine in and running and then get it on the dyno. I sorta did and mostly didn't meet the goal. The bike is running but I didn't get it on the dyno.

So little by little I kept attaching things until I hit a road block and then I'd work on another project for a little bit. I was waiting for parts for a day so that stalled things. Anyway, here's something you might find interesting.

You ever wonder about these annoying clamps?


Me too. I decided to investigate and found them at McMaster Carr along with the nifty pliers that crimp them. You can too: Pinch Type Clamps and you want this part number for the "Side-Jaw Installation Pincer" 6541K69 and then order "Gap free Pinch with Tongue and Groove" type clamps in various sizes.



They don't offer a kit so you have to do it piecemeal but this collection and the pliers were less than $100. They're so easy and fast to use that I've gone from loving worm drive hose clamps to thinking of them as ghetto. These are slick.

Next up as I was putting stuff on the bike was a little project that I've been wanting to do for about 6 or 7 years - adding a second fan to the radiator. I've always figured there was room but it was never a priority but when my 525 was stolen and recovered blown up I pulled the fan off with the intention of trying to put it on the 950. As it comes with a shroud it won't fit but I unscrewed the shroud and added a small bit of rubber edging to the face and it was exactly big enough.



Now while I could have probably added a switch to it to control it I decided to keep it very simple and I just wired it into the stock fan by stripping back a little wire from behind the plug and then soldering the new fan to that.





Last but not least was attaching it to the radiator. I fitted the tank just to check clearance and then enlarged the screw holes in the fan body just a tad so I could thread zip ties through the holes and then through the actual radiator. On the back side I turned some delrin washers on the lathe and then used just the head of another zip tie to anchor the tail of the one going through the fan. It's a common way to attach fans on race bikes and it works well.



So when I got it all buttoned up and bled the radiator and turned it over to prime the oil pump and discovered I forgot to tighten the front valve cover which I had to swap as it had the two oil ports instead of the one. Then when I started it water leaked at the junction of the hose and the water pump so I replaced the o-ring and that fixed that. Then I finally got it running for a few minutes but couldn't find my chain tool (which seems to have grown legs) so I couldn't put the chain on and run it on the dyno. Of course after I cleaned up and started it a second time it started pissing fuel straight out of the carb vents as fast as the fuel pump was pumping so now I need to figure that out. Here you can see the new fan tucked in.



Anyway, I did get it running so that makes me happy - it sounds quite a bit more raucous than the old engine. Now if I can find some more time to figure out the carbs before I go and find out who borrowed my chain tool I may be able to get it on the dyno before I leave for Portland this Friday.

Gregor

[Bronco3738]

Hey Gregor, your famous. I saw you on Cafe Racer last night. They were doing the story on the workshop in NYC. I was telling my wife, that looks like Gregor's setup. Then the next guy they were interviewing was you. That shop setup looks great.

[sakurama]

Originally Posted by Bronco3738

Hey Gregor, your famous. I saw you on Cafe Racer last night. They were doing the story on the workshop in NYC. I was telling my wife, that looks like Gregor's setup. Then the next guy they were interviewing was you. That shop setup looks great.

Yeah I finally saw the show - it's funny seeing yourself on TV. They taped that back in July and I sorta forgot about it during the course of the move. Now that I've had some time to ride out here in the PNW I'm all the more excited to get my 990 up and out here.

I'll be back again to NYC next week so I hope to get some progress made.

Gregor

[O.C.F.RIDER]

NICE MV!

Hopefully someday you can go for a ride up this way with the "950" and we could switch so I could feel just how tired my 950 is.

See Ya!
Chris

[Achtung]

Great Thread! I would love to see that shop someday. I'm sorry if I missed it but waas the 990 a bolt in deal or did you have to fabricate new motor mounts? Thanks again for taking the time to post this!

[sakurama]

Chris YOU have the nice MV. Mine is but a modern pretender. A fast pretender mind you, but not the same as yours.

Atchung, then engine is a complete direct swap. The only thing you have to change is the timing gear which I show a few posts ago. I can already tell it's got a much lumpier idle and can feel the hit of the pistons a bit harder so I'm very curious to see what it makes on the dyno.

Hopefully by Sunday we'll all know and I can spend the rest of the week putting the FCR flat slides on.

Gregor

[Deadly99]