A wee bit o'plumbing. Checking one more thing off the list.
I know I promised that I'd be working on the belly pan this weekend. I guess I just got tired of the dust and noise of grinding. My air compressor is too small to really run my pneumatic tools so it just runs constantly. I looked at the list of race preps and decided to tackle something a little less labor intensive, but still necessary to get out on the track.
The plumbing I needed to finish was the new overflow bottle. I removed the stock one as it mounted to the air box and I needed some extra room in that area for rerouting the wiring harness. It was too big anyway so out it came. My idea was to take this plastic squeeze bottle and mount it closer to the front of the bike where any potential overflow would get caught by the belly pan and fairing combo. I started with this 8oz bottle, a random bracket and some hose clamps to flesh out the idea.
This is my proof of concept. I straightened the bottom of the bracket so that it would cup both the top and the bottom of the bottle. I then used two hose clamps to secure the bottle to the bracket. The small hole at the bottom of the bracket looked just perfect to fit the side cover bolt you see just to the right next to the timing mark cover on the left side of the engine. With my idea translating itself into a functional concept I got to work. A few hammer blows and some vise work later, I had a tab in the bottom part of the bracket 90 degrees to the bottle support. A quick test fit with the bolt showed that it fit exactly without any drilling needed.
And here it is all bolted into place with the overflow hose tucked neatly into the bottle about 1/4" from the bottom. I poked a tiny hole in the top of the bottle so that if the radiator pulls coolant from the bottle, the bottle won't collapse under the vacuum. The entire assembly tucks into the space between the upper fairing and the engine and is easily accessible with some simple tools if needed. All in all it took about 20 minutes of work to do and I am quite pleased with the results. I didn't even have to sweep up the shop.
Can't beat that for a nice, quick job in the garage. I will get to the belly pan this week after work so visit again soon to see more progress there.
Blue
No work for this particular project going on in this pic. I just wanted to send a picture to my dad to show him what I got going on here and thought I'd include it in this post.
The plumbing I needed to finish was the new overflow bottle. I removed the stock one as it mounted to the air box and I needed some extra room in that area for rerouting the wiring harness. It was too big anyway so out it came. My idea was to take this plastic squeeze bottle and mount it closer to the front of the bike where any potential overflow would get caught by the belly pan and fairing combo. I started with this 8oz bottle, a random bracket and some hose clamps to flesh out the idea.
This is my proof of concept. I straightened the bottom of the bracket so that it would cup both the top and the bottom of the bottle. I then used two hose clamps to secure the bottle to the bracket. The small hole at the bottom of the bracket looked just perfect to fit the side cover bolt you see just to the right next to the timing mark cover on the left side of the engine. With my idea translating itself into a functional concept I got to work. A few hammer blows and some vise work later, I had a tab in the bottom part of the bracket 90 degrees to the bottle support. A quick test fit with the bolt showed that it fit exactly without any drilling needed.
To finish it off and make it look a little less ghetto rigged, I slipped some heat shrink tubing over both the bracket and the hose clamps. Now I don't have to worry about any vibration rubbing a hole in the bottle.
And here it is all bolted into place with the overflow hose tucked neatly into the bottle about 1/4" from the bottom. I poked a tiny hole in the top of the bottle so that if the radiator pulls coolant from the bottle, the bottle won't collapse under the vacuum. The entire assembly tucks into the space between the upper fairing and the engine and is easily accessible with some simple tools if needed. All in all it took about 20 minutes of work to do and I am quite pleased with the results. I didn't even have to sweep up the shop.
Can't beat that for a nice, quick job in the garage. I will get to the belly pan this week after work so visit again soon to see more progress there.
Blue
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