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Rick Wianecki builds
the Frank-n-liner |
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By Rick Wianecki |
| 1-Design and mold 2-Fairing
3-Subframe 4-Tub
5-Drivetrain 6-Attach
Top 7-Bodywork
8-PreRace |
| Pre-Race Construction |
March 22, 2007
Several Months have passed since I worked on the bike. Frank has been
breaking in the rear hub and training in the bike. It is time to get
this thing completed so it can be raced at the
Nissan One Hour event April 6-8
2007.
I need to make an idler that can be used to take the slack up in the
front chain when the step-up gearing is in place. I took two 1’X 3x1/8”
aluminum bars and sandwiched a small derailleur pulley between them. |
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Side view of idler. |
| The Idler hangs off a small
bracket and floats. It provides enough tension to keep the chain in
place. |
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March 22-23, 2007
Frank has been riding the bike on rollers in his basement since December
to get acclimated to the bike, and to sort out any interference
problems. In areas where something rubbed (hands, knee, foot) the foam
was carve out on the inside to increase the clearance. |
| There was also an area in the
tub where the right foot/heel rubbed. The right side is slightly wider
due to the chain ring and chain. An inner section of the tub was cut out
to provide clearance for the foot. This will be covered with several
layers of carbon to bond the inner skin to the outer skin. |
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Frank also needed/wanted the
top of the seat extended to form a headrest. I used some thin pieces of
foam and extended the top of the seat up 6” to provide an area for
attaching some foam. The Foam will be covered with carbon cloth and
epoxy.
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Now it is time to mix up some
epoxy and bond the inner and outer skins of the bike together in the
areas where the foam has been removed. This will maintain the integrity
of the top and the tub. 4” wide strips of s-glass were cut.
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The strips were then fit
around the edges where the foam was removed. The foam is sanded to
provide about a 45 degree angle. |
Next epoxy is brushed on to
attach the strips. I only use one layer of S-glass in the top.
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Several layers of carbon cloth
were added to the foam headrest. Once the epoxy was added plastic food
wrap was wrapped over the wet carbon to hold everything tight while the
epoxy cured. |
March 24-30, 2007
Frank stopped by and we worked on adding a fin to the bottom of the tub
and to fair in the rear wheel. The center fin acts like a splitter plate
between the front and rear wheel. The fin is carved from several pieces
of foam glued together. (Center Fin) |
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The rear section of the fin
needs to be removable so the rear wheel can be removed. Frank is doing
some fine tuning of the shape and wheel clearances. |
| Once the fin is shaped it is
glued to the front section of the tub. The rear section of the tub is
covered with packing tape where the removable section is. The tape
prevents the epoxy from sticking to the tub and will allow the rear
section to be pried off once the epoxy is cured. |
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The entire fin is covered with
2 layers of 6 oz fiberglass cloth and epoxy. The cloth is feathered into
the bottom of the tub. |
Once the epoxy is cured, it is
time to smooth out the surface of the tub and fin. The entire surface of
the tub is covered with a layer of epoxy and micro balloons. Once this
is sanded, light weight body filler is used to smooth the surface
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The surface of the tub is
sanded and additional layers of filler are added. I totally misjudged
the amount of time it would take for this step. I could have used an
additional week or two to get the bottom super smooth. |
I primed and painted the tub.
I was going to paint the entire bike blue but there are several other
blue bike out there so only the bottom is blue for now.
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Once the paint dried on the
tub I could finish several additional things. The rear section of the
top was held on by some elastic cords. This really did not secure the
tail section that well. So I installed a couple of spring clamps.
Several pieces of aluminum were bonded to the tub and the tail section.
The clamps were attached to the aluminum strips. |
The top of the
body was primed and painted and then placed on the tub. Not sure I like
the color combination but it should work well in the Arizona sun.
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Earlier Garrie Hill
(pictured), Frank and I made a mold for the window. |
| Here the mold is sitting on a
bench in Garrie's shop (The Carbon Mines) with the vacuum line attached
to the bottom. |
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This picture shows the inside
of the mold. The red strips outline the hole that is cut in the top of
the body. A PETG plastic sheet is clamped to the mold and heated with an
infrared heat lamp and the vacuumed into the mold to and then the lamp
is turned off and the plastic is left to cool before the vacuum is
turned off. |
| The window mounts from the
inside and is flush to the outside because of the lip formed when the
plastic is formed in the mold. |
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March 31, 2007
I drove the bike to Garrie’s place in Ohio this weekend. Garrie is
driving to Arizona and taking 5 streamliners in his van. |
| While in Ohio, Garrie and I
did some last minute fitting and adjustments to get all 5 liners in the
van so Garrie would not have to pull a trailer. 3 of the liners will sit
and the floor and 2 will hang from the ceiling. Here the Frank-n-Liner
is strapped to inside of the van. |
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When I left Garrie’s on Sunday
we had a Varna, M-5 #8 and the Frank-n-Liner packed in the van. Brian
Ball ( Brian is riding with Garrie ) was bring another Varna and they
were going to pick up the Rose Hulman bike in Indiana on the way to
Arizona. The real test comes in
Arizona. We will get to see how well the vehicle and Frank will do. This
is where theory meets the road. Besides some low speed top off riding
Frank has never ridden the bike with the top on at any speed. It will be
fun!!!!
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