MY MOTORCYCLE PROJECT

[Greg Perkins]

Originally Posted by sporno

Well to start off im rebuilding a motorcycle that my FIRST MENTOR GAVE ME . when i got this Bike it was once converted into an eletric bike ( it WAS A 1982 KAWASAKI KLX) and when i got it it was a frame , wheels and a seat the rear brake worked , but i had no clue ... a year goes by and nothing happens to it .. this past summer i finally got an engine , its a Briggs and Stratton Lawnmower engine that was a vertical shaft , but im con verting the engine to a horiziontal shaft .. turns out its all in the carburater .. the motor can be started witha turn key instead of pulling a cord . Turns out this motor is the exact same one used in Jr. Dragsters . so i get right to work on the bike , but run into many problems . 1. the carb. has to be flipped before i can start it . 2. fitting hte engine into the bike without the motor mounts and having no clutch . The motor fits int hebike now , but no mount and to line up the motor and rear sprocket the engine is sticking out one side ... heres my idea. to take the engine and mount it in the bike witht he clutch and chain sticking out nad attaching that to a 2 pillow blocks then another gear that attaches to the rear sprocket . the gear that attaches will have to be smaller than the rear sprocket so it sets up a higher torque gear ratio. the clutch is a centrifugal clutch so i only get one gear ratio out of it so im kinda skrewed. I need to get as much torque and power out of this that i can . the rear skrocket weights a ton so im gonna drill some lightening holes in it and also drop the rotational mass which means it will need less power to move the wheel .also the problems witht the bike and engine is that im loosing power to begin with because of the clutch and then im loosing more power from the gear to sprocket .. well not a loss , but changes the already changed gear ratio. Also the exhaust that came with it was crap and rusted to hell .. so i tried making one out of copper , but then realized it would melt do to the EGT's ( exhaust gas temperature). so now im on a mission to find lightish weight metal that can take the heat..... ohh back to the way to make up power.... NOS , nitrous oxide .. can be done safely without blowing the motor.. with an 8 or up HP motor it can probly take a 4-5 shot of NOS ... thats alot if you think of it ....any ideas or help would be cool

Ooook, so lemme get this straight...you wanna take a 1982 kawasaki frame that's allready been modified, and modify it some more? Seems like the modifications you'd like to make to it will only weaken the allready modified frame even more. If I were you, I would take some measurements, and make a new frame, hell make it a chopper, because we all know choppers are cool. When I'm designing something, I *usually* find it easier to create a new part instead of out of another part. Any local welding shop (or unless you're able to bend and weld yourself) should be able to whip a mini-chopper frame up.

You should be able to get a clutch kit online that most gokarts use, and if you've allready got a working brake system now you should be in good shape. Personally, I would ditch the horizontal/vertical conversion, as trying to find a a carbuerator that is sufficient will be tricky, and you might be able to get a horizontal shaft motor thats like 5 or 6 hp really cheap (look for old snowblower motors). Remember if you do decided to do a chopper, give it one realy big and wide back tire, like the tires used on golfcarts.

Hope this helps, I don't mean to tear apart your idea, but I'm just offering some constructive criticism. For more info, check out here

~Greg