The 2022' NORRA Mexican 1000
1,300 Miles of Off-Road Motorcycle Racing in Baja Mexico!
In the process of taking off the carb I proceeded to do the air box 'increased air flow' mod. It's free and I love this stuff. I take out the screen and the rubber snorkel going into the box, standard stuff. I gotta measure the width of the screen wire and the width between strands, with that we can know the % increase in air flow, for the fun factor of course. I dig reading the service manual, it reminds me of when I was a kid, I always loved this stuff. The Suzuki manual had one thing mentioned I hadn't thought of is applying grease around the inside of the air box and around any connection with the carb, as a secondary dust trap, that's great. Out comes the grease.
Every time I get on this bike it feels short. I studied the specs before I made an offer on it so I was surprised every time I mounted it. Now I see, the spring is set to almost the lowest spot 'da'.
We'll see what this feels like:evil two thirds down. I noticed the rebound damper was almost at it's strongest setting. I backed that out a half turn lighter, that could have accounted for the 'getting beat up' feeling I was getting yesterday. Don't know, I have to test (play with) different settings. The thing about Baja there is no one perfect setup, the race goes over and through everything. It's a marathon race for a solo dude so I've been told by Baja veteran's to not set too stiff because it will wear me out too quickly, and then bad things happen. Those are the same dudes who told me 'Dude, you have to run a steering damper, for safety if nothing else" When my crew chief read that ah ha, I got the damper and was glad I did.
When I reinstalled the tank I installed the new heat resistant fuel line I just purchased. NORRA makes a big deal about clamps at every fuel line connection, that along with the manufacturer's instructions stating 'you better do this right because of the fire hazard'. It's a big deal because of the dual petcocks with the long fuel lines.
Every connection is clamped and away from any heat or pinchie source. I like it. My only concern is a picker bush or other in the middle of the desert catching a fuel line and ripping it apart. I will shorten the line connecting the other side so it doesn't stick out. besides that I think I'll order another triple fuel line splice and carry that along, and extra line, just in case.
I will never forget when I took this photo just miles from the 2018 NORRA finish line. The rider was OK and taken care of but MAN, what a bummer. The Biltwell team came across him first and tried to help put the fire out by burying it in sand, but the effort was futile.
OK here we go, stage-one modified air box, one up on the main jet size, 132.5 to 136, and a new spark plug just because. Boom! fires right up on the first kick. Ha, all those naysayers on the 'DR350 thread' with their horror stories of never getting the jetting right and the horrible starting problems. Well I'm sure that can happen, i just hope it doesn't happen to me. So thanks to those who have had issues in the past I will do things in an orderly and incremental fashion, like a real motor head turner does and hope for the best :)! Anyway, the bike runs great. There is a noticeable throaty sound now that was never there before and a serge in the throttle that feels good. There is still no 'BRAAP" but that will come after the exhaust mod :bmwrider This is great stuff.
The build parts have been coming in and the stuff is going on and off. Plus I have had some mega rides on my other bikes to keep the bod tuned. Freaking awesome.
Starting to build up the electronics power board. This will have two USB power ports and a terminal strip capable of accepting three 12v power cables. Fun stuff to the highest degree, and this is serious business. Baja is the real deal, what I build must be able to withstand.
Taking shape.
The finished product, prototype -I. This will power my GPS, race electronic tracker box and an iPhone that will give me compass heading and an odometer that I can increment or decrement in tents of a mile which is needed for race book rally navigation.
The metal standoffs, big fuse holder and the big clunky switch adds a lot of weight. I will build another lighter version and this will be my backup in case a unit goes down during the 5-day NORRA race.
I read that Suzuki makes it almost impossible to remove the old grip from the throttle tube. That person was right so I bought a new throttle tube. But of course the new tube doesn't fit so I'm back trying to remove the grip from the stock tube. After a lot of hacking with a razor I finally got most of it off.
The left grip comes off easy. I see a use for the old grip.
The universal navigation clamps from RMS only comes in 1 1/8" so since I don't need the clamp to be tight on the bar I used the old grip rubber to use as a shim to make the clamps work on my 7/8" bars. Way cool!
The handlebar cross bar will be the main support that cannot move. Once I clamp the navigation platform in place the entire platform will be solid.
The navigation platform design is looking good.
I didn't save the drawing of the platform I built three years ago so I have to start over. At least I have the scrap pieces of aluminum from the last platform so I can see the basic dimensions of the base. That platform worked well in the 17' and 18' NORRA so I'll start with that.
I'm making the head section bigger so I have more room to mount other stuff besides the iPhone odometer / compass app, like the race rally box. During the 2018 NORRA I had the race box mounted low, below the scroll scroll chart reader, and that was a pain in the butt every time I needed to look at it. It doesn't sound like much but every time you need to lower your eyes that far down while racing at speed adds a lot of danger and risk. In 17' I had the box mounted up high which made it tons better. But that year I needed to move the iPhone over to the left to make room for the race box, which put the iPhone at more risk in the event of a crash. This design will allow the iPhone to be better protected.
I like it!
Aluminum cut.
First I drill the holes for the universal navigation clamps. I move the platform to the desired angle then mark the holes for the handlebar cross bar.
Beautiful!
Still removing some unwanted metal from the old instrument cluster. The pile of glory is getting larger.
I finish filing the case guard that will allow me to install the T16 front sprocket on the XR. With two new sprockets and a lightly used O-ring chain thr XT400 is back in action.
The DR350. I find by just shortening the fuel line that connects the right side petcock brings the lines in much closer. All good, I didn't like how much it sticks out the way it is. I'll do the final adjustment when I done with everything else.
The right handguard is compromised so on goes a new one. The stock handguards a kinda cheesy but that add to the vintage stock look. I still don't know if I'll run with these or get guards that attach to the end of the bars.
Back in 2016' my first nav platform I cut 4 large ovals but found out later that limited the locations where I could drill new holes to mount new unexpected stuff.
For NORRA 18' the race box people said there will be an antenna with a 90 deg bend available. I had the position all set to mount the box but during contingency when I received the box I was informed the 90 deg antennas never came in. So I had to borrow tools, drill new holes and mount the box to accept the straight antenna.
It was tense but fun once I got it attached although the only place where I had enough metal to mount the box was in the lower position below the scroll chart box, Not Ideal!
On this platform I'm cutting 14 smaller ovals so I have tons of room to mount other things. You never know until the day before the race what and where you need to mount things.
Hang on, there's more fun!
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