Project X

[Alan H]

You might find that the stat & heat sensor are in a bit of a dead zone as regards true temperature readings. I was chatting with Richard on here about that very subject a couple of days ago & the standard sensor on his Hippo tends to transmit readings hotter than the actual water. A sensor in the rubber tubing would be more accurate perhaps.

[madforitkev]

I've got a sensor near the head and one at the radiator return.

One feeds the ECU and one controls the cooling fans. I may consolidate them in the final build but will see what the next dyno run gives.

I can also mess with water pump speed to maximise the cooling effect.

Finally, I am working on some new ducting to both help the fuel injection and the radiator cooling. All good fun.....

[teazer]

Very presentable power already. AFR is a bit lean at times though. See if you can fill that hole or flatten that hill or however you look at it. Somewhere around 12.5.-12.8 is often the right number for full power pulls.

168 is about where I like to run a GT750 and I have yet to fail a stock head gasket. I use Cometic gaskets exclusively and they are ordered to a certain finished size which you can specify. I like to go 1mm larger than the bore to allow for minor misalignment and movement. Stock type 76/77mm bore head gaskets are a waste of time.

Transfer time can be increased but blowdown is always an issue with those motors, so i prefer to go as wide as possible on transfers but try to avoid breaking through on the two outer ports.

[garry55]

Hi Kev
Hows the project going?
Thought this might interest you - a fuel injected Moto Martin Kettle.

[badgereng]

That’s a beauty

[madforitkev]

That is very pretty!!!

Sorry I have been off line for a bit. Too much work and struggling with cylinder head issues.

The last dyno saw bypass into the water jacket.

This was with with copper Wills rings fitted which I really hoped would do the job but a combination of vibration at high RPM and poor sealing surface just didnt work out.

Anyway... I've gone back to a Cometic gasket and filled the barrel Wills rings grooves with weldmetal to create a wider landing surface for the main barrel seal.

My compression has dropped from 170 psi to about 155, so still pretty good compared to a standard gasket at around 125psi from memory.

First garage run didn't go well and when it got up to temp I had overflow again, like I was pressurising the cooling circuit. Bit of head scratching and a radiator cap test and my cap was releasing at about 0.8 bar which is too low.

I found another ebay one which releases at about 1.2 bar which is nearer normal.

Todays run was much better. I added a pressure gauge to the cooling circuit so I can watch temperature rise with pressure.

At around 70C it is just over 1 bar. I have my cooling fans set to 75C and when they cut in the effect is very marked and the pressure drops to under 1 bar. No leaks! This is static in a garage with no air flow.

I have two cooling fans which I can program separately. Ideally I want to operate at around 60C so I am going to play with the water pump speed next to make sure I get enough dwell in the radiator and I will have one fan cut in early (60C ish) if pump speed isnt enough. Kettles naturally run around 80C I believe but my twin Rad setup should get temps lower with a combination of pump speed and fans. Lower temp, more power!!

So back on track hopefully.

[madforitkev]

So far the bike seems pretty stable and the cooling fans are doing the job. MOT again next then a few rides before back to the dyno.

You may remember I designed a fairly complicated electronics system for the bike with LCD displays etc.

Well I've got another little project on the go.....it's an AWD 400HP Turbo Mini

For this I have decided to design an Android dashboard and looking at it a bit more I realised the Kettle would be a much elegant design with one as well.

It is basically fed with data from the Speeduino ECU with a few bits added. I will try to retain the retro clock look I have but this should be a clean addition!

[badgereng]

Love it

[madforitkev]

Got the Beast MOT'd this week so time for a test run.

Summary is;
Cometic head gasket now. The O ring option was just too close to the bore due to the water jacket spacing and I was getting ring damage. PSI has only dropped a little (155 compared to 125 psi standard).
New rad cap with better spring rating
Cooling fans set to 65C
Water pump dialed down to maximise heat loss
Dyno tune still to finish and I'm over fueling bottom and mid range at the moment
Back to wet clutch for now till I can graft the Ducati one in

I also added a catch tank to the rad overflow to see what happening..

Results???

1. Definitely woke the neighbors up
2. Ran out of road !! Pulls very well mid to top
3. Didn't boil. Temp maxed at 65C. No over flow.
4. Still running rich so need to play with the fuel Map.

Next Steps

1. Back on the dyno
2. Strip and raise transfers a bit
3. Work out the final cooling ducting to radiators and forced air into throttle bodies
4. Make it look pretty
5. Turbo charge ....no seriously. I am going to play with a non mechanical turbo option. Can't use a mechanical turbo on a 2 stroke due to the pulses (not easily anyway). A turbo basically increases the partial pressure of oxygen by elevating the absolute pressure. The other way to do that is add oxygen rich air (40%) which creates the same effect. Add another set of injectors and an oxygen Map and away you go. What can possibly go wrong?