Getting things mounted

The bike has been receiving work, lots of it in fact. We have picked a name for the bike, received new sponsorships, fixed problems, and had many milestones. Here is the long awaited tale of what has been going on at the Bad Brothers Garage.

New oil tank

First up, the great guys over at NextGen Industries made us this oil tank which is designed to fit right under the engine in the front of the bike. It has very limited room to squeeze in there and still be able to get the fairings on. With a simple picture and a few dimensions from us in an email they created this masterpiece!

Oil tank side view

The tank holds about a quart and a half of oil, which is not a lot but will hopefully do the trick for us since we are cooling it pretty good. The fittings on the side are AN racing type fittings with a size #8 on top and size #6 on bottom. The #8 is the oil return from the turbo, and the smaller #6 is the feed to the oil pump. On top of the tank is the filler cap, and two 1/8th inch NPT fittings for the temperature probe and breather tube. There is no return for the oil bypass system, as the bike will be using an electronically controlled oil pump system to regulate pressure.

Mounting the pumps

all right, now to squeeze everything else I need on to the tiny bike frame. Not so much a "how-to" in this section as a "where I crammed it" kind of instructional thing. You can see above that the parts are starting to show up on the bike.

The thermal air barrier fan

This fan will be under the rear section of the gas tank and serves a few purposes. It will help to pull air from the front of the bike and under the gas tank to keep the pumps cool, and it will also push cool air down under the seating area to work as a thermal air barrier. Air space is one of the best insulators against heat, and having a constantly moving supply of air in the air directly under the seat will help to keep the drivers back side a lot cooler. The fan will also keep heat away from the body panels so they will not melt. Although it is hard to see in this picture, there are actually two fans stacked on top of each other to force even more air through this section of the bike. More fans will be dispersed throughout the bike for this same purpose.

Oil and water pumps

The oil and water pumps are mounted right along the centerline of the bike so that they will fit underneath the gas tank in the space where he original air breather would have sat. The pump in the front is for the water injection system, and the one in the rear is the oil pump.

Fuel rail and throttle

The fuel rail and throttle mount on the right side of the bike. Bolt on brackets were made to hold the pieces, this way everything including the brackets can be removed to facilitate changing the engine when an overhaul is necessary. The fuel rail is the black rectangular object in the upper left of the photo, and fuel from the throttle valve feeds into the rail and is then dispersed to the 5 fuel injector locations on the engine.

Handlebar controls

We already had the handlebars mounted, but it was time to fit controls and the steering damper. Fitting the parts at this stage is crucial so that they do not interfere with the plumbing or oil cooler.

Steering damper

This small blue tube is the steering damper. It took some time to find a damper that would fit on this tiny bike, but I eventually settled on a pocketbike damper that I re-valved for better performance. The idea of the damper is that there is a fluid filling the damper and a piston inside that moves back and forth with the push and pull of the rod coming out of the end of the damper.

Steering damper

Here you can see that the damper is in the position of a full right turn of the handlebars. The piston inside the damper would have to move through the oil as the steering is turned. As long as the steering is turned in a normal fashion the piston moves easily, and so do the bars. If the piston is jerked, the oil as a non-compressable liquid stops the piston movement and keeps the bars from turning. So as long as you are steering correctly there is no difference in the way the bars feel while turning. If for some reason the front wheel jerked, as it can when hitting a bump, the damper would keep the wheel tracking straight and absorb the jerk so the driver can maintain control.

Push button controls

These buttons are the controls for the various features of the bike. The aluminum housings are from Squatch Air Clutch Systems and the buttons are from IDEC. All of the buttons are push on-push off types except for the green one. The green one is momentary, so when you let off it turns off. The green button activates any turned on switches function when it is pressed. The afterburner fuel is the white button, the afterburner ignition is the orange, afterburner fire show is the red, motor drive is the yellow, and water injection is the blue. So to fire the afterburner you would press the white for fuel, orange for ignition, and the system would be armed, pressing the green button would then fire the afterburner. By adjusting the combination of switches you can do a pre show complete with fire effects, and then get the system armed for a run down the dragstrip while only having to deal with pressing with the green button during the actual run. Actually very simple to use, and a very good idea when you consider that the driver will be hanging on for dear life and will only have one thumb with which to push the activation buttons.

Oil Cooler

Not much to look at, but this is how the oil cooler ends up sitting in the bike with the fairings on. There is plenty of clearance, and the air can flow straight into it from the front of the bike while moving, and fans are used to keep the air flowing when it is sitting still. As stated before, lots of small fans on the bike to try to keep things cool!

Cold air intake system

Here is a nice picture of the cold air intake mounted on the front of the engine. It is made of aluminum and uses compressed CO2 to shill the bulbs in the center so that the air going in to the engine will be colder and more dense.

Oil tank mounted

The oil tank mounted right in the lower front of the fairings and fit beautifully. It hangs from two steel mounting bars that connect to the front of the engine mount. The drain plug hole can be seen at the front of the tank near the bottom. A small amount of the front lip on the lower fairing had to be trimmed away to make clearance for the oil tank.

Convertibars Cyclops clamp

The Convertibars Cyclops clamps were a big help after attaching so much to the front bars. They have allowed us to adjust the bars not only for better clearance, but also for better rider comfort. The bars are now arranged so that they stick almost straight out to both sides, much more like a drag bike handlebar should.

Fairing clearance

With the lower fairing installed, everything is a tight fit! There is just enough room for the fuel rail and throttle, so plumbing will have to be very carefully thought out to keep clearances between the engine and fairings.

Rear brake arm

The rear brake housing would rotate if not held in place firmly, so a new rear brake stay arm was made out of 1/4 inch thick steel and coated in black oxide coating. We have a new black oxide coating process from Caswell Plating, and it works exceptionally well for quickly putting a tough finish on steel parts like this one. The finish is almost suede like in appearance, and is very durable. It is also very much flat black which will look great on the bike with the finished paint scheme. The engine will also be getting this treatment later.

Engine cut out on fairings

With things coming together, a little better fit of the fairings was done, and some minor material was trimmed away.

Clearance for the bars

The clearance was again checked for the handlebars with the lower fairing on, and the space in the front fairing near the headlight was checked for size. That space will be used for some of the computer which will control the bike.

Afterburner spark plug mounts

The afterburner received its spark plug mounts, and they are just visible as the small pieces sticking out from underneath the right side afterburner. Only the right AB will be lit, while the flame will then propagate to the left side through the tube which connects them.

Well, that does it for this update, tune in for the next when we do some plumbing on the bike and show the first of the paint scheme. The name of the bike is about to be revealed as well! See you again soon, and please remember to support the site. Your donations keep us going!

Russ W. Moore
and
The Bad Brothers Racing Build Team

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