Project Raucous - 450cc Turbo Honda Ruckus Project

[ComposiMo]

Thanks for the great comments guys Today was pretty much a wash... i got like two cuts into piece of steel, and found out that i had to leave, and go to Orlando for the day, so i didn't get anything really done. thehatchninja: Mainly, because it is different... also, the ORIGINAL plan was more of a go-ped looking thing, but the plans changed, but the offset motor stayed in the design.. we thought it'd look really cool hanging out like that RottiEater: Yea, cause we wanted it street legal. As for the kit thing, if we buy the scooter, then we have a complete wiring harness, relays, lights, etc... and its easy to have the registration done, even though it'll need to have the registration changed for the motor size. But basically we didn't HAVE to buy the Ruckus, but it sure made it more fun having a Honda scooter with the Honda motos

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[pandarex]

this will be the scariest scooter ever

[Civicboy]

LOL!! This is just insane! I love it! Can't wait to see it run!

[steelbluesleepr]

you just gave me a bunch of ideas i really didnt need during finals week :D

[hybridcivicex]

Keep the updates coming!!!

[RotiEatter]

Originally Posted by ComposiMo

RottiEater: Yea, cause we wanted it street legal. As for the kit thing, if we buy the scooter, then we have a complete wiring harness, relays, lights, etc... and its easy to have the registration done, even though it'll need to have the registration changed for the motor size. But basically we didn't HAVE to buy the Ruckus, but it sure made it more fun having a Honda scooter with the Honda motos

Ahhh, basically what I figured then. That's awesome man and I can totally understand about the Honda part. Honda Fo Lyfe!

[ComposiMo]

Today it is time to start locating the rear hub on the swingarm. The basic idea here, is that since i don't have a jig to build off of, i have to figure out where i want one side to go, and thendo the measurements and everything from there to locate the opposite side so that everything is straight.

So, i began making the connection point that'll go from the rear motor mount, and extend rearward to mount the rear axle blocks.

I started with a piece of cardboard, and measured about where i wanted the centerline of the rear axle to be both in height and length.




I then traced out where the axle block was located, and where the rear mount was located.




Once i traced the pattern and cut it out, i cut the section out of steel...








For now, thats all i'm going to do wth that piece.. I want to build some more on the trailing arm before i nail down the -exact- rear axle location.

So, that means that now i need to start working on the left side of the rear trailing arm

I grabbed a section of my trusty rectangle steel that i am using on the trailing arm construction, and after many many measurements, i began to cut the small pie-cuts, so that i could bend the rectangle piece.




Plotting out the rest of the path that it has to take:




Once i had all of my pie cuts made, and welded up, and verified that i didn't have a bad warping problem, i grabbed my flat-plate (1/2" thick chunk of aluminum that is perfectly flat on top), and clamped the frame pieces down to it, and shimmed it and messed with it until everything was perfectly square, level, and right. This is a very time consuming process... measure 50 times, weld once.




All welded up and ready to build on:








Then of course i HAD to mock up the nitrous bottle








And since i was spending soooo much time mocking things up, i grabbed the Ruckus rear frame, and started thinking about whether there was anything i could do with it... haha!

[xshytlipsx]

hahahahaha i didnt know you were spraying it too!!!??? awsome job!

[alexsracing]

this is going to be fun, wish they came this way

[ChaseIntegra]

Man this is amazing all the way from the fabrication and welding to the pictures MAD props

[TsujenDB1]

Tune it with the hondata s450 (special ruckus edition) waiting and waiting for this to be done!

[prettylew]

subscribed! this thread makes me wanna learn how to weld

[adobospoon]

subscribed

[EARLdaSQUIRREL]

awesome project, would love to have somethign like that to offset the gas prices

[Smokinsax]

You should integrate the old rear frame! I think leaving a little of the Ruckus' old look would be sick.

BTW is that rear tire going to be enough meat for that beast???

[butterflychica]

This is WILD

[ComposiMo]

Well hopefully this update will help solve a lot of the "hey, whered the Ruckus go? Theres nothing left of it!" type questions... hahaha!


Today was the show-n-tell day for the Ruckus. The proud owner stopped by the shop for the first time to see/touch/feel his new ride. So, we did our best to mock it up with some optional parts and pieces, and see what he would like.

SO, it was decided upon to keep it close to its roots, and try to reuse as muhc of the Ruckus parts as possible, instead of making it soooo crazy that there is nothing Ruckus left on it.

He also very much liked the look of the battery box! This is a nice thing, because it will GREATLY simplify the wiring that we'll have to deal with, because before we were going to relocate all of the relays and everything under the seat in a box.

But, this is what customer visits are all about... some plans change, and in-person, the stock battery box fits the theme quite nicely. Not to mention, he also liked the headlights...

So, no work was done on the Ruckus today other than the mockup, and dropping the rear frame section off at the sandblasters to have all of the stock powdercoating removed, so that i can start modifying the frame without having to grind down the coating.

Also, today the front hub and brake disk came in that we'll be using as well from HardKor Racing... Mmmmmm... yummy!



Anyway, here are the pics of the mockup:




















More work to commence on Monday!

[casey406]

sooooo ill! i want this thing sooo bad!

for you!

[Sic_DA_Nine]

how much is this customer paying for this?

[stevenmannn]

been following this thread... you got some crazy fabb skills... this is a sick ruck.

how's it balanced? with the motor off to one side and only the 10lb nos bottle on the other?

[alex_s817]

incredible fabrication and attention to detail. i have a few questions. whats the clutch/shifter set-up gonna look like? im assuming just a normal clutch and a series of extensions to locate the shifter to the general position? also, what will the weight distribution be like with the motor out on the side? will the turbo/exhaust, and nitrous mount on the other side to even things up?
thanks

so sick!!!!!!

[TallKyle]

This guy sucks

[CTRwannaB]

Now look what you did.
Everyones gonna want you to me one for them too now.

Including me

[ComposiMo]

Welp, today was a nice relaxing day i suppose....

The building next door had a huge flood in it, and because of that, they had to cut power to the building... and our shop apparently runs off the same line as them, so we were without power this morning, and because of the flooding, they had to bring in a septic truck to empty the septic tank, so it smelled REALLY bad for a while.

SO... we spent most of the day out of the shop running errands and such. By the time we came back, i had an appointment to rebuild an exhaust on a turbo IS300, so i did that.

However, today the very $$$ stainless steel bolts and nuts came in that i'll be using on the swingarm!





So... ya... not much of an update, but one nonetheless... I have nothing coming in to weld on, so i'll be on the Ruckus most of the day... so tomorrow will be a nice big update i'm sure 8)


Oh, i'll also have the stock ruckus frame back from being stripped of its oem powdercoat tomorrow So i'm going to be starting to work on that as well!

-------------

Sic_DA_Nine: Sorry, i cannot disclose that...

stevenmannn: Thanks! The balance will be fine... i'll be allowing it to have slightly more weight on the motor-side so that it'll lean over when parking... the idea is to have it rest on the 'skid plate' under the motor. The 10lb NOS bottle will weigh a bit more than 10lbs

alex: The clutch will be on the handlebars, and the brake on the bars will actually be a dual brake... it will function on both the front and rear tire, and the strength adjustment will be made via a brake-bias controller. The shifter will either be foot-operated with the right foot, or i am working on a design to use your thumbs... long story, but if it work, it'll be pretty cool As for the balance, i don't want to run the turbo on the other side due to the fuel issue... the intake tract needs to run all downhill so that there is no puddling of fuel after the motor is shut off.

Kyle: Thanks!

CTR: Its really easy to place an order... hehe!


Modified by ComposiMo at 5:52 PM 5/19/2008

[t0ekn3e]