We got the tires off the old rims, and bought a Borrani 18" rim for the front wheel, along with stainless spokes to lace both 18" rims to the hubs. An order of needed engine parts will come in this week, so the engine can be buttoned up better than new.
The spokes were removed and the hubs will be polished and lightened where needed, the rear drum may or may not end up being resurfaced. The front wheel and hub are fairly light and strong, and the Ducati rotor being used on the front end won't add much to the unsprung weight either, which will be good. The back wheel assembly however, was awfully heavy and is going to make the back end suspension a touchy subject. I took apart the assembly and decided I could start to shed some weight at the axle. So I decided to make the axle again in titanium, as I still have about 20 feet left from a surplus find.
Titanium isn't much fun to machine, especially with a very old lathe, and no steady rest either. The amount I could take off per pass was really limited by the need to keep the piece from flexing, so about an hour and a half after starting, I was doing my finishing passes. Without the steady rest, I had to divide up the shaft and manually compensate for the remaining flex in the piece. Not too bad really, wound up with an axle +/- .001 over the length, plenty precise for this old beast. And it saved 10oz over the stock steel shaft, and is stronger too.
No comments:
Post a Comment