The Badger updated

[Ariel Badger]

I will add to this over the next few days to bring you up to speed with my rebuild over the Winter. This was written for a specialist magazine (not that type!) so forgive any unfathomable references.

It has been a couple of years since I wrote anything about my 492cc 1936 Sprinter/Hillclimber “The Badger”. We had been getting more and more speed out of the old girl but at a cost, the engine is 1mm over square and revs well but suffered from valve bounce and would wreck itself on a regular basis (I have a very interesting collection of bent valves, broken followers and smashed pistons). The problem stemmed from the Hartley cam I was using, it just could not keep the valves working correctly at 8000 rpm so it was time to bite the bullet and use a regular cam. By regular I mean a 1930 Model G cam, probably the sportiest camshaft Ariel ever used including the HS Mk1, such a rare item may seem almost impossible to find but luckily for us sporting gents the same cam was used for many years in the company workhorse the VB sidevalve and there is a ready supply. Going back to the “G” A664 camshaft was going to cost me performance but give me stability…..Or so I thought.

My first test with the A664 was at the back of school in July 2010. I had rebuilt the engine after breaking a crankshaft two days before I was due to ride at the world’s oldest dedicated motor racing track, Shelsley Walsh (due to a broken cam follower jamming the half time gear) and I took her for a pootle around the school service road to make sure all was well, I had a touch of trouble getting the oil system to work but all seemed well. I had not intended on opening her up and had no gloves, leathers, helmet or boots on but the devil got on my shoulder and whispered “See what she does when you give her 3000 rpm and dump the clutch.” so I did.

How I missed the steel fence in the crash that followed the huge and uncontrolled wheelie I do not know, it cost me a footrest, a gear lever and a fair bit of skin and blood but I was reassured that she still left the line with a lot of enthusiasm.

There was only one more event of the 2010 season that I was to ride in and that was the Speed Trials at Brighton, club members Bruce and Caroline Scragg put me up but the weather let us down. Practice was just about getting to the flag without falling over on a treacherous surface but my first run was fast for the conditions (my first 20 yards were a battle to find traction as my rear snaked in the wet). Unfortunately that was the end of my season as I lost a tappet and took no second run.

The 2011 season never happened, my right hip failed after a crash a few years earlier and had to be replaced with 0.7 Kg of titanium in July (I donated the bone they removed for transplant and at the same time pop princess Jessie J received a bone transplant after a stage fall, It gives me great pleasure thinking I may have some of my bone in Ms J).
Just prior to the 2012 season Doug Walker and myself did some more work on lightening the valve gear, up to then it had exposed pushrods but the new set up required that we make up some tubes to enclose them. A set of old aluminium crutches provided us with the ideal material.

My first event of 2012 was the ¼ mile twisty Thundersprint in Northwich Cheshire, I had been out of the saddle for 18 months and did not know why I even wanted to ride. At 06.00 in the morning I was parked up in the paddock next to Jim Redman and Sammy Miller and meeting some other old mates, I remembered what it is all about…The love of the sport. That day I rode fast but badly and was a second down on my times of two years previous but like I told the organiser, “ I had not been on the bike since Brighton 2010 and hit the first corner not knowing if the brakes were still working”.

Stupidly I had listened to people who had told me the surgery might stop me from riding and had not joined the National Hillclimb Association or the ACU (I needed an ACU affiliated club to do so, for some reason the AOMCC is not), the first meant I could not run in any NHCA events and the second meant that I was on (expensive) ACU day-tickets. As I had excluded myself from hillclimb other rides were few and far apart but I did get myself booked in for the two lane ¼ mile straight sprint at Wroughton near Swindon. Wroughton had always been my bête-noir, I had never returned home with a working engine from my three previous visits and it would be a test of our top end modifications. Wroughton is as I said a ¼ mile straight sprint but quarter miles are all different! This one is on a slight raise (I estimate we climb about 10 to 15 feet) and this can hit your times, but I was not impressed with my first run of 17.28 (terminal speed 73.5) but I got faster every time I went down the line my last time was 15.42 (TS 78.8) this was my new Personal Best for the ¼ although I did have a higher TS of 79.5 mph on a run of exactly a second slower. In conclusion I came home with three positives, A PB, an intact engine and on a flat ¼ a very possible sub 15, I was happy.

I am lucky that the Sprint Section of the VMCC seem to like me and I was given a ride at the 2012 Brighton Speed Trials, the trials have been running since 1905 and everyone who is anyone in motorsport has performed there from John Cobb to Stirling Moss, to ride at Brighton is a privilege. I arrived at Madeira drive just past 06.00 hours on Sept 8 to be greeted by utter chaos, like a Peter James novel we were the centre of what potentially was a murder scene. At 02.30 in the morning there had been a stabbing in the middle of what forms our paddock and the bikes were at one end with the police between us and the car classes. Fortunately at about 10.00 the police tapes were removed and we were allowed to practice. We get just one practice run and we all take it easy, Madeira drive is long and has a slight kink in it but we are slowing well down before that and those of us that need to bump our bikes assemble on the hill near the Marina well over a mile from the start whilst we await the safety car to bring us back to the paddock. Practice went well. The weather was excellent and we were set for a great afternoon of sport and in these conditions a sub 15 seemed very possible. I messed up my first run, at Wroughton I had been plagued by my left footrest folding back so I had to ride with my foot trailing in the wind so for Brighton I tied it down and when my foot went onto the peg I hit my rear brake slowing me for a moment, my time of 15.97 reflected this. My second run felt perfect, as I hit 4th I wrapped myself around the bike and thought I saw the finish line flash past (there are a lot of markings on Madeira Drive) and sat up closing the throttle as I did so only to see the actual finish line ahead of me as we only get two runs I knew my hope for a sub 15 were over until next year. We assembled on the hill by the Marina and exchanged stories as bikes continued to come flying down the track. Suddenly we were very aware of a large cloud of dust from where the road kinks a mile away from us, as the dust settled we could see a sidecar outfit in the road. By the time we got back to the paddock it was dark, I cannot praise the marshals, police and organisers enough for how they acted, they did what they needed to do and returned us when it was clear to do so but it was not a pleasant couple of hours watching them working on the track as it became more and more obvious that the crash was very serious. All motorsport is dangerous but a fatality brings it all into perspective, your times on the day, personal bests and terminal speeds are not important compared to the life of a young passenger and the driver who is still in hospital at the time of writing. Some nights you want a beer, some nights you need one. My thanks to my friend Prue who put up with me that night.

Brighton was to have been my last outing of the season but because of how the day ended I wanted to go out on a positive note so I booked myself into the VMCC organised event at Eelmore test track in Aldershot. The event consists of a 1/8 mile standing sprint and a ¼ mile twisty sprint. Weather was good and the 1/8 mile was fun (despite some starting issues that involved me roping in an AOMCC member, apologies, name eludes me) on pushing duties, I was very pleased with coming second in my class with a run of 9.81 (TS 66 mph) I was a little apprehensive about the twisty and decided to take my first run as a practice although I seem to have forgotten about this by the final bend as my boot kissed the tarmac. On my second run I went for it only to do my old trick of plonking my foot on the rear brake although I finished well with my boot scrapping all the way around the last bend. Run three started badly, because of the problem with the rear brake I changed my stance on the line with my right foot on the floor and my left on the peg but as the light turned green my leathers sucked into the carb slowing the engine. I knew I had broken the timing light and gave her a few too many revs resulting in a big wheelie that put me off line for the first corner then between the second and third bend the engine developed a knock. I was disappointed to have broke a big end pin but chuffed to have won my class (all three times would have gave me first place).
So in conclusion … Although my season was somewhat truncated it had its highs with a significant lowering of my PB and a class victory. My top end had proved to be stable after a couple of years of disaster. On the negative side my bottom end gave way and the foot brake was a recurring pain in the bum but both of these can and will be rectified over the winter. What cannot be changed is the death of Charlotte at Brighton, the rest of it is just breaking engines and chucking money to the wind.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Ariel Badger]

the broken crank pin was a standard 350cc taper item and we decided to replace it with the larger 500cc straight big end. A call to Draganfly (Ariel specialist and the spelling is correct, founded by an ex drag racer) told me it would be £240 for a new big end but it would not fit my flywheels but they could not remember why not. I told them to send me one and I would return it if I could not make it work. I spent a couple of hours with my mate Doug and we could see that we needed to do a lot of machining but it should fit This is Doug's drawing of what we needed to machime my fly wheels to
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[CHR15]

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/4166825/images/1238711256171.jpg



what events are you hoping to enter this year?
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Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[Ariel Badger]

I am doing the marshals NW championship (Hoghton towers in March, Aintree in August). Some VMCC stuff including Hopefully Brighton in September ans various NSA events at Stratford and Western Zoyland. Oh i am running the hill at Prescott but the bike is set up for straight line so I will just be having fun.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Spudly]

Could you post some pics of this bike please Ariel?
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The Old Apprentice

[Ariel Badger]

Despite what we were told by Draganfly Doug machined out a pair of flywheels to take the large big-end bearing, I polished a conrod and we spent a hour or so truing it up in the lathe, the timing side shaft was worn and I had it hard chromed and ground down whilst Doug worked on the crank we also machined out the crankcase on that side to take a second bearing.
The piston we use is far heavier than what the crank was intended for and had always been out of balance, we had never balanced a crank (lightening one side of the flywheels to compensate for the reciprocating mass of the piston, big end and con rod) before so like any 74 year old bloke would do Dougie Googled away and mailed me the details and maths and and I set to work on knife edges, pillar drill and spring ballance and achieved a good racing balance of 68% (balance is always a compromise as revs are not a constant)
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[mysterious_rider]

awesome man keep us updated. I've mentioned it once before, I live in brighton, madiera drive is pretty savage, especially with the concrete blocks left in place to play with. Makes for some dangerous fun. However its Saddening about the crash.
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KAWASAKIIIII

[Ariel Badger]

the badger
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Pete.]

What was that pin made of Wali? Cast steel? Looking at the dark band it seems to have propagated a crack from the oil hole some time before it let go.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Ariel Badger]

It was made from the same stuff as carrots are mate! It is some form of deep case hardened steel, it was suggested in the Ariel club that it was an after-market item that had been through hardened but it was not as the centre punch marks in this picture show. A case of too many horses IMHO.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Spudly]

That is a beautiful thing. Thanks.
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The Old Apprentice

[Ariel Badger]

She is expensive, brutal, fast and fickle (and a looker). My ideal woman, I love her.

Edit. and she has been known to toss me off a good few times
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[hmmmnz]

ffs man its been soooo fucken long since we have had a badger update, i'd all but given up in thinking that it was still alive,

multi
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the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[ajbsmirnoff]

The engineering porn resumes !

[neatbik]

We need an Awesome karma rating for threads like this.
Wali, let me know when you run Prescott (the bike festival?), i will have to come and look longingly at the Badger (and maybe have a quick feel when you arent looking).

[Ariel Badger]

I washed the engine parts down with paraffin and notice that one of the drive side main bearings felt a bit gritty so I heated the case and dropped it out for a look. The outer race was cracked but I had some new bearings and put one in and built the crank into the cases (about 8 times until I had shimmed it to give the correct 0.008' end float, good enough for an Ariel if not a Grimsby based welder.) As the engine is through bolted (The bolts that hold the head on are long and tighten into the cases rather than the cylinder and the cylinder itself being bolted to the case with separate bolts, this stops the barrel from blowing off its flange due to our excessive compression ratio) assembly of the engine is a pain. It needs to be assembled in the frame with the cases resting on the rails, the barrel is fitted over the piston and the long bolts tightened into the cases. The bolts are specially made with an offset in them as the mounting holes in the case is not the same diameter as that of the head (PCD) once the head has been eased on to the bolts they are in effect locked into place allowing us to tighten the four nuts onto them sealing the head and barrel and only then can the engine be bolted into the frame.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Teflon-Mike]

Good God Man!
Not sure which is more stunning.
Pound and a half of bionics, or a 1/4 mile time, on an antique bone shaker.... that wouldn't be too embarrassing for a modern day 600 pilot at a RWYB!
How much power you getting from that thing?
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Ariel Badger]

Never had a dyno run with her Tef, we like to keep such things as a mater of speculation.
Have a look at the results from Brighton I am number 315, check the times of us guys against the modern machinery in the other classes, take special note of our 64 ft split times.
Click We often beat the big boys off the line.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[virus]

Fair play wali, out dragging most modern thous it seems, I bet that confuses the shit out of them.

I'll have to get along to one of your runs soon, probably prescott, I want to see the badger ripping off the line in its currect guise (not seen it since red marley 08/09)


Cheers
John
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own: 81 xs1100g...
owned: 85 rat CG (sold), 91 GS500e (stolen), 84 gsx400f (scrapped), 81 z250 (siezed, siezed, scrapped), 83 cb250rs (sold), 84 gpz750r ratfighter (killed) 84gpz400 (sold), '80 cb650 ratfighter (wrote off) 95gsx6/12f ratfighter (killed) 91 xj900 (sold)
stinkwheel Well I just had my hands up a pigs fanny. Which makes your concerns pale into insignificance.

[nowhere.elysium]

I've just karma'd all over your badger, most effusively.


I am now spent.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[Ariel Badger]

I started to assemble the rest of the engine but noticed a crack in the bush that supports the cam followers, I think that this occurred a couple of seasons ago when I broke a few followers due to valve bounce, the problem is now cured and I must have missed the crack at the time. The solution was easy enough as I had a few more inner timing chests in store.
Once a problem was sorted with the cam locking against a bearing assembly was relatively easy ( I have built very many Ariel engines) the valve timing is fool proof, the shaft keys onto the flywheels and the half time gear keys onto the shaft and getting the timing spot on is just a matter of lining two dots up on a pair of gears. Ignition timing is a little tricky, you set the piston to TDC with both valves shut by lifting the back wheel onto a paddock stand and easing the engine with the bike in gear by gradually rotating the rear wheel. To find TDC you put a pencil down the plug hole and feel for the moment it is at the top and cut a notch in the pencil level with the plug hole, you cut a second notch 5/8' above the first notch and rotate the engine backwards a bit. Now insert the pencil again and ease the engine over until you see the first pencil mark appear at the plug hole, you are now at 5/8' BTDC and this is where you want your spark! The magneto is driven by a chain off the camshaft the sprocket is held on the mag by a taper with the sprocket just loose on the taper (the nut that hold it together is finger tight to apply a little pressure)you rotate the mag in the right direction until the points just open. Judging tis is done by inserting a cigarette paper (Rizla blue as they are very thin) between the points as the points open you will feel the paper move at this point tap the sprocket onto the taper with a light hammer and socket spanner and tighten the nut before testing all is in line by rotating the engine with pencil and fag paper in place, simple!
Only one job remained and I took her to school over half term to do it, I was running steel valve push rods and was not happy with this at my high revs as reciprocating weight is our enemy and can result in valve bounce and wreck an engine. I had some titanium tube and made up new tubes in the lathe, the steel ones were 77 gram each in titanium it was reduced to 36.
I called Doug and we agreed to do a test run the next day.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Ariel Badger]

The next day I rolled her out and waited for Doug to turn up, we put a couple of pints of methanol into the tank and pushed her onto the starters rollers. We spun her over but all she did was spurt dope out of the carb and down my leg, it had done this once before when I had her on a mates rollers the wrong way round but mine are foolproof so I checked the valve timing and the inlet valve was open with the piston coming up! The idiot proof valve timing was well out so Doug went home and I stripped her down and manually positioned the gears to the book openings with my timing disk on the end of the crank, rebuilt her and put her on the rollers.
She fired first time and the balanced crank felt very smooth with little shake coming through the bike. A quick trundle around the school service road told me that there was play in the steering head. The bearings were tightened and there was one job left to do, I handed Doug a pen.
____________________
Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.