<Note: Sorry, pix posted below. You can also email me:
sinomas - gmail>
Hi folks, here's the story:
We acquired another racers outfit after he passed, Willie Buchta, who is known in the circles of lsr with his bikes, two of which are still competing today. Our goal here is to restore and resurrect Willie's bike as it was when he finished it. I will re-enter the bike as Willie's Wheel's under his number and try to preserve what records he set under his name. This is a tribute to a great man, who was loved by many. So I am looking for some help in a few areas.
Long story short, I have Willie's bike. We are looking for some help in a few areas. This isn't a call for money help, I need technical guidance as I'm an I4 guy, and haven't worked on that many v-twins.
We got everything in pieces and boxes, and now have it mocked up to some degree, including the motor I was able to piece together from parts. I did this from pictures Willie took during his build, Buell Service Manuals, reading stuff here and from my memory spending time with him when he was still racing to understand what he did.
Now, on to the needs.
Motor plant is a 2003/4 XB9 Firebolt from what I can gather based on the motor SN.
1. I am missing an Ignition. It appears that originally Willie built the bike with either a Dynatek or something else from pix and notes I have found. However, all I have is the conventional rotor (two window) that seems to be the one everyone recommends with Buell when converting the ignition from ECU based to conventional electronic. I am stuck on two points; A. What should I use now? AND, can someone supply me with a simple walk through and schematic how it's set up.
My understanding so far is this:
- Almost all conventional electronic ignitions (dyna-daytona-ultima) uses this XL type two window rotor.
- Almost all come in either single fire (preferred) or dual fire, and single plug or dual plug. This motor is single plug.
- There are advanced variants with rev limit, advance-retard, data and so on.
- The bike will not use that OEM Vacuum switch advace.
So far, I am leaning toward the Dynatek S like this one here-
http://www.jpcycles.com/product/380-623 ,
unless someone shouts "No!", but it seems pretty rudimentary. What I do want is the simplest solution possible. Rev limit is nice, but not a show-stopper. Timing tweaks are cool, that should be a must.
Please advise what you have used in the XB9, what works best, include all components sourced (ignition unit, coils, wires) and please be as succinct as possible. We can expand after we nail this part down.
NEXT
2. Carb. Don't have one of those either. Originally he used a lot of different stuff, but the last Carb on the bike was a Lectron. It gave poor performance from what I heard and tuning was a problem. Therefore, It looks like Mikuni is the choice. 42/45 MM seems to be favored from what I've read so far. I'm a little jumbled on the intake though. It looks like there might be either an OEM way with mods or third party intake that will make the Mikuni bolt up cleanly. I'd love to hear what experiences with XB9-Mikuni conversions are available, and if 45mm is to aggressive for a fairly stock motor to start with.
NEXT
3. Power. So the Alternator (stator/rotor) have been removed. Usually, I'm not a fan of this approach, but he must have had a reason. I think he wanted to run battery only, and charge between passes. This would be fine, but the set up-is was inadequate for that. I'm considering using two Shorai batteries so we have plenty of Capacity and can charge quick. The bike only needs power for the Ignition, nothing else. Down the road there may be a Solenoid or two, but all low draw stuff. Now, again, because these runs are a few minutes or less (warm up, stage, pass), the Battery Only makes sense. But it would be great to hear from you all on what you think as well, and best practice and a schematic on wiring that up with the above.
Also, if we go back to using an Alt, I'd like to know what aftermarket model and rectifier would be best. This part requires more discussion.
4. Wheels. Well I think the rear wheel came from a Sporty. Not 100% sure, but it looks like a Sport mag rear to me. Now the fronts and sidecar, I have no idea. The star in the middle doesn't look like anything I've ever seen. If you know, or think its a Buell something, please let me know.
The key reason we need to figure this out is I am also missing a front Axel. The forks are Showa, look fairy modern (last 10-15 years), and possibly came off a Buell as well. But any help with this would be appreciated.
OK, now a stupid question. When the ignition/side cover was off, the cams came out also. I have the order and alignment part figured out from the manual. Seems fairly simple ( I hope). The question is, when you put the drive gear on that is Cam #2 I think, it's keyed already to the crank drive. Then from there, you align the Cam's with the alignment marks on each as prescribed in the manual. BUT, and this is the big but, it does not appear the motor needs to be @TDC when doing so. And I really want to make sure that's true. Again, I know #2 is KEYED to only do in one way, so my thinking is that's the original positioning needed to then align the other three cams to it and each other. Is that correct?
Because I know you need to be at TDC through the site hole when aligning the ignition, but it is not clear if the same is true for the Cam's, unless the 14 times I read the manual on this wasn't enough. So please advise on that. I did not to anything exotic with degree'ing the Cams yet, just aligned it true and moved on.
That's what i have for now. Appreciate hearing from those of you in the know with some experience to guide me through the rest so we can get Willie's Wheels racing again.
I miss Willie, he was good man. I'm happy to pilot his wheels for him as long as god willing. Thanks for helping out where and when you can. Looking forward to some good discussion and guidance.
-Papi
Steve "Papi" Chappell
SCTA/BNI #2230-2239
1650P-P, APS1350BF, 1000
sinomas - gmail>
Hi folks, here's the story:
We acquired another racers outfit after he passed, Willie Buchta, who is known in the circles of lsr with his bikes, two of which are still competing today. Our goal here is to restore and resurrect Willie's bike as it was when he finished it. I will re-enter the bike as Willie's Wheel's under his number and try to preserve what records he set under his name. This is a tribute to a great man, who was loved by many. So I am looking for some help in a few areas.
Long story short, I have Willie's bike. We are looking for some help in a few areas. This isn't a call for money help, I need technical guidance as I'm an I4 guy, and haven't worked on that many v-twins.
We got everything in pieces and boxes, and now have it mocked up to some degree, including the motor I was able to piece together from parts. I did this from pictures Willie took during his build, Buell Service Manuals, reading stuff here and from my memory spending time with him when he was still racing to understand what he did.
Now, on to the needs.
Motor plant is a 2003/4 XB9 Firebolt from what I can gather based on the motor SN.
1. I am missing an Ignition. It appears that originally Willie built the bike with either a Dynatek or something else from pix and notes I have found. However, all I have is the conventional rotor (two window) that seems to be the one everyone recommends with Buell when converting the ignition from ECU based to conventional electronic. I am stuck on two points; A. What should I use now? AND, can someone supply me with a simple walk through and schematic how it's set up.
My understanding so far is this:
- Almost all conventional electronic ignitions (dyna-daytona-ultima) uses this XL type two window rotor.
- Almost all come in either single fire (preferred) or dual fire, and single plug or dual plug. This motor is single plug.
- There are advanced variants with rev limit, advance-retard, data and so on.
- The bike will not use that OEM Vacuum switch advace.
So far, I am leaning toward the Dynatek S like this one here-
http://www.jpcycles.com/product/380-623 ,
unless someone shouts "No!", but it seems pretty rudimentary. What I do want is the simplest solution possible. Rev limit is nice, but not a show-stopper. Timing tweaks are cool, that should be a must.
Please advise what you have used in the XB9, what works best, include all components sourced (ignition unit, coils, wires) and please be as succinct as possible. We can expand after we nail this part down.
NEXT
2. Carb. Don't have one of those either. Originally he used a lot of different stuff, but the last Carb on the bike was a Lectron. It gave poor performance from what I heard and tuning was a problem. Therefore, It looks like Mikuni is the choice. 42/45 MM seems to be favored from what I've read so far. I'm a little jumbled on the intake though. It looks like there might be either an OEM way with mods or third party intake that will make the Mikuni bolt up cleanly. I'd love to hear what experiences with XB9-Mikuni conversions are available, and if 45mm is to aggressive for a fairly stock motor to start with.
NEXT
3. Power. So the Alternator (stator/rotor) have been removed. Usually, I'm not a fan of this approach, but he must have had a reason. I think he wanted to run battery only, and charge between passes. This would be fine, but the set up-is was inadequate for that. I'm considering using two Shorai batteries so we have plenty of Capacity and can charge quick. The bike only needs power for the Ignition, nothing else. Down the road there may be a Solenoid or two, but all low draw stuff. Now, again, because these runs are a few minutes or less (warm up, stage, pass), the Battery Only makes sense. But it would be great to hear from you all on what you think as well, and best practice and a schematic on wiring that up with the above.
Also, if we go back to using an Alt, I'd like to know what aftermarket model and rectifier would be best. This part requires more discussion.
4. Wheels. Well I think the rear wheel came from a Sporty. Not 100% sure, but it looks like a Sport mag rear to me. Now the fronts and sidecar, I have no idea. The star in the middle doesn't look like anything I've ever seen. If you know, or think its a Buell something, please let me know.
The key reason we need to figure this out is I am also missing a front Axel. The forks are Showa, look fairy modern (last 10-15 years), and possibly came off a Buell as well. But any help with this would be appreciated.
OK, now a stupid question. When the ignition/side cover was off, the cams came out also. I have the order and alignment part figured out from the manual. Seems fairly simple ( I hope). The question is, when you put the drive gear on that is Cam #2 I think, it's keyed already to the crank drive. Then from there, you align the Cam's with the alignment marks on each as prescribed in the manual. BUT, and this is the big but, it does not appear the motor needs to be @TDC when doing so. And I really want to make sure that's true. Again, I know #2 is KEYED to only do in one way, so my thinking is that's the original positioning needed to then align the other three cams to it and each other. Is that correct?
Because I know you need to be at TDC through the site hole when aligning the ignition, but it is not clear if the same is true for the Cam's, unless the 14 times I read the manual on this wasn't enough. So please advise on that. I did not to anything exotic with degree'ing the Cams yet, just aligned it true and moved on.
That's what i have for now. Appreciate hearing from those of you in the know with some experience to guide me through the rest so we can get Willie's Wheels racing again.
I miss Willie, he was good man. I'm happy to pilot his wheels for him as long as god willing. Thanks for helping out where and when you can. Looking forward to some good discussion and guidance.
-Papi
Steve "Papi" Chappell
SCTA/BNI #2230-2239
1650P-P, APS1350BF, 1000
