PROJECT ‘LIKELY FAIL’ PART IV
Charles ‘Charlie’ Charles checks in once again with the latest fine mess he’s gotten himself in. The TZR progresses, but the race gets ever closer, and closer...
If you are a regular visitor to the world of Fast Bikes you may have noticed that I have rather an ambitious project running. Namely, building a racer out of a 30-year-old TZR250 (which has been housed for at least the last five years in numerous boxes around the Fast
Bikes workshop), and then racing it at one of the rounds of the Yamaha Past Masters series by the end of this season. My ambitions outweigh my talent by a long way, I hasten to add, so I have employed help from Phoenix Yamaha in Trowbridge on the bike build and regeneration. Then I have to contend with not only riding a TZR for the first time but learning to do so proficiently enough to race against far more experienced TZR riders and racers than I.
This is a project that is beset with problems, from the wrong bolts in place meaning the headers were pissing water, to gaping holes in the petrol tank, a radiator that was crumbing to the touch and calipers that frankly should be tied to a post and shot. All that said, Wayne Philips has been diligently plugging away between paid jobs at Phoenix Yamaha in Trowbridge and has made some remarkable progress. I have tried to help of course, but the majority of ‘help’ is turning up on a semi-regular basis with my camera and asking “So, Wayne, what have you done this month, then?”
My role thus far has really been to source replacement parts where necessary from the friends you make working within this industry, and trying to keep things as cost effective as possible. It’s another side to racing I guess, as I am quickly learning. Even if you start with a ‘free’ bike – with this one having been loaned by FB staffer Beej – it’s still a pricey old do. That said, I’ve had a lot of help so far from some good friends in the industry, like the guys at
MY ROLE THUS FAR HAS REALLY BEEN TO SOURCE REPLACEMENT PARTS & LITTLE ELSE...
Bridgestone, sponsoring my project and supplying test and race rubber and wanting to help me achieve my ambition to take a spot on the YMPR grid (and potentially getting some masochistic pleasure out of it, to be fair). The track is still a way off for this old girl though, and as more favours are called the list of thanks at the bottom of my piece gets ever more lengthy.
Progress is being made though. The engine is a runner, and sounding pretty good despite having been tuned into a different system set up. I am still waiting for Beej to ‘find’ a missing manifold so that I can use his beloved F3 pipes, as opposed to the standard ones we currently have plumbed in. The front caliper has also been stripped, cleaned and overhauled as investigation had found that it had been full of a powdery crud made up of old brake fluid, dust and dirt that had got under the seals and was impeding the pistons. Once stripped, cleaned with brake fluid and rebuilt Wayne also saw fit to spray the front caliper black with some heat resistant paint he had lying around the workshop. He had also sprayed the headstock which is really above and beyond what I am asking him to do and an example of a man overdelivering, which is just what I need for this project.
Further advances on the braking were made with the fitting of a new set of braided lines from Venhill. These were probably a luxury purchase as the lines they replaced were okay, though showed signs of their age. Had they been rubber lines of course they would have been top of the list to go as they would undoubtedly have been in the same state as those that had to be replaced, from the now sonically cleaned carbs.
The brake lines came in a package from Venhill which included new power-valve cables that had been built to spec by the engineering firm, having received the old ones via post to check measurements. Again, the old lines were showing enough rust and wear to warrant replacing and testament to the skills of the Venhill engineers the new ones fit perfectly.
More performance upgrades arrived this month from the guys at Bike Torque Racing. The guv’nor there, Neil Appleton, is a keen racer himself and coincidentally enough pointed me towards this race series last season before I had even devised this project. Neil has forwarded Brembo front discs and pads, as well as the Domino quick-action throttle that you may be surprised to hear I managed to fit myself (Really? – BJ) despite needing to drill out the thread to fit the throttle cable properly.
The increased diameter within the throttle body means the cable does not have to travel as far to open up the throttle, thus a quarter turn goes from idle to full chat and is another thing I’m going to have to get used to. Even at this stage I can see how reactive it’s going to be and have
to admit to already being a little apprehensive, though the sound of it snapping back from full is a very therapeutic noise indeed.
As Bike Torque Racing have aided my acceleration with the Domino throttle, they’ve also aided my stopping via a set of Brembo discs and pads. This is such an important part of the build, so to have quality braking assisted by a brand like Brembo is a confidence inspiring choice. Ironically, no sooner had these discs arrived and been loosely fitted to standard wheels a call came in from Neil, Fast Bikes’ tech guy. He has a friend who had prepared to race with YPM himself, during the build he had immediately furnished his racing effort with a set of 17in Brembo made TZR125RR Belgrado wheels. The benefit being that they are larger rim sizes than the OE wheels with 2.75in on the front and 3.5in on the rear, giving you a much more effective tyre size on the bike. This was of course a stunning bit of news, these wheels are like hen’s teeth and I had already been scouring the YPM paddock for a set as the bike would be nowhere near competitive without them.
So having checked they were permissible by the YPM rules and regulations, the deal was done, posted down from Glasgow and delivered to Phoenix complete with a fresh set of Bridgestone S20Rs to go on. This, like so many elements of this build, did not take Wayne long and with the wheels ready to go I made the most of the fact that the rear wheel had come complete with a rear brake disc.
This allowed me to make a modification that had been suggested to me by fellow YMM racer Giles Harwood when I visited him at Brands Hatch.
The wider wheels mean that space becomes a little constricted when changing the rear into the swingarm so Giles’s solution had been to countersink the brake disc bolts so they don’t catch as you position the rear. This was something I wanted to do for the reason given, but was mindful that at some stage this bike will go back to its owner, meaning I was reticent to do it!
As I now have my own disc, I called on the services of Andy at Hiscocks Engineers, who is looking after the refitting of the radiator. He made the necessary modifications to the disc and then a purchase from GWR Fasteners provided the high tensile m8 countersunk bolts that I needed.
When I next saw my disc I also had the pleasure to see that the radiator has also been fitted. Modified to fit, the new radiator is in position on the bike and is absolutely gleaming. I had received an image fromWayne stating ‘How sexy is that?’ and he’s not wrong. It looks fantastic and Andy has done a brilliant job in welding on a new bracket so that the radiator can be attached. The only sticking point now is getting a hose to fit so a request to Samco has been forwarded to see what they can adapt for me. Fingers are crossed and I will let you know more next month.
I have an all-new racing battery to fit from Velox Racing; the Full Spectrum Power P1 battery is a fraction of the size and weight of the original that, like so many parts of this bike, had seen its day. The P1 version is set for bikes up to 600cc, but Mike Bienvenu from Velox stated that it has worked perfectly well on his R1 so am not expecting any issues. It may be a little soon in my racing career to worry
THE NEW RADIATOR LOOKS FANTASTIC & ANDY’S BRACKET WELDING IS BRILLIANT
too much about weight saving but this is a great opportunity to try a battery that has been adopted by numerous BSB teams this season.
The final major modification made this month is to replace the OE rearsets with new ones from SES Race Products. These rearsets are by far the most common upgrade within the YPM paddock to replace the OE fitment. Manufactured via aluminium, and anodized silver, they are light and most importantly for racing can have each individual part purchased and replaced. Thus, heel guards, gear linkages, actuator and rear master-cylinder bracket all made their way down to the workshop and found themselves swiftly onto the TZR, though not totally fitted as the rear brake caliper is in need of some attention.
So, it feels like things are coming together. I have made enquiries about fairings and a replacement fuel tank as the OE one is just rotten. Hiscocks’ Andy said he would be forever chasing the weld around the bike to plug the current holes and reinforce the rust so I have given up on the original tank and located one to borrow. Andy has also offered to fashion a new manifold so that the standard pipes that are currently on the bike can be replaced with Beej’s 25-year-old racing F3 system. This is a tempting offer indeed, but a recent discussion with one of the more senior racers in the YPM series Steve Higgerty, who has been following my columns, has cast some doubt on whether I should be using this pukka Yamaha race kit system at all.
Steve informed me that he has “tested a set of F3 pipes on the dyno I used to use. I lost all of the midrange, and that’s what gets you out of the corners, peak power was about the same as the Jolly Motos (the preferred system in the paddock these days) but very peaky”.
Putting a few things together Steve also pointed out that the modifications that ‘may’ have happened to this TZR to run with the F3 pipes and no airbox as Beej has stated (Yes, Charles, but not on this exact bike, why doesn’t anyone ever listen? – BJ), are against YPM rules. The kit modification that involves removing the brass ball in the mouth of the carb and drilling out the powerjet system, contravenes a ruling that the carb bodies must remain as standard. Thus there is more investigative work to go to make sure that I can actually get this bike on the grid, which I will detail in the next issue. I just have to hope that Beej loved the F3s because of the top end gains and soundtrack, and left the carbs untouched. Otherwise I have to get busy writing a lot of ‘return to sender’ labels, selling some wide wheels and watching as ‘Project Likely Fail’ becomes ‘Project Failed’.
That said though, an opportunity has just landed on my lap to race a TZR in the YPM series whatever happens with the build. The next round at Donington Park sees the Hire Bike without a rider. Thus I’ve been presented with the opportunity to see how my TZR should perform, and how I should perform on a TZR. Will let you know how I get on…