The Helios Project (Aprilia RS 125 Rotax 122 Biaggi Race Replica)

[NINJA]

@calum You bought it used yeah? Sadly the luxury of returning stuff goes out the window when your not the OG buyer. All part of the risk with secondhand parts. Judging from the photo's on the ebay listing, the previous owner was not a details man and just ragged the bike. As it looks well used in those pics, but hey-ho you roll the dice and take pot luck I guess? Mine will hopefully clean up good and with a trumpet polish and new top cap she should be good-to-go!!!

[Calum]

@ninja Shit, I ain't complaining. The imperfections have been buffered out. The carb has been shot blasted, stripped and renewed. It's in sweet condition now. Just I was surprised that there were so many flaws.

[NINJA]

@calum Have you shot blasted it at home???

[Calum]

@ninja Yes. But masked off everything.

[NINJA]

@calum What's your shot blaster like (pics pls) and how much was it???

[Calum]

@ninja When I'm next in there, I'll grab some photos. I only have a Sony Ericson W810i as a camera, so getting photos is a pain.

It's only small, and the compressor really lets it down, runs out of puff far too early. But I LOVE the finish you get on stuff. It does such a nice job, I would spend all day in there if it wasn't so noisy.

It could really benefit from a bigger compressor. And the gloves have worn already, only seen like 10 hours use.

[Calum]

Oh...My..God

Sorry for the bad photo but what a nightmare today was.

Was having issues putting that engine in by myself.

Dropped it a few times, ended up dropping it onto my finger.

The pain was unreal.

Get this though, after dropping the engine on my finger, I felt as sick as a dog.

I walked out the garage and sat on a bench outside my house. I kid you not, I lost complete vision in both of my eyes. Literally, eyes wide open, but there was nothing but darkness.

Eventually I had to knock on my own door to get help. Conscious throughout, but still couldn't see. After some time went, all I remember is slowly but surely my eyesight returning in both eyes. After 60 seconds, I regained vision.

You know what the worst part was, sure I could accept losing my vision to some degree, but accepting that I could never drive my Starlet, or RS but mainly the Starlet, with it being so close to being road worthy, that's what got me the most.

I don't even know what to do now, I'm kinda worried about the vision going again. But I am going to put it down to the pain I was in. My finger will go black in a few days that's a given.

[Irongamer727]

@calum what the f*ck? And now everything is good? What is the starlet btw?

[declan]

@calum yeah I’m not sure about that my self you really need to go get yourself checked out

[Calum]

@irongamer727 It's a JDM Grey Import. Toyota Starlet GT Turbo
https://dt125r.co.uk/topic/6/the-icarus-project-4efte/7

And as you might expext, has had similar amounts of love.

Haven't driven it for 3 years at which time it has had extensive work.

[Glynn123]

@calum had the same when I was a kid mate, it's something to do with the tip of your finger, had a tennis or baseball hit the very tip of my finger while at school, within couple minutes could barely stand, completely white, blurred vision the lot, you'll be fine never came back but was definetely a scare haha

[Calum]

@glynn123 I ain't Googling it lol. I am a massive hypercondriac.

Mate it's the weirdest sensation I have ever experienced. It's like an introduction to being full time blind. That's odd, from your description it sounds very similar. Literally the full Engine dropped on my finger.

[Glynn123]

@calum I felt the same mate, probably one of the weirdest things I've experienced, a truly horrible feeling too haha, happened when I was probably about 12, so nearly 7 years on I've never experienced it again so wouldn't get too worried if I was you. Ofcourse if any symptoms come back it's best to see a doctor, I definetely ain't one to give any medical advice so take it with a pinch of salt haha

[Calum]

I would have done this last weekend, but after my incident I decided to slow down and take a breather.

Fitted some more carbon fibre.

Got the rear master cylinder painted and fitted.

I was supposed to fit the Galfer Rear disc and sprocket, but the titanium bolts I bought are the wrong pitch, and the company sent me the wrong disc, so that was some time wasted.

And here is how she sits now.

The paint on the engine mounts are so thick I can't actually fit any of them. So I just need to scrub them off a little and refit. But she's held in there secure enough to sit pretty for a few weeks or so.

[NINJA]

@calum Looking beastly for-sure!!! If you have a minute sometime, could you post your engine specs please???

[Calum]

@ninja How do you mean bud? It's just a standard Rotax 122 engine. Forged Connecting Rod, Weisco Forged Piston, Gilardani Italkit 144 cylinder (Basically a reworked 122 barrel) with MotoR Powervalve housing and blade. RAVE solenoid. MotoR Hydraulic Clutch conversion . Stock RS 125 Clutch Plates with uprated springs. Titanium Cylinder studs and titanium bolts. VHM Racing head reworked for the revised Barrel. And a VHSB 34mm LD carb.V force reeds and Italkit 34mm inlet to suit the barrel.

Basically, anything you can get from PJME, I bought.

[Darty]

@calum Bolt on’s eh

[Calum]

@darty How is the Hydraulic clutch bolt on mate?

That's mega custom fabrication going on there thank you very much.

But on a serious note, yes you're spot on Dart. Bolt ons. This project of mine was meant to be bolt ons. I done the whole modification thing with the DT. This bike I just wanted like original, with a few aftermarket parts. No porting work (yet), just bolt ons. But is there something wrong with that.

I'll admit, I ain't no BAR racing. Their work is nuts, but you really got to know what you're doing. And I don't.

[NINJA]

@calum That'll do it - thanks. I was mostly interested in which conrod you went for? I see that PJME are now stocking the Italkit double forged beasty. Not cheap mind but it does look the mutts nutts, hand finished too and it also comes with a PEEK coated big end bearing for 30% less friction. I'm not sure if it will offer much additional performance over other brands and whether the extra expense justifies the outlay versus performance aka bang_for_your_buck scenario or not? Maybe just for bragging rights down at the track, but she sure is a real beaut!!!

[Calum]

@ninja I know mate, I was so tempted with this connecting rod. Had it in my basket a few times. Maybe on the next engine I build. But I decided to skimp on a few things in an attempt to get it on the road THIS YEAR which is looking less and less likely!