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Doomed to Fail: The SteamRat Build!

110K views 240 replies 16 participants last post by  spotarama 
#1 ·
It's me again, Margaret!


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back with another build. I call it Doomed to Fail: The SteamRat Build. Why Doomed to Fail? If you have to ask, you haven't seen any of my build threads ever....but I'll give you a hint. I haven't finished a single fucking one.

Whats a SteamRat? The premise of the final look is a cross between steampunk and ratbike. Wouldn't that just be some Mad Max outlands, zombie apocolypse type of build, you ask? Nope.


So here's the break down. Been doing a bunch of planning, and I've got a couple parts on hand I've been dying to install on SOMETHING, I've got some ideas I haven't seen done on ANYTHING (seen similar, but close only counts with hand grenades and nukes), and its about goddamn time I do some fucking work...on 2 wheels.

Here's what I'm starting with:

$20 KZ650 frame. No title, bare frame, cut after the shocks, and has races installed for some AllBalls for the steering stem. Had the 5-0 run the numbers for me, it's clean, I'll have no problems getting a title. I should probably do that soon, before I cut this thing in half.



I'm not even using the entire frame. I'm cutting the backbone off, and cutting the bottom tubes right before they bend up. My intent is to build this into a low slung hardtail.

Parts on hand:
Kz650 frame
pair of aircraft control pedals courtesy of Mongo
wide oval low beam projector from an Infiniti QX4
the overwelming urge to put something together

Things I intend to incorporate into this build:
16hp cast iron Briggs & Stratton single cylinder with electric starter and 20amp stator
pair of springer seats
girder front end
kz750 19/16 wheels
Ford Model A taillight with STOP lense and led board

Everything else:
Whatever comes around and seems like a good idea



Already found a front end, or at least part of it. Next pay day I gotta see what I have left, and go make an offer on it. I don't even care that it's incomplete. I can build around it.



I'm also picking up a my motor from MarksA-C. Gonna need a little work to be usable, but that's fine. I like doing work.


Right about now I wish I still had this one exhaust pipe that was always laying around my stash. Tossed it as part of a massive downsize a year and a half ago (relationship issues....). Damn, it would have been perfect for this.

All my previous builds have been based on complete bikes, this will be an almost entirely ground up build.


I've done all the math, and while this won't exactly be a fast bike, it'll have a proposed top speed of almost 90. In no way do I expect it to cruise at that speed. If I can cruise at 70 I'll be happy. I'm building this mostly for around town and county roads.

16hp Briggs, right angle gear box, gokart/golf cart cvt, 18T/46T sprocket set, and 130-90-16 rear tire. The CVT runs a 3:1-1:1 range, so if anyone else wants to run my numbers, I came up with a technical top speed of 88mph based on the 3k rpm limit of your average small engine. Yes, a lot of times we run them higher, I'll be adjusting the governor to give me 3300-3400 at the top. Much higher and you run the risk of destroying the flywheel.

"OMG, an automatic? Why not just buy a moped and feel the wind in your vagina". Hey, I just might. I only live 2 miles from work, I'm sure the breezed will feel great!

Actually my drive train choice is a budgetary thing. I'd love to stick a manual box behind it, but motorcycle transmissions are expensive as fuck. Plus I want the motor facing forward. If anyone comes across a damn cheap transmission, post it, I'm not exactly saying no to the idea. Just the cost.


That's it for now, I'll post more when I start getting parts in!
 
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#190 ·
I just wanna be able to throw a leg and go. I love projects, but I miss riding. I wanna just get something, and ride the fucker. Got my Mustang up for sale, plus I've got a 401k I can cash out from a job I just left (I'll never contribute to that account otherwise, might as well just get my cash out), and then bonus at the day job come December. Truck needs tires, but after that, bike.........
 
#192 ·
I just wanna be able to throw a leg and go. I love projects, but I miss riding. I wanna just get something, and ride the fucker.
I was there a couple years ago. I unloaded a project bike I was floundering with and dumped another project bike that I had never touched yet. Took that money and bought a $900 KLR650 and rode the shit outta that bike for the next year. It wasn't great at anything, but it could do anything you wanted. Probably the funnest 10k miles I ever put on a bike.

No personal experience with Pacific Coast's, but they have a cult following. Obviously great bikes that some people never can seem to part with.
 
#193 ·
Haven't had cash to put towards a down payment to make it happen, so it prolly wont. Between truck getting new tires, and sucking gas like a ho sucks cock, it keeps my wallet emptier than I like. Christ Almighty I miss driving my Mazda....

So anyway, I'm waiting on a check to show up, and trying to pull a little more cash together beyond that, I've got leads on a GS750, complete. Gonna try to get that, more to fix and sell than to keep and ride. What I /REALLY/ want to pull off right now is a bike that a buddy of mine just came into possession of. Suzuki Madura 1200. Yep, quick way back into the V4 game. I've got some ideas for it if I get it. I'd share them here, but we'll wait and see if it happens first.
 
#200 ·
Disturbingly, this is about to see more work than the Madura.......

Right about now I'm ready to murder just to ride something, and since I only need a few hard parts, it might actually be easier and faster to finish assembling this than to take apart the Madura and do all the cleanup on it. Plus the Madura needs tires, battery, title, etc.

Well, this needs a title too, but odds are I can have this one together quicker anyway. And cheaper too since I already have tires for it.

The Kohler is about to be a very distinct possibility again. I just went through the harness for it tonight, got it stripped down to the basic operations. I'm gonna order a gasket set for the Kohler, it needs to be taken apart, severely cleaned up, and put back together. Debating governor removal on it, don't know if I can get a billet flywheel for it or if I'm stuck with the cast iron wheel.

Also, I feel absolutley sick saying this, but I'm starting to look at Harley's. Now that they're basically Victory powered, they just aren't Harley's anymore........which makes me giddy
 

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#204 ·
Winha Automatic, custom built motorcycle for the Finnish army in the seventies. Story goes the Kohler engine can be unbolted and fitted more or less as is to a waiting snowmobile chassis. Guys who have ridden these say it's a pig to take through rough terrain because of the variator but once you get the hang of the throttle it's within manageable. Never sold to civilians though a few yellow and a few white ones occasionally do pop up at auctions etc.

Edit: it in fact was sold to civilians but only 20 civ models ever left the factory til they went belly up. It was cheap compared to rivals as it was registered as working machinery instead of motorcycle due to it having a mechanical power coupler so it could spin sth like a tablesaw etc.
 
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#205 ·
Hey man, I ran across this video last night and thought it may be of some help to you. I don't remember if you mentioned buying or using a centrifugal clutch, but this guy rigged up a very simple belt drive that's basically just a slip clutch. Seems to work very well, and according to some of his other builds and remarks, he has much better luck with this style of drive vs a cent. clutch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTcLCTdgbN0
 
#206 ·
You know, that's not a half bad idea, especially for the original premise of this build. It's stupid simple, it's worked for a hundred years on farm and small engine equipment.....

I'd have to set it up for a foot clutch with a locking mechanism, make it a permanently engaged setup as opposed to a normally released setup. I'm thinking dual 5x8 belts, have to figure out the gearing though. Not that it's hard to find pulleys either. Hmmm.....I'm liking this
 
#208 ·
This is more than doable. The crnak on the Kohler has decent length to it, not a big deal to double stack pulleys. I just gotta figure out the necessary ratios, plus the sprocket ratios for the jackshaft too. I'd love to see a top speed of 50, need that shit around Milwaukee lol
 
#209 ·
Ok, doing some maths here to figure out what pulleys I'll need to make this work.

EN450 back wheel is running a 140/90-15 tire, which should come to 24.92" tall
To do 60mph that would require the wheel to reach 809RPM.

The Kohler is rated somewhere around 750-800rpm up to 3800rpm (in stock form).

If I run pulleys at a 2:1 ratio, and use the stock EX500 gearing (16/42) which equates to a 2.63 ratio, the back wheel would see a max of 723rpm. At 723rpm I'm looking at a max of 54mph. Not quite the 60 I'm hoping for, but ample for running around the city. I can always change out the gearing a little later if I found that there's enough power.

Idle (800rpm) is a lowly 11mph brisk walk. Cooool.

Foot clutch to a linkage to the "clutch" pulley, for solid disengagement (gonna be fun figuring what springs I need to hold proper tension to engage a pair of 5/8 belts lol).

I am for SURE gonna be using those aircraft pedals on this thing.....
 
#210 ·
Not much of an update per se, but was in the shop a few times today working on customer cars and then the wifes car, and I'm starting to think I might I might try to actually do something with my YouTube channel. Not really shit on there right now, only actual how to was showing how to pop the driveshaft out of a differential on a shafty bike and the install for the throttle body kit I made for Mazda 2.5 swaps.

But I've got the rat to build, the Madura to fix, building a riding mower into a rat rod truckster, I go for random junkyard romps, fuck why not?

Gonna have to get a GoPro or something then, right now all my recording is done via phone....
 
#213 ·
Tbh with the state of today's "reality tv" I'd still rather watch that... The only two programs I watch nowadays are Wheeler Dealers (the original ones with Edd) and Car S.O.S. and I'm running out of episodes on both...
 
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