XJ 600 Diesel bike build update

Posted on March 30, 2013 by admin

A lovely day out was had at Tim’s in Somerset on Friday. He, very kindly, taught me how to use a lathe and helped me sort out the pulleys and the rear sprocket. It was thoroughly entertaining! Thanks again Tim!

The pulley going into the lathe:

The initial layer removed from the inside of the pulley, mainly for weight savings:

Swapped around now, and removing the main part of the pulley, where the clutch basket will sit:

After a lot more turning:

Shiny shiny!:

Drilled the holes and wacked the back plate of the clutch basket inside:

And with the basket in place:

All I need is the correct size bolts and all will be done for that!

Now time for the sprocket, it needed to fit over a 12cm wide sprocket hub:

After lots of turning (The rim and the center boss) and we drill the holes and mount it to the hub center:

Lovely Jublies!

All sorted, and today I did some test fitting of the engine and the gearbox with the pulley on it, Turns out, the engine needs to go forward another 2 inches! Argh, teaches me to weld and not measure things, after some cutting and re-welding I had extended the engine mount a further 2 inches:

I was worried about clearance with the front wheel (it looks closer than it is), so I compressed the front forks using wratchet straps and checked throughout the steering movement! All ok! 🙂

A view from the other side with the pulley on top of the crank, this is as far forward as I can get the engine:

Some close ups of the individual welds, I ran out out of gas halfway through and had to switch to flux cored wire (thats a lot more work! Grr):

I ended up re-doing a lot of these as I didnt have the power up high enough and the weld was just sitting on top of the frame 🙁

My new toy 🙂

Slowly getting there.

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XJ 600 Diesel bike build update

Posted on March 27, 2013 by admin

Lots of hard work going on recently. This is the slow bit, welding and metal working bit of the build.

The frame has been extended on the flywheel side of things, as much as the engine needs at least. The new downtube has been fitted, the plate the engine will sit has also been welded into place.

Its taken about 6 hours to get the frame modded to this state and I still have to:

Swap the brake pivot to the left hand side (As the gear lever will be on the right)
Fabricate and make up a gearbox mount (wont happen until the pulley machining is completed, which is being done on Friday)
All wiring
Slotted holes for the engine to bolt throught (to allow for pulley tension etc)
and lots of other things I have forgotten about no doubt.

Some pictures (no comments on my welds! First time im geting used to a mig welder 🙂 ) :

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XJ 600 Diesel bike build update

Posted on March 21, 2013 by admin

Right, a bit more work on the old gearbox mounts and its free. I have now had the chance to test fit the lot (gearbox etc).

Its very close, but I will need more length in the frame.

I can do 3 things, 1) stretch the frame to acomodate the length 2) add extensions to the front of the frame to clear the startermotor/flywheel 3) create a new lower basket/subframe to support the engine.

I havent decided which I will do, It depends on what tools are available and what can be obtained. I also test fitted the pulley, it should be doable but the gearbox will need to move closer to the front of the bike so that it clears the swing arm bearings. Hmmm. Have a look below: