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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 25, 2015 14:54:49 GMT -5
My Dr. Pulley slider core weights:
1 slider - 15.96 grams
4 sliders - 16.01 grams
1 slider - 16.04 grams
I used Liquid Metal to increase their weight:
1 - 18.03 grams
3 - 18.05 grams
2 - 18.06 grams
Don't do that, though... the Liquid Metal broke apart, and I found a zillion little pieces of Liquid Metal when I opened the belt cover.
I'll be ordering a mini-lathe soon, so I can turn my own custom weights (as well as make small parts for the scooter that I can't purchase). I calculated that I can do it for about 75 cents per weight, with the current cost of brass.
Once I become proficient at lathing the weights, I'll offer to do so for others, to recoup the cost of purchasing the lathe.
So if you wanted, say, 15.33 gram weights, or any combination of different weights, you could get them, rather than the set weights that come in packs for purchase.
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 25, 2015 14:23:13 GMT -5
Oooh... idea. Rather than a whole balancer that bolts behind the flywheel, why not just make a tube partially filled with mercury that fits inside the existing flywheel? Much simpler construction, no chance of it flying apart at high RPM (since the flywheel is the supporting structure)... I've got to think of a way of fastening it into the flywheel, though.
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 25, 2015 14:14:02 GMT -5
I haven't gotten it done yet. First, I'm having roller lifters fabricated to replace the flat tappet lifters. Baisley HiPerformance is doing that work.
Then I'll have a new cam ground to take advantage of the roller lifters (faster lift and seat, slightly longer open time). It'll also be ground to get rid of valve overlap. That'll hurt cylinder scavenging, but improve fuel efficiency. The custom expansionary exhaust I'll build will reflect a negative pressure pulse back toward the exhaust valve just before it closes (at 6500 RPM, the engine speed at highway speeds). Thus, the cylinder will have a partial vacuum locked in it.
When the intake valve next opens, that partial vacuum will help to pack more air into the cylinder by aiding in getting the air's velocity up.
Then I'll have a new connecting rod fabricated, with an offset big end. This will increase mechanical efficiency on the power stroke and reduce piston side-loading force. The new rod will be stronger than the OEM rod, so I can extend the rev limiter from 9,200 RPM to 11,000 RPM without worrying about sending the connecting rod through the crankcase.
I'll order a new OEM crankshaft, and have it and the connecting rod cryogenically treated, micro-polished and coated with tungsten sulfide. That'll make the metal less prone to stress fracture, and reduce friction.
After that's all done, I'll have it balanced. Then it'll go in the bike with the hybrid ceramic bearings I ordered from MicroBlue Bearings.
Along with the new crank and conrod, there'll be the new head with roller lifters, a new piston, and a new cylinder.
The new head will have the combustion-chamber-facing parts of the head and the exposed parts of the valves coated with ceramic by Swain Tech Coatings.
The piston will get WPC treated all over, inside and out, to remove stress risers and form a hard outer layer in the metal. Then it'll get MicroBlue tungsten sulfide on the piston skirts. Then it'll get Swain Tech ceramic on the piston face.
The new cylinder will be WPC treated, then coated with tungsten sulfide to reduce friction. The piston will get a Total Seal gapless top ring, and will run the OEM oil control ring and second ring. The rings will also be coated with tungsten sulfide.
That should make the engine run much more smoothly, give it more power due to lower friction, increase fuel efficiency and make it last much longer. But an active balancer would make it butter smooth.
I might have to end up making my own... I'll have to source mercury... it won't take a lot, just 15 milliliters, which would weigh about 200 grams. That should be plenty to balance our small engines.
I suspect they manufacture the whole thing, balance it, drill a tiny hole on the inside of the tube, inject the mercury with a syringe while the tube ring is positioned such that the hole is horizontal, then seal up the hole by brazing. Hold the tube vertical with the hole at the (inside) top, the mercury goes to the bottom of the tube, so no mercury fumes while brazing. When it's spinning, there's no interaction between the brazed hole and the mercury, since the mercury is flung to the outside of the tube, and the brazed hole is on the inside diameter. Thus no possibility of leakage.
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 25, 2015 11:02:20 GMT -5
I doubt if you can find anything currently off-the-shelf to do this, but there is some interesting development going on with laser ignition replacing spark plugs. The lasers are tuned to the combustion point, without being powerful enough to damage any internals. Since the laser shoots through the chamber, the combustion occurs throughout instead of beginning at the point of spark plug ignition. In theory, this should give a more complete burn, resulting in both more power and more fuel efficiency at the same time (rare). The key here is finding lasers that can handle the temperatures, that's why off-the-shelf components will not do. Yeah, I did a lot of research on laser ignition... the window that the laser shoots through tends to get fouled, the laser tends to overheat, the drive accessories for the laser are too large for a scooter, and the onset of combustion is actually slower than with corona discharge. I've got an electronics guy in Ohio who's working on my electric coolant pump conversion circuitry right now. Found him on guru.com. The corona discharge ignition will be his next project. Both of those (electric coolant pump micro-controller, corona discharge ignition) I'll sell plans, schematics, parts suppliers list, etc. for, to recoup my cost of development. |
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 25, 2015 10:55:14 GMT -5
Well this is extremely interesting... something tells me you are probably an ecomodder.com member. If not, then you might want to check them out. This is just the sort of thing that gets watched/discussed there. Heh, yeah. I'm 'Cycle' over on ecomodder.com. The one thing you are going to do that I really wished I had the means to do is to be able to uncouple the drive so that it could coast without being slowed by engine braking whenever the throttle is let off..... unless I want it to. In other words.... a manual clutch of some sort. Being able to P&G would make for a substantial difference in mpg in a positive way. Definitely. That's part of the reason I want a solid disc rim and sprag clutch. That and being able to coast down the long hills we have around here. I've got carbon fiber brake pads, so they can definitely handle the additional wear due to there being no engine braking. Although I'll likely upgrade the brake disc size when I upgrade the rims. Anyway, when it gets done, I think I'd like to ride it out to California and show C. Vetter my scoot. Of course I could do that when he comes to the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days in Mid-Ohio, but it would be much more fun going out west to the left coast. If you roll through South San Francisco, let me know. |
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 25, 2015 9:56:04 GMT -5
Actually, it'll do 79 MPH on a good day, right at the ragged edge of the rev limiter. On those rare days when everything is just right, it'll hit the rev limiter and the throttle's not even fully open. All the other days it'll do 75 MPH easily. On a really cold day with low humidity, it'll only do 73 MPH. Seems to run better on hot, humid days. The hotter it is out, the faster the bike wants to run.
With my taller rear gears, it'll top out at 94 MPH, but I'm not sure the engine's got the oomph to push it that fast until I get the aerodynamic body done. With the addition of the infinitely variable transmission, top speed will be around 107 MPH. I'll likely ride it at that speed just once, to ensure it can do it and remain stable, then ride at highways speeds forever after that, as the goal in my retrofitting the scooter is for ultra-high-fuel-efficiency, not speed.
The engine is essentially an over-bored GY6 150, bored out to 174.5cc... some of the parts are still stamped "GY6", in fact.
Yeah, after coming off that horrid Tank scooter, the Kymco Yager was a whole new world. I just wish they'd not discontinued the Yager. It apparently didn't sell well because some people got the notion that it's "ugly"... one guy said it's got "antitheft styling".
So yeah, my Tank Urban Racer was low, light, slick-looking, and I could toss it from scrape-to-scrape with almost no effort... but despite my anal retentive mechanical attention (I'm a mechanic, after all), that bike failed to thrive. Welds breaking, electrical shorts, warped brake disc (from the factory!), bent rear axle (from the factory!), etc.
Contrast that with the Yager... nothing. No problems. No breakdowns. No surprises. Just balls-out windrush as that tiny engine screamed.
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California
by: upfartoolate - Mar 24, 2015 18:58:41 GMT -5
Post by upfartoolate on Mar 24, 2015 18:58:41 GMT -5
Northern California, San Mateo county, city of South San Francisco.
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 24, 2015 13:03:26 GMT -5
Hi, oldchopperguy.
Actually, I was on the site back in 2011 when I was looking for a scooter to replace my ill-fated Tank 150 scooter, which was of such low quality that it literally fell apart after a mere 10,000 miles.
I ended up getting a 2010 Kymco Yager GT 200i (new, but it'd sat on the showroom floor for a year). It had 1 mile on it when I got it.
It's been an awesome bike, no problems whatsoever, a very strong engine. It's down right now for new hybrid ceramic bearings and taller rear gears. I'll hopefully have it back together and running within a month or so, depending upon how long it takes MicroBlue to get the rear gears micro-polished and tungsten-sulfide coated.
I can't tell you how many times my headlight modulator has saved me... it commands attention. Especially since I'd been running an ultra-bright headlight. You could see the flashing two blocks ahead on reflective signs during the day. Each headlight only lasted a year or so, but very bright.
I'll be putting a 30-watt LED headlight in it. Not as bright as the halogen that was in it (about 75% of the brightness), so I'm looking to increase my conspicuity with additional LEDs.
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 24, 2015 12:48:03 GMT -5
I'm looking for something along the lines of the BalanceMasters active balancer that they use on ultralight airplane props... it's a metal disc with mercury inside a tube that runs the perimeter of the disc. It operates on the same principle as the wheel balancing beads.
Unfortunately, BalanceMasters doesn't have one that'd fit my flywheel, and don't seem interested in fabricating one. So... anyone know of any company making these or something similar?
I'll be getting the rotating assembly professionally dynamically balanced to 1/10th of a gram after the new piston gets ceramic-coated, but an active balancer would make things that much smoother, since it'd help to damp second-order vibration.
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 22, 2015 17:30:33 GMT -5
Looking at the wheel bubble balancers, even the cheap ones were selling for about $60. I came up with a cheaper and more accurate means of statically balancing scooter tires.
I found a 1-1/2" chrome steel ball bearing on Amazon.com for about $10. Since my tire is too wide, I had to find a spacer to put the steel ball on, so I found a hunk of 4" round, 3" tall aluminum that I milled flat. That leaves about 1-1/2" of clearance when the wheel is balanced on the ball and the ball is resting on the hunk of aluminum.
I've got a metal table. I put the steel ball on the table and level it until the ball won't roll on its own. Then I put the center of the wheel on the ball and rest the ball on the hunk of aluminum. The tire tips to its heavy side very easily. Add weights as appropriate, taping them in place.
Once you've got the balance about right, permanently affix the wheel weights to the rim and re-balance it. Use a Dremel tool to shave a bit off the wheel weights if they're a bit too heavy. Add weights as appropriate, rinse and repeat until the wheel stays completely level.
It's so accurate you'll find that the tape you use to temporarily affix the wheel weights to the rim affects the balance.
A larger steel ball would probably work better, but they're pretty expensive.
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 22, 2015 15:55:41 GMT -5
Hi, all. I just purchased six flush-mount 3-watt white LED lights. www.oznium.com/led-bolt They're the kind you drill a hole through the body and tighten the nut behind it. I intend to put them on the front of the bike and wire them into the high-beam, so they'll also flash on and off when my headlight modulator is activated, increasing my daytime conspicuity. They have a wide beam dispersion, almost 180 degrees. I'm trying to decide the best pattern to put them in. I want at least two of them angled toward the side of the bike, so cars pulling into the roadway from parking lots or side streets see me more easily. Not at a  degree angle to the bike's direction of travel, of course, but perhaps as much as 45 degrees. Here's a frontal shot of the Yager from a review at JustGottaScoot: www.justgottascoot.com/yager.htmwww.justgottascoot.com/images/YagerRadiatorDash.jpgI'm thinking right along that bottom section of the dark gray body panel, two toward the front, two at about halfway back. The remaining two pointing straight down to illuminate the wheel area so people know they're looking at a motorcycle and not a car with only one headlight. So, ideas for placing the six LEDS? |
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 22, 2015 13:31:15 GMT -5
Hi, all.
I want to replace the CVT and clutch with an infinitely variable transmission. I'll control the gear ratio via a twist-grip on the left handlebar.
Nuvinci has their 43mm Delta series, but they don't sell to the end consumer, only to OEM manufacturers.
So... anyone know how I can get my hands on either a Nuvinci Delta or similar?
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Post by upfartoolate on Mar 22, 2015 10:57:49 GMT -5
Ok, I'll throw my hat in the ring and describe what I'm doing to my scooter, a 2010 Kymco Yager GT 200i. It's got a 174.5cc liquid-cooled fuel-injected 4-stroke single cylinder engine.
1) Higher rear gearing. I was referred to Jan Vos in Belgium (who has his own gear cutting machine) by Craig Vetter (the two-wheeled high-fuel-efficiency champ). Jan cut new taller rear gears for me. The old rear gears were 8.408:1, the new rear gears are 7.15:1. I've sent the new gears to MicroBlue to get them micropolished and tungsten sulfide coated to reduce friction. This will get the engine into its torque-peak RPM range at highway speeds, enhancing fuel efficiency.
2) For the time being I'll run the OEM CVT and clutch until I can find a toroidal IVT (Infinitely Variable Transmission) for sale. So I've reworked the clutch and variator a bit to allow a slightly wider gear ratio (by using a Dremel tool to lengthen the cam grooves and flatten the sheaves where they meet, so they can squeeze together more) and installed 1000 RPM springs (which will cause the clutch to start engaging at about 1000 RPM, which will be about 2800 RPM on the engine). The old clutch springs were 1500 RPM, which is 4200 RPM on the engine. I also corrected a manufacturing error that prevented the clutch swing arms from retracting fully, and polished all the pivot points and lightly greased them, but that's just me being anal retentive. Once I find a toroidal IVT, I'll remove the CVT and clutch. The IVT will be controlled via a twist-grip on the left handlebar.
The good thing about an IVT is that since it's got 'geared neutral', on a hill the bike can't roll backward when the engine's running, even with no brakes applied. And I can tailor the gearing on-the-fly for either high-fuel-efficiency or high-performance, all with just a twist of the wrist.
Still to do: shave a millimeter off the variator boss. That's some hard metal! Gotta wait until I purchase my lathe to get this done. That'll be within the next couple months.
3) I'm having a microcontroller built that'll control two small mag-drive coolant pumps, to replace the OEM coolant pump. It'll have the following features:
3a) Control of two pumps and two radiator fans. Two pumps for redundancy and emergency cooling ability. The pumps can go up to 5 amps each, the fans up to 10 amps each. Higher-power MOSFETs can be swapped in if bigger pumps or fans are needed.
3b) Lead / Lag pumps. One pump is lead pump, the other lag. If the lead pump fails, the lag pump automatically picks up.
3c) Run-time leveling. It keeps track of the run-time of each pump, and switches the lead / lag of the pumps to keep wear rates similar.
3d) Quick warm-up mode. It pulses the lead pump at user-configurable on and off periods to get the coolant around the cylinder warmed up quicker than the overall temperature of the bulk coolant.
3e) Throttle-based mode. If the rider just jumps on and rides without warming up properly, as soon as the throttle is cracked, the microcontroller goes from quick warm-up mode to throttle-based mode. Pump speed follows TPS. If the throttle is then closed and coolant temperature hasn't yet reached operating temperature, it goes back into quick warm-up mode. If coolant has reached operating temperature, it goes into ramp mode.
3f) Ramp mode. It ramps lead pump speed up and down to maintain coolant temperature within a user-configurable range.
3g) Emergency overheat mode. Both pumps come on full speed and both cooling fans come on if the microcontroller senses an overheat. It monitors coolant temperature, head temperature and exhaust temperature. All the temperature setpoints are user-configurable.
3h) Run-on mode. When the bike is shut down, the lead pump can run for a user-configurable amount of time to prevent heat soak. This can be turned off if not needed.
3i) Dash readout. I opted for a display that you can just glance at to see how the system is operating. I could have gone with a full display of pump speed and coolant temperature, but when you're riding, you don't have a lot of time to look at the controls. So I opted for an LED bar graph readout. If it shows green, your pumps are operating in their normal range. If it shows red, you've got an overheat situation.
3j) User interface. All the operating parameters of the microcontroller are user-configurable via plugging it into a computer via USB. Temperatures can be incremented by as little as 1 degree F.
3k) Because the engine on this bike is small, the coolant pumps are small. The electrical draw of the pumps and microcontroller will be something on the order of ~22 watts (not including the single cooling fan on this bike, which is already accounted for in the electrical load on the bike). This will replace the OEM pump, which can require up to 1/4 HP at WOT.
4) All the bearings on the bike are going to be replaced by hybrid ceramic bearings, except for the two needle bearings (which don't have a ceramic counterpart). They were ordered from MicroBlue Bearings, and have been delivered. I'm waiting on delivery of one needle bearing and the return of the rear gears from MicroBlue Racing before I can put the rear end back together.
5) I bought a new piston and cylinder head. I'm going to have new roller lifters fabricated by Baisley HiPerformance, to replace the flat tappet lifters. This will allow a new cam grind with more aggressive lift and close and slightly longer open duration than would be possible with a flat tappet. Baisley will use the new head to ensure they get the geometry on the roller lifters correct. I do note the geometry on the OEM flat tappet lifters isn't ideal... the valve lash adjusters hit the top of the valve stems at an angle.
6) After Baisley HiPerformance is done with the head, I'll ship it and the new piston to SwainTech Coatings for a coat of ceramic heat shield on the piston face, underside of the head, and the exposed parts of the valves.
7) After SwainTech is done, I'll order a new cylinder and Total Seal gapless rings, and ship the piston, cylinder and rings to WPC to get them surfaced for anti-friction.
8) After WPC is done, I'll ship the cylinder to MicroBlue to get the tungsten sulfide coating on top of the WPC anti-friction metal surfacing. This combination should provide superior ring seal with very low friction, as well as hardening the metal surface of the cylinder for better wear characteristics.
9) The new cam that will be ground will have zero valve overlap. Yes, this will hurt traditional cylinder scavenging, except that I'll build a custom expansionary exhaust that will reflect a negative pressure pulse back toward the cylinder just before the exhaust valve closes (at least, at the engine speed associated with highway speeds, 6500 RPM). This will lock that partial vacuum in the cylinder (due to the WPC treatment and gapless rings), allowing the cylinder to get a head-start on pulling air in when the intake valve opens. The cam will have altered valve timing to compensate for the zero overlap.
Once all the head and cam work is done, I'll tear down the engine and put the hybrid ceramic bearings in. For now, the hybrid ceramic bearings will go into the rear gears, rear wheel and front wheel. I don't need to do any port polishing or matching on the new head, it's already port matched and the head is really open, so nothing to remove.
10) I'm going to replace the OEM generator stator and ground-shunt voltage regulator with a proper alternator and voltage regulator. I'll do this by removing the OEM stator and fabricating a second flywheel with magnets that will sit inside the OEM flywheel in the place where the OEM stator used to sit. It'll be driven via the magnetic interaction between the two flywheels. The second flywheel will be mounted on the shaft of a brushless waterproof 20 amp alternator, which will be mounted outside the case where the OEM stator used to sit. The OEM stator pumps out all the current it can for any given engine speed, and the ground-shunt regulator dumps any excess to ground. The new setup should save about 100 watts worth of power.
11) Water injection. Since I'll be experimenting with lean burn, I'll use a second injector to inject water. This will work as internal cooling and will help to quench the high temperatures associated with lean burn, as well as adding to cylinder pressure. Since low HC and CO is inherent in lean burn, but NOx emissions go up when burning lean, the water injection should knock down NOx generation, making for very clean exhaust. I bought a second intake manifold, which I'll work on to fit the water injector.
12) I'll be building a custom muffler / exhaust heat recovery system. It will heat the fuel and injection water. The point is to vaporize the fuel as quickly as possible, and to get the water as close to its latent heat of vaporization as possible, so it just has to absorb a little heat in-cylinder before it flashes to steam. That will maximize the amount of water injected that will then absorb heat which will be converted to motive power via steam expansion.
13) A constant-temperature air intake will provide the engine with a more controlled operating environment.
14) A new ECU (MicroSquirt) will allow me to tweak the fuel and water injection maps for lean burn.
15) Corona discharge ignition. Siemens sells a corona discharge unit, but it's too large and power hungry for a scooter, so I've got to have my own built. The trick is to pulse high voltage on and off so quickly that the spark can start the high-voltage corona discharge phase, but the voltage is clamped off before it can enter the high-amperage arc phase. Thus, the cylinder is flooded with free radicals (electrons), and given that combustion is just a free radical cascade, this should ensure reliable lean-burn combustion. A second benefit is that since the spark never enters the high-amperage arc phase, corona discharge uses less current than traditional spark ignition. It just uses the electricity more efficiently.
16) All LED lights. I had to search far and wide for an LED bulb that would work with the OEM headlight reflector. The headlight bulb aims 3 LEDs backward toward a round concave surface to simulate the light coming off an incandescent bulb's filament. The other 3 LEDs aim forward through a focusing lens. The power savings for all the lights is about 60 watts, and they're much brighter than OEM.
17) Sprag clutch and new rims. Since the rear wheel is only 12" and the front 13", solid disc rims won't have much of an effect from side winds. The new solid disc rear rim will house a Stieber ALF2D2 30-500 sprag clutch so I can idle back and coast without engine braking or geartrain drag slowing the bike down.
And finally:
18) After the bike is as efficient as I can get it, I'll work on an aerodynamic body for it. It's already pretty aerodynamic... the little 174.5cc engine can push the bike to 79 MPH (on a good day with conditions just right, usually to 75 MPH) and has reached 75 MPG maximum, but I'm looking for 107 MPH maximum and at least 150 MPG when riding at sane speeds. Part of the redesign will be removing the under-seat helmet box and reconfiguring the bike for a more feet-forward, lower profile while still allowing me to put my feet down at stop lights. I'm thinking of something along the lines of the Akira motorcycle (http://geekologie.com/2012/04/the-only-officially-recognized-akira-bik.php), but with more rounded corners.
19) I've been looking into the Forkless Front End setup, with hubless rim. This would stretch the bike, contributing to stability, while allowing the front wheel to be fully faired to cut drag. This would be a project that is far in the future, though.
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degree angle to the bike's direction of travel, of course, but perhaps as much as 45 degrees.