neilg

I'll be blowed, just bought a new 14ft trampoline for the kids and erected it yesterday for them. Oh well 😬 Cheers Neil

If the wheels are a different combination to standard you may want to bear in mind that the mph calibration may be wrong slightly and therefore the computer might think you are doing slightly different milage to what you actually are. MPG computer may then be a bit wrong. If you see what i mean. I'd have thought though that this would give you better MPG reading than actual. It's too early for me to think straight. I might of course be talking b******S

Chris, you know what the answer is!! Get it sorted and keep it 😬 😬 Hope it goes ok. Is he putting a Nova gearset in? Cheers Neil

Yep , mine does that as well.

Book of Racing Drivers Excuses ......no wonder no grip , my tyres are too old....that ol'chestnut *rolleyes*

Chris, you may want to consider getting Rob to change rings and shells whilst gearbox is in bits as engine all to bits anyway? I know this all adds up and you'll end up with a bill for £2000-00 for what is still a standard engine. Other alternative is just to source an engine off ebay for £600-00 and bang it straight in. The standard gearbox might be good for 10000 miles plus especially as you don't track it much. I only say this as you don't seem to get another £1500-00 just because you have a Nova when you come to sell although it's bound to help. Just my opinion . If you're not planning to track it much then i think that may be a more economic bet. Cheers Neil

they are much better with a L-o-n-g first gear that'll do damn nr 60 mph and then 2-3-4-5-6 which are very close and quick with 3 dogs per gear rather than 5.

Hi Chris, the choice as they say is yours mate. Mistral WILL be mega bucks, as Byker Will will tell you. Mark at BSD will be considerably cheaper and believe me he knows his onions. It's just more difficult for you to get it there though i guess. I'll keep my eye out for gearboxes for you. Cheers Neil

Here is how it works, here Locates the axle and controls undesirable movement that effect handling. Altogether a good thing for competition/ hillclimb and track. Wouldn't have thought you'd notice any difference pootling around on the road. Cheers Neil

Funny, i was thinking about brake fluid myself today as i've never changed mine but currently have no problems and a fine hard pedal . I'm sure i should change it but " if it ain't broke"..... Bound to have a problem if i set about changing it. Sounds like you've got a seized caliper maybe or could have a seal gone in the master cylinder. Sorry not much help that is it? Cheers Neil

Hi Chris, can't remember if your car is carbs or injected. I have a spare used carb engine if you need one which i bought when i got my car as a spare and never used. Well i've got two spare engines actually , one fully refreshed with good standard box, and the used one from a salvage yard. No use to you if you've got an injected engine, although the gearbox is the same . Anyway they are there if you need them. I was beginning to think three engines is a bit of an extravagance. 😬 😬 You can pick up spare engines for £500-00 although you don't know necessarily the state of the gearbox but normally they are fine as Honda Blackbird riders tend to be portly old chaps more interested in real ale than clipping the next apex at Cadwell.

As Nick says you've got to exhaust this cable adjustment i think. You say it's fine but with lots of slack and free play *confused* . This seems an oxymoron. There should be no slack or freeplay at all i would have thought. On my hydraulic clutch any air in it at all and the gears won't go in and the clutch drags. The gear action itself should be very light. Don't go bashing it about and forcing it. It's a Honda, they like finesse and precision. I think i'd get the rear wheels off the ground and test it through the range of gears. As regards general use on the road and in the interests of gearbox longevity you should be doing ALL the braking with the brakes. Absolutely NO braking with the gearbox at all. This will shag it in no time flat. Best to lose all your speed with the brakes and once thats done just snick down the gears with your finger tips. No forcing it down with massive force with too much speed. You also MUST heel and toe so as to blip the throttle on downshifts with just a bit of clutch. On the road i've found it best to use clutch ( just a dab) on all gearshifts but on track you can do clutchless upshifts but use clutch on way down. Hope that isn't teaching you to suck eggs, sorry if this is all simple stuff but Honda gearboxes are expensive and tiresome to change as whole engine has to come out etc etc. Cheers Neil

Hi Chris, when you say failing, does it not go into gear or does it go in and then jump out. Generally what happens is that it starts jumping out of gear on upshift and then you can't get the next gear down on downshift, particularly fourth . I'm afraid its quite a few quid mate. i was lucky in getting a second hand Nova box from Ming at half price but a new one is somewhere in the rather unpalitable area of £1200-00. Gulp. Give me a shout on blatmail and i can tell you all the ins and outs. You may consider getting a second hand standard box which will be a lot cheaper. Anyway give me a shout if you like. Cheers /Neil

Not sure Simon, one of the mysteries of air flow. Myself ( carb) and Byker Will ( injected) went to TTS to be rolling roaded on the same day. His airbox flowed well and there was no improvement in removing it but on carbs it is designed differently and it doesn't work at all. Nick Chan went to same rolling road and the difference was something amazing like:- with airbox 85bhp with foamy 135 or something. It really was amazing the difference. You're ok though if you're injected . Do you have a power commander. I suspect you have. This piggy backs onto the Honda ECU and controls mixture better. If you need any assistance then Richard at TTS at Silverstone has a rolling road and i have put other contacts like Nova and BSD on the other thread. Cheers Neil

Or here Still tricky to understand right.

This helps i think

Well, it's really a case of bike gearboxs being very small , with tiny cogs , and having to cope with all the work of suddenly slowing down and speeding up 500 kg rather than say 250 kg . On a Blackbird the gears have straight cut dogs, like the castellations on a castle turret. After a while the corners wear and the dogs slip out when engaged. On a Nova gearbox the dogs are undercut which means that when the two dogs engage they pull themselves together. Hard to explain without pictures but if you imagine the dogs being narrower at the bottom than at the top you'll get my drift. Or not *confused*. On a Busa, the gears come undercut as standard and as such there is less of a problem with them. A Nova gearbox , like wot i've got, is a massive improvement over the standard gearbox and sorts the problem. I don't know what Fireblade and R1's have so unsure as to their longevity. Cheers Neil

Simon, is your Blackbird an injected one or carbs. If injected then that airbox is ok. If its carbs then may i rather abruptly suggest you find the nearest skip and chuck it in. It won't flow right and cost you millions of horsepower. We been there and done that i'm afraid. Just ask Nick Chan. I'm hoping you have an injected one 😬 😬 which flows well . Cheers Neil

Chris, you need to check the clutch actuation first old chap. Presume you have the same hydraulic affair that i have. If so undo the two bolts holding the actuater ( the black bit on the end of the braided hose) and pull it free of the engine. Now hold it above the level of the master cylinder and push the diaphagm in with your thumb ( once you've taken the lid off of the master cylinder) and this will expell any air that may have crept into the system. Top up the master cylinder to correct level. If, once you have done that and you still have a recalcitrant action and all your gear linkages are A OK then you've probably got a problem with worn dogs. (If you've got some cable actuated jobby then i'm afraid i've no experience of them.) Once all that is exhausted then there may be no alternative but to get engine out , split, and to investigate. Buggeration. Both me and Will have had this problem with our Blackbirds and the only real proper long term solution is to fit a NOVA gearbox with undercut dogs. This i'm afraid is expensive but then replacing the various worn bits with new Honda gears as standard is also expensive and you'll end up doing it again fairly soon. My standard gearbox lasted for 10000 miles and probably 10-15 trackdays but Willy with his ham fisted downshifts buggered two up in about 4 miles. The Nova box with its undercut gears sorts all this out. I have a tame engineer who can sort all this out for you if you decide it's beyond you. Blatmail me and i can advise. Graham at Nova is here..Nova and Mark at BSD BSD is here. They are both within two miles of each other nr Peterborough on the A47 , i've used both and they are both brilliant. Hope that helps. Cheers Neil

Hi, last number i had for colin at sticky slicks is 07891952125. He's based near me in Whitwick, nr Coalville Leics. He will advise you on sizes but normally he sells radials. Cheers Neil

Simon, i only mention it as the carb version is different to the fuel injected version. Some are also composite and some (Nick Chan for example) have a CF version. It sounds like you have a composite fuel injected one. Cheers Neil PS Which/whose Blackbird have you got . Is it a recent purchase. How are you getting on with it. Have had mine for 10000 miles and two years now and i 🥰 it. Mine now has a 1.2 big bore version with Nova box and goes quite well. Edited by - neilg on 6 Mar 2011 18:58:21

Simon, you might like to say whether it is for a carb or injected engine and whether it is carbon or composite as they are all different. Hope that helps. Cheers Neil

Good stuff Willy. Bored today mate? I'm assured when i read that that i've been doing more or less what it says for least wear given my set up. Cheers Neil

I would willingly help you if i could on my farm at loughborough but all my secure space is rented out and i haven't even enough space for my own Minno which resides in a horse paddock . :rolleyes. Well it does at the moment until some pykey b******d comes and nicks it. Blatmail me if you have problems getting anywhere close to you as i have a mate at a farm in Colston Bassett who may be able to help if you don't get something closer. Cheers Neil ( 07766912648)

I have a number here. Don't hold me to it but i think Steve at StickySLicks can be got on 07891952125. Cheers Neil