TZ - Forking

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 5:47 pm

Id say they were trying to raise the RE5 up a tad for some reason. It could have been that a weight issue was a bit much for the stock springs so a quick fix would have been to drop in a helper top spring.

Post by **oldjapanesebikes** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:28 am

rngdng wrote:I did the damper mod as per the article on BlueBoy, but didn't add the extra spacer under the rod on Pinky

Lane - did you notice any difference in fork performance ?

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:27 pm

Ian,

I ordered a sste of Progressive Suspecnsion springs form that company. Hopefully that's all my front end needs to make it work.

The emulators don't add a whole lot of preload but it makes the forks as stiff as a 15 year old staring at the MotoGP umbrella girls. Err is it OK to say that here or is this a family channel?

Suzukidave · Post by **Suzukidave** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:40 pm

tz375 wrote:Ian,
The emulators don't add a whole lot of preload but it makes the forks as stiff as a 15 year old staring at the MotoGP umbrella girls. Err is it OK to say that here or is this a family channel?

rngdng · Post by **rngdng** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 5:50 am

oldjapanesebikes wrote:
rngdng wrote:I did the damper mod as per the article on BlueBoy, but didn't add the extra spacer under the rod on Pinky
Lane - did you notice any difference in fork performance ?

Oh yeah; the wheel chatter I was getting in fast corners, and the cupping on the front tire went away.

Lane

pjmcburney · Post by **pjmcburney** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:22 pm

tz375 wrote:Ian,

The emulators don't add a whole lot of preload but it makes the forks as stiff as a 15 year old staring at the MotoGP umbrella girls. Err is it OK to say that here or is this a family channel?

Heh, you forgot to say 15 year-old boy...

I have a set of emulators in my L and I wouldn't say they've made the front any harder, and I'm still using the OEM springs.

If you (essentially) disable the OEM damper rods and allow the emulators to do all the work, you should see a noticeable fine-damping improvement without any undue harshness or stiffness.

Plus, I use 10 weight oil. Once warmed up (they seem better after a ride than when starting out, there's still some noticeable stiction inherent in the fork itself) they're as good, if not better than any conventional forks I've had on a bike.

I was given another two sets of damping springs with my emulators to experiment with - a softer set and a harder set. I've not changed them out to see what difference it makes.
Richard, perhaps you have a fairly hard set of damping springs in your emulators?

Cheers
Paul

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:43 pm

I'm not sure what's up at the moment, but the front end is really stiff. Maybe it will feel different when I refit the rest of the motor.

It's possible that the partly built bike doesn't weigh enough to add any sag - I mean zero sag.

Another possibiity is that the spacer under teh emulators might be too thin and doesn't alow oil to flow through the emulator. That would do it too.

Lane - How thick was the adapter you slipped on the top of the damper rod?

I can see these forks coming off again as soon as it's all back together and weighing a ton.

pjmcburney · Post by **pjmcburney** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:32 pm

Richard,

A GT motor weighs an equivalent just shy of the Queen Mary... I reckon any forks would feel stiff without the engine in the frame.

Stick the donk in and then make a decision about the forks...

Cheers
Paul

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:14 pm

You are right Paul,

That donk is about as heavy as a Holden Torana, and about as powerful.

(note to US reader: Old FORD vs GM B/S from back in the day).

But the whole bottom end is already in place. Of course it has no starter and some of the bits are somewhat lighter than stock.

When the motor is fully assembled and carbs are on etc I'll see what it's like then, but I have a sneaky feeling that I may need to lift the emulators slightly to allow the oil to flow.

I'll know soon with some luck.

pjmcburney · Post by **pjmcburney** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:26 am

tz375 wrote:You are right Paul,

That donk is about as heavy as a Holden Torana, and about as powerful. (note to US reader: Old FORD vs GM B/S from back in the day).

Have you seen the prices decent Torana's are pulling these days?
Jump on fleabay and do a search.. there's a dude trying to sell a genuine L34 SLR5000 for AU$145,000!

Holy crap Batman!!

I wish I'd have kept the original LC GTR I had when I was in my early 20's - they're worth upwards of AU$50,000 these days...

But the whole bottom end is already in place. Of course it has no starter and some of the bits are somewhat lighter than stock.

When the motor is fully assembled and carbs are on etc I'll see what it's like then, but I have a sneaky feeling that I may need to lift the emulators slightly to allow the oil to flow.

I'll know soon with some luck.

Hmmm... can you take a pic or two of your emulators? I can compare them to what I have and see if there's any difference if you like.

Cheers
Paul

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:43 am

Now theres a name i have not heard in quite a few years, the Holden Torana. We had a few of them around here, especially the XU-1 of the early 70s
Along with these there were the other saloons such as the Premier, Kingswood, Belmont etc.
Id suspect the Toranas are highly collectable these day and the price you are quoting Paul does not surprise me in the least.
BTW hows the units you got from Tasmania look,any pics???

pjmcburney · Post by **pjmcburney** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 4:54 pm

Hey Allan,

I'll try not to hijack this thread too much... (feel free to move it

)

If you know of an unrestored XU-1 hiding in someone's shed over there, please let me know!

Man, did I have some fun in that car...

Anyhoo, gauges arrived from Tassie a couple of days ago - they're not too bad.
They'll need a small amount of panel-beating and repainting, plus I'll need a trip-reset knob (broken off

).
Chrome back-plates are fairly rusty, I think I have a better set in the shed.

I'll PM you with pics of all the gauges, including the early one's I don't need anymore, on the weekend.
If you can fit me in at some time to refurbish these new one's, I'd be most grateful!

Cheers
Paul

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:10 pm

Paul, I'm about done with suspension for the moment, so feel free to use the thread for gauges or anything else.

Just finished that BMW trans ready to ship it to Australia, so time for a break. I think I'll go and make a pot of fresh Chinese soup with shrimp and noodles for a healthy low fat, low salt dinner.

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 10:37 pm

Well, the soup was great - though I say so myself - now back to business.

The forks felt fine when I assembled them, so they became too stiff after I filled them with oil! What that tells me is that I out-smarted myself when I fitted the emulators. I have them sitting on top of the damper rods and I suspect that's obstructing the oil flow and effectively locking them solid.

I'll wait until I have the top end of the motor back on just to be sure, but in the meantime i decided to extend the damper rods slightly to allow for 15mm more travel. The Progressive Suspension dual rate springs have arrived, so I need to get a pair of emulator spacers machined.

With longer shocks and an 18" front wheel, pulling the forks up by 30mm sets the forks at 24 degrees which a touch too steep with those triple clamps. That's where it is at the moment and that isn't going to be too stable.

So the damper rod spacer will raise the front end and restore some rake and trail. If I have the triples modified to take a GSXR aluminum stem offset forwards by 5mm, that should get the trail back to a more usable number.

I'm so glad that this bike is almost stock