Eelco's Darmah

I wouldn't be able to cope either, I would have had to remove it to be sure; Worth listening to that small voice, major errata / doolally behaviour and corresponding fallout could have been avoided. I am very, very glad you looked.
 
A few weeks ago I promised to measure the clutch pushrod parts from Eelco’s Darmah in a collection bolstered by the addition of a full set from Mr. ‘Vacant Possession’
I was a little uncertain as to the correct length as my clutch seemed to need its ’bullet’ plunger sitting almost out of the sprocket centre to give the correct action, with the clutch-centre adjuster wound almost totally in. I appreciate that there will be some wear in the actuating arm dimple that moves the rod-pack ‘outward’. My problem seemed to be that the slot in the cases was not long enough to give the overall arc of movement that the arm needed to push the clutch out.
In a box of spares that came with the bike was a brand new bullet so I measured that as well.
Here are the results in installed order:
Part My bits Vacant’s bits
6mm roller 5.93(new) 5.94
6mm rod 113.6 113.4
6mm roller 5.93 (new) 5.94
6mm rod 113.6 113.4
5/16 roller 7.95 (new) 7.94
5/16 ball 7.92 (new) 7.90
5/16 roller 7.95 (new) 7.93
Plunger 26.3 26.32
(NEW) 26.64 n/a
There are obvious differences which are down to wear which will stack up but the total difference is not so huge. Strange that my new 6mm rollers are smaller than Vacant’s used ones, though.
I am left with the idea that the new Surflex clutch pack is slightly thicker than standard which would suggest that a slightly longer actuating rod length might be needed to give some adjustment play. The ‘Jotaness’ of the clutch suggests that a longer arm isn’t fitted but that is the next thing that I’ll measure.
 
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I have just about finished the wiring but still a little debugging left. I moved some stuff around so that, for example, fuses and relays are under the tank/seat, the horn and reg/rec are between the battery and rear mudguard, the starter relay is over the starter motor and the coils and bosch boxes are moved around in the space left by the fuse box.

As I mentioned before I fitted dry break connectors and a flying lead for the rear light together with a big O-ring holding the front end down so that I can whip the tank-seat off more easily with no tools.

The steering damper puked its oil out so I found another on Ebay. It seems to be a generic seventies Japanese damper but I managed to avoid the BNIB RD350LC unit at over £100 and found one described as a streetfighter project damper which helpfully had a tape measure in the photo, for about £15. It fits and works fine but I think that in the standard position it is wrongly aligned. I'll have a better look when it stops raining.

Incidentally I took the old damper apart (with extreme prejudice) to find out how it worked. badly is I think the best description.
 
I was a little uncertain as to the correct length as my clutch seemed to need its ’bullet’ plunger sitting almost out of the sprocket centre to give the correct action
Click to expand...
That sounds normal. Mine are 'a little bit in'.

Have you checked the length of part #040016570, the screw which goes in the goes in the end plate of the clutch which provides adjustment? Adjusting that should give you the movement/positioning you need if the other parts are standard.
 
My next option if things don't work is to make a longer adjuster screw, to just put everything into the middle of its adjustment range. I'll do that after and when I get it started...
 
For me:-
  • the top of part #040016570 is flush with the top of the nut which retains it
  • the clutch actuating arm is a smidgen away from the casting
  • the cable adjuster is not far off screwed right in to the crankcase lug.
 
I planted 1000 crocus bulbs today with the local first school kids which was good fun and then took advantage of the good weather to have a move around in the garage. Unfortunately I left the trickle charger hooked up to the Darmah with the ignition switched on so the main fuse blew and the battery was flattened down to 5volts. The bigger car charger started to bring it back to the point where the starter solenoid clicks and there is 11 volts or so across the battery no so I'll stick it back on trickle next time I'm in to top it off and start again. Whilst that was happening I took the cover off the oil filter to see that oil was pumping into there, which it was. Then I took off the crank-end plug and more oil eventually came out of there (Thank you, kick-start gods). While I was at it I took out the spark plugs and actually have a spark at the rear plug but not at the front, so it's time to go back over the pick-up wires again just to make sure before I get too nervous. I dug out the wire basket ram pipes from the box of bits and screwed them on the carbs so I can see that they are working (plus they look really cool). Both pumpers are squirting so I don't know if I need the ticklers, we'll see. I started to fit the chain but realised that I've lent somebody my chain tool so until I remember who I'll see if MMT has one tomorrow. Whilst I'm there I'm going to talk about extending the clutch arm. I have cut and filed a piece of steel into the aerofoil profile and will ask his advice on welding. I can't remember whether the extended arms are 10 or 15mm longer but anything will make for a better angle to the cable and more mechanical advantage to unjotavate the lever-pull.
 
The bevel heaven web site says that the easy pull is 40mm longer than stock, which sounds like a lot. I have worked out the spacing between the pivot, socket and cable slot from a photo of an extended arm so I'll take it from there when I get back out in the garage.
 
The standard clutch actuating lever is 30 mmm from pivot to 'pusher' and 140mm from pivot to cable, giving a 4.67 to 1 ratio. A 40mm longer arm will give 6.1 to 1 which is a 28% increase in leverage at the expense of more travel. Now I'm going to measure the amount of cable-pull that my handlebar lever (which may not be standard) gives so that I can make sure that it is enough to not run out of space within the slot in the cases.
 
I have a clutch arm extender fitted, it's a Tony Brancato product which I bought from Andrew@MdinaItalia. Here is a picky showing how much it protrudes from the crankcase...
DSCF8282.jpg


And a few more showing how clutch cable & arm is adjusted...
DSCF8274.jpg


DSCF8275.jpg


DSCF8277.jpg
 
I've got 20mm of cable pull and 25mm clearance in the slot when the lever is in it, so I decided to have a go at extending my own clutch arm. I cut an aero-shaped piece of steel out and tacked it into the arm whilst it was clamped down to keep it flat and straight. I used my ancient XP arc welder which is barely up to a tack these days. The MIG is at MMT's so we'll finish welding tomorrow. I have left lots of extra material so I can grind it back after welding to a nice line.

The joints are 'V'd to help with penetration which is why it doesn't look as if it lines up properly.
 
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Well done Martin, proper engineering.
When i started out in Engineering my boss used to say

An engineer will make for 1p what any dam fool can buy for £1 :-)
 
Rubbish :) thats not why we do this.

I can see i need to post some pictures of one of my rebuilds ! I don't usually have anything to take to bits in the first place, its probably just a few bits in a box that used to be something :)
 
MMT welded the arm after making the 'V's deeper and cleaning off my spot welds (!) He made me promise not to grind off too much off the weld

And I didn't need to because the welds are hidden inside the case once it's installed.

I have about 58mm sticking out of the case, the pull angle is straighter and I have some pull -room left in the slot. Result!
I borrowed Tim's chain-pin pusher and fitted the new chain which just needs properly peening-over when I borrow that tool!
I can't be the only one who'd very much like to see some of DucatiPaddy's 'just a few bits in a box that used to be something'
 
whilst constructing my temporary garage extension, I moved the Darmah and realised that the back brake pedal was not returning properly. I relocated the spring and bent it a bit to increase tension then realised that the linkage and clevis's were a little out of line, causing a bind. The nuts moved but were a little tight so off came the rod and into the vice, where my first touch with a spanner sheared-off the clevis. An hour of drilling-out and tapping later I had a repair done to my great relief. I was reminded of my days of Lightweight land Rover ownership when you would start fixing it at one corner and work your way round until you got back to where you started, where you began again.
 
WARNING: off topic a bit. Today, I arranged for Dr.Shaun from MStuning to come to the house to have a go at starting my XS1100 trike project, which runs a Megasquirt fuel injection and ignition set up and has defied many attempts over a two-year period. Working methodically through the set-up he realised straight away that no maps at all were loaded into the ECU, so started to create them. By putting resistors across the temp sensors to fool them as I had no temp tables , he diagnosed that the spark-plug leads were out by 90 degrees and lo and behold it started! A previous backfire had shifted the throttle-body and caused a huge leak and we fixed that once and things got a lot better but it was obvious that we were chasing our tails if we kept going. The ECU was very slow to accept changes and didn't make them all so he has taken it away with him to send on to Phil at MSEXTRA who will update it to MS2. I have a list of things to do in the meantime including making room for a bigger battery and remote 'posts' so I can connect a charger without taking the trike apart. The engine smokes a lot which is a bit fuel, a bit oil, so that will need to be investigated in case my feed to the turbo needs more restriction or a seal has gone. it may even be the valve-guides. it is remarkably quiet and on the one occasion when it started boosting it spun like a mad thing and sounded evil. At least that has made a 50% reduction in my non-starting projects record.
 
I've been working away a lot lately so progress has been a little slow. When I blew up the ignition by leaving the ignition on as I charged the battery, I had a couple of options including a rebuild to standard or using a sachse or ignitech. A very good friend heard of this dilemma and enabled the third option of installing a Rita by passing on a Rita trigger mechanism. Nigel Lacey told me that the updated MOIRA ignition is not really produced any more and that internet references to it are a bit misleading. He passed me on to Alan at AO Services who have a reconditioned RITA box for sale so I have bought that. I missed a couple of cheap Dyna coils on Ebay but Nigel cheered me up by telling me that the Rita needs 6v ones. Although AO sell coils I decided to buy them through Nigel to show appreciation of his business ethics and so was delighted when Edina told me that they had over-calculated the postage and put two free brackets in to compensate - My faith in human nature is further boosted.
It seems to have stopped raining but I am storing some furniture for a homeless friend so can't easily get into the garage just yet. I'll probably wait until I have all the bits and then start the fitting process.
Oh, and happy New Year
 
Yeah, they're good uns them Laceys.
Come on Martin, do old Eelco a favour by getting this thing up and running or there's a risk I'll beat you to it!
 
Just got this from AO services:

Your RITA is going in the post. It has had many hrs testing including 22
on my Moto Guzzi this morning-[nice little ride] The amplifier wires are
on the short side so you will have to fit some connectors straight away.
Some wires included. Diag is for MG but Ducati is the same. FAQ sheet to
help as well.
Any problems please get in touch.
Al

I'm going to run out of excuses soon at this rate...
 
I have a complete 860 rita set up for sale if you get stuck. inc rotor and new bevel casting etc. Just missing its plastic cover.
 
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