The Mini-Raptor Build, 2021

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The Wizard

Jan 14, 2021

Oh what a beautiful year already!

Started out with the annual RZR ride in the desert. Took a couple of friends out with us. Got in about 35 miles and started heading back.
That's odd - brakes just went mushy. Hmmm... I know it's due for pads but mushy? I'll have to check.

About 3/4 mile (1.2km) from the exit of where we off road, I'm headed up the wash trail at mid revs and out of nowhere I hear a very quick crunch/thud and the engine goes silent. I've NEVER heard an engine go from 4ish K rpm to 0 like this. ONE crunch/thud and that was it. I found neutral and rolled as far as I could. Ended up having to winch it off of the trail so people could get by.

We walked out to the entrance and fortunately my friend with us has a friend that lives just around the corner so we got a ride back home.

Went into the garage, hopped in the pickup truck, turned the key and got pretty much the same results as the Mini-Raptor - nada. Okay, a few dim lights and the gauges flashed which is more than the Mini but still the same overall result of "You're not using me now."

Put the truck on charge (dumbass put it on 2 amp - gotta wear my glasses more). 30 min of that and the lights and dash came on more brightly but still no running truck. Shit. Getting dark. Guess it's a morning rescue.

So my January 2nd started with this view:

Dragged it to the parking area where we'd dropped the trailer and stuck it into the rolling box. I took the RZR on into a friend who has a shop. Yesterday, after a thorough going through, the brakes going mushy were the rear wheel bearing going out (fortunately on that trip). The heims in the rear suspension are toast (I have replacement in stock - yay!), front end's tweeked, brake pads are absolutely at the minimum - yeah, she's seen 8500 miles of off roading. Funny thing - when the guy looked at mileage and hours he pops up and says "Damn, you guys go twice as fast as everyone else!" - we don't beat on it either. Once they started looking at how well it's lasted, considering it's been on it's side and that I rolled it a while back, the thing's done really well. Hope to have it back in 10-12 days.

Still don't know what happened to the engine. We'll find out when it's pulled. Got a crate motor to replace it. All signs say it's much cheaper to replace it than try to repair. Even with a big pry bar the motor doesn't turn either direction at all.

We've had stuff going on, not much shop time. I was also fortunate enough to have bdkw1, our very own MBN Wizard, show up on the door step a week ago last Monday. He'd been out west and stopped here for a few days.

Took him out riding in my favorite area. We followed the trail that leads to the power line road that ate flyerrider a few years back. Flyer's had to deal with us being relentless about his crash too. (and we'll not talk about bullnerd and his new 450L...)

We got to the power line road and as bdk catches up to me I say "This is the area where you pay attention to the whoops - they'll eat you. In fact, I have an idea."

We now have the "Jesse" (flyerrider) pose:

Sent this pic along with "Nobody ever listens". AHHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Got him with it too!

Had a blast playing around in the dirt that afternoon. I think I fell over once? - dropped the bike maybe? bdk stayed up.

Thursday required a ride to Crown King. bdk has some friends in the area that ride so we all hooked up and took on 71 miles of round trip.

Of course I forgot to follow the "Leader stops at the intersections" because I thought the guys with us knew the route... That took a few minutes of waiting and back tracking before the five of us were reunited (oh God, old 70's song just popped into my mind!) and then got headed in the correct direction again.

First fifteen miles are fire road and then there's the CK rock - turn right. This is where it gets rough.

bdkw1 in the flesh!

And me doing the Jesse, just for the sake of it.

Don't know if this has been mentioned before or not, but there's a rock garden that sucks. It's beside a mine and there's a quarter mile of crap. The RZRs have beaten the smaller stuff into submission but the watermelon sized rocks for about 100 yrs just plain suck. Ask TALON about it when the water's running. It was about 2" deeper than my boots are tall and it SUCKED. Wasn't nearly as bad this time.

There's one spot that's gotten worse and more challenging over just the past two years - can't tell you how much the SXSs have destroyed this trail. They've taken most of it down to bedrock and it's F'n ROUGH! Anyhow, I'd seen a video the night before we went on a line waaaay over to the right. I hit it and went right up. Time to stop and pull out the camera - I KNOW someone's not gonna make it.

10 days of riding and not a fall. Two days with me and TADA!!! The Wizard's B&B bash plate finds rock, stops bike and well - watch the video. I cut it off just "this much" too soon. "Turtle! I'm a turtle!" is what he yells. (you didn't think this wasn't gonna get published did ya B?)

We made it up to Crown King, had a great lunch and I discovered that I have a new hero/inspiration. One of the guys with us, who ran a very solid, good pace, is 76!!! I have goals! He dropped the bike a couple of times over the day (we had to help pick it up) but other than that, Jim rips.

There was one other "Lead guy waits at the intersection" incident - I was NOT leading this time, ahem bdk... We got back together after about 15 min or so. All in all it was a killer day and an ass whipping ride.

Okay, enough about the side adventures and back to the Mini-Raptor.

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darwinpayne2000
It sounds so simple, right? Positive. Negative. Twelve volts. Zero volts. Hot wire. Ground wire. How many ways can you wire this stuff? Apparently, many, many ways, depending on the number of relays, switches and resistors they throw into the mix. I think we've all spent more time than we wanted chasing a wiring gremlin.

Me
Boy that's the truth!!!

Started out with trying to replace the burnt up throttle cable. Actually found the company in SoCal that purchased all the equipment from the place that I used to use here in Phx. Cool - I know where to get custom cables.

First cable ended up being too short (I'd taken some length out as the melted one was too long) and the inner cable was too long. The part that threads into the throttle bodies wasn't correct either. Another phone call and I have a PERFECT cable sitting on my doorstep at a deeply discounted price from the first. Dude that makes them is very easy to work with. Cable in, throttle adjusted and I'm golden there.

Had also been waiting on OEM heat shields. They're on backorder and pricy ($115 +/- depending on who). Searched eBay and came up with two for about sixty bucks. That works. I got two bottoms as they have tabs that align and they'r fairly well mirrored.

Pressed the little hump out of them (I thought they'd be in the way of rolling the edges to form around the right side header pipe) - was a bad move, it crushed the insulation stuff and let it delaminate a bit. Oh well, there's ways around it (besides Super 77 which isn't gonna hold up).

Snipped the lip off one edge, bolted the two pieces and folded the lip of the other one over the edge. Fits well, holds tightly. YES!

Here you can see some of the delimitation:

I put a lip on the other side so I have a U-channel to tuck the top cover into:

And then I covered both the top and bottom shields in the magic gold reflective insulation. I figure this with more air space along with OEM heat shielding BETTER FU***NG WORK!

Cerakote, header wrap, reflective gold foil over itchy OEM fiberglass sheeting on the OEM shields. Other than forced air (have fan, not sure where/how to put it yet), what else can I do???

Still need to clean up and redress the back shield. I went ahead and pulled the high temp carbon setup off - I know that goes poof so I'm not taking the chance.

I'll be throwing a bag of marshmallows and a wire coat hanger in the Mini-Raptor with me when I get it up and running again. If it decides it's going up in smoke again, I'm gonna stand beside it and cook a bag of 'em.

Have a little bit of detail stuff to get finished up and then it's time to start chasing electron lines (wires).

Off to the shop with me! Hopefully I'll report back later tonight that the engine goes vroom, vroom.

Jan 14, 2021

Bullnerd
Hey, My new 450L works just fine!

Me
Doh! I'd not seen the arm. Knew it was hurt.

bdkw1
I'm going to have to start up crashing lessons to show you guys how to do it with style.

Jan 16, 2021

jimmyg
You all seem to chase pain and injury like me and the fridge. I'm board I wonder what's in here to eat?

Me
Seems to be the way of life for me starting at 5 with a concussion from spinning off a stool in a hamburger joint and stopping the concrete floor with my head and then my first broken collarbone in third grade, bailing outta a tree (I don't remember it, add concussion #2).

51 years later I'm at 28 (I think?) snapped/crunched/shattered bones, specializing in clavicles and ribs. I need to post up my recent clavicle pix - even I'm impressed! Lol!

jimmyg
Other than that good progress and like always you side story's are always worth a read. Classic.

Me
Thanks! Glad you enjoy the tales. I enjoy living them.
My wife keeps telling me I need to write. I sit back and read some of the stuff I posted on Yellow Dog Racing over the years and find I'm quite entertained by my own writings. I pretty much put on paper the shit that's float around in my pea brain as if I'm talking to my buddies around the camp fire.

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Quick note (haven't uploaded video yet because I'm sitting here in bed with my morning cup 'o joe) but the Mini-Raptor LIVES!
Well, kinda... I turn the key, it now turns on the ignition and fuel system and it did one turn of the crank before the battery said "I'm not playing with you yet. Charge me."

There's life coming back out of it. WOOOO HOOOO!

Got the exhaust system buttoned up yesterday. Realized that I hadn't installed the header gasket so I had to dig around on the table and locate it.

It (heat shielding) ended up going in better than I thought it was. I'm really pleased that it's almost exactly parallel to the cam cover gasket when you look down on the same plane. Nice.

Also got the little cover in the back covered in magic gold reflecting material. I'll probably put a piece of it on the rear bulkhead once powder coating is done. The turn down in the headers is pretty close to it.

Had planned on wrapping the collector and tube that head to the muffler but after fighting with trying to get the cloth around the tapered section and being that it hangs out in the breeze I finally said F it and it'll stay just as is.

So I got the header all tidied up and went back after the wire harness.

ONE LINE AT A TIME! Go to colored wire diagram, find wire, chase wire, mark off of diagram. Everything was good. Looks like my first attempt was correct (although I was able to pull out one of the junction thingies).

So I started checking components from battery out. Big fuse, check, switch, check, ignition/fuel system relay, uh...
Pull relay, play with ohm meter, get funky readings, finally put 12v across activation leads and I get a spark. UH OH!!! Just to make sure I reversed polarity (since there's a diode in the relay), still get spark. AHA!!! Little bastard!

Find spare relay, put 12V across activation leads and "CLICK". Dis one iz goot!

Plug in relay, turn key and I get this!

WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Shit happened!
Battery flat but I had things make noises, buzzes and clicks. YES, YES, YES!

Put battery charger on, shut down the shop for the night and went to the house with a huge grin.

Headed down to reinstall all the disconnected sensors, senders, crap that got pulled out of the harness while chasing the bad relay.

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I mentioned being a clavicle specialist - found some old x-rays and then my most recent.

Left clavicle - snapped it in two spots coming up short on a double jump back in 1997.

1997 x-ray:

23-24 years later, check the bridging under the big knot! Looks like a #2 pencil will fit just fine. I keep thinking I need a titanium ring inserted through it. That way next time I get in a pinch where I need extraction, all they gotta do is toss me the clip on the end of the winch and drag me out.

Broke my right one at the dunes years ago (soft spot in the sand sand, over the bars I flopped) and it never knitted.

Didn't realize I had an x-ray of it from then.

And here's how it looks now (pretty gnarly - the ends pivot like an elbow):

I'm pretty sure if I knew exactly what to look for I could find the breaks in the ribs in both shots - I can think of at least five on each side.

Jan 17, 2021

Spent most of yesterday afternoon tidying and routing wires, getting the loom cleaned up.

I'd mess with a section, attach the positive battery lead, turn key, get noises.

Worked on the leads that run up to the dash. All seems fine. Hit the power button and nothing. Huuuuuh?

Walk around to the back and check with the ignition key on the rear panel (what I'd been doing as I worked).

Nada. WTF?

Checked my little connection points - all had the plugs in them, everything is correct. Aaarrggghhh!

Wait, what's the black line with the ring terminal doing just hanging in the air? (in the Power Commander harness). Touched it to the intercooler, turned the key and the MR has life. (still not started it yet) Went to the cabin controls and YES! They work. Stupid ground.

Unwrapped the junction that's in the PC harness, pulled one of the filler plugs in one of the two connectors, relocated the ground into the harness and stuck a lead into the other side of the plug so it's integrated into the harness and not another lead hanging about and called it a day.

Hoping to get into the shop today and try to finish up the harness. This depends on if my wife decides to do the usual Sunday napping - if she does I'm watching Supercross, as I got it recorded.

Getting closer! Finish the wire repairs, redo the hood mounts and then it's testing time again. I'm hoping to get out in the next 4-5 days.

Jan 19, 2021

Spent the better part of the day getting the wire harness closer to finish. Tidied up each wire, ran each appropriately, added in a few components like the intercooler and supercharger cooling fans. Removed a bus bar and put everything into the harness.

Still have to wrap up the section between the middle and right cylinder then I'll pull the entire harness out of the Mini-Raptor and wrap it. I paid attention to how Yamaha did the Nytro harness and saved all the wrap stuff. This should let me pull the entire harness in one piece and have all the components plug into it instead of them running all over here and there. Should look entirely OEM Yamaha when done - at least that's the plan.

Of course I kept making sure I had power with each change/mod and that it would at least turn over. She tries to come to life, but coughs and sputters. Maybe Covid, not sure and the testing lines are long and I'm not sure where you'd swab a sled motor to find out.

I think I have cylinders 1 & 3 backwards. It hits on one cylinder and doesn't sound like the other two are playing nicely.

The leads to the coil pack are all the same gauge, red and have a different colored stripe for each cylinder. They all three plug into the ECU right next to each other so getting two of them backwards would be easy - especially if I was thinking that cylinder 1 is 3 and vice-versa.

Headed back to the shop after a quick lunch. She should be running by the end of the day. I have to go into the front wire harness next and find out why I'm not getting power. Maybe that's what that blue wire hanging there is... (was looking at one yesterday that heads into the cabin thinking "Huh... do I put power to it to see what pops or lights up?")

Kuma
no wiring diagram?
the only thing I really know about those electrical thingys is they all have a limited amount of smoke packaged in them and usually if you let any smoke out of them they won't work anymore.

Me
Oh, there are diagrams all over the table - and I seem to now know what every color does...
Agreed on the smoke factor. That stuff is precious when it comes to electronics. Fortunately I've not let any out yet.

Harness complete but w/o wrapping. I chased everything tightly with zip ties and then pulled it so I could wrap it up.

TADA!!! I've impressed myself with this.

It fits like a glove.

There is one sensor that has me completely baffled right now, though - and I can't find the lead.

See the pressure sensor on the top of the plenum box that has no plug in it? Uhhh... No can find de plug! Actually I can't figure out what it goes to. I can see the plug in my pea brain but where'd it go? I thought it was part of the AiM Lambda sensor but no... It's not part of either of the Power Commander pieces either. It's definitely not Yamaha - that plug and the wires that I recall are not what they use.

I'll be crawling around underneath tomorrow connecting other stuff and hopefully it'll show up.

Since it didn't want to start yesterday and acting like it was hitting on once cylinder I started thinking. Was 99.7% (survival rate) that I had the spark leads switched at the ECU. As soon as I got the harness out of the back of the chassis, I switched the leads.

After a couple hours of wrapping and sticky fingers (I hate electrical tape) the harness was back in place and everything plugged in. Turned the key and nothing. REALLY??? Okay, think... that's plugged in, this is plugged in oh, let's take a look at the spade plug that grounds the system. AHA! Plugged the two connectors together and this is what happens now:

Still have to clean up other wires and get power back up to the front of the chassis.

PROGRESS!!! May be another test run in my NEAR future.

Jan 26, 2021

Still have to put the headlight assemblies back in the hood but other than that, the Mini-Raptor's ready for testing again.

Post fire looks even better than pre fire. I still have to do the cover over the clutch system and I'd like to get some more panels inside the back of the "bed" but we'll see. Gotta move up front and finish the dash.

Had to redo the hood mounts. The driver's side unit snapped from oh-too-small tubing and having a stalk above the support brace. Perfect example of what happens when you have a dead tube instead of putting the load at the joint.

Old cut out piece compared to the new mount:

One side done, one side needing to be done:

Finished up. Bigger, badder, beefier. Let's hope they're bigger, badder, beefier enough. Thinking there may end up being a pair of screw in mounts where the bumper is. There's a bit more flex in the area on the hood that the grill light bar is attached to.

Now I have to wait for the mud to dry up and then it's back to testing. Been raining (we actually had about 45 minutes of snow yesterday) so I'm not willing to head out and get it covered in wet dirt.

Feb 4, 2021

Uh... Need to update a tad.

But I'll leave this (from about an hour ago) here:

Feb 5, 2021

bdkw1
All ready plowing bush's with the P side. I see how you are.

Me
There was a tiny bit of water in the dip.
My OMAS (Ohio Mud Avoidance System) kicked in and took over.
It's a built in nanny...

Feb 6, 2021

jimmyg
Would rather see you in a helmet but at least you had your hearing protection on. Otherwise what ride!

Me
Flyerrider & Bullnerd busted on me (rightful so) as soon as I got home and the video uploaded.

Originally Posted by Flyer's text to Bull & me
Damn! It scoots! Seems like the rear end is way more planted than what I expected with the short wheelbase. I can't wait to see how hard you can push it when you know the trail and aren't going full Mike with the protective equipment. At least put your shoulder straps on bro! We don't need any more Neanderthals on this text thread.

The "Full Mike" is referring to a helmetless Bull, a CRF450L and about 40 feet of crash marks that he doesn't recall from his very first ride.

In my (lack of) defense, I'd only planned on a neighborhood drive to see how things were regarding heat and the shields. I'd drive a couple of blocks, stop & check. Did this three times (stop & check) and found myself facing the power lines.

Now I've known that the power line road is there - been down another section in the RZR. We used to unload and go in at the intersection you can see about half way thru the video, just before I turn left and follow the power lines on out. Sucks that they closed that off and made it strictly hiking and biking as that intersection is less than a mile from my home.

As best as I can tell, the road is legal if you have a State Land Trust usage permit (I have) plates and an OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) sticker (do not have for the MR yet - Covid has obliterated our license & registration bureau and I've not been able to get an inspection/VIN number assignment). So that little rip is probably quite illegal.

Anyhow, the temptation was too much and instead of stopping and clipping myself into the harness, I got to the power lines, turned left, did the paranoid "I know the cops are gonna show" scan of the area and then found the fun pedal.

It's quick. I thought it would pull harder but I'm not at full tune and there's clutch work to be had.

It handles really well - surprised how well, actually. Goes where I point it nicely and reacts to dancing on the pedals.

Suspension is at full soft - got all the adjusters completely open - and it rides VERY smoothly. I purposely tried to bottom out the front a couple of times and it did so w/o much of a fuss.

I'm also pleased with just how solid the thing feels. Our RZR has a bit of flex in the chassis - it's not something you really notice or makes you thing "stuff's moving", it's just a feeling & sounds (creaks, pops - all totally RZR) and I noticed right off the bat that the MR just feels solid. Even the bodywork was quiet. Good stuff.

Getting ready right now for a 100 mile dirt bike ride. I'll update this afternoon with pix and build progress provided I'm still able to function afterwards.

Feb 8, 2021

A bit outta order here, trying to catch up.

First - DynoJet is killer in customer service.
They sent me the correct unit WITH a MAF sensor (bottom) and said "send the other one back when you get this one" complete with return postage and all. Thank you Dynojet!!

This means the Mini-Raptor's running again. Woo hoo!

Fired it up and ran around the neighborhood, stopping every couple of blocks to see how the heat shield and header wrapping was working. It smelled bad and was smoking (expected some). I headed back to the shop to let it cool down.

The fancy gold shit's burned off but it's left the glass insulation and everything back there actually seems pretty happy. It quit smoking the after the second run (video a few posts up).

Considered adding forced air over the system but after a bunch of conversation with FabDoc and a couple others, I may be trying too hard to contain the heat instead of letting it just flow on out. It seems to be okay now - like it's bedded in. I'll be keeping a close eye on it until I don't think I need to, though.

Here it is idling and warming up before I went on my little jaunt the other day. No smoke at all from the shielding.

One thing that definitely had to be address was that the spare tire was in the wrong spot. It actually touched the rear heat shield so that had to get moved.

Cut the back tire mount off, reconfigured it, leaned the tire back a bit more and raised it about half an inch.

Shameless 525 Industries tube prep sander placement:

Mo betta clearance, Clarence:

I'll probably make another romp or two around the neighborhood along the power lines here in the next day or so and if all seems to be good I'll head on out into the desert and start playing with things. Still gotta get the Autotune figured out. That should be next.

Feb 16, 2021

Another test run was done today.

Helmet on, goggles in place, ears plugged and harness tight.
Nobody can bitch at me this time (and yeah, I see my thumbs in the wheel a couple of times - was aware and kept telling myself STOP THAT!)

Some stuff better, some not so much.

The Good:

Spins the tires on asphalt - I had to get across the road so I stepped on it - I mean why not? It made me think of riding in the Trophy Truck back in '06. Punch the fun pedal, suddenly can't see over the hood from all the weight transfer and rear end squat. Fun stuff.

Played with shock valving a bit - it's better, but still way light. She bounces badly after a good G-out. I'd just thrown in half a turn on everything to see if that would make any difference.

Engine seems more responsive so I think the Autotune is working correctly. I dumped the last mods it made into it and now I'm starting to see higher boost pressures. Up to 5 psi (of 8) now from what I see on data logging. (just starting to go through that). I need to dump the latest tune in and see what that does.

Locking diff works. Kept wondering why the drive train seemed to spool up and I wasn't getting the drive I was expecting when I first took off in the dirt. Oh, clicky the diff button, yeeee hawww. Open diff in the dirt SUCKS. I drove on the street with it open just to see what it was like in corners on the way to the dirt. I like it for the street.

Four wheel drive - really makes the front end go where I point it very nicely. I like that I've adapted the RZR drive train - know it well, it works well, it's proving good thus far.

I think it may need a lighter roll bar - it rides really flat and the back end is loose - then again, that may have to do with a comment below.

I'm really impressed with just how solid everything seems to be. I'm not hearing creaks or squeaks or sounds that shouldn't be there. I did hear the body tag the front left wheel ever so slightly once.

The Bad:

It decided that it was not going to start last week. Turns over, has fuel, has spark but no vroom, vroom.
Doesn't smell like it's getting any fuel.

Diagnostics time. Hold buttons, turn key, wait, push buttons... Key through the diagnostic numbers. Check injectors (you can key them on/off), each one fires five times. Turn key, vroom, vroom. Hmmm....

More diagnostics:
05 - air temp reads 22 (not sure if this is F or C yet)

06 - water temp reads 68 (now I'm thinking F as it's 68F in my shop) Okay, this is weird.

Make a call to good friend and killer mechanic. He says he's guessing that it's something to do with the air temp sensor (we're both thinking F). Okay, all good. Easy enough to get online and order one. Have it the next day (needed some other stuff from Rocky Mountain so it was convenient).

Today: Plug in sensor, same.
Okay, let's check ECUs - change out, same.
Shit.
I checked the resistance and connections on the air sensor and all was correct.

Make another call to Don and discuss.

Start reading codes and stuff from the service manual and start realizing things are in C. So it thinks the engine's warm therefore it's not going into "choke" mode. Unplugged the water temp sensor, turn the key and vroom vroom.
YAY!

SHIT!

The water temp sensor is the hardest piece to get to.

I checked it's resistance reading against another one that I have and the resistance reads quite differently between the two. I need to get to the impossible to reach plug and attach the loose water temp sensor to the harness and see if it thinks things are good.

Coming home the rear feels loose. Almost like it's trying to steer a tad...
Dat's not good.
Get home wiggle wheel, rear wheel bearings are loose - both wheels wobble badly. Gotta jack that up and figure out what's gone bad.

Muffler cover decided to go poof and of course, burned up some wire (fortunately a short easy to replace piece).

It did this when I parked in the garage.
Got out, saw a little bit of black smoke and orange fire, walked over, blew it out and if it had decided to go big I was gonna push the bitch out of the garage and walk away. Gonna pull the carbon off of the shield, go get some Cerakote, coat the aluminum shield and be done with it.

"Oh, oh, oh, my truck's on fire"... (only Bruce Springsteen song I can stomach - that dude is HORRIBLE)

The front shielding seems to be content.
Yay...

Secondary clutch temp sensor is acting weird. I checked the connections and things seem good. More shit to look at. Last time it was a cold solder - tiny wires are tender and easy to do that too.

Oil temps were high - 235F Need to look into this. Not really sure what high temps are for a sled engine but that seems too much to me.

Oil temps stayed pretty consistent so maybe it's good? Research time.

Water temp on the dash is legit - and a tad high. I'm not sure that the rad fans were getting activated (that's supposed to be controlled by the Yamaha ECU - does it through diagnostics).

Fuel regulator has decided to leak. When I got out I see a small puddle under the car. The whole clutch side is covered in wet dirt that stinks - this thing is determined to go up in smoke. If it tries hard enough I'm gonna step out and walk away.

I'm becoming f'n tired of this project again. SOOOO close and then more Gremlins. I know they have to be weeded out but man...

Got shit to do this week so I'm gonna step away from it for a bit.

Grumble
Grumble

Today's run part 1:

Today's run part II:

Feb 19, 2021

Okay, maybe not as bad as I thought.

Made some washers and stuck em' in. They're not as flexy flyer as the OEM units. Double stacking, they still go slightly conical but nothing like the OEM squishies.

What the single OEM looked like when removed:

My new pair next to the old one:

Tightened everything up to spec and all the wiggle is gone. Think I've dodged a big bullet. Checked up front and they, with the double washers, are just fine.

Now it's find the fuel reg leak. 90% sure it's on the input side and is either the AN fitting not being tight enough on the nipple or the nipple's sealing ring is compromised. It's that harder white plastic stuff and I think it needs to be an o-ring or a brass washer instead.

We'll see...

Also talked with my buddy Don and discussed oil temps. Said that 235F is absolutely fine. Told me to set the alarm at 335F.
His old (absolutely monster of an) XR650 ran 320-340F all the time and it never had any oil related issues.

Mar 4, 2021

Okay, I think things are in order.

First thing to address was the water temp sensor. Since I had to pull the intake system off (it's really not that bad) to fix a fuel leak due to Shit Ass Chinese AN fittings I was able to get to the sensor with no issues. Pulled the old one out (not a drip of fluid escaped - and I even put a vacuum on it to make sure there wasn't an air bubble), checked it's resistance and then the new one and yeah, they're way off. Old one went straight to the round file, new one in the manifold.

Went about replacing three of the Shit Ass Chinese AN fittings with good old Russel fittings and now there's no leaky, leaky anymore. Well, there is oil leaky, leaky around the stator cover but that's something to mess with when I pull it all apart for painting.

Fixed my fire damaged wire harness on the rear bumper, plugged everything in and hit the starter button. Vroom, vroom - she starts right up like she's supposed to. Stupid smart engines! One sensor decides to report badly and everything goes to shit.

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While I waited on UPS to arrive with the fittings I got the final piece of the puzzle for being street legal installed yesterday too.

It may not quite be modern F1 (probably more like 1980's) but I have a quick release steering wheel with ONE pin that gives me horn control.

Modded a set of Delphi plugs, made a piece that locates the male pin in the quick release and then shoved the female part into the steering shaft.

Female receiver:

The little plate that snap fits into the back of the quick release and holds the male pin in place:

Here's the pin and adapter in place in the quick release:

And the finished steering wheel ready to snap back in place:

Had my first go around with the AZDOT in the process of getting a VIN assigned and plates.

I thought the inspection was going to be the tricky part. Walked in with my pile of receipts and such ready for battle.
Nah, the guy was VERY cool (he was all about the Mini-Raptor) looked until he found numbers on the sled engine that matched the paperwork and then disappeared into his office.

Came out after about 5 minutes with (more) paperwork and a neat little blue and silver metal sticker with an AZ assigned ID number. The Mini-Raptor now has a VIN. I asked if he wanted to see any of the "street stuff" like brake lights, turn signals, running lights and such and he said "Nope, got what we needed."

Next was the plate department. There's where it began to be a bit of a pain (now two steps). Gave them all my paperwork, all the paperwork the inspector gave me and she starts typing away. Had me fill out another form explaining where parts came from and such then tells me I need a surety bond since I don't have the original copy of the sled title (it went with the engineless sled after I stripped it).

So now I'm waiting on my insurance agency to get my bond so I can go back and stand in line for who knows how long.

I'm tickled - I'm gonna be able to get a personalized plate with "MINRAP" on it. WOO HOO!!!!

For the record, I had to represent whilst doing stuff on the MR.

Thanks TALON!!!

Hate having to wear these stupid masks...

Mar 4, 2021

Second step - titling & registration.

(Expanded recap) Itty bitty woman (of whom had an itty bitty mask covered voice "What? Excuse me?") looks papers over.

As what seems to be part of the DMV process she has to go ask someone else questions.

Comes back and tells me I need to get a surety bond (I believe stating that I purchased engine legit - had copy of title with record of when I bought and sold sled) in the next 24 hours and come back.

Okay.

Google search, phone call, discover insurance can do this.
More calls, numbers traded, codes given.
(End expanded recap)

Email arrives with proper paperwork. I print my bond and add to my pile.

Off to the DMV again.

Wait in line outside, guy comes and asks people their business, gets to me, I say coming back with paperwork, he says come with me.

Cool, I got the golden ticket! Or an orange card with a B in the middle of it. Either way, I'm in.

Wait in inside line.
La, la, la...

I hand her my pile of papers and explain that I'm back with my surety bond.

She, in proper DMV form, says "I need to talk to someone." gets up and walks away.

She stops the itty bitty woman that helped me earlier.
They turn towards me, I wave, itty bitty woman recognizes me, looks at paperwork then says something to woman helping me.

Woman comes back and says "You need to wait 24 hours for the bond to set in, not come back in 24."

"Oh."

I go back tomorrow.

Good thing is she said I have all the correct paperwork.

Mar 5, 2021

STREET LEGAL!!!!

Had to laugh at/with the guy behind the counter at the DMV. He was VERY cool and I had a good time dealing with him.

As I request the personal plate he asked (required) "What does MINRAP stand for? I'm guessing Mini-Raptor, nothing else?"

I said yes then proceeded to ask "What if it's code for big boobies?"

He laughed and said "That would get it flagged. I think Mini-Raptor's probably the correct response."

Carbon time.

Making a new cover that goes over the clutches since the last one went poof in da fyrah.

Two layers of carbon, one layer of fiberglass and one layer of fiberglass veil is the make up of the panel. Oh, threw a couple stiffeners in to see how they work and such. They'll get used in the door panels so I figured this was a good place to give 'em a try.

Little trim detail between the hump and the main body panel section. I like using the 1" wide tape for covering where stuff meets.

Everything cut and placed in the mold:

Pulled it out so I could clean up the mould and get ready for infusion.

No leaks! Always a great start.

Infusion in process.

70 minute epoxy my ass. I've mixed the stuff half a dozen times now and it doesn't start to set for closer to four hours. Yeah, I've checked all the variables too - temp in range (68-72 depending on time of year), I've mixed according to weight, according to volume... Always have to walk back and forth between the shop and house four or five times every evening when I do this stuff. Works out, though. I make sure all is good and leave the little vacuum pump running over night and in the morning I usually have a part.

I pulled the bagging and peel-ply off this morning but didn't get into trimming and removing it from the mold - gonna go do that in just a few (after I'm done sitting here typing all this stuff.)

Got my OHV sticker in the mail yesterday.
I am COMPLETELY legal now! WHOOP WHOOP!!!!

Gonna pull loose one of the sway bar links and take 'er for a spin and see what it's like.

Update on the day (it's been good).

Panel came out pretty sweet. Dumb Ass (me) once again forgot to apply release agent on the mold so I had a bit of a fight getting the carbon out.

BUT - the epoxy still hasn't fully set up and hardened so it's slightly flexible. This made popping the piece out easier but it was still being ugly so I got smart(er?) and put a little heat to the aluminum panel and the flexy fiber came right out. I cleaned up the mold, put the panel back in (it pretty much clips in) and then stuck the thing in the oven at 180 for 8 hours as instructed.

Starting to pull the piece out of the bagging:

Looky here! Dumb Ass (me) remembered to use peel ply this time. See how the old burnt up one still had the infusion mesh firmly epoxied into it? Not this time!

Trimmed and ready for install once it's not a floppy piece anymore:

So off to the oven with it - and it just barely fits. Kinda had to play Tetris with it to get the door shut. If you hold your tongue just right it all works.

Got a magic black box installed too. After all, every build needs a black box, right? It's the wireless winch control.

Mar 15, 2021

Panel done and I'm pleased with the results. Had a little bit of porosity around the aluminum accent covers but it's nothing I can't live with.

The panel mounts to one of the frame tubes and to the panel that covers the oil sump tank. The part over by the engine floats. Can't attach it to the engine or the tubes that support the intercooler as the engine and trans are rubber mounted (using OEM bushing mounts) and that allows movement.

I was able to support the inner part of the panel a bit by built in stiffness (rounded edges make it quite stiff in the front to rear orientation) and also by putting a small mount of tension on the point where it and the sump cover meet. It helps pull the panel "up". Still, I know things like this are gonna vibrate and move and such so I went ahead and made a floating mount for the panel.

Took some Delrin, rounded the edge the panel will ride on, cut out a pair of Nuuuut Pockets and bolted it to the clutch cover.

This makes me happy.