Oil Sump Baffle Plate & Clutch Springs

This weekend I finally started on some modifications to the R1 engine. These were pretty simple and included installing an oil sump baffle plate to help prevent oil surge during cornering, as well as installing stiff clutch springs to better accomodate the increased torque demands of the car versus the original bike.

The first thing we did was to remove all 15 bolts from the oil sump. Prior to starting work on this, I made sure to acquire a new oil sump gasket, as this must be replaced each time the oil sump is opened opened, especially if the engine has been run since the gasket was last installed. When removing the gasket after its been on the engine during use, you'll notice it becomes very dried out and when attempting to remove the old one, you probably won't even be able to get it out all in one piece. They haynes manual also mentions that several of the O-rings need to be replaced, as well. However, I didn't bother with this as the o-rings all seemed pretty healthy. I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me.

A note: When removing the sump, its a good idea if you can have the sump facing up. It was a pain removing the sump while it was positioned vertically as all additional oil that wasn't drained came pouring out. Notice the stains on the table beneath the engine!

Once the oil sump / pan was removed, several pieces then had to subsequently be removed in order to get the baffle plate installed. This included the pressure relief valve (cylinder in bottom right of above image), the strainer (big black piece with screen), the drain pipe (pipe sticking straight out of the photo, just above the screen area of the oil strainer in photo above), the return pipe (pipe mostly hidden by the strainer, above), and the Oil Pipe.

Of these, recommended o-ring replacements includes: oil strainer o ring, relief valve o-ring, drain pipe o-ring.

Notice the return pipe and drain pipe from this view (above). The return pipe is angled at about the same angle as the strainer, and sits immediately above the strainer. The drain pipe is the pipe perpendicular to the baffle plate just above the return pipe.

Once the parts mentioned above are removed, the baffle plate then easily slides on. I purchased a CNC'd baffle plate manufactured by Fluke Motorsports and purchase at http://www.fluke-motorsport.co.uk/yamaha-20042007-sump-baffle-p-1062.html. This was benefical because its made such that no holes need to be drilled and tapped into the engine webbing to retain the baffle plate. Instead, the bolts on the Oil Pipe hold the plate in place.

The above photo shows the R1 clutch with the clutch cover removed. It also shows the springs in the process of being replaced. I installed new Barnett Clutch Springs, about 25% stiffer than the stock springs and similar to the YEC springs, which I couldn't acquire. I recommend the Haynes manual for all of the work, as it provides some good tips and tricks to making these procedures easier.

Dropping in the engine for measurements

This week we set out to drop the engine into the chassis to take measurements so the engine cradle could be ordered. This has to be ordered direct from MK. We hoisted up the engine by inserting a 7/16" rod through the upper mounting holes on the engine, then hooked the rod to a chain that was attached to a winch near the ceiling. As you can see, when hoisted up by the upper mounts, the engine wants to fall over on its back. To accomodate for this, we had another strap, not shown, that we wrapped around the bottom of the engine, through the exhaust header bolts, and back up to the chain. This was used to rotate the engine up on itself so we could drop it in in the appropriate position.

Upon getting the engine into position, we were able to secure the lower mounting holes to the engine mounts on the MK Chassis by inserting a 7/16" rod through the chassis mounts and lower engine mount holes. With this set connected up, we still had a single (rotational) degree of freedom and, in order to measure properly, had to get the engine in position as closely as possible to how it should sit permanently. To determine this, we rotated the engine about the mount until the oil sump gasket was horizontal (parallel to the ground), as illustrated below. In the photo below, we still had a few more degree to bring it up until the gasket was perfectly parallel.

Once the engine was in place, looking down the transmission tunnel, you can see the front sprocket spindle where the drive shaft will bolt onto (via an adaptor) does not have a clear shot to travel down the tunnel. This is accomodated for by a hinge in the center of the two-piece drive shaft.

The Exhaust headers / pipes will have to come out of the engine and immediately turn up to get around the steering column (I hope).

Rear Sierra Disc Brake Calipers / Rotors.

The Kit Arrives

A couple weeks later than expected and the kit has finally arrived! If you remember, I ordered the kit as a rolling chassis. In this case, the kit was (thankfully) shipped with some scrap steel wheels and tires installed just to aid in transportation to and from the shipping freight truck. After a quick trade-off between the semi-trailer that carried the chassis from Florida, to a local flatbed tow truck, the chassis / kit was dropped off at the end of the driveway and easily rolled around back to the work shop. Had it in its work place within 5 minutes of delivery. Sweet!

The first thing to do was just check over the kit and be sure everything was there. I unpackaged the kit and laid all the bodywork on the lawn. I don't want to unwrap it yet as it might be several months before I actually install it. Better to keep it protected.

Included in the kit and additional a la carte purchases from MK came the rolling chassis (including steering column, brake lines, brakes, suspension, fuel tank and R1 fuel pump all installed) a sealed unit radiator, radiator fan assembly, two fiberglass racing seats built for a 4 point harness, the drivers seat was mounted on sliders already, outer body work, a few flimsy interior panels (to be replaced with better materials?), headlights, taillights and rear blinkers.

Upon initial inspection I noticed some cracking in the bottom of one of the front seats. MK will hopefully replace this for me.

A steering wheel came with the kit which may be required to pass inspection, but a smaller 10" momo steering wheel will be ideal and will eventually make it onto the car.

More to come soon...

Body Work (Bright Orange -- Thanks to kristen for the color decision!)

The "bare" chassis. Notice the e-brake has been installed. Not cables or housing yet, these must be ordered.

Rear differential and fuel tank.

I'm not avoiding it

Well, Just wanted to send a quick note that I have not been avoiding this blog nor have I decided against the build. I'm still waiting for the kit. It should be here around the 21-25th of May, so a couple more weeks.

However, I'm expecting my baffle plate to come in this week so Saturday I'll be tackling that project (installing the oil pan baffle plate in the engine) and writing it up.

The Wiring Harness

Full Loom, graphically segmented. (Full Size Here)

As previously mentioned, I received a near complete wiring harness along with the R1 engine. The primary items that are missing are the headlight / guage cluster wiring harness and the Sub harness that includes the spark plug connections (one of the sub harnesses, can't remember which number). I do have the sub harness that connects up with the Fuel Injection ports and some other sensors. Along with the MK Kit, I am also receiving a modified Harness to fit the chassis. After completing the exercise (described below) with wiring today, I'm sure I could've done without purchasing a new wiring harness, but it fit in my budget and I decided to go with it. Maybe the MK specific harness will also leave off any unnecessary connections and will save weight and prevent some amount of builder confusion.

So, the goal of today was to go through the entire harness and tag every connection. I was able to download the 2004-2006 Yamaha R1 Service, Owners and Parts Manuals which was a start. I found the full colored wiring harness diagram at the very end of the service manual. However, Yamaha's version is fairly confusing. To be safe, I also purchased Haynes Service Manual and recieved it a few days ago. For anyone who's not an expert on this engine and is currently or planning to build an R1 powered car, I highly suggest you get this manual. It details just about every DIY operation, from general inspection and maintenance to some heavy duty repair. A big benefit to this manual is their Wiring Diagram. It's much clearer than Yamaha's version and only contains one error (that I could see).

I started out by studying the wiring diagram for a bit and labeling up the smaller sub harness that I already had. This just got me in the mode of how to efficiently read the diagram. It soon became very easy to understand. Any simple connection usually ends at either a sensor, switch or light. The connections from the main harness that connect up with sub looms are easy to spot as they have multiple connections / wires and on the diagram, these are denoted by long white boxes / strips that are meant to mimick the connector block. If you've never read a wiring diagram, have no fear, haynes makes it simple.

Below I've zoomed in on the segments from the image at the top of this post. I've labeled everything with an arrow and number and have listed exactly what the connection goes to below the image. Hopefully this helps anyone who's trying to figure out their loom. (Be sure to reference the image at the top to help you get a bearing on where on the loom the image is taken.)

Box 1 (Full Size Here)

1.1) Fan Relay

1.2) FuseBox

Box 2 (Full Size Here)

2.1)Fan Motor (One of two, see box 6)

2.2)Main Ignition Switch (Wires to Power & Fuse)

2.3)Main Ignition Switch (Wires to Fuse)

2.4)Connections to: Clutch Switch, turn signal switch, dimmer switch, horn switch

2.5)EXUP Servo

Box 3 (Full Size Here)

3.1) EXUP Servo

3.2) Coolant Temperature Sensor

3.3) Primary Throttle Position Sensor

3.4) Servo

3.5) Secondary Throttle Position Sensor

3.6) Intake Air Pressure Sensor

3.7) Intake Air Temperature Sensor

3.8) Fuel Injection 1

3.9) Fuel Injection 2

3.10) Fuel Injection 3

3.11) Fuel Injection 4

3.12) Connection to Main Harness

Box 4 (Full Size Here)

4.1) SideStand Switch

4.2) Oil Level Sensor

4.3) To: Regulator / Rectifier

4.4) Fuel Level Sensor

4.5) Fuel Pump

4.6) Crankshaft Position Sensor

4.7) Rear Brake Light Switch

4.8) Speed Sensor

4.9) Neutral Switch

4.10) Grounding Wire

Box 5 (Full Size Here)

5.1) Tip Over Sensor

5.2) Atmospheric Pressure Sensor

5.3) To: Rear Turn Signals & License Plate Light

5.4) Brake / Tail Light

5.5) Relay Assembly

5.6) Turn Signal Relay

5.7) Starter Relay (Connection to starter is not shown, but sits next to battery terminal)

5.8) To Battery

5.9) 50 Amp Fuse

Box 6 (Full Size Here)

6.1) To: Front Brake Light Switch, Engine Start Switch, Engine Stop Switch

6.2) Fan Motor

6.3) To: Camshaft Position Sensor, Ignition Coils / Spark Plugs, AIS Air Cutoff Valve

6.4) To: Headlight Harness

6.5) To: Guage Cluster

6.6) ECU

2004-2006 R1 Wiring Diagram (Full Size Here)

Link to Full Size Wiring Diagram

Link to All Full Size Wiring Photos

The Engine Arrives

The Engine: 2006 Yamaha YZF R1 Engine. 998 cc. 175bhp @ 12,500 RPM. 105 Nm (78 ft lbs) @ 10900 RPM. 6 speed sequential gearbox. Fuel Injected. Dual overhead cam. 4 cyclinder.

After searching around the web for a good deal for a few days, I finally decided to just make a bid on ebay. Luckily, my bid was a winning bid. $1500 + $300 shipping later, I had a used R1 on its way to Longmont, CO. With around 2300 miles on it, it should still have plenty of life left on it. Sure it's a bit more expensive than I was hoping, but it's a superbike engine, what do you expect! Besides, it's gonna drive the car, if you have to put money somewhere, might as well go into the engine.

I spent some time today unpacking the engine. Marty and I moved it to an appropriate location (where we'll be building the car) with decent lighting and an open work area. After getting it unpacked out of the feeble "crate" (aka: Cardboard box with newpaper around it...as if newspaper is going to stop a 130 lb engine from rolling around. ha. At least it was wrapped well to a wood pallet), I checked it over. For the most part, it seems to be in good condition.

There was one problem which, if I were putting the engine in a bike, could pose as a significant obstacle. There is a big piece cracked off one of the threaded lugs. This cracked thread is where a bolt is meant to screw into to hold on the drive sprocket chain guide. LUCKILY for me, out of all the pieces that could've been broken, it was this, for in the car we will use a Drive shaft and there will be no drive sprocket or chain. Hence, no need for the chain guide. That said, the seller guaranteed it was not damaged and in perfect condition. Short of sending it back for another $300 shipping, all I can do now is leave crappy ebay feedback.

After checking out the engine, I proceeded to remove as much of the wiring harness as I could, as well as all of the tubes and hoses that I know will need to be replaced anyway. It is a gamble that I just went straight ahead and removed all of the wiring harness (to be covered in another post), as its extremely complex and having it on the engine as a sample could be a big help in putting it back on. However, I want to be sure I'm fully aware of all the sensors / connections on the wiring harness, and the best way to do that is to be forced to learn it in order to put it back on. Also, it gives me a chance to see the loom all layed out for me to manipulate. Hopefully several sensors can be removed for the car, to make it a bit simpler / lighter, but we'll see. Lets also not forget that for the MK, I purchased a modified Loom, it should connect up with only the required pieces, and is built a bit longer to satisfy the larger engine bay in the car versus the bike. So eventually the loom woul dhave had to come off anyway!

At any rate, having the loom off and most of the pipes gave me an opportunity to double check all of the engine and I was able to give it a brief cleaning. It was already pretty clean, so it wasn't tough. I have yet to get into it with some brushes, so it will still get cleaner.

With the engine pretty bare, it will also give us the opportunity to check over some of the internals. I purchased a Haynes Manual for this specific engine (bike), and with it I feel like a pro mechanic, able to tackle just about any job. Well, maybe not, but hopefully we can do a proper inspection ourselves. Also, we'll have to modify the oil sump with a sump baffle plate. This will be covered in a later post when I get the part and make the modifications.

Before being done for the day, the final job was to cover all the holes to prevent rodents and insects from setting up camp inside the engine. I couldn't believe that rodents would that when I first heard about it, but I guess its a possibility that's easily avoided. Some shop rags do the trick well.

I don't expect to be doing much work on the car for at least a couple weeks, when the kit arrives. Maybe the baffle plate will get here from the UK soon, and I can tackle that project. Also, I'll probably go through and label up the wiring loom and attempt to sort it out, so when I get the MK specific one, it won't be much of a surprise. Might as well not waste time in the next two weeks, anyway. I'll keep you all updated.

More About the Build

About the Build: In my first post I talked about Kit Cars and Locost Builds. I'm certainly not a locost builder, at least not this time around. With so little experience on hand, I wouldn't even know where to start to find the courage to do a full build, from welding the frame to a finished product. Instead, I chose to go the Kit Car way. I scoured the internet for build diaries of other builders, for manufacturers of kit cars, and for reviews of manufacturers. What I found was this: There are a ton of options and a ton of price ranges, but there are no manufacturers in the U.S. Instead, we here in the states need to rely on importers from whom to purchase the kits. That reduced my options considerably.

I seriously looked at three manufacturer / importers:

1) MK Sports Cars (UK) -- SmartSportsCars (U.S.)

2) Westfield Sports Cars (UK) -- Manick Technologies (U.S.) -- Flyin Miata (U.S.)

3) Brunton Auto (U.S)

Of the 3, Brunton Auto is the only all U.S. manufacturer / builder of this style car, theirs is the Stalker V6. This car supposedly an amazingly powerful car with a build quality to suit. However, they focus on a bigger V6 engine which adds more weight and can make the build a little tougher, especially for a builder that doesn't have all the proper gear for working with such a big engine. They also seem to focus on racing, at least from my brief interactions with them. However, they are reasonably priced, seem to be good quality (from reviews) and should not be discounted if you're looking for a high performance 7-inspired car.

Westfield Sports Cars has two distinct distributors in the U.S. I believe they may be the same company, but their products are at least distinct. Manick produces some high quality racy cars that use many different types of options, including a Bike Engined Car (BEC) that uses the massively powerful Hyabusa Motorcycle engine. Apparently this car, likes its donor parent motorcycle, can rip the wheels of the competition. You do pay for it, though. Flyin Miata builds their car around a miata donor and offers a standard kit, or a 100% complete kit, with everything included to build the car. For a builder with money to burn and who doesn't want to dig around a junk yard or ebay, this should be seriously considered. Their cars are lightweight and super powerful.

Finally, MK Sports Cars creates the MK Indy. Their importer is SmartSports Cars, in Florida. The car they produce is based around the Ford Sierra as a donor, but the sierra is only found in the U.K. and thus a difficult car to source from in the States. The guys at Smart Sports Cars (Paul and Alan) recommend a BEC set-up, using any number of super bike motorcycle engines. They fully support this method with all of the required custom components available for purchase a-la-carte. The kit is a pretty standard kit including the frame and chassis, basic building components such as brake lines, brakes, suspension, and much more. They can put together a package that is as complete as you like it and seem to be very flexibile.

The idea of building a BEC appealed to me from the start. For one, they are quick and light! The power to weight of a bike engine cannot be outdone, and even when its on a 1000lb car, it still screams. It might not be the best city driver due to its high rev requirement, but once on the rural roads, highways, or racetrack, they seem tough to beat. For the builder, the engine is pretty compact and complex, but its lightweight (~120lbs) makes it easier to work with than larger car engines. Some obvious downfalls exist, for one the clutch / transmission are pretty light for a car and need some basic upgrades. Also, in many bikes there is no reverse! Depending on where you live, this could be an issue getting the car registered. Several (pricey) solutions have been created in the form of Reverse gearboxes that integrate into the propshaft, but these reportedly leak oil, are heavy, and as already mentioned, pricey. Some people have used fully electric motors for their reverse, which they hook into the drivetrain. I'm not too familiar with this. For me, I decided I could work around these pitfalls. Ask me in a year if I made a good choice!

The verdict:

If you haven't figured it out by the blog title, I decided to go with MK Sports Cars and their MK Indy. The decision came down to my experiences so far with the guys at Smart Sports Cars. They are super responsive and willing to help, have answered every one of my questions so far without a sense or urgency or irritation, and have helped me to choose exactly what I need to purchase in order to be a successful builder. In my case, with my experience level to think about and my available time, I decided to purchase a "rolling chassis" from Smartsports cars. The chassis is their Indy R "race" chassis. This is a bit stiffer and is designed for racing as well as street use. Included in the kit will be the chassis prebuilt with the floor, steering column, suspension and brake system installed. I know some builders with scoffe at this, telling me I took the easy way out, but if that's the case, then so be it. My primary goal for my first build, as mentioned previously, is to learn about cars, to enjoy the build, and to be successful in the build. At 25, I've no reason to believe that this will be my last car build, especially if I enjoy it. To some this may be the "easy way out", but to me, it's simply the smartest way to go. Thanks guys at SmartSportsCars!

Final Thoughts:

A very important aspect of the build to think about is the Build Manual that comes with the Kit. Several companies offer true step-by-step instructions. Manick's Hyabusa build kit comes with a superb manual that I've read through. I've heard Brunton's is pretty good as well. MK's however, is fairly abyssmal. They have some good information, but for the most part it is somewhat non-specific and what is specific relates *specifically* to the Sierra for Donor. For someone building in the U.S., this is obviously not of much use. When I first started looking at buliding a car, I was scared out of my wits to do this build without much of a manual. However, since then (a short 5 weeks ago..ha, I guess I just jumped into it, many builders spend a year or more before pulling the trigger and making the decision to build a car) I've done a huge amount of reading. I've scoured the blogs and the build diaries, found as many manufacturer build manuals as possible, purchased several books on building kit cars and locosts, and I've downloaded service manuals and the Haynes build manual on the Yamaha R1 Motorcycle (my engine of choice is the 2006 Yamaha R1). After reading and reading and reading, I've become much more confident withe prospects of this build, even with such an "abyssmal" manual. I should also not forgot to mention, again, the available of the guys at SmartSports cars to answer questions as needed. They will be my build manual when I just can't figure out. And they should know, as they've already built at least one identical car to the one I'm building. (See photo at top). So, be leary of a bad build manual, but don't let it get in the way of making a smart purchase.