Matty`s Bashan Streetfighter Quad

[Oddball Matt]

I splashed around with the brake fluid enough to not be quite sure. Tried to clean up as well as I could and hopefully going back in tonight with more brake fluid and a better fitting hose. I do fear the fire has damaged the M/C as even though it's visible rubber parts seemed intact it has oxidized pretty badly.

[franque]

I'd just get a new one then, they're not too expensive.

[Oddball Matt]

Probly going to since I need to order a new speed sender anyway. It's just that the "not expensive" parts have started to stack up quite a bill, in fact without counting I'm quite sure I've already spent more money on this that what a new one would have cost but pointless to back out anymore either so...

[Oddball Matt]

Pretty sure I just figured out the issue with the brakes, must have been tired or sth last night as the answer was blatantly obvious at first glance today, so much so I`m kinda embarassed to even tell... You see this thing has the same brake caliper on both sides up front, which means the left side caliper is upside down... You guessed it, caliper off and open the bleed valve, bubbles rush out even without pumping. Re-bled the right side to purge the line, got quite a bit of air out from there too. Pedal seems nice and solid now, report back tomorrow but as it stands I might not need new parts after all.

[franque]

Glad to hear it! We often overthink problems, and it makes it worse for us than it needs to be

[Oddball Matt]

24hrs passed, still got brakes. New speed sensor ordered, if all goes well should have valid inspection and be road legal within July.

[Oddball Matt]

Now it`s a bolt...



...now it`s a hose nipple.





Didn`t fancy buying a new carb boot as this one`s already brand new just lacking the vacuum port. Been trying to find one online but with bad luck. Managed to locate a few but both companies not only wanted 10eur to ship a 1.50 part, they also wanted to charge me 20eur for "small order extra" like really?! Took me less time to fab one off an M6 bolt than what I`ve been using online searching.

Speed sensor should arrive monday, given that fixes the speedo I might have a valid road inspection by the end of next week.

[Oddball Matt]

Gave the fairings a proper wash last night to rinse off all the orange paint dust and slapped on a few go-fast stickers since I happened to have some (another pair in the rear mudguards currently covered by the sun glare)

Today I was planning to try get the carb fine tuned to get rid of that mid range sputter, rolled it on the street and started 'er up. At first it only agreed to idle dying at the first twist of the wrist then refused to start altogether. At first I thought the new vacuum nipple is leaking but since even a buttload of donkey kick didn't do nuffin I suspected it cannot be that. While taking off the carb for further investigation I noticed water droplets all around inside the carb throat. WTF?!



This is how much water I drained off the bowl and the fuel tank!!! So apparently that gas cap isn't sealing worth a damn! Note to self never leave it in the rain if it can be avoided!

I also took off, finished and painted the fog light brackets, and improved the seat front locking lip a little. The fire has melted the original one so the PO had fitted a metal strip in it's place but the roofing screws he fixed it with weren't quite up for the job so I drilled a few holes and put machine screws with nylock nuts in to reinforce the structure and shaped the strip a little to better catch the locating bolt on the frame crossbeam into the slot in the middle. Currently debating with myself whether or not to paint the flywheel inspection cover, and the starter cover orange.

Far as I can tell should be ready for inspection now, trying to get an appt sometime towards the end of the week.

[Oddball Matt]

I have now officially reached the point of this build where I`m either gonna start laughing maniacally flapping my sleeves around claiming I`m Batman, setting the quad back on fire this time not putting it out, or selling it for the first punter for a dollar...

New speed sender and extension cable fitted, still no speed reading. At first I noticed the extension cable was pinned wrong assuming it should be color for color from the gauge to the sender ( HOW can you mess up three wires?!) changed that, measured everything, I have ground, I have pilot power and I have sensor power, BUT the sensor wire is giving me a constant voltage reading instead of a pulse like it should, I even tried the remnants of the old brake disc in case the new one would be somehow of wrong metal, and failing that with a magnet but it`s not responding at all. So either they sent me a bum sensor, OR my gauge is busted.

NOTHING, NOT ONE THING of this build has gone smoothly or worked properly. I`ve worked with car engines, big motorcycles, RC motors of the ICE kind but this blasted contraption is taking the cake of being the most uncooperative vehicle I`ve ever poked my tools in!!!

[franque]

Sounds like the sensor is bad, perhaps you can replace it with a new hall sensor? I'm sorry you're having all the bad luck, but don't give up, and don't leave the site, we like having you around!

[Oddball Matt]

I got a pal offering me a high tech acewell dash with all the bells and whistles possible for a hundred and I`m kinda tempted to take the offer if for nothing else then for the satisfaction of crushing the original one with a hydraulic press then dancing around the burning remnants. I was so motivated of getting the thing through inspection this week it might take me a day or two to wear off the aggravation, just would not want to spend yet more money on this since as is I`m currently waaay past what I`m gonna get for it when I`m gonna sell it, and to be perfectly honest doing just that is getting more and more tempting by the new part bought...

Gimme a couple days to breathe and I`ll probly come up with a solution, that`s how it always tends to go...

[franque]

You could make a video of that, your country is famous for the hydraulic press videos and the winter war.

[Oddball Matt]

Hell I`m kinda tempted to contact Lauri and Anni to crush both this dash and the Koso RX2 that spontaneously decided to self destruct on my old Triumph Daytona fighter never figuring out why, still have it on the shelf as it cost me 350eur. Kinda bland video to do with a hand crank press, there however is another youtube channel doing special effects that are in close cooperation with the hydraulic press channel called "the bomb guys" and live about an hour away from me...

We`ll see what tomorrow brings but to be bluntly honest a return to the two wheel world in the shape of, say, a Honda VF500 cafe racer build or sth else with an interesting engine is getting more tempting by the day...

Since you mentioned the winter war, AFAIK I`m kinda sorta some far away way related to one Lauri Törni so there`s still some fight left in me, just need to know when you gotta cut your losses and move on... As said let`s sleep on it and see what happens.

[franque]

Knowing that (I've read the English biography of him), I think you can win the war against this commie product.

[Oddball Matt]

Made a cracking deal with a friend off another forum on an Acewell ACE-5856 digi dash, gonna be fetching that tomorrow. Got a nice little motivation boost off of that and decided to paint the rims. Fought about two hours to get the left side tire off the back rim then spent probly an hour sanding it almost to bare metal. Then got the idea to bolt the rim on the quad to be able to spin it while sanding. That is when I noticed the rim is bent to hell and ragequit for today. And probly for a couple more days...