❙ SUZUKI TR750
Malc Shaw is sorting the bikini fairing and building a box!
Time has flown by and here we are at part 13 and it’s somewhat of an anniversary. It means I’ve been writing about my build for over a year now!
I realise that sometimes I only cover making a few bits, and even then I don’t always cover every detail. It’s surprising what it takes to describe making something. Anyway, I hope it has been of interest and informative, and inspired some of you to start your own builds. Let’s see what I can cover this time.
A little more on the powder-coating. Three more casings blasted off and masked up (photo 1). I don’t buy the heat-proof masking tape. I found the sticky silver foil you use to join insulation boards works fine, it is cheap and you get lots on a roll. It sticks well and is easy to cut and shape round components. The only down side is it can leave a sticky residue which requires acetone or thinners to remove, which if you get on your powder-coating goes soft! I was pleased with the look of these casings (photo 2).
I decided I wanted a billet top yoke. It’s beyond my machining skills and really these days it is a CNC job. I think the price of CNC has really come down in this country in the last five years and if you look about there are various people offering the service. I take no credit for this as my friend Darryl the toolmaker took the GSX-R top yoke, measured it, incorporated my requirements, drew it up and one of his machines did the rest. I pay the going rate as it’s his business, but for time, accuracy and quality, it’s a nobrainer (photos 3 and 4).
I knew the electrics were going to sit in the only space available, under the seat unit, and I wanted them housed in a ‘box’. Sometimes I build things and although they seem okay at the time, a bit later on they don’t work! I had three goes at this one (photo 5). My first effort was an ally welded up box, which is now a parts’ dumping ground! Second was a GRP effort. I found a plastic ice cream carton fitted exactly. So, I used it as a mould for matt and resin. On a lot of these type of plastics GRP doesn’t stick. I made an alloy collar to fit it in, but after a time it became clear I needed all the room available. The final effort was the simplest.
I chose stainless steel as thin sheet is quite ridged (1mm). Also if I don’t scratch it there’s a nice finish on the underside which if laying down you might see! It was again a case of lots of measuring, cutting the sheet with 1mm slitting disc in the angle grinder making sure it did not get too hot and discolour, marking out and bending (photo 6). One of those benders in the photo is not too expensive but do have their limitations. For years I’ve used two bits of angle iron in the vice; with care
it works well enough and is inexpensive.
A bit of fettling to fit round the frame and the ‘box’ was clamped in place, threaded ‘transfer punches’ wound through the fixings (photo 7), leaving fairly accurate marks to drill through (photo 8). I tend to mark things as it helps me reduce mistakes, hence the two arrows. Age has clearly caught me up!
That was basically it, maximising the space available and although not watertight, (not that I have any intention of going out in the wet) it’s given me somewhere to mount various components out of sight. It will need to have holes drilled in it to take the wiring as that develops when I build the loom.
I had mulled over whether to have a headlight or not: the same with regards to a fairing. I knew I did not want a period TR fairing or anything modern. The closest I got to it was a later shape XR69, but then all my engine and pipes would be hidden. I tried a half fairing from a Ducati, but that didn’t work for me. Once again in my collection of parts was a reproduction GRP YPVS handlebar fairing. Once held in position I thought it had possibilities. Strangely, those that have seen the bike don’t seem to be able to identify it... bonus!
I ordered a fairing, screen and front mudguard from Skidmarx. The fairing and screen were reasonably oky, but the front mudguard just would not fit. To be fair I had a number of conversations regarding this with Skidmarx, trying to sort out the issue. I the end it was returned with a no quibble refund. I took a chance and bought a £25 injection moulded front mudguard off the internet. It looks good, fits perfectly and appears up to the job!
A search of the internet turned up this LED beast (photo 9). It was not silly money and when connected to a battery appears to give good light and an okay beam pattern. It’s E marked and meant for UK roads; once up and running I’ll get it checked on a beam setter.
The fairing obviously dictates the headlamp position, so it was a case of holding the fairing where I thought it should be on the bike. The question then was how to mount everything?
Luckily the GSX-R bottom yoke has a couple of M8 threaded holes in it, so a plate was made and bolted up. The fairing is mounted by two holes in the bottom and lugs bonded on to the GRP about twothirds of the way up. It was fixed to the plate through the holes. This plate had to be made and bent at different angles a number of times before it was right. Using epoxy resin I also bonded in a half-inch piece of aluminium with matching holes to the bottom of the fairing to add strength.
At the same time I added a strip of carbon fibre to the top of the fairing where the screen fixes and with epoxy resin plus a filler beefed up the mounting lugs and filled round the headlamp ‘hole’ where there is a recess (photo 10). Once the fairing is fully fitted and shaped, I will probably add a complete layer of carbon fibre on the inside for strength.
The plate was not going to be strong enough by any means to hold the fairing and headlamp, plus I needed a mounting for the headlamp bracket. This took some time and resulted in a couple of bits of threaded solid round alloy and a ‘platform’ on which to mount the headlamp bracket.
I needed to figure out a way of altering the headlamp beam direction. A single bolt hole mounts the headlamp bracket and gives left and right adjustment.
The platform gave me another mounting point and 10mm, thick-walled alloy tube was bent to shape and length, bolting up to two of the five threaded holes under my new top yoke. Two other mountings were made to fit to the fairing lugs. Getting these bent correctly and at the right angles took quite a few goes and a fair bit of wasted tube! I use an automotive pipe bender meant for a soft brake/fuel pipe
(photo 11). It works okay and again is a relatively inexpensive tool.
I wasn’t going to waste all my hard work with my poor ally welding sonce again I enlisted the help of Shaun, a local fabricator (photo 12), to weld it up plus the mountings for the rad which I’d made some time ago. As a slight aside here’s a picture of a virtually full-size scooter Sean sculpted from steel discs (photo 13). Here is the finished fairing mount (photo 14) which has had a few tweaks along the way, but seams quite solid. It’s taken ages to make, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel!