2009 Iron Butt Rally... on a 33 year old rotary Suzuki

[Slonishku]

Ooof!
I've been working this week to fix a seal inside the engine case around the base of the contact breaker shaft. A couple of hours to open the engine case and get at the thing and remove the assembly. Whadda ya know, that lead to something else, which lead to something else...

I'm working with a machinist now, and we're working against the clock to have this thing fixed and ready to go for the first big shakedown. The Cal24 is less than two weeks away, and I hope to have it all ready to go for that rally. It will be close.

[Black Ice]

Ooof!
I've been working this week to fix a seal inside the engine case around the base of the contact breaker shaft. A couple of hours to open the engine case and get at the thing and remove the assembly. Whadda ya know, that lead to something else, which lead to something else...

I'm working with a machinist now, and we're working against the clock to have this thing fixed and ready to go for the first big shakedown. The Cal24 is less than two weeks away, and I hope to have it all ready to go for that rally. It will be close.

Go, Slon!  "Deadlines loom and tempers flare, on the next episode of 'American Rallybike!'"  

[Tony T]

Go, Slon!  "Deadlines loom and tempers flare, on the next episode of 'American Rallybike!'"  

This is a great show!

Will he meet the deadline? Will the bike hold together? Will Chili make the ride? Stay tuned in to find out.

GO SLON!!  

[Slonishku]

Well, the Cal24 was a success, but I didn't ride the RE5. Just not quite ready yet. I need to figure out some timing issues and reconfigure a lot of other things.

The contact breaker case got back together. Yesterday I repaired a badly corroded group of components inside the point contact breaker case. This is the old breaker cam, and the new one:






The inside of the donor case, as is. No rust or corrosion, just some reddish grease:


And the rally bike, after a lot of cleanup:

[Slonishku]

This is me preparing to replace the clutch cover- aligning all the bits before closing it up:



And this is the carburetor fresh back from a rebuild at Rotary Recycle... beautiful!



And the saddle custom made for me by Bill Meyer Saddles- this thing is such an improvement over stock that it's hard to state just how much better it is. Note, this is not the rally bike- it's one I borrowed for rally prep purposes:

[Slonishku]

I got the bike all back together last night after a marathon session. All five carb cables adjusted, timing set, fuel and vacuum hoses replaced, newly rebuilt fuel cock, new fuel level sensor, lots of new gaskets, carb tweaked, new wheels and shocks on.

I fully expected the bike to fire right up and run smoothly. It took a bit to get it started. Now it starts right up. But when it's started, it's not running too great. With the choke closed, it runs OK. Once it's warmed up and the choke is openned, it idles pretty roughly. So there are more gremlins to work out.

I'm pretty nervous about this thing now. I wish I lived in the Bay Area now... there are so many experts and resources there. There's an RE5 expert in Chicago, one in Florida. Not much in Bakersfield though!

[Black Ice]

Anything that has more than two carb cables is an evil spawn of Satan.

Good luck in the IBR, bro--you have bigger balls than I ever will!  

[DNA]

 

What he said.

Good luck and let us know if you need pit crew or any regional help around the country.

If you do, I got you covered in the greater DC area!  

[Slonishku]

It looks like I will need a hand in Santa Ana, CA at the last checkpoint. I'm having my wife drive down from Bakersfield with the tires. I'll need to put those tires on the tubeless rims I mounted up.

I'm considering just having a set of wheels set up on the old tube-style spoked rims. I prefer a state of tubelessness, as they're a lot easier to plug in case of a puncture. But maybe it would be just as good to have the old tube type wheels all set up and ready to go with tires mounted and balanced. The last leg should only be around 4,000 miles.

I plan on finishing this rally one way or another. In the event the RE5 dies on me in some unfixable fashion, I will obtain an alternate mount somehow. Even if that means going to the nearest Yamaha or Kawi dealer for a used Connie or a new FJR or a C14, whether I can afford it or not! If that happens, I'll need a rapid response farkle crew!

[Slonishku]

Almost forgot- I have a Jaz 5 gallon fuel cell that has 4 AN-8 fittings on it. I've never worked with these fittings before, and want to find someplace that has a number of these fittings in stock to test fit. Does anyone know of such a store near Bakersfield, Oakland, or anywhere in between?

[Tony T]

Good luck and let us know if you need pit crew or any regional help around the country.

If you do, I got you covered in the greater DC area!  

+1 What he said. Anything I can do to help just ask.

I got you covered in the Chicago-land area and a 300 mile radius. If the RE dies around here you can finish on mine.  

Good luck, ride safe.

[Slonishku]

DNA, that's a hell of an offer. If the RE5 dies, I kind of wonder what I'll do. Don't get me wrong- I'm finishing the rally!

The first checkpoint is on August 26th right outside Chicago. If you want to stop by, I should be easy to spot!

[Tony T]

The first checkpoint is on August 26th right outside Chicago. If you want to stop by, I should be easy to spot!

Yea, you will be the guy with Chili-man.  

Where can I find-out exactly where the checkpoints are, I would definitely swing by, cheer you on and offer any assistance I could.  

[Bounce]

Almost forgot- I have a Jaz 5 gallon fuel cell that has 4 AN-8 fittings on it. I've never worked with these fittings before, and want to find someplace that has a number of these fittings in stock to test fit. Does anyone know of such a store near Bakersfield, Oakland, or anywhere in between?

Summit Racing (google it)

[Slonishku]

I have a summit catalog, I'm looking for a physical store that would carry the stuff, so I can try hand fitting a few parts.

[Tony T]

How about a local plumbing supply house?   Just use brass fittings.

But I think you're getting worried for nothing. I just received my tank in the mail and the AN fittings don't seem all that special. Just order the right ones and use gas-line Teflon tape then you should be fine.  

[Slonishku]

It looks like brass fittings will be what I use. I picked some up at Pep Boys, and they seem to fit nicely. I also seem to have brainstormed up a hinged fuel cell platform using 1x12 plank, door hinges, and other odds and ends.

I got steel braided brake lines fitted up front today. Man, those old brake lines were in bad shape.

The first checkpoint, by the way, is in St. Charles, IL.

[Slonishku]

Aaargh! Dammit dammit dammit! I got the RE5 out on the road yesterday after installing the new steel braided brake lines and a few other tweaks. This morning, I opened the contact breaker case to double check the timing. Catastrophic failure. The contact breaker shaft oil seal that I spent about 15 hours or so fixing, has already failed. After a total of seven miles. Clearly, the seal is not the problem. It must be something to do with the oil circulation in the motor. There must have been something causing enough pressure behind the seal to blow it out. In any case, I had to make a very big choice.

That RE5 is out of the Iron Butt Rally. Finished.

I have a second RE5 in the garage that was acting as a parts donor. After a very long day, and with a friend's help, it is now my rally bike. Today we swapped a lot of parts around and made a lot of progress. On the new rally bike, we installed a starter motor, swapped the carbs, rewired much of the wiring harness, fixed the turn signals and horn, swapped out the breaker shaft cams, springs, and counterweights. We re-gapped the points, set the timing, put in a new battery, and a dozen other things.

Tomorrow, I'll be swapping out the forks, wheels, brake lines, shocks, exhaust, and trading the current carb (which was installed today) for one off another bike. I'll also put on a new chain, front and rear sprockets, and put LED bulbs in to replace the old running light bulbs. I still have to rig up the HIDs and Pro-Oiler and get the aux fuel cell set up. Today was a huge set back, but one that can be overcome in a few days of hard work.

The new rally bike is butt ugly- rusted and corroded, but it seems to be mechanically sound. The previous owner apparently tried to wax the motor, but forgot to wipe the wax off. So the engine has a bunch of dried up globs of old green Turtle Wax all over it, and rust just about everywhere. It's going to draw a lot of looks of pity at the starting line in Spartanburg!

[Edit: SIC]

[Nodaclu]

Hang in there Slonishku!!

Just think of what a great story all of this is going to make when you complete the rally! Something about doing the ride on a Rat (looking) RE5 will have people talking more than doing the ride on what would appear to be a completely restored bike.

[jwhite518]

Dude, you are going to be happy to get to Spartanburg - just because you'll get to rest a few days! Wow, reading your saga (or is it an ordeal) is like driving past a crash scene. You don't want to gawk, but you really want to know how it's going to turn out. I feel for you, really I do. But also I have confidence that you'll pull it together and have a great rally.  Chin up.