Another "Franken-Project" from yours truly...

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 09:28 AM

Thru the time of ownership and all the mods I have done on the Vaq I had the desire to tackle another project, and this kinda goes waaaay back to the beginning.

Back in 2011 when the stock rr tire wore out I replaced it with a larger and also "taller" rr tire, a 180/70. I liked how that tire altered the gear ratio and the lowered engine rpm out on the hiway. Only drawback was that since the skoot was at the beginning of it's development power-wise the taller tire somewhat reduced the acceleration. Add onto that was the 7200 ml lifespan and after that tire wore out it was a search for a higher mileage tire.
The Commander 2's have given me good life, but from new to worn out the circumference of the tire changes so much that the affect is noticeable. Too much shifting in town and elevated engine rpm, specially on the hiway. I could notice the change as soon as the tire had 6000 mls, and now at 7000 with the start of a flat spot it's getting more noticeable. And irritating.

With the recent intake mods and new mapping the power and quality of power has improved noticeably and the desire to "fix" this gearing situation came to fruition. For many months I had been researching altering pulley sizes, first to a larger front pulley. That was deemed not possible to insufficient clearance around the front pulley, so a smaller rr pulley was my goal. All the 1700's use the same size, and other Kawi's had pulley sizes not within my goal of tooth count of 2-4teeth smaller.

First order was to figure out the belt situation. Did Kawi and Yami use the same style belt? Yes they did. I was gonna need a shorter belt to work with the smaller rr pulley, was that available? Yes. It was a belt listed for Harleys and with further research I found most skoots use belts with the same pitch. This was a good thing for sure and could of been a deal breaker.

I expanded my search to include other brands and found Yamaha's use a 70 tooth rr pulley, 2 teeth smaller. Since I did not want the skoot down I found a used Kawi rr pulley/pulley hub on eBay and bought it, that way I could whittle on the hub as needed without sacrificing mine. I eventually found a Yamaha pulley/hub assembly that had been taken off a new skoot that got some custom wheels. It had absolutely no wear, was basically brand new. So with a new shorter belt, a new stock front pulley, a smaller rr pulley and a spare Kawi pulley hub the fun was about to begin...

RACNRAY

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 09:30 AM

Side to side comparison of the Kawi and Yami parts, not a good start, Kawi on the rite. Amount of offset way too much on the yami part...

Comparing the hubs, another no go situation. Even tho both hubs were 6 fingers the diameters were wrong, so utilizing the yami hub was not possible.

This brought in the next aspect, different bolt patterns for the pulleys...

So the plan was gonna include the appropriate machining to fit the yami pulley to the kawi hub...and then welding it all together.

The yami pulley getting it's inner bore centered on my mill so I can bore it larger...

The beginning of the boring process...

Getting closer...

Due to the pulley teeth being offset to the hub via where the spokes attached to the pulley I was gonna have to mount the pulley "backwards" onto the hub to help make up for way too much offset in the yami pulley. Here is the machining taking away material to reduce some of the offset, which left only .190" to machine off the kawi hub...

Finished inner bore and new mounting surface...

MORE TO COME...

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 09:31 AM

2 views of the yami pulley sittin on the kawi hub...

Rough centering of the kawi hub on the rotary table...

Which made it easier and quicker to accomplish the final centering based on the original machining of the 6 stand-offs ...

Now the beginning machining of the needed .190" to arrive at the correct offset...

New mounting surface all machined and using a ball end mill to machine a chamfer around the hub's circumference for good weld penetration...

The pulley and hub glass beaded...

And set in place. You will notice how ugly it's gonna look because of the necessity to mount the yami pulley backwards on the kawi hub, exposing the inside mounting area of the yami pulley...

BUT...I gotta fix for that!!!

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 09:32 AM

The whole assembly clamped together for it's trip to the welder...

And welded together...

I had the outer area welded also to increase strength...

Gonna have to make a plate to cover that ugly area, here is what I started with, painted for the contrast machining...

The basic look and using a ball end mill to chamfer the edges...

The plate with it's mounting holes drilled in and ready to be separated from the plate...

And cutting it out...

Machining the welds on the hub flat to allow the cover plate to sit properly...

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 09:34 AM

The plate bolted down...

The whole assembly painted with PJ1 satin engine paint and baking in the South Fla sun...

Saw these kinda ugly casting dimples so I decided to machine them for more of a contrast effect...

Everything ready for install...

Installed on the wheel...

Installed on the skoot...

The rear axle now sits about 3/16" further forward and that little difference does help a bit in ease of turning.

BUT...last nites ride results and what I was lookin for has been mostly met. I can run each gear longer which equates to more mph b4 shifting, the engine is definitely turning less rpm out on the hiway, tho the speedo/odo is reading slower. Gonna ride tonite with a GPS to see what the new nmbrs are. The engine feels less "frantic" and still pulls real hard. I am happy with the results.

BEHOLD..."FRANKEN-PULLEY!!!"

RACNRAY

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 09:35 AM

Had to run an errand yesterday so took the GPS with me.

Previously at 3000rpm 6th gr GPS would be 78-79 mph, is now 84mph, that's great! That errand had 22.4 mls on the trip meter, GPS showed 24.1.

RACNRAY

MPSS · 11-01-2014, 11:20 AM

awesome work, wish I had the skills and guts to machine and make these percise cuts.

Ron

blowndodge · 11-01-2014, 12:54 PM

You could buy a lot of taller tires that accomplish the same thing that all that machining would cost the average person! Good work however...

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MPSS

awesome work, wish I had the skills and guts to machine and make these percise cuts.

Ron

THANX for the compliment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blowndodge

You could buy a lot of taller tires that accomplish the same thing that all that machining would cost the average person! Good work however...

And miss out on all the fun I had bringing this to life? NOT!!! I will never duplicate this as it is a one-off project for my skoot and never intended to offer it, that is just not feasible.

The end result of this is not quite as much as I wanted, the desired results would have been achieved with maybe 3 or 4 teeth smaller pulley, tho with a new tire that'll help as this one has a pronounced flat spot.

I may try a taller Metzler in hopes that it'll get better than the 7200 mls I had achieved with the taller Bridgestone tire I put on after the original wore out.

Hard to beat 19,000+ mls outa these Commander 2's tho!!

RACNRAY

blowndodge · 11-01-2014, 01:54 PM

I'm running Commander II's on my Victory CCT and love them. The speedometer is dead on with my GPS.

Bud2rat · 11-01-2014, 02:00 PM

Nice job RACNRAY. I wish that I had the equipment to do some of the things you do. I enjoy fabbing up new things. It feels good when you are able to think up and then make something from an idea.

RACNRAY · 11-01-2014, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bud2rat

Nice job RACNRAY. I wish that I had the equipment to do some of the things you do. I enjoy fabbing up new things. It feels good when you are able to think up and then make something from an idea.

THANK YOU SIR and I agree, the sense of accomplishment we feel when we get the opportunity to "flex our muscles" both brain and body muscles is gratifying.

RACNRAY

VulcanE · 11-01-2014, 04:00 PM

Very nice job Ray, something like that would take me a month to complete, since I would have to sneak around to do government work.

Silent Sam · 11-01-2014, 04:20 PM

Machine Tool's/Talent..Welding Equipment and Skills...And IMAGINATION --FANTASTIC !

**Rasta** · 11-01-2014, 10:43 PM

Good job on that!Dont blame you for this going to be a one of a kind......looked like a lot of work!

11-01-2014, 09:28 AM	#1
RACNRAY Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SOUTH FLORIDA Posts: 1,210	Another "Franken-Project" from yours truly... Thru the time of ownership and all the mods I have done on the Vaq I had the desire to tackle another project, and this kinda goes waaaay back to the beginning. Back in 2011 when the stock rr tire wore out I replaced it with a larger and also "taller" rr tire, a 180/70. I liked how that tire altered the gear ratio and the lowered engine rpm out on the hiway. Only drawback was that since the skoot was at the beginning of it's development power-wise the taller tire somewhat reduced the acceleration. Add onto that was the 7200 ml lifespan and after that tire wore out it was a search for a higher mileage tire. The Commander 2's have given me good life, but from new to worn out the circumference of the tire changes so much that the affect is noticeable. Too much shifting in town and elevated engine rpm, specially on the hiway. I could notice the change as soon as the tire had 6000 mls, and now at 7000 with the start of a flat spot it's getting more noticeable. And irritating. With the recent intake mods and new mapping the power and quality of power has improved noticeably and the desire to "fix" this gearing situation came to fruition. For many months I had been researching altering pulley sizes, first to a larger front pulley. That was deemed not possible to insufficient clearance around the front pulley, so a smaller rr pulley was my goal. All the 1700's use the same size, and other Kawi's had pulley sizes not within my goal of tooth count of 2-4teeth smaller. First order was to figure out the belt situation. Did Kawi and Yami use the same style belt? Yes they did. I was gonna need a shorter belt to work with the smaller rr pulley, was that available? Yes. It was a belt listed for Harleys and with further research I found most skoots use belts with the same pitch. This was a good thing for sure and could of been a deal breaker. I expanded my search to include other brands and found Yamaha's use a 70 tooth rr pulley, 2 teeth smaller. Since I did not want the skoot down I found a used Kawi rr pulley/pulley hub on eBay and bought it, that way I could whittle on the hub as needed without sacrificing mine. I eventually found a Yamaha pulley/hub assembly that had been taken off a new skoot that got some custom wheels. It had absolutely no wear, was basically brand new. So with a new shorter belt, a new stock front pulley, a smaller rr pulley and a spare Kawi pulley hub the fun was about to begin... RACNRAY __________________ "TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY" Login or Register to Remove Ads
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11-01-2014, 09:30 AM	#2
RACNRAY Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SOUTH FLORIDA Posts: 1,210	Side to side comparison of the Kawi and Yami parts, not a good start, Kawi on the rite. Amount of offset way too much on the yami part... Comparing the hubs, another no go situation. Even tho both hubs were 6 fingers the diameters were wrong, so utilizing the yami hub was not possible. This brought in the next aspect, different bolt patterns for the pulleys... So the plan was gonna include the appropriate machining to fit the yami pulley to the kawi hub...and then welding it all together. The yami pulley getting it's inner bore centered on my mill so I can bore it larger... The beginning of the boring process... Getting closer... Due to the pulley teeth being offset to the hub via where the spokes attached to the pulley I was gonna have to mount the pulley "backwards" onto the hub to help make up for way too much offset in the yami pulley. Here is the machining taking away material to reduce some of the offset, which left only .190" to machine off the kawi hub... Finished inner bore and new mounting surface... MORE TO COME... __________________ "TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY"
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11-01-2014, 09:31 AM	#3
RACNRAY Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SOUTH FLORIDA Posts: 1,210	2 views of the yami pulley sittin on the kawi hub... Rough centering of the kawi hub on the rotary table... Which made it easier and quicker to accomplish the final centering based on the original machining of the 6 stand-offs ... Now the beginning machining of the needed .190" to arrive at the correct offset... New mounting surface all machined and using a ball end mill to machine a chamfer around the hub's circumference for good weld penetration... The pulley and hub glass beaded... And set in place. You will notice how ugly it's gonna look because of the necessity to mount the yami pulley backwards on the kawi hub, exposing the inside mounting area of the yami pulley... BUT...I gotta fix for that!!! __________________ "TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY"
	0

11-01-2014, 09:32 AM	#4
RACNRAY Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SOUTH FLORIDA Posts: 1,210	The whole assembly clamped together for it's trip to the welder... And welded together... I had the outer area welded also to increase strength... Gonna have to make a plate to cover that ugly area, here is what I started with, painted for the contrast machining... The basic look and using a ball end mill to chamfer the edges... The plate with it's mounting holes drilled in and ready to be separated from the plate... And cutting it out... Machining the welds on the hub flat to allow the cover plate to sit properly... __________________ "TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY"
	0

11-01-2014, 09:34 AM	#5
RACNRAY Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SOUTH FLORIDA Posts: 1,210	The plate bolted down... The whole assembly painted with PJ1 satin engine paint and baking in the South Fla sun... Saw these kinda ugly casting dimples so I decided to machine them for more of a contrast effect... Everything ready for install... Installed on the wheel... Installed on the skoot... The rear axle now sits about 3/16" further forward and that little difference does help a bit in ease of turning. BUT...last nites ride results and what I was lookin for has been mostly met. I can run each gear longer which equates to more mph b4 shifting, the engine is definitely turning less rpm out on the hiway, tho the speedo/odo is reading slower. Gonna ride tonite with a GPS to see what the new nmbrs are. The engine feels less "frantic" and still pulls real hard. I am happy with the results. BEHOLD..."FRANKEN-PULLEY!!!" RACNRAY __________________ "TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY" Login or Register to Remove Ads
	0

11-01-2014, 09:35 AM	#6
RACNRAY Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SOUTH FLORIDA Posts: 1,210	Had to run an errand yesterday so took the GPS with me. Previously at 3000rpm 6th gr GPS would be 78-79 mph, is now 84mph, that's great! That errand had 22.4 mls on the trip meter, GPS showed 24.1. RACNRAY __________________ "TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY"
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11-01-2014, 11:20 AM	#7
MPSS Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Saskatoon Posts: 57	awesome work, wish I had the skills and guts to machine and make these percise cuts. Ron
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11-01-2014, 12:54 PM	#8
blowndodge Sr. Contributor Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Washington City, Utah Posts: 16,474	You could buy a lot of taller tires that accomplish the same thing that all that machining would cost the average person! Good work however... __________________ I love my Victory Cross Country Tour 106. Smells like Victory! Ultra's are Limited There are two types of Harley riders. Those that trailer them and those that push them. The most Interesting Man in the World "Find the things in life you don't do well and don't do those things" Member # 0005
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11-01-2014, 01:54 PM	#10
blowndodge Sr. Contributor Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Washington City, Utah Posts: 16,474	I'm running Commander II's on my Victory CCT and love them. The speedometer is dead on with my GPS. __________________ I love my Victory Cross Country Tour 106. Smells like Victory! Ultra's are Limited There are two types of Harley riders. Those that trailer them and those that push them. The most Interesting Man in the World "Find the things in life you don't do well and don't do those things" Member # 0005
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11-01-2014, 02:00 PM	#11
Bud2rat Sr. Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: St. Pauls, NC Posts: 2,089	Nice job RACNRAY. I wish that I had the equipment to do some of the things you do. I enjoy fabbing up new things. It feels good when you are able to think up and then make something from an idea. __________________ Robert Torrey VBA# 02077 Vroc# 27672 1996 800A Customized (SOLD) 2001 1500 Nomad (The Mistress) 2013 Voyager 2014 SE Rally - Elkins, WV 2016 SE Rally - Helen, Ga
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11-01-2014, 04:00 PM	#13
VulcanE Sr. Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Cartersville, Georgia Posts: 4,838	Very nice job Ray, something like that would take me a month to complete, since I would have to sneak around to do government work. __________________ Cliff "VulcanE" Evans 2005 Blue & Silver 1600 Nomad VBA # 320 VROC # 20381
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11-01-2014, 04:20 PM	#14
Silent Sam Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: On The Shakey Side Posts: 2,501	Machine Tool's/Talent..Welding Equipment and Skills...And IMAGINATION --FANTASTIC !
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11-01-2014, 10:43 PM	#15
Rasta Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Ankeny Iowa Posts: 3,696	Good job on that!Dont blame you for this going to be a one of a kind......looked like a lot of work! __________________ VROC#34321 VBA#01867 2012 NCR Rally Savanna. IL. 2013 National Rally Estes Park, CO 2014 NC/SC Rally in the Ozarks, Mountain View AR 2014 NE US/Eastern Canada Rally,Lincoln NH 2015 VBA/VRA Eureka Springs AR 2015 Antlers Rally, Antlers OK. 2016 SCR Rally Salem MO. 2016 NCR Rally Hillsboro WI 2017 Eureka Springs AR 2017 National Rally Lake George NY 2004 Blue and Silver 1500 Nomad(RIP 9-26-19) 2000 Red and Silver 1500 Nomad 2012 Pearl White 1700 Voyager
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