Matty`s Bashan Streetfighter Quad

[Oddball Matt]

...And he said "let there be light", and there was light...

Probly an insignificant post to anyone else but I really needed the moral win seeing the beast slowly waking up from it`s years of slumber. Everything`s connected with test leads at this point but slowly chewing my way through the connections by soldering connectors from the old wiring harness and replacing with other kinds where not available. Had to change the connector of the general lighting relay as the fire had destroyed the original one and couldn`t find the one the new harness used. Got it working 7/8 for now as of course I managed to drop one of the spade connectors into the sewer beneath the lifter table and the package only came with one mercy piece and that of course was a female one...



The front indicators cannot yet be fitted as the bracket they will be fitted on does not yet exist, here`s a small teaser on what I`m planning to hang onto it as well, but that`ll have to wait for now.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by Oddball Matt

The welds look horrible for three distinct reasons: I had to use parts of the original exhaust to size up at the connector, the original exhaust is a bitch to weld onto being thin walled and inferior quality metal, and most of all I`m not that good at welding.

I've learned that you don't have to be a good welder, just a good grinder. I think you're doing a good job.

[Oddball Matt]

Well that`s a bit of a double edged sword... The better you get with welding the less you generally have to grind, but yea welding small OD thin wall pipes together with a MIG rig no matter how expensive there will be cleaning up to do (I`m spoiled with a Kemppi MinarcMig EVO 200 which is a fully automatic digital unit, you only enter what material you are welding and the thickness and the machine does all the math. The guy at the shop did a tremendously good job selling the thing to me when I walked into the shop saying hi I need a welding rig but I don`t know how to weld, and the guy said never worry this machine does.)





Got started with the fog light circuit (since you know, we all got handlebar switches and relay sockets laying around gathering dust just in case right?) but got robbed of ability to think by a very persistent headache which I`m still nursing writing this so didn`t get far today. Still gotta finish welding the exhaust and rewiring the engine kill/start buttons before test firing as the connectors for those seem to be different in the new wiring loom and what I have dangling off the quad.

[Oddball Matt]

Haven`t posted much although been in the shed almost every night, mainly trying not to re-enact the famous garage fight scene from the movie House of flying spanners... Here`s where I`m at right now:

-There`s no wiring diagram available anywhere for these things (at least one I`ve managed to find)

-Not that it would have helped me much as the wire colors of the new wiring harness do not match the ones on the quad.

-The new wiring harness has been wired... to clumsily translate a Finnish saying, "towards ass". I literally had to explode the remains of the old harness to find out which wire is supposed to go where.

-The engine kill wire was hooked up as the positive for the horn

-There`s one wire that has switched power but is not used so I`m guessing that`s what`s supposed to power the horn.

-The horn negative is wired straight into ground so if I wire it like that it`ll scream bloody murder whenever the power is switched on, still haven`t gotten to figuring out where the horn wire DOES go and rather not push the button to find out

-The engine start circuit was wired so that if I pressed the start button without the brake pulled the lights would go out, and the brake pulled in the brake light would light up, but only if the start button is pressed.

-There`s still one wire that`s coming from the gear sensor and has switched power UNLESS the reverse gear is selected. At first I thought this was supposed to power the start relay but it only has 10v and too little amps to trip the relay so still got no idea what, if anything, that is for.

As can be seen from the pic I wired the switch gear through superseal connectors but at that point got my head mixed up badly enough that I wired the connectors wrong so gonna have to re-re-re-re-redo those one more time...

So yea it`s been a fun week but now the start button does indeed trip the start relay, and only does it when the brakes are applied as it should be.

Still waiting on my rear brakes though, going on six weeks now... The DPD parcel tracker does show the package has left Meppel NL 31.1. but for some reason shows up in Oirschot NL two days later which is on the opposite side of the country and nowhere near Eindhoven where the airport is. Just sent an email to ALG-Moto if they`d kindly ask DPD where the hell is my package and why is it still not here. Slowly starting to run out of humor with that one...

[Weldangrind]

That reminds me of when I had to build a wiring harness for my old TW200. I had similar weird things going on and nothing made sense when a switch was activated. Turns out, you shouldn't use a blue LED flashlight to determine wire colour, when you're red-green deficient. After finding a white flashlight, my mistakes were quite obvious.
Not saying you made mistakes; I'm saying I can identify with weird results.

[Oddball Matt]

FFS I'm a certified el-tech (though never worked as one) and it still took me a few nights to figure out what's going on as doing it without a wiring diagram is about the same as orienteering without a map... Gotta do it wire by wire.

That light thing is kinda funny though...

[Oddball Matt]

Turns out I got a ton of superseal pins and sockets but happen to be fresh out of the connector bodies so solder and glue-socket it is, the switchgear can easily be removed along with the harness if the need should ever arise. Also turns out there`s no point in searching for the horn wire as the new harness doesn`t HAVE one! The center pin in the 9-way connector to the left switchgear was empty! That was quickly remedied by a bypass and now I have a horn as well.



Done with electrickery for a while I decided to fit a new hose between the brake master and the reservoir as well as refit the said reservoir. Also fitted the chain although after thoroughly soaking it in 80w90 oil and letting it sit, it has sagged enough that I probly have to remove one more link, no biggie as it probly takes me more time to dig out the tool box again than to do the deed as this is a spring clip master chain. (I`ll tell you being used to 530xw chains this thing is worryingly flimsy but I guess it`ll be enough for the output this thing has...)

[Weldangrind]

It's remarkable how much punishment a 428H can take.

[Oddball Matt]

Somehow I doubt this thing will make a hunnid an fordy horsies either hell does it even do the 40? No idea what to expect TBH as I first bought this whole thing to be destroyed... Just got word that my brake parts have FINALLY beached in Turku, might get them for the weekend, might not. Probiy won't make it to the garage til saturday but then I got a very rare whole-day tinker-time as I got the house to myself, going to make every minute count.

[Oddball Matt]

She runs (man it always feels the best to write that ) BUT the battle is far from over quite yet...



Dismiss the horrible clatter I got spooked about that too but turns out it`s just loose things rattling around at the back (basically just threw this together after a very long day in the garage to try if it starts at all) Now I know how to do a lot of things, carb tuning is not one of them so if someonoe can identify from the sound or how it behaves (bogging/fluctuating revs at WOT) if it`s going lean or rich I`d much appreciate it. It does idle like a champ and revs up to about half throttle but when I open it up it goes hell no so I`m guessing main jet/needle position?

[franque]

Is it better or worse with the choke engaged, and is the filter clean?

[Oddball Matt]

Much worse. Filter is brand new (jetcone style ebay power filter)

[franque]

It's probably too rich then. Does it start from cold even in that weather, no choke? Assuming the exhaust isn't plugged up (which I'd check first), I'd look at putting a smaller pilot jet in it, maybe two sizes down, and then try adjusting the mixture screw from there.

[Oddball Matt]

Only started it cold once, took a lot of spinning but that also might just have been the fact that I just filled the carb for the first time. The exhaust shouldn't be plugged since just built the whole thing. It's slightly longer than the original but shouldn't be long enough to restrict. Dunno what happened, might be the ignition is faulty because after I did a couple figure eights in the yard and parked it, it hasn't done a thing, the entire electric system is dead as a stone. Gonna investigate once I have the time.

[Oddball Matt]

Long time no ocean... Lost all motivation towards this project after getting it outside and finding out it won`t run properly, did other stuff in the garage messing it up real good then didn`t have the resolve to clean up so for the last couple months this thing`s been sittin out in the rain. Finally got a spark to clean up the garage along with a few upgrades so eventually got the quad back on the table as well.



Since I finally had a view to the underside without getting on all fours (ha ha...) I decided the first issue I should tackle is the rattling exhaust...



...sooo one chimney bracket coming up when I get off work tomorrow, can`t use an angle grinder at this hour as that would wake up the kids.

Oh, also found out a couple issues with the not revving thing. First is you don`t need a special screwdriver after all to get to the downwards pointing air screw, you just need to get at it from the right side of the vehicle.



Yea I know... Still need one of them ratchet bit driver wrench thingies but luckily I have one.

The airscrew was open for 2 1/4 turns, it is now opened a full three revolutions, after I get the chimney braced and rid of the resonance rattle gonna wheel it back out and see if that did a thing.

OH! And I STILL have not received the rear brake parts I ordered in January but that`s actually partly my fault now as the package has reached the seller but I told them to hold the re-sending till I figure out what else I still need (about the last place to get them as they`ve stopped making these long ago)

That`s been at least about a month though, should probly send them an email tomorrow...