$400 is a great price but would they be even cheaper if i ordered say 5 or ten units?
Thanks for all your time and effort of the project. I would say keep us updated but I know you will.
$400 is a great price but would they be even cheaper if i ordered say 5 or ten units?
Yes, following parts should be way cheaper because the most time for the first sample machinist spends on G-code and testing, once the process is fully investigated and adjusted he needs only to put the aluminum blank in the machine and press the start button for each following part.
Last edited by TPEHAK; 03-20-2016 at 05:48 PM.
Finally I have all necessary parts. I performed a couple quick tests and have some promising results.
Different rubber rods from McMaster
I cut the rubber rods with blade to necessary length
For the first test I prepared shore 40A and shore 60A polyurethane rods
Located them on the bushong
Slided the assembly in the isolator. First time I did it with no lubricant and with no chamfered edges so it was difficult to slide the assembly in the hole
Here is the sequence for the first test I performed
Install the flange. I had figured out that the holes are not tapped deep enough so I shortened the bolts with grinding wheel. I would use #8-32 thread, 3/4" long http://www.mcmaster.com/#90665a114/=11oarfx instead #8-32 thread, 1" long I mentioned before.
Installed the rubber washer to protect the isolator in case of sliding along the isolator bolt
Once I had tried to install the new front isolator I had figured out that the bump on the back side interferes with the engine case, so I ground 2 mm down the bump with file. I will fix the CAD file later before I will share the new tweaked and verified revision of the bracket
And finally I had installed the new isolator first time
Then I ran the motorcycle and noticed it vibrates worst than with the original isolator, but slightly better than with my old broken front isolator with fully cracked rubber. Even the bushing on the prototype is less stiffer than the the original isolator bushing. So I decided to change rubber rods. And the next issue is to remove the bushing from the isolator. The rubber rods with no lubrication are very sticky. So I bought a plastic pipe and a bolt with a nut with a couple washers in a local Home Depot.
Then I assemble the bushing puller
Polyurethane rods was not going to slide so I pulled the bushing trough the rods. Polyurethane is very hight performance abrasion and tear resistant material with extremely high tensile strength so I pulled the bushing trough the polyurethane rods with no any damage or marks on the rods.
Before the second test I put chamfers on the edges and greased the inner surfaces of the isolator, so now the rubber rods slide in to the hole with no any difficulties.
The next configuration I was going to test is shore 70A + shore 30A rods. I used Buna-N shore 70A for the side areas and silicone shore 30A for the front and back areas.
Silicone has pretty low tensile strength so I used silicone rods only for back-forth load and located them in front and back areas, Buna-N has better tensile strength so I put it in the left and right sides areas for vertical support.
Then I installed the isolator on the motorcycle and performed a new test ride and it looks like this configuration feels pretty close to the original isolator. Maybe there are more vibrations at hight RPM but I can not say exactly because I'm tired and can be wrong. I need to perform more tests. I can be wrong, but visually for me it looks like isolator vibrates in vertical direction with bugger amplitude than the original isolator, so it might be that the shore 70A rods are still not stiff enough to provide similar stiffness in vertical direction, so maybe I will test shore 80A + shore 30A next configuration.
Last edited by TPEHAK; 03-24-2016 at 08:51 AM.
Nice work!
Excellent write up, info, pics and work!
Wow. I'm truly impressed.
Just a thought, have you thought about call or sending an email to EBR asking questions about the original isolator?
I know EBR is alive again and I know from experience that they have been helpful in the past when I've asked Buell related questions. Hell, you never know, they might be interested in using your idea. How cool would that be.
Wow this excites me. Literally the only parts we wont be able to adapt are motor mounts and belts. But with belts we can switch to chain. This is a very good thing and I hope a manufacturer like Preeng or someone can help produce these if you dont want to go through with making them all the time
I may be able to help with machining. Send me some more info and I can see what our machine shop at work would charge.
Thanks! I will post the files later, so anyone can try it.
It works! Finally I have found the acceptable configuration. The second configuration I mentioned before does not work well, it starts excessive vibrations after 2000 RPM and than higher RPM than worst vibration and at long trip it causes hands and legs go numb.
Today I decided to try asymmetric configuration, the same idea is on the original isolator, the rubber has smaller hole in front of the bushing and bigger hole behind the bushing, so the back area is softer than the front area. I used polyurethane rods shore 60A and silicone rods shore 30A.
Then I performed a test ride and now it runs surprisingly smooth at any RPM and while acceleration and deceleration. The first impression is it works even smoother than the original isolator.
Here is the isolator deflection with this configuration under engine weight
Will see how it will work in long run.
Last edited by TPEHAK; 03-25-2016 at 05:30 AM.