MK Indy GSXR Build Diary: Gear indicator, gearshift bracket, expansion tank bracket

First job was the gear indicator. I bolted the bracked to the angle pieces I stuck to the dash yesterday. This holds the gear indicator in position and no fixings can be seen.

Next, having decided on the position of the header tank (to the side of the steering column), I needed to decide how to mount it. I thought that simply fixing to the fiberglass wouldn’t be strong enough and would run the risk of the fixings coming loose so I made a bracket that will fit behind the fiberglass and spread the load. I used some 1mm steel plate, drilled holes in it to match the holes n the header tank and welded 2no M8 bolts into it. This will eventually be fixed behind the fiberglass with sikaflex so that only the two bolts can be seen sticking through for the tank to bolt to.

Next job was the gearshift bracket. I chopped up a piece of 4” hollow square section and made the bracket similar to what was on the chassis originally but offset 40mm. I drilled 4no 5mm holes to bolt the new bracket to the original.

Then I tried to made a beading tool to put a bead on the alloy tube that will join the silicone hoses together (the bead is needed to stop hoses coming undone. I had seen a couple of ideas on Locostbuilders and the first one I tried was a modified set of molegrips. This idea worked well on 1.2mm sheet aluminium but didn’t work on the much tougher alloy hose. I then made another beading tool from scratch, again from an idea I had seen on Locostbuilders but this one used the vice to press so had must more force behind it. This did a decent job of pressing in a bead, expanding the tube by about 1.5mm which should be plenty to stop the hoses sliding off.