Tango'd Storm

[Jbrebel]

I guess it's all a matter of personal taste. Some will like, some won't.

Think your spot on there mate. Thats what bikes are all about for me

[rst steve]

Bikes a credit to your skill mate

Still lovin the back end its pure class and suits the rest of the bike perfectly. Only problem with seeing bikes like this is all the ideas i get then the credit card takes a bashing then the missus gives me a bashing.

[Jonesey]

Just got PM, thanks Scoob, you're a good'un.
Chris.

[scubadog]

Bikes a credit to your skill mate

Still lovin the back end its pure class and suits the rest of the bike perfectly. Only problem with seeing bikes like this is all the ideas i get then the credit card takes a bashing then the missus gives me a bashing.

Hi Steve

This might surprise you but the bike as it stands cost me a little over £6000. £3500 for the original mint Firestorm, £4000 total build costs less £1300 I got back by selling stock parts on ebay. Did all the work meself and only outed the jobs I couldn't do - paint, powdercoating, the rad, couple of machining jobs, that kind of thing. Taught meself to MIG weld in January so saved at least £400 by doin my own subframe (originally a Ducati 748 Biposto). Welds ain't pretty but they've supported my lardy butt for the last 1000 miles!!



Scoob.

[motostorm]

thats some very neat work scubadog !!!! lovely bike

[balls]

LOVE the paint looks like ford asbo orange

[yorkshirepuddin]

STUNNING, dont really need to say anymore.

[scubadog]

LOVE the paint looks like ford asbo orange

Well spotted - is indeed Ford Focus ST "Electric Orange". Bloody lovely in the sunshine (not that we're getting much of that this summer...).

Scoob

[Pete.L]

Beautifully Done Scoob
So what's next?? How long before you get board and your fingers start twitching towards the next project

Pete.l

[kevg]

Great lookin bike Scoob, i'm with Pete, whats next?

[scubadog]

Pete, Kev - that is the burning question...

Got some things I want to try on the Firestorm. First thing is more power: tune the motor perhaps (what will I get, 135 useable bhp tops?), nitrous maybe, or even explore my loony idea of fitting an SP2 motor. Turbo or supercharger were briefly considered until I figured out the cost!

I might change the front end to a later GSXR setup with radials. Need to do something to refine the shock linkages too.Not much else to do really. Which begs the question, what's the next project?

To be honest, I'm enjoying the Firestorm too much to sell it and don't have room in the garage for another project, although I'm very seriously thinking of buying something as the basis of a drag bike. Dunno what yet, maybe a TL.

Meanwhile I'll continue tinkering with the Storm and the H*rl*y my wife rides...

Scoob

[gilson]

The breather's a one-off. I live close to Silverstone circuit and a mate of mine works for Earls. It's not a kit, just a length of Earls braided hose with a Honda fitment to replace the oil filler cap. I got the tapered filter on ebay.

That is a nice bike for sure!

Why have this breather? And why connect it to the oil in hole? Apart from looking sub zero, what's the function? More questions to follow!

[rst steve]

You lot on here will get me into so much trouble

The missus is gonna kill me

Just bidding on a single sider on ebay

[scubadog]

The breather's a one-off. I live close to Silverstone circuit and a mate of mine works for Earls. It's not a kit, just a length of Earls braided hose with a Honda fitment to replace the oil filler cap. I got the tapered filter on ebay.

That is a nice bike for sure!

Why have this breather? And why connect it to the oil in hole? Apart from looking sub zero, what's the function? More questions to follow!

The breather is an efficient way of venting crankcase pressure build-up and therefore allows the engine to rev more freely. Actually, on a V-twin the breather's of less importance than on a higher revving four - the higher rev thresholds of modern hypersports bikes benefit more.

It's fitted to the oil filler because that's an easily accessible place to fit it - nothing more scientific than that.

Every self-respecting streetfighter should have one!

Scubadog

PS will reply to your PM later

[scubadog]

I'd be very interested to know how difficult it was to mate the triumph hub to the vfr arm. Is the hub or spindle the same diameter, or was there some machining involved ?

Actually it was less difficult that I first thought. Main points:

1. I started off with a pre-VTEC VFR800 swinger, around 1999 vintage. The important thing about this arm is that it's forked at the pivot, just like a Firestorm swinger. There are some "buts" though (more below).
2. Make sure you have the VFR eccentric adjuster - the Triumph adjuster is smaller diameter and won't fit the VFR arm.
3. The GOOD news is that the bearings inside the VFR and Triumph eccentric adjusters are identical sizes, so the Triumph axle/hub assembly slides into the VFR eccentric perfectly. That's the easy bit.
4. The "buts" I mentioned above... Although the VFR arm is forked (and only requires slightly different sized spacers on the outside of the arm (ie between the arm and the rearsets) to fit nicely onto the Storm's rear end, the shape of the fork is completely different. So two effects - 1) there's not enough space for the shock in its standard location on the right, and 2) the lower shock mount on the VFR arm is in a different position to the Firestorm. So I moved the shock to the left side in order to line up with the VFR lower linkage (I made up a new upper shock mount) and re-routed the rear exhaust header to the right (see pic somewhere in this thread). So there's some work to be done there.
5. Once you have the Triumph axle/hub assembly in place you'll need to do a little machining here and there to get clearances right and everything lined up. For example, I had to skim some material off of the Triumph sprocket carrier for correct chain alignment - about 5mm if memory serves me. I also made up a one-off caliper mount for the new Brembo I fitted (although this isn't necessary - you can use the existing Triumph set up).
6. As the Triumph wheel is wider than the stock VFR wheel, there was another alignment issue - the wheel itself. For perfect alignment, I skimmed 10mm off the Triumph wheel's inner flange. Another "but"...
7. The next "but" is that, by taking the material off of the inner flange, it brings the wheel rim further over to the left and therefore potentially creates clearance issues on the rear caliper. The first Brembo caliper I bought had a vertical bleed nipple and brake line boss - I had to change that one to another Brembo with a horizontal nipple and hose boss just because of the clearance issues (see pic earlier in this thread).
8. Yo may notice on one of the pics in this thread that I've routed the brake line through the swingarm just to keep things tidy. I cut a small "pillarbox" slot in the right fork of the arm and threaded the hose through there and out one of the cast holes at the back of the arm. The eagled-eyed amongst you will notice TWO braided hoses running into the arm - the second one is to the speedo sensor I mounted on the rear of the arm (I'm running Motogadget digital instruments). I sleeved the sensor wires though a length of brake hose to protect them.

Them's the basics but give me a shout if you need any more advice. If I think of anything else I'll post.

Scubadog