The Bonneville Project – Advance Screeening

Special Premiere Screening!

The Bonneville Project

Sunday, June 23
Sundance Cinema – Madison, WI
4:30 pm
Tickets only $10!

A film chronicling several years of work preparing for a land-speed record attempt on the legendary salt flats of Bonneville.
Produced by Second Society, the same filmmakers who created “American Cafe” in 2010, a fantastic documentary about the SCMG, the Crud Run, and the cafe racer movement.

Get tickets now!

Watch the new trailer here

Second Society’s Website

Let us know you’re coming on the Second Society facebook event!

Bonneville Bike Updates: April

(this is a slightly abbreviated version of update letters sent out to the sponsors of our fundraising efforts for the next trip to the salt flats) Thanks for reading!

With the puzzle of the cooling system assembled, it was time to check the motor’s condition. We use a leakdown tester to do this. This is a gauge set that measures the percentage of air escaping (leaking) through the intake valves, exhaust valves, rings, etc. It has largely replaced the compression test for accuracy and convenience. The motor we ran showed us about 8% leakage past the rings on the vertical (rear) cylinder and 14% past the rings and valves on the horizontal (front) cylinder. The leakage in the rear cylinder isn’t great, but acceptable on a boosted motor. The front, however, wasn’t. The motor having sat since October, we wanted to run it again and give the valves a chance to clean up a bit and recheck it. This we did with the ignition off the Luddite bike (another project) and the carburetors we adapted to run the nitro bike with. The added dimension was the exit of the exhaust right next to the carburetors as the turbo was removed. Gasoline leaks here would be ill-advised. Finally getting it running, there is a video to let you see how much fun it was. This also allowed the testing of the cooling system, which didn’t show any undue stress. Rechecking the motor the next day, we still had 8% in the rear cylinder, but the front had dropped to 5% and that was past the rings, so it was good to go.

   

Now we start in on finishing the fuel tank and underseat components. The spring rush has put time at a premium so we may not make the progress hoped right away, especially with needing to get the fuel system reset for the 999 motor, but we will keep chipping away at it.

We have the first set of sponsor names on the tail now – a huge thank-you to everyone who has donated so far! Still room for more, head on over to the shop website to read up on it if you’re interested in being a part of the Bonneville 2013 effort, and we might be condensing the 2nd row if space is needed, but don’t want to crowd anyone.

 

New mounts for the front – had to remake them because of the chassis re-build:

 

Bonneville Bike Updates: Back into the Forks

(this is a slightly abbreviated version of update letters sent out to the sponsors of our grass roots fundraising efforts for the next trip to the salt flats) Thanks for reading!

After setting the bike on the ground (right side up), with the reduced rake the forks actually went up and down.  It was also apparent that the extra weight showed the spring rate in the forks to be not up to the task.  Nick took them apart and went up one spring rate and decided to try the low-friction SKF fork seals I bought a year ago, put away and promptly forgot about.  New oil, and the forks back in gave us back some adjustment of preload, but we will need to see what the extra weight of the turbo and bodywork will show us.  A Hayabusa, the source of the forks, is a big bike, but considering the displacement and power, somewhat demure in the weight department.   Salt had had it way with the upper steering bearing so we replaced that as well.  The first test ride should be interesting. 

Now we start the process of putting things back into the bike.  The area behind the motor is the most comparable to the abdomen in a human.  It has the heart (fuel pump), the artery (fuel delivery line), the vein (fuel return), the major muscle group that makes it work (battery) and the stomach (fuel tank).   All these things have to coexist in the same area without conflict.  This conflict can take a number of forms, one being the attempt to have two things in the same place at the same time.  Another is the conflict that arises when something metal gets across a positive and negative, resulting in sparks and fire.  Since the stomach contains gasoline, this is a very real concern.  To try and envision every type of component failure that may release the battery, the fuel tank, the pump,  wires and lines takes a bit of time and effort.  We don’t have the violence associated with a Funnycar or Dragster, but the sustained vibration and occasional jolt from the track surface can be enough to set undesired events in motion, not to mention the routine servicing of the bike and transporting it on our marvelous roads all over the country. 

The fuel tank receives a new location and will serve as the seat platform as well.  Moving the ballast back and down allowed the reconfiguring of the tank to make access to the fuel pump a bit easier, and not require the removal of the tail section (and its myriad screws) to refuel the bike.  Since the seat had gone through quite a number of changes in height and padding, using the space occupied by that padding seemed a reasonable course of action.  We had to add padding to the seat for last fall because evidently not enough of my butt was visible from the side.   That was the first time in quite a while someone asked to see more.  For my money, usually too much was in evidence. 

Reducing the capacity of the fuel tank was possible since the consumption rate of the bike only needed two and a half gallons plus what is in the fuel lines, making the 4 and a half gallon capacity of the original tank unnecessary.  This allows a bit more room in the middle bay area for other things. 

   

Building the tank entailed a series of patterns that gave enough capacity, but didn’t rub on things.  A fuel leak with the starter solenoid, fuel pump and battery directly below would be frowned upon.  This tank also needed to be welded inside and out for strength as I will be sitting on it.  The stereo began behaving oddly during the final welding being done inside the tank.  It would repeat the last track of the fifth CD in the player.  Not the first and not the fourth.  At least it wasn’t turning the phones on and off like the last big aluminum job did. 

Once the tank, with its attending returns, drains and sump was nearly completed, we needed to reroute the cooling system.  The radiator is in the back of the bike up in the tail, so there is about eight feet of plumbing needed to reach it and return.  This all has to run through the bay containing the fuel pump, battery, etc.  Some creative routing came into play.   It is a bit of a puzzle as the availability of condition “O” tubing that can be bent into the tight curves needed is limited.  I have only found it once and it was shipped to us by accident and I couldn’t find it again. That means a lot of it needs to be made with preformed silicone curves and straight pieces. Care must be taken to avoid abrasion and burn-through as hot coolant spraying around tends to be a distraction and should be avoided at all costs.

Pouring Ballast

(this is a slightly abbreviated version of update letters sent out to the sponsors of our grass-roots fundraising efforts for the next trip to the salt flats) Thanks for reading!

Low-Tech Traction Control  

what in the world are they melting a bunch of old lead linotype for?
(saving all the lead weights from balancing wheels can only take you so far – they are quite small and don’t add up real fast…)

One of the problems we have struggled with is rear wheel spin.  A consequence of the design of this bike is that without rear suspension, you don’t have the possible weight transfer to the rear wheel.  I have watched slow motion videos of various bikes and the slow undulations that they get into with rear suspension can become an issue under the right conditions.  Talking to a few of the experienced Bonneville riders, a non-suspended chassis relies more on good salt than a suspended one, but if the salt is right it is more stable.  That was the basis of the decision to run a solid rear end, that good salt would be the limiting factor.  Since then I have not really seen big differences in the bike’s behavior that was related to salt conditions, and the wheelbase being considerably longer than everything but a full streamliner, the hope was to reduce oscillation effects by reducing their percentage of total chassis deflection.  A one inch deflection over a 68 inch wheelbase is a much larger percentage of chassis change than that of a 98 inch wheelbase, such as the long bike is running.   Another advantage of the solid rear end is that there is a considerable increase in volume for fuel, batteries, components and ballast, due to the center of the bike not being used up by the swingarm and suspension.

After the first trip to Bonneville the bike was seen to throw a rooster tail when the turbo kicked in and throttle was applied.  For the next year, steel ballast plates were bolted to the underside of the chassis and lead plates were put in a box in front of the rear wheel.  This helped and allowed the bike to run over 200, but the rooster tail still came on.

In 2010 we added another 60 lbs. of weight in the form of more lead, and two more plates bolted on to the chassis just ahead of the rear axle.  This made for a total of 160lbs of weight added.  That year, with fuel injection, we ran 203 and 205.  It was a lack of power that kept the speed down and the extra weight was adequate to the task.

In 2011 we added another 50 lbs. of lead in the ballast box, but were rained out, precluding the testing.  With more usable power provided by the Motec ECU, wheelspin was anticipated to be more of an issue.

For 2012, we added a heavier battery.  This was adding a total of 210 lbs. more than in 2009, and on the 213 mph run, the rear wheel speed was seen to be 245 mph.  This was more of a speed differential than we wanted, so one of the projects for this winter was to add yet more weigh for traction control.  I suppose we could do it with the ECU, but since the front wheel speed sensor was not behaving, that would make it difficult to accomplish predictably.

Having discovered the detriments of weight located high and to the rear in 2007 (wobble-city), keeping the weight down was desired.  We already had weight bolted under the bike and with the ground clearance constraint of four inches, we couldn’t put much more down there.  Looking at the  platform, there was only one place to put it, and that was in the floor.

The idea was to fill in the area in the X-braced floor of the bay area behind the motor.   The logic was that this was as low as you could get, and if the mold panels were working, the arc described by the tubing would act as a means of holding the weight in place, simplifying its installation.

Pouring the first segment went pretty well and there were few leaks and issues.  The second segment was to prove to be the much more challenging as there was not as flat a surface to seal against for the sheet metal.  Molten metal ran out and made a bit of a mess.  Luckily this was to be corrected in the subsequent segments and the bulging material removed by paddling it off.  The bike had to be inverted for this and it was a very entertaining process that involved pouring some of the metal back in after a bit too enthusiastic use of the torch allowed some of the metal in the offending panel to escape and run all over the floor, my shoes, and pants.  Ultimately it was made flat enough to allow the bolting on of the steel ballast plates and not hit any of the poured-in ballast.

The weight of the segments can be seen in black marker and totals about 70 lbs.

As you can see, there isn’t a wire or computer to be seen in this traction device!

More serious modifications

(this is a slightly abbreviated version of the letters sent to our sponsors as part of the Bonneville 2013 Fundraiser)

We have progressed with the frame modifications.  The steering head removal was a project in itself, requiring almost two hours to remove it from the frame.  This care was needed to reduce the gap left after cutting and redressing the joint areas.  You want as small a gap as possible to fill with the TIG filler rod.  This is to maximize the strength of the joint and to minimize the distortion that an excess of filler rod can cause.

Now the decision has to be made as to how much rake to take out of the nose.  Adding degrees of rake adds stability.  This very same stability reduces the responsiveness of the bike to steering inputs.  This bike is an absolute pig under 100-120 miles an hour.  This makes a productive start of the run more difficult as you are fighting this thing to keep it in the spot in the lane you are aiming for.  It also makes it a two man job to roll the damn thing around as well.  Putting it on the dyno is yet another matter, fitting around the corner and through the door.

The safer bet would be to take four to five degrees out of it and wind up with 40 degrees or so.  This is where I think we will start and see how it looks after the reinforcing is done and the centerline/ground plane references are rechecked.

Looking into the bay behind the motor, the finishing of the x-bracing is the first order of business.   The loop that held the ballast and fuel tank is removed and a flat X is finished off.  This is a bit more interesting than a standard 90 degree joint because of the included angle being so close.  The sensitivity of the gap is much more so because you have two angles that change as the pieces approach proper fit, and because of the reasons described with the steering head, very important.   This is the kind of thing best done in solitude, without phones, and other distractions.

Cross bracing of the perpendicular variety is next and a number of different planes of flex were of interest.  While there isn’t the traction found at the dragstrip, the bouncing , wheelspin, and aerodynamic forces can introduce their own type of variables.  Originally there was a certain amount of flex built into the chassis.  This was taking a page from the Top Fuel dragsters where if you watch them going down the track they arc up in the middle of the car.  This allows the wheels to stay on the ground, while still transferring weight to the rear end of the car for traction, an important thing at Bonneville as well.  While there was a discernible amount of flex when the bike is fully loaded with the 180 lbs of ballast weight, plus the rider, big battery, and fuel, it may have allowed a bit of torsional deflection to occur under the right conditions, aggravating the wandering we are hoping to eliminate.  So we will try tightening up the vertical flex and eliminate the torsional.

cross braces added to bottom

Well it’s off to determine if we are going to put the downtube cradle under the motor or not.  It is looking less and less likely that we will need it if other areas are properly strengthened and gusseted.

Finishing up the bracing behind the motor was accomplished and pressure testing of that area of the chassis began.   A few bleed holes from the first construction were found and plugged and the final weld-up of the bracing began.  This all had to be done before the steering head was reattached so as much of the squirming around of the chassis is accomplished to allow the best chance of the steering head being perpendicular to the rear axle.  The goal is to loose less than 10 psi overnight.  That makes it possible to use this area of the frame as an air resevoir.  It doesn’t take much of a leak to lose that amount in an hour, but eventually we were able to exceed the goal by loosing only 5 psi in 24 hours.

Mounting the rear fender was next.  This was involving a steel 10 inch wide unit to put a bit more heft in the rear wheel area and still keep the salt from spraying up into the fuel tank and battery area.  Clearance will need to be made for the chain and chain guides after it is in place.     Enough room has to be allowed for tire growth.  While not as big an issue with the rim/tire combination we use as it is on the drag racing slicks, you still don’t want to burn the center of your tire out at 210 mph.  I could be embarrassing and expensive.  There also needs to be allowance for possible different combinations of tires, wheels, and gearing in the future.

Valdosta – Sunday

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!

Well, after a bit of a delay, we return to the Valdosta fable. We have been very busy with the fueler on a number of different fronts. The first was adapting a set of carburetors to allow us to run the motor without nitro. A bit disappointing from a couple of different directions, but necessary to see about the smoking, build heat in the motor faster and check the clutch adjustments more often. It also didn’t clear the whole building out in two minutes like the nitro does, but that’s everyone else’s problem, I guess.
The second was the assembling and installation of a 999 motor. This was the next step and I will go into more detail after this episode of the story.

Returning to the track, we unloaded everything and decided that more nitro was going to be needed if we happened to go past the second round. The extra nitro also gives us a bit of leeway for percentage corrections as you can make the fine 1% adjustments needed more easily when you have pure nitro and pure methanol and don’t have to work from a mix to steer what you put in the bike.

While discussing this situation we noticed Tommy Grimes strolling down the pit lane, taking in the quiet of the Sunday morning. Tommy is the rider of Ray Price’s Top Fuel Harley and an extremely capable pilot. To watch him wrestle with Ray’s monster is truly a spectacle worthy of the price of admission alone. Tommy came over and said he was hoping to have a chance to take a look at the Ducati because he kept hearing all week end and was interested. Discussing the various aspects of our program and learning more about Ray Price’s operation I eventually got around to asking if they had any extra nitro to sell. He said they had been on the road for a few weeks and were getting low, but we could go over and ask. Talking to the crew chief, Jeremy Hoy, and Ray, we were ok’d for a gallon. That should be enough, and if by some happenstance we ran low it would be a great reason to go out scavenging again.

whoops – didn’t click the camera fast enough

Mixing up the nitro, the conversation returned to the decision made last night. It should come as no surprise a bit of perverse logic was applied here. Deciding to look back at the Bonneville notes, the most power by far was achieved with a 90% nitro mix. The bike lasted a bit over two miles there. With the right guesswork applied to the fuel system shouldn’t we be able to keep it alive on 90% for a full pass? Maybe two? Looking at the Air Density at 95%, the temperature at 79 degrees F and a density altitude (remember, we are factoring in a number of conditions with the A.D. and Dens. Alt.), we decided to leave the fuel system alone and add two degrees to the ignition timing. How’s that for an executive crew chief decision? A 10% increase in the amount of nitro is a pretty big tuning change in itself, and not richening up the fuel system to follow it a little bit is pretty nervy if you ask me. But Nick was OK with it so off we went.

Eliminations began and the fuelers were starting off the show. Dragbike.com can go over the details of the ladder and progressions. We were back in line trying to figure out who we were paired with for our first round. The turn out was a delightful lady on a Hayabusa calling herself “Barbie Racing”. She was also entered in two other classes, so this was no neophyte. I pity the fool who writes off an opponent because they are a girl, because chances are, they will take your lunch away and leave you sitting there wondering what happened. The lines were long as can be expected with 800 entries for the week end, and eventually we got to the front, and got ready to go. We started getting more and more heat in the motor and it seemed happier and happier. Of course this didn’t make those around us not used to the smell and sound of nitro overjoyed. A few (well OK, more than a few) dirty looks and blinking eyes as we pull up into the waterbox for the burnout. Nick snapped the throttle and the bike sounded very nice with the extra load of nitro. Nothing flew out or fell off so he rolled out and pulled to the line. As the lights went down, the lady in the opposite lane red-lighted. This happens when you leave before the green, and can be caused by something as small as a shift in position on the bike, depending upon the rollout the beams are set to. Nick left, I watched his launch and listened to the bike and then saw the red light. This meant we automatically won as long a Nick didn’t go over in the opposite lane or hit the wall.

He did neither and for our efforts were rewarded with an 8.738 @ 152.81 mph. Personal best e.t. and third best mph ever! I was amazed. Fred just stood there looking at the scoreboard too. Well hustle on down and grab the time slip and get back to the pits to get ready for the next round.

Going down to the far end of the return road, Nick commented on the fact the bike just pulled hard all the way down. I showed him the time slip and he did a fist bump and off we went to the trailer to service the bike.
Seeing the plugs were OK, we put them back in and topped up the tank. There was some oil blowing around the back of the motor, but where it was coming from wasn’t apparent, so we made sure there was some in the motor, cleaned off the damp areas and decided what to do as far as the tune-up in the motor. I opted to try a bit more fuel in the Main (midrange) and the first High Speed leanout. To try for a bit more mph, we took two degrees back out of the ignition timing. The clutch was happy as can be through all this, so nothing more was done there.

The one item that probably didn’t get mentioned in the reporting was the fact that Chris Hand was bound and determined to get in a good lap on his Redneck Express Top Fueler. He had been struggling all season, and came into this event the points leader only to have a leaking welded area around the #2 plug eat up qualifying time, and other issues keep him on the outside looking in. Chris is a veteran of the Top Fuel wars and he and his wife Sharon are two of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. As we finished servicing the Ducati, we heard his bike in the burnout. It sounded good, not too high an rpm, and as he pulled to the line I realized I was too far away to watch, so I just listened. He left well, and the 1-2 shift was barely discernible. No banging or popping and the bike pulled all the way through the lights. The 6.10 he recorded was the best pass he had made in over a year. At least he had something to go home with besides broken parts and a bad taste. It was great to share their happiness after the pass back in their pits.

As the eliminations progressed, the Air Density started to come back in and the Density Altitude drop. This meant more burnable air, accentuating the tune-up changes made earlier. We figured to leave it alone and see what happened.

We were paired with another Hayabusa (do I sense a trend here?) and while neither reaction time was stellar, his was a bit better and he got to the 60 foot lights before us. By the 1/8 mile timing marker, the Ducati started to pull and by the 1000 foot mark, nick was well ahead. He stayed after it and came away with another 8.73! Since this was an 8.90 second index class, that put us “on the trailer” (we lost).

What a way to go out, though. We ran our best ever elapsed times on the final two runs of the year and while things were a bit oily on the back of the motor, we made fifteen runs with the Ducati over four days, with one day comprising six of those passes. We were basically out of nitro, all the parts were still in the motor and we had a great time. Loading up and the trip home is always easier when you can leave the track on a high note. As we headed north, it got colder and colder. That is the hardest part of the trip, coming back to the usual November weather in Wisconsin.

The Nitro Ducati Project had performed beyond our expectations this year, having made 12 runs down the salt at Bonneville, burning 18 gallons of nitro in the process, only hurting two sets of pistons. Thirteen 8 second passes at the dragstrip with ten over 150 mph is yeoman’s duty from a 749cc motor. The project shows pretty much anyone, with a little effort and common sense can have fun running nitro.

As you can see from the photo, it’s always something.

The next section will be dealing with the bigger motors we are going to test in June and the new ignitions we are making for them, along with a few other parts as well.

Thanks for following along and we’ll back soon with more on the bike and its newest developments.

Oh, and watch for the movie coming out in the spring of 2013, I believe, called “The Bonneville Project”. It adds visual detail to the nattering I have provided.

Cheers!
Bill

Bike Updates

(this is a slightly abbreviated version of the letters sent to our sponsors as part of the Bonneville 2013 Fundraiser)

We had a whole laundry list of things to do on the bikes this winter, and progress is well under way… back in January we started to address the skeleton of the bike, which will affect all future adjustments.

One of the annoying things like the heavy steering we can deal with by taking rake out of the front end.  Pulling 3 to 4 degrees will make the bike much easier to steer under 100 mph and much less of a nuisance to wheel around.

The wander at 175 to 190 mph we might be able to solve by increasing the rigidity of the rear end by adding bracing to reduce the likelihood of the wander being cause by deflection of the rear end.  Adding a downtube cradle tying the steering head to the undercarriage will help strengthen that area.  Fully ballasted, a deflection could be seen when really bouncing on the seat area.  Repositioning the big ballast weight will also help to lower the center of mass and shift the weight bias more rearward.

This will all be done by stripping the bike down and putting it back in the jig upon which it was made.  Sounds simple, right?  Well as you can see, there is a lot of stuff to remove, and we make sure to photograph everything and make notes of to be certain it goes back on in the right place and still works.  There was also a good six hours of cleanup to remove all of the accumulated debris.  Two solid days, eight tubs and two carts of parts later, we were ready to remove the front forks and rear wheel and start the re-jigging.

The bike is completely stripped down to the chassis skeleton, wheels and motor.  Like with any really thorough reorganization effort, it’s best to start with the basics.