Let's Get Started

Blimey - that beer making nonsense is just too time consuming and has caused havoc with my blog writing over the past few months. I have a pile of jobs awaiting me at Diplo HQ - things have slipped, the Series is out of MOT, the Little Shit is off the road and the 'shop is a disaster zone. Pictured above is the idyll of motosickle ownership, a selection steeds, sunshine and the prospect of a lazy cruise to the boozer for a Sunday lunchtime freshener. All is not just as it seems right now. The XT pictured has had to go (Rick Parkington has exported it to The South) to make way for the Little BSA GT50 in the middle of the picture. This has come on board to satisfy Diplo Jnr's need to get on the road at an early age. This will need a rebuild over the next few months to be ready for the Spring and the process may feature a little on these pages. The Little Shit is due a new exhaust system which we're proposing to manufacture in house !! The Series needs the rear hubs stripping and re-sealing so the brakes'll satisfy the man from The Ministry. All of these jobs offer hours of entertainment and contemplative Yorkshire Gold moments - First Things First - find the workbench ! MORE DETERMINATION !

Stress-Free Fuel Testing

Last month I was saved from taking the gas-axe to the CB special by the expertise and wisdom of Mark at BSD (see earlier post). Being a huge fan of experts, pretty much regardless of the field, it was an easy decision to ask Mark if he'd tackle the fueling work on Diplo Jnr's XT. Diplo Jnr has made a quantity of ethanol by distilling last autumn's cider production. The resultant juice is around 82% ABV and suitable for blending with aprox 15% by volume of gasoline to make his own, home-grown version of the commercial E85 available at some forecourts. (The 15% gasoline is required to aid cold starting as it has some of the more volatile fractions missing from straight alcohol). Re-jetting to get the simple, normally aspirated, sluggish 4 stroke to run on alcohol involves dispensing an estimated 30% more fuel. Much as I love trial and error (the largest department at Diplo Technologies Inc) it seemed wise to keep stress levels at bay and ask Mark at BSD to take on the challenge in the comfort of his dyno room.
Within 10 minutes our expert had the XT running sweet on some commercial E85 that we took along by upping the main jet, re-drilling the pilot jet and raising the needle a tad. We actually get a 5% power gain at this point. Next stage was to switch to Diplo Jnr's own fuel. We got the bike running but intermittent missing and spluttering was tracked down (by Mark's nose for these things) to excess water in the fuel. Conventional distillation should enable us to get a maximum of 96% pure Ethanol, beyond which unsavoury chemical processes can be applied (the use of benzine is the most common !!!!).I know we're way short of that and our target of 85% should be good enough. Back to the 'shop and we'll re-run the still to see if we can get rid of a bit more water. MORE DISTILLATION !