I will be running a hurricane 600F ('88) next year. Fitting a catch pan under oilpan but above exhaust is difficult, and extending the bodywork below the exhaust will reduce my ground clearance markedly. Anybody have any ideas that maybe I'm not thinking of? Have eyeballed and measured seven ways till Sunday lol and it appears to be a bit of an engineering nightmare.
Best bet is to buy or copy something similar to Airtech's designs: http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/vintage/vintagebellypan.htm I made an aluminum belly pan for my EX500. Ugly but effective.
I did one for an '85 GPz. I mocked it up with cardboard and masking tape first. Once I thought I had something that I thought would work, I remade it in aluminum with pop rivets and silicone sealant on the seams. Mine was ugly too, but since I sandwiched it between the pipes and the frame you couldn't really see it. Also not shown very well in my picture is that I enclosed the whole lower end of the shock and suspension linkage at the back. Some part of the linkage hit the pan a bit at first, but after the first few laps it just kind of knocked itself a dent in the aluminum sheet metal and then it all worked fairly well. As an added bonus, if I ever had blown up, my lower suspension bushings would get thoroughly lubed. Kind of a lemons=lemonade thing.
My problem is, shown in photo, I have 13mm from the exhaust to the sump, all the way to the front of the sump. No room!
Notice here, exhaust is below and open to the fairing. Adding catchment pan below here will reduce my already limited ground clearance lol. Ideas!!!
sorry for the threadjack, but it's semi-related... may I ask why sumo's are exempt from catch pans? 5.6.24 "...Tin foil pans (turkey roasters) are not allowed as a substitute for an oil catch pan. On motorcycles with low or under engine mufflers, care must be taken so the exhaust does not come in contact with the oil catch pan or its contents. Supermotards are exempt from belly pans."
Because a supermotard usually has 500 to 600ml of oil. A regular bike will have 2.5 to 3.5L of oil. Huge difference. The oil in a Sumo also has much less likelyhood of puking out into an airbox, etc. We also analyzed crashes of Sumos before we made that call, and found that engines never hit the ground. There was always something holding the engine away from the track.
So could it not be extrapolated then one could use a single 'crash bung' extending from the bike in the central area of the offending crankcase on an inline four instead of engine case protectors and a belly pan? Certainly if the bung is located correctly the engine would be very,very unlikely to contact the track surface. Food for thought.
Hey Sean, the other issue is oil spillage due to a catastrophic engine failure (ie. rod through the case, etc) that would be caught in the oil retaining lower belly pan. Narrow engines like SM bikes never touch the crankcase to pavement when they fall over so they don't need case protection, but in my opinion they should still require a belly pan of some sort. My KTM holds 3 litres of oil.
+1 Dean. Had I have thought for ten more seconds the engine failure issue would have come to mind lol duh on me! Can I use 030" aluminum sheet to fab side protection? too thin? Must use steel?
Do you mean for case cover protection? I'd recommend at least .125" aluminum since it wears quickly when sliding down the track.
