UK_Paul's - Slingshot Build & Other Adventures -

@WOLF "Yes, yes, yes !"
Bet all your money on the Philadelphia Eagles.

But I'm not saying... "to win" or "to loose."
It's all in the World Sports Almanac and remember, where this 'Sling's going, now, we don't need roads.

I drilled a hole in the SlingShot today.
I'm not saying where.
Another little trip out tomorrow, to the Black Country, (see previous postings) for a little more welding and then it may be time for some pictures.

Today, I took a little ride out, around the Malvern Hills, Malvern Hills - Wikipedia and then on towards the Black Country to have a little welding done, for the SlingShot.

Pictures are avalible, if you follow this link
Photos of Slingshots on Location

So... Why the welding?
It was a very simple job constructing a flange, with a short piece of pipe on either side, of it.

I had recently changed the exhaust, from an old and failing Alpha, variable model to a 1320 downward discharge version.

As is the way, with most SlingShot exhausts, the football, was heating up. This had been the case with the both the original, factory fitted exhaust and the Alpha. Having fitted the new 1320, the problem still continued (as I had expected).

One of the heat problems, was the heat escaping aground the gear shift, gator. This regualy irritates me, as I tend to hold the lever, low down, when shifting gear.

Time to do something and that's where the welding of tube & flange does in.

More to follow...

I started to think about how I could remove some of this heat, from aground the exhaust.

I had put a, functioning, metal lover, in the hood soon after I got the SlingShot, but now wanted to take more heat out of the engine bay.

It was obvious that a vacume would likely be produced, being the side fenders, of the SlingShot, when in forward motion. So as you may have seen, in an earlyer post, it was time to drill a hole.

2 1/2" 63mm diameter, near the top of the wing, as per the picture above.

I then took the SlingShot out for a run to see if it made a difference...

YES !
The heat from arround the gear shift, had reduced by more than I had hoped or expected.

The next move was to produce a short run of exhaust pipe, passing through the hole, to act with a chimney affect.

Everything bolted into place and the addition of an exhaust trim.

Everything was fitted and ready to go.

The results, were sucsessfull. Heat is reduced. I don't notice any exhaust fumes in the driver's seat and haven't yet checked to see if any affect the passenger's location.

The heat is definitely getting drawn away from the engine bay and everything appears to be a success.

I'm considering extending the pipe, to see if it draws more air away, (but that's for another day). First I'm going to run with this setup and see if I remain satisfied. My hopes are high.

Everything is working fine, with the mod that I show in my last posting. I had a little concern that it may allow exhaust fumes back to the passenger's seat, but this doesn't appear to be the case.

It has certainly reduced the heat coming through the central tunnel and the radio bay, so things are looking good.

This, last, weekend, we took the SlingShot out to a motorcycle rally, in Wales. It was the "V Twin Weekender."

This was set up for the, now out of production, Polaris Victory motorcycles. Although the SlingShot is a 4 in-line machine, they were more than happy to see, the SlingShot come along, as it is even more scarce on the roads than Victorys are, in Britain.

The UK_Paul top boxes, were fitted and the SlingShot was ready to run.

If you have follows this thread, you'll know that I also own a Victory motorcycle and am well known within the Victory family of riders, in the UK & Europe. However, (due to health problems) I haven't ridden for the last couple of years.

We set off early in the morning g (OK not so early, as it was 07:00 hrs when we started, but that's early enough). Our destination was "Llanidloes."

See:
Llanidloes - Wikipedia
and
Llanidloes Mid Wales UK - A small town at the heart of Wales

Just in case you were unaware, the Welsh have there own language and the use of it is becoming stronger, in recent years.

I thought it may make a little more sense to look up the phonetic, way to say the town's name, so that you would all know how it was said.

So... the town name is pronounced as follows: [ɬanˈɪdlɔɨs] Well, that is truly the phonetic way of pronoucinhg it (and it means as little to me as it probably does you). Welsh is a very strange language but now we all know how to say it, I'm sure that we will all be using it, whenever possible.

Everyone was congregating, at the local rugby club (like American football, but much more violent and without the padding). After all rugby, is the Welsh national game and they build them string, I Wales.

The good people, of this beautiful, little town had set aside an area, for us all to park up, in town, so mid morning, everyone set off to show off our rides.

The event was used to raise money, for the Welsh Air Ambulance, pronounced: "ambiwlans" (you can say that one, just how you read it). We were very pleased to have raised over (what in dollars) would have been $1,000+ USD in the space of just two hours, or so.

A draw was made, for people that had donated to the "ambiwlans" service and the winner got to ride with me, in the SlingShot.

One of the locals won the draw and be was so happy to have drawn the winning ticket, he ran home to tell his wife & neighbours. When he returned I took I'm for his ride (about half an hour) and then, took him back to his home, so he could get lots of pictures. Fro me there we went on to his local pub.
The Stag Inn
The Stag Inn - 15 Great Oak Street, Llanidloes
Where everyone turned out to see him arrive. He will fine out on that sort, for some time now..

So the following day it was time to head home. The weather was fine and after wishing our faiwells to all the old and many new friends that we had made, we he added back towards England.

The weather had stayed beautiful, during the weekend and, we had all had a most wonderful time at the event. This was the first time that it had been held and I'm sure that it will grow next year, as the townsfolk had made everyone so very welcome.

The roads, were beutifull to ride, with the SlingShot and the scenery was spectacular, what a wonderful place this was to visit, Elaine and I will definitely be returning again.

Quote from kev

What a fantastic mod @UK_Paul a lot of people have added venting in one way or another to try and do the same thing but I think yours is the best idea yet ! It just looks damn cool, and functional too !

Hey @kev
I have made s further (aesthetic) change, to the set up now.

It is, out with the oval exhaust outlet & in with a twin version.

We took the SS for a run to Wales, last weekend and I checked things out, with this setup. It is working fine. It didn't draw any fumes back into the pasanger area, but it most certainly did remove some of the heat. This was confirmed, just by placing my hand over the outlet, while we were traveling at speed.

As @kev comments. "It just looks damn cool, and functional too !" My wife loves the look of the new twin exhaust setup and says, "It looks like it is ready to head down a drag strip now."

It should be remembered that, it's not just a case of bolting something in place. The position and the tube length all matter. I'll put together some measurements soon.

- Remember -
If it's done wrong then fumes may come back into the cockpit.

Today's latest addition, thanks to the great help from @StickerDick

What else could UK_Paul want, but a Union flag, sitting in the Polaris logo, at the front of the SlingShot?

Mark, at "Three's da Life Group" on Facebook, made some wonderfully decals to do just that job and they have arrived, from the US, in Britain, now.

It looks really cool.

But then, you all know, we drive stuff like this in the UK, all the time, baby !

Today, we took the SlingShot out to a local pub, for Sunday lunch.

Our location, was about one hour South from our home, through many small and winding roads, requiring us to back up, a large number of times, when negotiating cars, coming the opposite way.

The location was a pub, called "The Cottage of Content."
HOME - Cottage of Content Herefordshire Pub, Restaurant & Accommodation

This was voted the Best, Country Pub, in Britain, 2017 and it remains outstanding this year too.

We parked up and some of the locals came out to check out the SS..

Lunch was amazing, it was great to visit again, as this used to be one of my local drinking holes, 30 years ago. It remains a great place and we will be returning again soon.

Further results, from the new, hot air, vent, above the exhaust pipe.

I have found that the vent works well at speeds arround 50 mph and higher.

It is effective enough, that it becomes, not so hot that you could burn your hand on it, but too hot to leave, your hand sitting on it. It is also possible to feel a reasonable pressure of warm air coming, from the vent, while in motion.

This shows that a substantial amount of heat is, sucsessully, being removed, from above the exhaust assembly, confirmed by the reduced heat, coming from arround the gator, covering the gear shift.

I have a short Visio of it, but I'm finding it difficult to upload... any suggestions?

Quote from FauxOperator

That exhaust looks legit! Someone should manufacture something similar. Looks cool, and as you said, the function also makes it worth it

I'll post some more information on this soon.

It's an extremely simple modification and most local exhaust system builders could make something up for a few dollars ($10-20 USD aprox). All that would then be needed is an exhaust cover, to go over the end and make it look good.

Quote from StickerDick

Looks good!!, but i just realized, they don't make them in right hand drive over there for you Brits?

No problem, with that, as I'm used to driving right hand drive cars, in Europe, for many years now.

You can get used to it very quickly.

@StickerDick
Your handy work is looking good on the SlingShot.

My latest addition, to the SlingShot, is the tremendous-Rear Protection Plate - made by @SlingLow

I'm very pleased with the results and have detailed, the installation, on a separate thread.

Follow this link, for full information:
Rear Protection Anyone?

It was a very sucsessfull instal and I was able to complete the job, without removing any of the SlingShot bodywork.

With the other additions, arround the back, including; red belt guard, red rear (Faser) fender, red double "fugly-nut" cover, red break caliper covers and wheel trims... all of this gives the back of the SlingShot a much better look, breaking up the large expanse of black plastic, that it left the factory with.

Today's piece of work was positioning a new amp in the driver's side storage bay.

I went with the Pioneer, GM-D8604

- GM-D8604 - Class FD 4-Channel Bridgeable Amplifier | Pioneer Electronics USA -

Because we have so much rain in Britain, I desired not to mount it under the seat and as the storage compartments are not very waterproof, I decided to fit the amp to a metal plate, with a bend, on the top to protect it from any water ingress.

I installed some captive nuts, in the plate and then bolted it in place, onto the storage bay cover.

Everything went together well. I'm considering covering the bolt heads with some caps, but that may be something for the future.