my Aprilia Superleggera project

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budd
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by budd »

lloydie wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 8:11 pm Thought they had a slipper clutch as standard ?

Go big bore too dial the cams and synk the tb & do the collector mod and it’ll be a beast
they do have a slipper clutch of sorts it works on engine vacuum , the clutch is linked to the throttle bodies which on a closed throttle releases the clutch in theory but TBH in practise it doesn't work that well it's a bit hit and miss a mechanical (TTS or Sigma etc ) work regardless of throttle position so is much more dependable.

Can't run to the big bore kit but it as the modd'd collector & big (57mm ) TBs with a custom mapped PC3 so it should make a bit more power, but any power gains from a N/A engine are difficult to achieve if I get 10hp I'll be happy, what's more important is usability and mid range.
I've now gone all European and bought a KTM Superduke GT and Aprilia RSV1000R :D ,
Storm is now gone :cry: .
.
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AMCQ46
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by AMCQ46 »

Full RSV4 radial caliper front end :D
AMcQ
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budd
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by budd »

AMCQ46 wrote: Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:54 pm Full RSV4 radial caliper front end :D
that would be nice but the money tree in the garden hasn't produced a particularly good crop this year so it won't be happening :D
I've now gone all European and bought a KTM Superduke GT and Aprilia RSV1000R :D ,
Storm is now gone :cry: .
.
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budd
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by budd »

Made some more progress, after much searching ordered a projector headlight, hi/low beam 60mm for the bargain price of £9.99 delivered !!!

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I really don’t know how they can produce and deliver it for under a tenner, I was expecting it to take a few weeks to arrive from China but it arrived in 3 days !! So now I need to get headlight into this.
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There is a site (motoforza IIRC) that supply a mounting tube for just this purpose and at £10 not unreasonably priced but when you add the postage £25 plus the VAT it starts to get quite expensive and there wasn’t anything else I really wanted to add to the purchase and make the postage worthwhile so I decided to make my own. The actual lens is 60mm but including it’s shroud it’s 64mm so I needed a 64mm tube to bond into the GRP fairing, so after wandering around the house and garage measuring everything cylindrical bottles of water/shampoo, bog roll tubes, various tin cans in fact I checked all manor of packaging looking for that illusive 64mm diameter, the winner turned out to be a wine bottle!!

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The wife just happened to have such a bottle laying about so with bottle in hand I set about making a suitable receptacle for my nice new headlight. First I coated the glass with wax ( Colonite insulator wax makes a great release agent) then painted on a couple of coats of polyester resin once that had cured a couple of layers of fine glass fibre matting, let this go off and then run the disc cutter down it and remove, and we have one GRP headlight mount, total cost probably about 50p the only downside is the missus guzzled all the wine.

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I’d decided to mount the light offset to the right hand side so I worked out where I wanted it and cut a hole then glassed it in and trimmed it down, now it just needs prepping for paint.

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The rear light was a similar process, find something that was a suitable size and shape and then buy and make it fit. Again Ebay to the rescue, after a bit of searching LED lights I stumbled on a something that looked like it may do the job, it is a rear reflector for a VW T5 van, it turns out the new fad is to illuminate these bumper mounted reflectors to include stop and tail light, again bargain priced at £12 for a pair.

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a bit of cutting filling and fettling it’s fitted and I have say I think it looks quite good, there’s a touch of Yamaha about, so that’s the lights sorted.


Next job is to start the painting, here it’s been 1 step forward and 2 steps back, I’d decided red/white and black along the lines of a limited edition Panigale, first I prepped the belly pan, tank, side panels and air ducts, filled where necessary, sanded, primed, flatted ready for paint. Now one of the issues it me being a tight b8stard I already had a litre of Ford Radiant Red so I thought that will do, I also had some Nissan white but this just looked a bit grey so I decided to get some ‚ ’whiter white’ so I ordered ½ litre of Arctic white and also a ½ lire of jet black, I normally used 2K basecoat and lacquer so I ordered the white and black in this form. Then discovered the Radiant Red was 2K enamel (which doesn’t require the clearcoat) not the end of the world but it’s not best practice to mix systems, it just means I’ll have to flat the red back and clear coat the lot so it’s a little bit more work and care as to be taken when painting one over the other as the enamel if not fully cured can react with when you paint over it. So the first coat would be white basecoat with the red over the top and white with black over the top on the belly pan, so white on and dried black on the belly pan and looking good. The first real problem (my rock up really) came when I decided to use masking tape to mask the lines on the side panels and tank , why I did this I’ve no idea particularly when I’ve just used lining tape on the belly pan and tank, anyway the results were predictably not great as the red bled under the masking tape something rotten, bugger !!

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Still the tank came out alright, nice finish no specks to dirt or dust top job then disaster, I’d put the tank on a cardboard box to allow me to paint the underside edges, so I put the halogen light on and go clean the gun then I hear bang, the bloody box as only collapsed and the tank as rolled off the bench onto the garage floor, double bugger !!! so now that needed re-doing along with the side panels, not happy and pretty much a full afternoon wasted, I haven't got a pic of the tank damage because I had to go inside and chill out or something was likely to get broken.
I’ve now got these sorted and I think it's starting to look OK, it will be getting stickered up once the paint is finished.

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I can now move onto the nose and tail pieces hopefully these will proceed without further issues.

Also got the RCS M/C fitted and created the required clearance between the body of the cylinder and the dash on full lock.

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I've now gone all European and bought a KTM Superduke GT and Aprilia RSV1000R :D ,
Storm is now gone :cry: .
.
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Varastorm
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by Varastorm »

Looking very nice Budd :thumbup:

Painting stuff, grrrr :twisted: Nothing worse than bleeding, runs I can handle.

That red mist when you peel the tape off is unreal.

Happened once on a 40' yacht I was working on 8O I thought the owner was going to have a stroke, he supplied the tape :roll:

For fairings etc. I've given up with gloss years ago. For me it's matt every time & lacquer.

That light you've used on the front, is it one of these?

If so, do you have to have the other things like ballast resistors Etc. for it to work?

Might see about getting one myself :thumbup:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-5-HID-Bi-x ... SwurZZEalY

Image
tony.mon
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by tony.mon »

That's good progress, it's starting to look really nice, and a bit more modern as well.
Good choice of colour scheme, it should work out really well.
It's not falling off, it's an upgrade opportunity.
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sirch345
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by sirch345 »

Good work Budd :clap:
The colour scheme looks the business :D
A shame about the tank falling like that after all your hardwork, I'm sure you'll make it good though,

Chris.
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lloydie
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by lloydie »

Giz a go
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budd
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by budd »

Varastorm wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:38 pm Looking very nice Budd :thumbup:

Painting stuff, grrrr :twisted: Nothing worse than bleeding, runs I can handle.

That red mist when you peel the tape off is unreal.

Happened once on a 40' yacht I was working on 8O I thought the owner was going to have a stroke, he supplied the tape :roll:

For fairings etc. I've given up with gloss years ago. For me it's matt every time & lacquer.

That light you've used on the front, is it one of these?

If so, do you have to have the other things like ballast resistors Etc. for it to work?

Might see about getting one myself :thumbup:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-5-HID-Bi-x ... SwurZZEalY

Image
The masking was my own mistake, I have proper lining tape so quite why I used the normal masking tape I don't know, maybe a senior moment anyway sorted now :D

re projector, yes that's the same as mine, it seems to be a generic product offered by multiple sellers, if ordering make sure you order it for RHD (ie UK roads) they do both LHD and RHD options and some of the ads don't make obvious which your buying.
The projector itself is just the lens with mounting, so no bulbs or anything else, the black and red wire are for the dip/high beam it basically lifts a little flap, it is supplied ready to take a normal H1 halogen bulb the other bits included are to allow other bulbs to be used. Although I'm not sure if you could actually use different bulbs, the H1 is a tight fit into the inner reflector and the H1 bulb is a skinny bulb to start with most other bulbs are fatter so may not fit despite what the listing says.
I've got some HIDs kicking about somewhere so I'll have to try but I'm don't really like them so I'm going to try a pair of cob LED bulbs and if they don't fit I'll put them in the fogs on the car.
Last edited by budd on Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:28 pm, edited 3 times in total.
I've now gone all European and bought a KTM Superduke GT and Aprilia RSV1000R :D ,
Storm is now gone :cry: .
.
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AMCQ46
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Location: Worcestershire / Warwickshire border

Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by AMCQ46 »

You are making great progress budd. It's going to look pretty-special


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AMcQ
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fabiostar
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by fabiostar »

now that looks proper... love the kinda Endurance look..

when i done mine i ended up using a length of drain pipe from B&Q :eek2
the older i get,the faster i was :lol:
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budd
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by budd »

fabiostar wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:17 pm now that looks proper... love the kinda Endurance look..

when i done mine i ended up using a length of drain pipe from B&Q :eek2
I did consider that option but was worried the plastic wouldn't bond to the fibre glass very well, so made my own using GRP on the assumption that the same stuff it would bond more readily to the race fairing, it seems to have worked I don't think it will be coming loose.
I've now gone all European and bought a KTM Superduke GT and Aprilia RSV1000R :D ,
Storm is now gone :cry: .
.
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budd
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Location: West Yorkshire

Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by budd »

sirch345 wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 4:56 pm Good work Budd :clap:
The colour scheme looks the business :D
A shame about the tank falling like that after all your hardwork, I'm sure you'll make it good though,

Chris.
I considered quite a few different colour schemes I wanted something quite simple and basic and not a full on race replica, the design I ended up with is loosely based on a Panigale limited edition I spent some time just looking at different bikes and really liked the look of the Ducati, I'll be adding some green for that Italian Tricolour effect and obviously it will be getting some stickers :D
The biggest challenge is to make the rear end appear a little smaller, the Mille as quite a fat butt so I'm going to try to stripe it up to disguise it's 'plump rear end', I had originally planned to use the slimmer Gen 2 tailpiece but as I got 2x Gen1 tailpieces included with the fairing it seemed silly to buy another one.

And yes it was quite frustrating to have the tank fall off it's box, I wasn't best pleased I can tell you, but these things happen especially when working in a cluttered garage, but it's sorted now and the finish is better than before so it wasn't a total waste, mind you this isn't the final finish as I'll be flatting it back and clear coating the lot, so I can deal with any issues before the clear goes on.
I've now gone all European and bought a KTM Superduke GT and Aprilia RSV1000R :D ,
Storm is now gone :cry: .
.
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sirch345
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by sirch345 »

budd wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:53 pm
sirch345 wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 4:56 pm Good work Budd :clap:
The colour scheme looks the business :D
A shame about the tank falling like that after all your hardwork, I'm sure you'll make it good though,

Chris.
I considered quite a few different colour schemes I wanted something quite simple and basic and not a full on race replica, the design I ended up with is loosely based on a Panigale limited edition I spent some time just looking at different bikes and really liked the look of the Ducati, I'll be adding some green for that Italian Tricolour effect and obviously it will be getting some stickers :D
The biggest challenge is to make the rear end appear a little smaller, the Mille as quite a fat butt so I'm going to try to stripe it up to disguise it's 'plump rear end', I had originally planned to use the slimmer Gen 2 tailpiece but as I got 2x Gen1 tailpieces included with the fairing it seemed silly to buy another one.

And yes it was quite frustrating to have the tank fall off it's box, I wasn't best pleased I can tell you, but these things happen especially when working in a cluttered garage, but it's sorted now and the finish is better than before so it wasn't a total waste, mind you this isn't the final finish as I'll be flatting it back and clear coating the lot, so I can deal with any issues before the clear goes on.
Glad to hear you have fixed the paintwork on the fuel tank, as you say it could have been worse if it had happened after it had been lacquered. Bonus it's now better than it was before :thumbup:

Chris.
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budd
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Re: my Aprilia Superleggera project

Post by budd »

sirch345 wrote: Sun Dec 17, 2017 8:31 pm Glad to hear you have fixed the paintwork on the fuel tank, as you say it could have been worse if it had happened after it had been lacquered. Bonus it's now better than it was before :thumbup:

Chris.
yeah it's getting there now and as you say anything that happens before the clear can be easily fixed.
I've now gone all European and bought a KTM Superduke GT and Aprilia RSV1000R :D ,
Storm is now gone :cry: .
.
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