Chapter 5
A 6 speed gearbox and they all seem to be reverse !!!!
By the way, Gary Glitter was a 1970/80s glam rock star, who took platform boots to new heights, before he was arrested in 1999, for lewd acts! He is currently a resident in the slightly more tolerant country of Thailand, and thankfully, has nothing to do with elefants!
Since the last instalment, I took the 944 beakfant back to its spiritual home in Italy. The venue was the International Fant meeting at Sienna , South of Florence, some 2000 kms from my base in the UK. Needless to say, the bike performed perfectly throughout the 4000km trip and in heat of over 40 degrees c, with the exception of a speedo cable, which broke at Metz, in France, on the way back.
Once in Italy, I met the 916 Ducatifant of Italsport, England fame, ie the one on I bitched about in Chapter 1, and what a machine it is, it certainly got my admiration for its layout and engineering execution.
Indeed, seeing the 916 Ducatifant on that trip only made me more eager to complete the 888 fant, as well as finding a replacement seat…..the standard one is torture……… pure torture, so if anyone one out the has a second-hand Corbin unit that I can modify, then I will happily pay for it, email via this site. ........ info@gavin944888.com
BACK TO THE 888 BUILD UP!!
Once back in the UK, the 888 went up north to have its recently modified wiring checked, and the final report was far from good! Three of the five sensors that are required to fire the injectors would not work in the open airbox and filter arrangement, which means a new airbox had to be fabricated from GRP one which would have to mimic a cross between the fant airbox and the standard 888 Ducati unit.
Moreover, the fuel injectors bell-mouths close proximity to the frame and therefore the airbox sides was fouling up the potential airflow and new ones had to machined from solid roundbar ali.
Thankfully, one of my clients are manufacturers for the F1 team, Mercedes-Illmore/ McLaren and regularly manufacture fuel injectors and bellmouths!
This new arrangement for the air filtration had an knock-on effect, in as much as, the existing, just paid for and modified, petrol tank would HAVE to be ............SCRAPPED!!!
Therefore, rendering all the moulding ang stretching work done to the standard plastic fuel tank and as described in chapter IV along with all of the other work, done to date useless!……….There was just not enough room to make everything fit!
It is perhaps easier to go staight to that section which is normally reserved for the area at the end of each chapter, rather than waiting any longer........
So, what has gone wrong and what does not fit?
· The petrol tank had to be cut up and made into a dummy tankcover! Which involved a minigrinder and burnt hands due to the molten polythene!
· This meant that I could go back to the original and stronger engine mounts albeit now made from thicker 12mm ali flat bar and with strategically placed brackets welded to help the general build in other areas ie the battery
· The water radiator had to have the electric-fan re jigged to the opposite side of the cylinder head in order to make room for the battery, which then had to be re-sited to the right hand side of the front cylinder under/behind the dummy tank cover !
· The rear subframe had to be re-cut & shortened with all brackets cut off and ground flush to make room for the central tank!
· The seat had to cut and reshaped, it is now approx 200 mm shorter ! The black insulation tape show the proposed revised dimensions of the fuel tank, firstly to reduce the volume and to follow the lines of the bike!
· A new central fuel tank has been fabricated from 2.5mm thick ali and runs from the old battery box bracket, above the rear exhaust port exit, up through the rear subframe into the area where the rear light assembly/rack unit used to be .
The fuel filler, actual elefant part complete with key! is now positioned just behind the back of the seat at the luggage rack. Then this tank, links with the second tank, which is under or behind the left hand sidepanel !
· The first attempt at the new fuel tank ended up holding 9.5 imp gallons, 43 litres !!....so there was no need to fabricate a second side tank!!!
· A second attempt meant marking out the tank with black insulation tape and cutting accordingly. However it proved more in keeping and the fant looks very ............. Pari-Dakar !
· The battery has to be a 12 v 19 amp per hour unit as fitted to the 888, to cope with modules/switches/things that go whir and make noises !
The other photographs show the work that had to go into the air box and their injector bellmouths.
These photos don’t capture the time and effort that went into the final fabrication of the hybrid 888 and fant air box!.The new airbox uses standard top and mid section Ducati parts mated via a flange to a GRP custom made lower and base section. The overall volume is greater than that of the standard 888
So there we have it, after what appears to be weeks of just finishing off, we have selected reverse gear and gone backwards with some gusto!! In fact, the bike looks far worse than it ever has over the last 3 months, and it has to said, that it really has tested my patience and problem solving skills.
Undaunted we continue with the project and send all the cables off to Venhill Cables, down in Surrey for them to make the half-breed 900/888 tacho and speedo units needed to complete the 888 fant.
Likewise, a new chain and sprockets have been sourced from B & G Express, bearing in mind that the 888 runs a 520 width whilst the fants, all run, 530. Final gearing has been calculated at 15 x 42 although a 46 tooth rear has also been sourced just in case the slide-rule was lying!
The Cagiva importer, 3X down in Hampshire, managed to unearth a chain guard to fill the empty space, as well as 6 new cush-drive rubbers for the new sprocket to abuse!
So everything is now in place and ready for final wiring and chipping prior to the actual tests!
So, that is just about all there is to report for this month. And in the words of R.E.M’s…………..Man in the moon ………
“I’m pushing through, I’m breaking rules,
I’m keeping flowers, in for bloom,
I’m pushing elephants up the stairs,!!!"
Good luck,
Gavin........this project has more dead ends than London!!
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Chapter Index
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