Operation: Battle Panda or: Getting the Airhead Ready for 2up Adventure

[igormortis]

Originally Posted by advNZer?

goodbye? or getting it rebuilt/valved/sprung??

Yes, only goodbye for now, because all of the above. I’m awaiting some magic from a certain Mr. Taylor.

Originally Posted by Padmei

what are you gonna do with your wheels?

One way or another they will be black. Whether it’s powdercoat or anodised will depend on the condition of the alloy, I think. Ideally I’d prefer a hard anodise.

What tyre is that on the front & do you find it ok?

That’s a Heidenau K60, which I rather like. Tubeless and the softer (I’m told) “Scout” compound, as opposed to the standard compound which I have on the rear. Strangely the rear has worn much more than the front, but I’m putting that down to being severely under-sprung on the rear. That’s after 3000km. Mostly tarmac, with some gravel and hard packed sand thrown in occasionally. I hear they’re quite similar to the Mitas E07, which I’ve yet to try.

Originally Posted by Box'a'bits

Might have gone a bit far cutting the springs...

Yeah, but at least now I know that a disc will squeeze in there. I realised shortly after my initial measurements I hadn’t taken the upside-down-ness of the forks into account! D’oh!

That Brembo looks the goods. 4 piston?

Yup. I’m still holding my breath a bit till it all comes together finally, but I think I’m getting there.

[igormortis]

Trundled the mocked-up front end off to a friendly machinist to get the right bits shaved, sleeved, spaced and shimmed. Oooh-er.

Came away with ideas about double plugs and stopped off for something French and oily on the way home.

Pulling a starter motor out of a '90s French car reminded me very quickly of how much I dislike working on them. Merdé, merdé, merdé! Got there in the end, but man, it was a struggle.

The raison d’être is that the smoke escaped from my “Valeo copy”. I think I’m just inside the warranty, but I’m not gonna trust another one of these I’m afraid. A dead one’s worth more to me for the following experiment. Valeo D6RA - found in Peugeot 306, 405, and several other PSA group cars...



French Valeo, left. Chinese “Valeo”, right.



No comment on the branding.



Guillotine! Three allen bolts, a torx screw, and a couple of soft rivets to drill out.



Face, off! And on again.



Since the car starter has the same number of teeth as the ‘Panda, I’m gonna see if it works as is. I’ll find out in the morning!


And as an epilogue to todays French sojourn: ironically, or perhaps fittingly, the Peugeot 306 seems to have FUBAR’d its clutch release bearing. Sweet bliss. Maybe I’ll junk it and steal the starter motor...

[Padmei]

Ok sorry IM but which is the one from the BMW (cue facepalm)?
how much was the 2nd hand starter? maybe I'll find one & keep it handy...

[igormortis]

The one that was in the bike is on the right in the pictures. Not original equipment, but a copy of the later Valeo starter.

The starter was $50 from Pick a Part. I have one you can buy, it comes with a Peugeot 306 with a noisy clutch.

If it wasn’t clear before, note that you’ll need the airhead specific alloy “nose” to swap on to the car starter - so this isn’t as practical if you currently have a Bosch starter.

[igormortis]

Starter transplant was a success. And now further news...



Shock arrived back yesterday. Old spring, and hydraulic preload adjuster removed, and replaced...



...with a much heavier spring matched to our travelling weight (pillion + luggage) and lock-rings for pre-load. The idea is that the hydraulic adjuster can fail over repeated abuse over rough ground. Pre-load probably shouldn’t change once we’re underway anyway, I suppose. It’s still adjustable via the lock-rings if required. More robust is good. All wear parts were replaced also, so I’m counting on it being a new shock practically.

Not all is well however...







The larger wire diameter required for the new spring rate, means that there is no longer clearance for the subframe.

The idea is to strengthen the subframe anyway, but I now need to devise a way to clear the spring, as well as beef up the bracing in the same area.

[Box'a'bits]

Originally Posted by igormortis

Shock arrived back yesterday. Old spring, and hydraulic preload adjuster removed, and replaced with a much heavier spring matched to our travelling weight (pillion + luggage) and lock-rings for pre-load. The idea is that the hydraulic adjuster can fail over repeated abuse over rough ground. Pre-load probably shouldn’t change once we’re underway anyway, I suppose. It’s still adjustable via the lock-rings if required. More robust is good. All wear parts were replaced also, so I’m counting on it being a new shock practically.

Not all is well however...

The larger wire diameter required for the new spring rate, means that there is no longer clearance for the subframe

The spring length on Gus is circa 220mm. The spring wire diameter looks similar. The hydraulic adjuster sits level with the subframe.

Is there potential to put more preload in to get clearance? Wouldn't need to be a great deal to get clearance. Remember this will move in an arc, not compress (that's the other end).

Have you discussed with Mr Taylor yet?

What happened with your pannier racks in the end anyway? See you have at least one side fitted.

[advNZer?]

a washer under the pannier rack would prolly move it out of the way

[igormortis]

Haven’t tried with more pre-load yet. I’ll give that a go to see how much it would need. Obviously we still need to set the correct amount for or weight, presuming it didn’t already ship out with that dialled in.

I've only had a brief exchange with RT so far - he reckons that a dent in the tubing is the fix. I’ll have to check what the movement through the arc is at that point of the spring, to see how big the clearance needs to be. May not be much after all.

Regarding the pannier frames, yep they’re installed. I ended up with a new left side rack from Touratech. I still have the old one which may actually come in handy soon.

[igormortis]

Paul, that’s the subframe in those pics. I tried to move that stay further out to see what it would take to space it away from the spring - quite a bit. More than I’m happy with at the moment, so I’ll try for another solution first.

[Padmei]

Thats a bummer. I'm sure you'll come up with a suitable solution tho.

When I went shopping for shocks I got the Wilbers with remote reservoir to help cool the oil as I'd read about the shocks failing due to heat from riding over repetitive undulations. The down side is the distance from the shock body affects damping apparently. I'm going for longetivity. I don't think you'll miss the hydraulic preload at all.

[Box'a'bits]

Originally Posted by Padmei

Thats a bummer. I'm sure you'll come up with a suitable solution tho.

When I went shopping for shocks I got the Wilbers with remote reservoir to help cool the oil as I'd read about the shocks failing due to heat from riding over repetitive undulations. The down side is the distance from the shock body affects damping apparently. I'm going for longetivity. I don't think you'll miss the hydraulic preload at all.

Swings & round abouts. Nice to be able to quickly adjust preload if your load changes, ie differences between fully loaded & just rider & pillion. The C spanners are hard to use if you don't have easy access, ie the panniers are in the way.

[advNZer?]

Originally Posted by igormortis

Paul, that’s the subframe in those pics. I tried to move that stay further out to see what it would take to space it away from the spring - quite a bit. More than I’m happy with at the moment, so I’ll try for another solution first.

my bad...i had to push the sub frame out of the way to install the ohlins,had the sub frame and pannier racks unbolted

[igormortis]

Anyone have any ideas about how to put a “clearance dent” in the tube? I was gonna heat it up and smack it with a hammer.

[Box'a'bits]

Originally Posted by igormortis

Anyone have any ideas about how to put a “clearance dent” in the tube? I was gonna heat it up and smack it with a hammer.

Might want to talk to an engineer first. You don't want to weaken the subframe, with consequences later in your trip. You could perhaps make a form to cradle one side & give some control to the 'dent'? Maybe use a hydraulic press instead?

[igormortis]

Originally Posted by Box'a'bits

Might want to talk to an engineer first.

Those were my thoughts too. Then I wondered if I was being over-cautious. Glad I posted before impatience got the better of me.