The FrankenBrick Smart BMW build

[BertTrack]

Looking good already!

[touchwoodsden]

thanks Bert.
I have put the rearwheel and rear mud guard and battery in tonight. I put a flap in the front of the rear mud guard to protect the back of the gearbox and the clutch mechanism because it is remarkably exposed on the original bike.
I couldn’t find a decent clutch lever so used one I had lying around off one of my MZs. The adjuster thread is completely different than the BMW thread so I re-tapped it M10 x 1. I had ordered a cheap tap pair from eBay but they would take a couple of weeks to arrive from China. Fortunately a mate of mine happened to have the necessary tap available so the MZ clutch lever housing was modified and now “we have clutch”. In an ideal world the clutch cable would need shortening by about 4-5 mm. Because the arm is at the limit of its adjustment. I really can’t be bothered because I have made it up elsewhere and it might be a job for a bored Sunday afternoon, or not, as the case may be. I am not unhappy with it, it is just that it is almost at the limit of its adjustment. We shall see.
I looked at the plastic tonight for the whole of the bike which is not in particularly brilliant condition and I was in two minds whether to paint it or leave it as it is. It would save me a job if I didn’t have to paint it but, to be honest, it’s not that big a job really and it will make a big difference. The painting I don’t mind, it is the flatting down of the original paint which is so boring.

[gilburton]

You can get cable spacers this is for a British bike so it's probably not large enough but you might be able to get something or modify it?
If there is somewhere local to you selling classic British bits it might be worth having a look or at some sort of classic rally??

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/57-1645-TRIUM ... Swo6lWQh7V

[touchwoodsden]

You can get cable spacers this is for a British bike so it's probably not large enough but you might be able to get something or modify it?
If there is somewhere local to you selling classic British bits it might be worth having a look or at some sort of classic rally??

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/57-1645-TRIUM ... Swo6lWQh7V

Indeed you can get spacers but the ends of the outer of the BMW cable are huge and I think it’s unlikely that I could get one to fit. I will have a little look when I go to the Stafford show which I do with the MZ club every April and October although to be honest, for the sake of removing the cable and re-soldering the nipple, it’s probably going to be quicker to do that than spend the time looking around. I have soldered dozens of cable nipples over the years.

[gilburton]

Yeah I thought the BMW one would be a lot thicker.
It's all minor stuff but very time consuming as you find you need all sorts of brackets made up etc.
You can see where all the R&D goes in to by the major manufacturers.

[touchwoodsden]

To be honest, for the effort required to operate the BMW clutch, the cable doesn’t need to be anything like as thick.
I really have been struggling not only with the electrics but also with where to fit everything so that I can actually do the wiring. I was using one of those automotive type relay boxes where the wiring all goes in from the bottom. Mistake. I’m now going to use individual relay bases which clip together into a line and I can then mount them on their side which means that I can get at the wiring easily.
I will have to undo all the relay wiring that I’ve done, but at this stage, the only relays which are fully wired are the fuel pump relay, the main power relay (that is mounted separately near the battery anyway so won’t need touching) and the starter relay which powers the solenoid.
It also means that I wasted 15 quid on the relay box. Grrrr……………

[klondikekid]

I was just saying to the wife the other day that it feels like I am building two bikes and only getting one, I have lots of parts etc. that I thought would work/fit, only to go in a box in the corner of the shop, I have learned alot from my build, so much that the next one? will be nothing like my first one. wiring was my speed bump too, but once I got started and stayed on it, it wasn't so bad. enjoying watching your build, just think one day you'll be done...then what?

[BoxerOtto]

then get on and ride the wheels off of it!!!

[touchwoodsden]

I have almost finished the wiring.
I still have everything on the dashboard to do, warning lights and ignition switch and I think I will make a little panel up to take those. In the short term, I’m going to use a bicycle speedometer because an electronic motorcycle speedometer is £150 quid and a rev counter the same so they can wait until funds are a bit more fluid.

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With the help of the wrong useful wiring diagram for the old Honda VFR switches and a spare battery and test lamp, I managed to figure out where almost all of the switchgear wiring went to.
So I now have indicators and sidelight and dip and main beam and a horn and a starter. The only thing I haven’t figured out and I have given up on, is the headlight flasher. For some reason, it doesn’t want to work. It’s not the switchgear, it’s my wiring. I may play with it at some later stage
Everything goes through one huge relay (which came from the original bike wiring) and then there are separate relays for the fuel pump and starter solenoid. I did buy a 100amp relay off eBay but figured that the BMW original was going to be better quality

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I had a problem with the indicators because I just couldn’t get them to work or flash. I have a box of flasher units and would you believe 2 of them (the ones I was using) were duff. Now I know why they were in a box. They are now in the bin.
The motor turns over and the fuel pump works.
I have used the VFR starter button and the kill switch I have wired to the fuel pump. I hate pulling fuel pipes off and as there are two pipes, feed and return, I don’t want to get them the wrong way round. I have therefore used back-to-back 1/8bsp fittings with tails which I got off eBay and which come apart in a few minutes. I’m anticipating having to take the fuel tank on and off a few times! The last thing I want is to start pulling rubber pipe off and on and risk little bits of rubber going up the inside.

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I have yet to put in a relay and all the wiring in for the radiator fan because I have yet to put on a radiator fan! The BMW one is too large and I need a flatter pancake type.
All the injection wiring is done and it will be interesting to see whether the whole thing makes a noise when it’s filled with fuel. I have yet to plug in the ECU and IDM.

With regard to the wiring of the lights and indicators and horn et cetera I confess and apologise that I have used chocblocks. Firstly because there was quite a lot of experimentation and they are easy to change the routing of the wiring and secondly because they are just convenient. They will be under the fuel tank out of the way.

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Initially, I was going to relay everything but if the switchgear on the handlebars is good enough for Honda with no relays, it’s good enough for me. Hence, this huge relay bank has been reduced from 8 to 3.

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The wiring is electrically good but physically, it looks a bit like spaghetti. Still, the electrons and the faults in the amps are not bothered whether it follows a tortuous route or a straight line down the wire.
I have no exhaust on yet because I’m waiting for some stainless steel elbows and bends to come through the post. I can then knock up a bit of an exhaust. I can tack it with my normal mig welder and then take it to my mate to get the stainless done with tig.

Taking the battery out is going to be "interesting" and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up relocating it into one of the panniers. We shall see.

Watch this space.

[touchwoodsden]

Oh f%$k. The battery is fucked. MotoBatt, here we come

[touchwoodsden]

MotoBatt ordered.
Going to try to get wiring finished this week.
Might try a start next weekend.

[touchwoodsden]

Spot the deliberate mistake.

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I can disconnect the fuel lines easily but fuel will piss all over the gaff. No taps. Next job...taps!

[gilburton]

re your wiring/removing battery possibly one or two multiplugs so that the battery can stay in the original position and not take up room in a pannier?
After all you'll need some room for rally gear and might want to run without panniers sometimes??

[touchwoodsden]

re your wiring/removing battery possibly one or two multiplugs so that the battery can stay in the original position and not take up room in a pannier?
After all you'll need some room for rally gear and might want to run without panniers sometimes??

It takes about 15 minutes tops to take the battery out.
Fuel tank off.
Unbolt the relay bank. Unbolt the glow plug relay.
Disconnect the battery and disconnect one cable from glow plug relay.
Then it just needs a little bit of jiggling past the spaghetti.

[touchwoodsden]

Well the motor is spinning over (I am using a separate car battery for now), but not farting, and the fuel pump is working, but the software which is on my laptop is now out of date and doesn’t work so I have to have the new version. Until then, I don’t know whether everything is set up properly or not.

I have wired the fuel pump up through the kill switch and it does now run all the time the ignition is on whereas originally, on the motorcycle, it ran for about 10 seconds and then switched off unless you were cranking the engine or the engine was running. I guess there must be some kind of timer in the relay.

If anyone knows how that’s done, if it’s a simple relay, I wouldn’t mind replacing the relay I have with the magic timed relay.

I think I have to calibrate the fly by wire throttle but don’t know how to do it yet.

Hopefully, I will get software tomorrow and then I can play a little more.

When I spoke to Simon at Specialist Components, he told me that he would talk me through it because it’s largely self-explanatory. I think that’s fine if you know what you’re looking at but we shall see.
I still have the “dashboard” wiring to do but everything else is done apart from the tidying.

I’m still waiting for my new rear shock to arrive before I can finalise bolting the whole backend together. Once the shock arrives, it’s a 10 minute job.

[Tetronator]

Computer says "Noh".

[touchwoodsden]

I have had a burp out of the engine. Dont get excited yet.

However that’s nothing to do with the electronics for which I’m still waiting for the software. The throttle just doesn’t work yet.

It takes ages to bleed injection systems in these modern CDI motors even though they are alleged to be self bleeding.

I remember watching an AA mechanic do it. My memory came flooding back last night. He just squirted easy start (he actually used brake cleaner!) Of the air intake and cranked the motor. It ran for 2 or 3 seconds which, after half a dozen goes of squirt-crank-fart-brrrum, and some popping and farting, was enough to bleed the system and get the engine running.

Much kinder than using the starter motor to crank for ever to bleed the injectors. Of course, at this stage, I don’t even know if all the electronics et cetera are working, until I connect the laptop which I can’t do until I get the up-to-date software.

[touchwoodsden]

I fitted the exhaust today.
The story is interesting.
I ordered the parts from China. They arrived literally this morning.
They are stainless steel plumbing fittings (allegedly) which are obviously made for upmarket hotels.
If you look at the photograph, you will see that from the turbo, there is a tapered bit. That part alone would cost me 18 quid in the UK. Rip-off.
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If you then look at all the other parts, including the tapered bit, apart from the straight piece of pipe (I will come back to shortly), they came from China which, including postage, the whole thing cost me 17 quid! No-brainer.
I had to pay 15 quid for 0.5 m of straight tube of which I only used a tiny bit. The flange is stainless disc from ebay which I asked them to cut the middle out. Cost £8. So the whole thing cost under £50. Bargain.
I was a bit concerned about the vibration from the long pipe length so put the bracket at the front which I have secured to the crankcase.

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I paid a guy local to me (who I just happened across) 20 quid to do the welding +5 pounds of biscuits for the teapot for him and his workmates. He told me to come back in 45 minutes and the job was done. I had tack welded it with my mild steel MIG welder and he went to great pains to can tell me how I contaminated the stainless steel.
All the stainless is 316 which is good stainless apart from the straight piece which is some odd strange 409 stainless or suchlike which is used for exhausts.
Interestingly, none of it is magnetic except for the “exhaust tubing” which, in magnet terms, sticks like sh*t to a blanket.
It seems that in stainless steel exhaust pipe terms for cars, “stainless” is not quite as stainless as it might be.
I didn’t bother with the turbo gasket because firstly there is no pressure, secondly Mercedes would probably want about 3700 zillion pounds for the gasket and thirdly because I figured that some exhaust gasket gunge would do a good job. We shall see.

[Diesel Dave]

I love seeing neat welds like those, but it just 'rubs it in' how bad I am...

[Tetronator]

I love seeing neat welds like those, but it just 'rubs it in' how bad I am...

Grinder 'n paint, makes me the welder I ain't.

[touchwoodsden]

The only dressing of the welds I did was my blobs of mild steel tack. When it was first welded, it had that nice blue coloration in circles around the weld which I was very tempted to leave but I know that it wouldn’t last which is why I just polished each weld with a mop. All it did was remove the oxidation.

When it gets discoloured, I am going to wrap it with glassfibre tape although I did make the mistake of buying white instead of black DOH!

In actual fact, I bought it to wrap the zorst on my 2CV Citroen but decided that there is so little of it, I am not going to bother. Hence, it’s been sitting on the shelf for 2 years waiting for somewhere to go.

The shock absorber for the rear arrived today. A lovely looking piece of kit and I would recommend Protech for any shockers. http://www.protechshocks.co.uk/

They are less than half the price of Hagon and in my opinion, as good if not better quality.

I ordered it two weeks ago at least and had to ring up yesterday to chase it. He apologised for being so busy and said he would do it that day and get it off to be. As good as his word, it arrived today by UPS. Fantastic.

Just one word of warning, he doesn’t seem to keep any records of what he sells so if ever you want “the same thing again” you are going to have to remember what you bought!

Still, this shock for £150 whereas Hagon want £350 I think is a no-brainer. I have used Protech for shocks on a variety of projects and they have never been problematical.

Photos to follow… Eventually.

The whole project is about to make a burp. I have spent hours and hours on the wiring and even more and more hours trying to resolve an issue with all the electronics.

After exchanging a zillion emails, and testing all the voltages going in and coming out of the ECU, it seems that a dongle is potentially kaput and hence, it has to be changed.

Meanwhile, Specialist Components appears to be changing identity and morphing into 2 different companies and the hardware is supplied by one company and the engine management system by another company and I’m not certain whether the 2 of them are speaking to each other. I am sure we will get it resolved, but meanwhile, “frustration is us”.

At the moment, I am all dressed up and ready to go (apart from the dashboard idiot lights and the speedometer). I just want the engine to start farting and responding to the twist grip. Then I will be a happy bunny.

Meanwhile, everything in bunny land is not exactly Watership Down!

[touchwoodsden]

Update.
Simon has left Specialist Components and is now working with Specialist Control Systems.
SCS supply ECUs to SC.
Mine was bought from SC before SCS were doing them.
We have tested all the voltages in and out of the ECU and all is alleged to be okay.
So it was alleged that the only thing that can be at fault is the dongle.
SCS told me to send the dongle back to SC. Unfortunately, SC were on holiday until yesterday because of a delayed flight, were not open until today.
They tested the dongle while I was on the phone and it works.
So now, I’m in the situation where SCS are saying it’s the dongle. SC are saying the dongle is okay.
I asked what happened if it was the ECU at fault and that that stage, June from SC who was very helpful on the phone said that she would speak to Matthew at SCS to try to get the issue resolved. She took my telephone number and is going to get him to ring.GOOD NEWS
Simon just rang extremely helpful and keen to get this sorted
He is at a loss as indeed I am.
I have arranged to go down on the 31st to get it sorted.
Watch this space.



Meanwhile, I spoke to Joe Lamont at length and he went through similar problems connecting his ECU which he eventually resolved.
He has also put the high ratio gears in the final drive which he says makes a fantastic amount of difference. I have also put the high ratio gears in the gearbox.
Anyway, when I built my final drive, it locked up so I asked Joe what he did. He put a few paper spacers between the cover and the casing and hey presto.
So, I cut out a load and hence, I now have a high ratio final drive to fit although I’m going to wait until the electronics are done before I start on more mechanical stuff.
I was hoping to get to Hamm in early September but it’s looking less and less likely. I’ve been waiting a fortnight to get the engine to make a fart.


Fuse Box
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Relay Box
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Nice new shocker
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Back of relay box and main feed relay on the right of it.
You can just see the top of my nice new MotoBatt battery. The black plastic box just to the left of the positive terminal is the top of the glow plug relay.
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High ratio final drive crownwheel
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…And pinion in place in the housing. You have to heat it until it’s stinking hot to get the pinion bearing in and out and you need a special castellated tool (I mention this in an earlier post where I made my own) to get out the bearing retaining ring.
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Spacers made from wallpaper!
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I sprayed one side of my paper spacer with Scotchmount artists adhesive and stuck them in place and then cut the holes with a scalpel. It was easier than using a bell punch.
I just kept putting more and more spacers on and bolting it up until I had the required play
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[touchwoodsden]

Update 2.
I almost forgot.
The original final drive has 16 splines on the input but the later final drive has 20 splines.
Evidently the 16 spline shafts were made of cheese whereas the 20 spline ones are made of metal. You would have thought that they would have gone the other way with the sizes but that is BMW!
So I ordered a shaft from Motor Works (over £80-ouch!) and it will be winging its way to me.
I suppose while I’m hanging around all dressed up with nowhere to go and no Fart coming out of the exhaust pipe, I might as well change the final drive over.

[touchwoodsden]

I have been working on the electrics.
Electronics: As suggested by Simon at Specialist Components, I just connected pin 1, 12 V permanently live, pin 2, switch 12 V. Pin 3 Earth.
Pin 34 (5 V out) and pins 21, 22 and 23 which are the ones that connect to the computer.
The laptop will still not see the ECU so with come to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the ECU. I sent it off to SCS today and it will be with them tomorrow.
Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to get round to doing anything with it until it comes back. I have arranged to go down to SCS on the 31st for them to set the whole thing up. It’s 4 ½ hour drive but going to save loads of time because I’d been a fortnight on this already and I’m no further ahead than I was.

Meanwhile, I rebuilt the final drive and it seemed stiffer than the spare drive I have lurking around so I took it apart again and it was no longer stiff! I reassembled it and it was stiff again and then I realised that the only thing that was making it stiffer was the brand-new oil seal.

In order to remove and replace the pinion nut which is torqued to about 150ft/lbs, you have to lock the crown wheel. I made this relatively simple jig in 10 minutes.
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Sometimes, a visitor slows down progress
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On a slightly different note, I have a load of idiot lights on the dashboard. Ignition/charge, oil pressure, indicator, main beam, glow plug relay, indicator, fuel low. The lights were plain silly buggers, and then I discovered that the earth wire which goes to 5 of the 6 was only crimped onto the PVC insulation at one of the spades. How stupid can you get or rather, how stupid can I get?
How stupid do you want it?

[Diesel Dave]

Ha! Done that myself with insulated crimps, for a long time I switched to the non-insulated type with the seep rate insulating covers that you forget to put on the cable then have to cut off your perfectly made new connection just to put the insulator on.

[touchwoodsden]

Ha! Done that myself with insulated crimps, for a long time I switched to the non-insulated type with the seep rate insulating covers that you forget to put on the cable then have to cut off your perfectly made new connection just to put the insulator on.

I threw 90% of my insulated crimps out years ago. I never had anything but problems with them. I have been using the non-insulated ones for ages. The problem I had with the non-insulated crimps was that I had crimped onto the PVC of the cable. DOH.
In fact, with the non-insulated type that you have to put the squidgy plastic sleeve on, a pair of circlip players will stretch them enough to get them right over the spade. I have done it on numerous occasions.

[touchwoodsden]

I have struggled to find out how to sort the charge light circuit. There is one thin wire comes out of the alternator to deal with this and it has neither power nor earth. There is enough earth to light an LED very faintly.
I’ve posted something on the Smartz forum last night and got a reply from a very helpful gentleman, Tolsen who said:

“Forget about charging light and fit a voltmeter or ammeter in your project vehicle instead. These alternators communicate with ECU via some data network called LIN - there is no conventional charging light circuit.”

So, I have put this up here in case anyone else is building a Smart project and has the same problem. I have a Voltmeter lurking around and will stick that in.

[touchwoodsden]

Bank holiday Monday update:
The bike is off the bike lift and down the side of the house.
I will put it on the trailer tomorrow ready for an early start down to Norwich to Specialist Control Systems who are going to sort out the electronics on Wednesday.
The electrics have not been a problem.
It’s the electronics which has been problematical.
4.5 hours drive so need to be out of the house before the sparrows have farted on Wednesday morning. It’s going to be a loooooo….oooo…nnng day.
Although the engine is actually the same weight as the BMW, without the exhaust, it is loads lighter because the BMW exhaust is extremely heavy.
The whole bike seems far less unwieldy than the original bike which seems odd particularly when you consider that the weight is higher in the frame.
I’m really not looking forward to putting it on the trailer but I’ve got plenty of loops and plenty of straps and lots of neighbours around so it should be okay.
I was tempted to get an MOT on it tomorrow (don’t need an engine for the MOT) but I’ve decided to wait until the engine makes a fart.
For now, I have a wireless pushbike speedo which will go to 100 mph. It registers the speed, so why not? It cost me 10 quid off eBay.
The proper digital speedos cost a hundred quid or so.
For now, I am not bothering with the rev counter although there is a takeoff in the ECU for one. I figured that it’s a luxury that after spending many thousands of pounds, I don’t need. I have seen some really nice Smiths digital instruments which would fit the bill admirably but, it would be the best part of £400 and it’s a luxury I don’t need.
Fitting the electronic BMW speedo and rev counter wasn’t an option because of the multiplicity of electronics which were involved.

[Diesel Dave]

Don't forget speedo's need to be illuminated according to Construction and Use regs...

[touchwoodsden]

I didn’t know that Dave, thanks.
However, C&U is nothing to do with the MOT. Thankfully!
However, and just by chance, this one is internally illuminated!
It has an external button which you press to light it up.
Why you would need that on a push bike I have no idea.
I wonder if the C&U regs say that it has to be continually illuminated