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Mindis V7-850 Mods

Episode #431. That's how much pictures I have since the start LOL I like to explain why am I doing this or that just so yas can see my logic behind it but "a picture says a thousand words". And according to some of my friends (most or them, actually...) my brain is wired weirdly and it's hard to understand my "logic" but somehow it works just fine:D So I'll just do what I do and if anyone has any questions or criticisms, don't hesitate to spit it out!

I fixed my lathe and finished bar end weights. Conus shape rings will expand rubber bushings (pieces of hose:) outwards when tightening, what will clamp them inside tubes. I will have to experiment with rubber length a bit because too short won't clamp solid enough and too long will make bar end weight not reach the bar. And since I have shit tons of powder left, I might as well powdercoat them:

 
I’m curious as to why they need to be rubber mounted. Won’t that allow the bars to continue vibrating? My 2021 V7-850 E5 are solid mounted.

FMerlino
 
FMerlino said:
I’m curious as to why they need to be rubber mounted. Won’t that allow the bars to continue vibrating? My 2021 V7-850 E5 are solid mounted.

FMerlino
Click to expand...
Mine were too. Past tense LOL They're mounted solid on the bars, but the bars are mounted through rubber at your top triple. Bar risers goes through rubber bushings. Mine are now clip-ons mounted directly to the forks, zero vibration damping to my hands. Added weight of lead bars helped, as well as Grip Puppies.
It kinda does make sense to have weights mounted solid at the ends rather than through rubber, taking about sport bike clip-ons here. I'm kinda copying Vibrinator's theory where it suggests to be mounted through rubber. I can easily replace my rubber mounts with solid mounts but I'll experiment with that once bike is on the road, just so I can compare two mounts side by side.
 
Caliper side wheel cover is out of the mold and curing. This time I didn't heat the mold hoping that most of wax will stay on the mold rather than transfer to carbon. Not that much of a difference, I'll still have to scrub the wax... This one turned out a bit better, less air pockets:)



 
Caliper side wheel cover gets sealing coat of resin, retaining ring is glued on already. Now yas can see where I cheated, there's carbon diamond flakes are missing around center hole. Based on the other wheel cover I knew that I won't have enough flakes for caliper side because it has larger area due to deeper dish and smaller hole. So I was working from outside the perimeter towards the center, making sure I have enough diamond flakes to do the visible part of the cover. Flat side will be totally in shadow behind brake disc and will not be visible at all unless ya stick your nose close to it. To account for missing thickness around center hole I added an extra layer of carbon fiber cloth.

 
While my composites are curing, I'm finishing other bits on my bike. When addressing my rear brakes I broke my fancy reservoir holder... dammit... I'll have to wait till I mix resin next time to fix it...



Swamp leeches with arthritis got their final satin finish and now are on the bike. At far ends I notched a groove in them so they can be strapped with zip ties. I'm still not sure about their lines LOL Maybe they'll grow on me... Either way they're staying as they are for now or until I come up with something better...





For my bar end weights I notched rubber bushings to fit expansion rings:



There has to be a sweet spot where clamp system is tightened fully and is neither loose or too tight so I was ready to start experimenting with different washers, rubber bushing lengths etc. But I didn't need any of this coz I nailed it first go! Score! Call it luck, or call it educated DIYer's guess... Since me and luck don't get on very well, I'd call on a second one LOL

 
After sanding my wheel cover I found out little pit holes. If I do satin finish now then they will stay shiny so I gotta fix it. That happens when some contaminates disperse resin. Basically some guy forgot to degrease it... I'll have a chat with that guy... He'll face a disciplinary punishment of no beers for 2 days! In a row !!!



So I had to sand it again to nearly bare carbon and put final coat again. Also fixed my brake reservoir bracket and got final coat on my headlight bucket. And yes, I made sure "that guy" degreased it before resin, double checked myself! LOL

 
I went to adjust my valves for my 10K service. Wile turning rear wheel to find TDC I managed to break ~2 inches worth of bamboo chopstick inside left cylinder... My ball bearings dropped to my knees and nearly pooped myself at the same time...



At that point I had mini panic attack and started thinking what would happen if I just leave it there. Would it just crush and mangle then come out the exhaust? Or would it get stuck in exhaust valve while closing and bend it? And if it won't close exhaust valve even for one spark then I'd be in kaka up to my ears... When I started breathing again I started thinking more logic LOL I remember when I had my intakes off I could see pistons through open valves, was worth the try to fish it out. I had to loosen both intakes coz my Y is rigid now, took off left intake. I was ready to spend the night in my shop trying to fish out that piece of bamboo... I shot a blast of air through sparkplug hole and that piece magically hung on an open valve!



O.M.F.G ! ! ! I kid you not, just one shot of air and miracle happened. And me was just complaining how usually I'm not lucky... At that point I felt the need to go buy a lotto ticket and then go looking for my wealthy cougar online...
Then I could easily get it out using surgical clamps, doublechecked the length of it to make sure no pieces broke loose there, and assembled back my intakes. At that point my hands stopped shaking already and I could adjust my valves, using big zip tie to find TDC. I'll keep my chopsticks only for sushi from now on LOL
Since my valve cover bolts were looking a bit scruffy, I gave them a brushed/polished finish on my lathe using 500 grit sandpaper and steel wool. Some V7 owners reported them starting to get surface rust but mine weren't, just some oxidising. I don't know whether they're stainless steel or zinc coated. If they're just coated then I definitely sanded that coat off and they might start getting surface rust even when I don't ride in the rain. We'll see, I can always powdercoat them if that happens, no big deal:)



 
Mindis said:
I went to adjust my valves for my 10K service. Wile turning rear wheel to find TDC I managed to break ~2 inches worth of bamboo chopstick inside left cylinder... My ball bearings dropped to my knees and nearly pooped myself at the same time...
Click to expand...

OMG! Never ever ever ever use wood. NEVER.

Plastic Slurpee straws… The really big, thick chunky kind with the spoon shape on one end. Just take scissors and cut the spoon shape off the end. These straws are heavy duty, and will not break, and they are way too long to fall inside the cylinder.

However, never underestimate the activities of humans as one guy I shared this with, tried to adjust valves on a hot engine, and melted the straw in the cylinder on the piston. Don’t ask me how as I still cannot believe that idjit.


IMG_0618.webp
 
scottmastrocinque said:
Plastic Slurpee straws…
Click to expand...
We don't have them in BC anymore, hard to find, as well as plastic bags in shopping centers... I'm sipping my drinks through mushy paper straws while fishnets in the ocean is still polluting it a thousand times more than plastic straws. At my next valve adjustment I'll take my private jet to the States to get a plastic straw:)

I hear ya brother, lesson learned, thankfully not the hard way...
 
Mindis said:
We don't have them in BC anymore, hard to find…
Click to expand...

Mindis said:
At my next valve adjustment I'll take my private jet to the States to get a plastic straw:)

I hear ya brother, lesson learned, thankfully not the hard way...
Click to expand...

Thankfully, Amazon sells them in various quantities. Last check you can get 1200 of them for about $20

Had your air blast not worked, I bet you would have gladly slapped down $20 to make that wood disappear from your cylinder. In fact, I’m positive you would have. :)
 
Headlight bucket, last coat. Last time I said it was last one but this time it's definitely last, like the lastest of the last, not like last time. If it won't be the last then it's the last time I told you about last coat LOL I found 2 little imperfections in finish, was gonna just "send it" coz no one would notice anyway, but then knowing myself I was sure that it will be triggering me and I'll want to fix it later. So might as well fix it now while I'm at it...



Back to wheel covers. I marked and drilled 6 holes in each cover where my standoffs gonna mount. Also to beef up their areas I glued fiberglass washers on the inside. Before sealing covers on the inside I made little holes for water to drain with the help of centrifugal force:



Inside got a very thin layer of resin rubbed in to seal it. Every time I mix some resin for them, it's added weight...



Last thing before final finish, cut the hole for valve stem. In the pic cover is on the wheel, on which I have 90deg valve stem with 2in extension. And it's threads are not reaching wheel cover lol I'll have to have another 2in extension with me all the time so I can pump the tire. A wee bit inconvenient but I'm not cutting a big gaping hole in my cover...



And my covers are done! Pretty fancy hub caps, eh? :cool:





Daim, I can clearly see now the light at the end of this tunnel, that was a long process... Satin finish is very time consuming. Surface has to be either bare carbon, or all coated in resin without any carbon showing, otherwise there will be patches of different satin/shine areas. And lots of wet sanding by hand or any scratches will show. 99% of final finish depends purely on prep work. To achieve my desired satin finish I rub in with resin-damp cloth and with another cloth wipe it dry. If I want more shine than satin, I can repeat the process again, or use higher grit sandpaper at prep work. There's ways to achieve the finish from total matt to shiniest mirror. I really like the level of satin they turned out:)
 
Headlight bucket, one last coat! LOL, just kidding, it's just sealing, starting on the inside:



And here's what caliper side cover looks from inside of the the rim. 6 star spokes are not all same distance between them, so one standoff will go between close spokes, another in bigger gap, and so on. All 6 standoffs are at equal distance between them. Now that I have covers done, I will know their length.

 
Time to tackle the rim. Edges sanded, all taped, red tractor enamel is ready to rock:



After few generous coats I couldn't help myself but put the cover on to see how it will look. I'm gonna leave it for few days for the paint to fully cure before I mount new tire on it and jump on turning standoffs.



Watching paint dry is as fun as getting up for work Monday mornings, so I'm addressing the rest of stuff, like rear brakes. Reservoir bracket is fixed and mounted for good:



What's happening with this mess here?



I'm bleeding my rear brakes, that's what is happening...lol Since I have a vacuum with vacuum chamber, the process is quick and painless:) I syphoned out old brake fluid, then using vacuum on caliper's bleeding nipple I filled with fresh fluid from the bottom up. I was filling reservoir constantly while vacuum was sucking out fluid through the top. I went through more brake fluid than I should have, just to be sure that I'm flushing all of old fluid together with remaining air bubbles. After I was done it took only 2 pedal pushes to bleed it traditional way, to get rid of last bubble at the nipple. Right tools makes any job a breeze:) I'll leave caliper hanging for a day or two, and bleed again, just to be sure.
 
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