Instant mess

It seems that my plan not to have a plan for 2012 has progressed very smoothly, formulating itself into something closely resembling a plan without actually being one! The big two changes for this year will be the addition of the previously mentioned Racepak, and a switch from a lock up clutch to a slider.
The lockup has been in the bike since the beginning, and we had a few good results from it on the small tyre bike. But since building the new bike weve struggled to get good 60ft times out of it. It's been so soft the bike has hardly moved, to so hard it's stalled off the line. And still runs 1.3-1.4 second 60ft's. I noticed recently the lockup arm pivots are quite badly worn too so rather than replace them or the lockup, it's been decided - with the persuasive help of Stu Crane to change to a slider.

The picture shows a warpspeed racing slider for a GSXR

A slider is a different animal to a lockup, it has many advantages but the downside is it will slow reaction times. I figured if it can make it a tenth faster on the quarter mile then i'll have to just pull my finger out and try not to loose that on reaction times, so i may as well just go for it and get one. 
When i had the basket made last year it was made to be futureproof so i could use a slider with it, so i only need the slider hat, the clutch cover and a few small parts.
It should be ready in time for Easter, so in the meantime i need to get rid of the clutch lever or swap it for a rear brake lever and wire a momentary switch for the 2step. 


I took a day trip upto Scotland at the weekend to buy a bike. Of course, it had to be a GSX1100 and the only reason for doing so was to add the engine to my collection of spares. The motor had the top end removed due to camshaft damage, but is otherwise ok.

The engine came out yesterday and today i set it on the bench and took the oil filter cover off so i could leave the oil draining out. What i found was almost certainly the cause for the camshaft failure, someone had used half a tube of instant gasket on the filter housing, (and who knows where else!), great globs of the stuff has squeezed out into the engine, it would only have taken one bit to break off and get wedged in an oil passageway to cause the damage. It's the most likely scenario.

In an attempt to assimilate useful engine parts into my collection i discovered i had a lot more bits than i thought i had, many of them of no use either, such as starter motors, stater clutches etc. Plus, i'm not sure i will ever use 6 cylinder heads!
So i've listed a few bits on eBay, plus the rest of the bike which i'll try and pass on as a complete rolling chassis.
It was tempting to keep it as a road bike project for my old 1260 barrels and head, but i thought better of it......