The Saga of Plain Jane

[srdavo]

did your kit come with an extra rear mounting block? that might span the gap on the front, with longer mounting studs.
although, I would like to see what you come up with using u-bolts.

the bike is gonna look SWEET!

 

[whitedog]

To be honest, Srdavo, I haven't checked. I'll check this evening. It would be easier to put a spacer on the seat tube than to fab something to a fit the curve. I'll let you know.

 

[whitedog]

Plain Jane expenses version 2

Srdavo, I just checked and this kit didn't have the spacer block. I think that I know what I'm going to do for the front mount and it shouldn't need anything but some flat metal, a drill and some u-bolts. I took the measurements this evening so I'm off to the hardware store tomorrow to see what I can see.

I'm also attaching an updated version of expenses to date. This version also highlights the cost of mistakes. To date, false starts have cost me a little under $100. ($96 but who's counting?) :-/

 

[whitedog]

So Much for Plan A

My first attempt at making a front motor mount is a technical success and a practical failure. What I had planned to do was cut some sheet metal to a size that would allow me to mount it to the frame with U-Bolts and the top piece of the stack would also be drilled to mount to the motor. From a practical standpoint, this would work. Unfortunately, when I do this with the metal that I have on hand, the U-bolts interfere with the placement of the exhaust.

I guess that I'll have to come up with a Plan B.

 

[gone_fishin]

some pics here that might help: http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=4045

 

[whitedog]

Yep. That's about what I was going to do except that there would probably be 3 pieces of sheet metal in the stack as spacers. Unfortunately, my exhaust clears the frame only by about 1/4 inch at the point where the motor mount has to be. If I mounted the plate and U-bolts as shown on that thread, I would have the exhaust rattling against the motor mount. I suspect that the solution is going to be a longer plate to move the U-bolts to where they won't interfere with the exhaust. I'm going to talk to a friend of mine who does wrought iron work as a hobby. I suspect that he'll have some ideas.

 

[drimpact]

You can bend the exhaust pipe to clear. I have had to do this. Please do not try to bend while it is attached to the motor as the motor will break.

I put the end that bolts to the motor into a pipe, stepped on the barrel and slightly opened up the bend on the pipe. It takes a bit of force to move it, but it usually doesn't take much.

 

[whitedog]

I understand that I can bend the exhaust pipe to clear the motormount bracket. When I do that I will interfere with the pedals. I have about 1/4" clearance on both sides of the exhaust. It is likely that I will have to live with that clearance which means figuring out a different bracket I think.

 

[whitedog]

Front Motor Mount Proof of Concept

I've just put together a front motor mount bracket that I think will work. I made some mistakes which will require my doing it all over again but I think that this is going to work.

As you can see from the picture, the mount is basically a 3/16" steel plate bolted to the motor and u-bolted to the frame. This is similar to a lot of other mounts that people have put together. You can see some of them in the posts that have already been referenced in this thread. When I was drilling the holes for the U-Bolt, I forgot to allow for the U-Bolt's nuts.:-/ I solved that for this test by turning the U-Bolt holes into slots (Dremels are handy gadgets.) but I think that the vibration will eventually work it loose so I will have to cut another plate. The red tape on the frame is just some electrical tape to keep all these trials from scarring the paint too badly.

Question for the group: There is about a 3/4" gap between the bottom of the plate mounted to the motor and the frame. Do you think that this gap needs to be filled in or is the support from the U-Bolt pulling against the mount on the seat tube going to be enough to keep the engine in place.?

 

[whitedog]

There has got to be a rule somewhere that you can do something the second time much faster than you can the first.

Here is the front mount version 2. Again, there are no lock washers or Loctite anywhere so this is just for fit. I'll probably wrap some innertube rubber where the electrical tape is for padding and to protect the frame. I think that I will go over to the auto parts store and see if I can find a rubber bushing that can be screwed to the plate and squeezed in between the plate and the bike frame. I just don't like having the motor effectively hanging in the front.

The second photo shows the clearance between the exhaust, the frame and the pedals. Again, the nuts are only snugged up so I may be off a bit. I'm not going to lock everything down until I get the sprocket on the rear wheel and make sure that everything is lined up and there are no clearance problems.