Nyper build thread

[Jori K]

How about alumin

Need to revisit paneling for the tunnel sides. Local plastic supplier has 4x8 sheets of .060 HDPE for $188. Thinking of maybe cutting the side pieces out of this and then just zip tying them in a few spots to the frame tubes? Would be easier than welding tabs and using rivets. Any thoughts?

I was going to do carbon fiber panels but HDPE is light, durable, snow won’t stick to it and it would be much easier to work with. It would only be for the sides, around the header and flex pipes will have to be aluminum to handle the heat. Was originally thinking of using some .040 7075 sheet I have but snow sticks to aluminum no matter what you coat it with and it’s heavier than HDPE.

Need to revisit paneling for the tunnel sides. Local plastic supplier has 4x8 sheets of .060 HDPE for $188. Thinking of maybe cutting the side pieces out of this and then just zip tying them in a few spots to the frame tubes? Would be easier than welding tabs and using rivets. Any thoughts?

I was going to do carbon fiber panels but HDPE is light, durable, snow won’t stick to it and it would be much easier to work with. It would only be for the sides, around the header and flex pipes will have to be aluminum to handle the heat. Was originally thinking of using some .040 7075 sheet I have but snow sticks to aluminum no matter what you coat it with and it’s heavier than HDPE.

How about aluminium rivet nuts and alumium screws to hold up body panels?

 

[Nikolai]

Played around with the HDPE tonight on the clutch side. Only made it as large as necessary to keep my boots out of the track. My plan for the all the tube work is to wrap it in UHMW tape after it’s painted to keep snow from sticking to it.

Anywho, started out with it in 2 pieces.

Quickly realized I could do it a lot cleaner in 1 piece and also run it up to the bearing plate.

It secured with 13 zip ties and plenty rigid with the zip ties pulled tight.

Initial thoughts.
- super easy to cut with tin snips
- lightweight, that piece is only 0.49 lbs w/ zip ties
- snow won’t stick to it
- easy to confirm to the tube work
- no need to cut and weld tabs or rivet aluminum pieces

I’m not dead set on using it. I just wanted to get a finished piece made to see what it weighed, what it looked like and if it would be stiff enough to keep a boot out.

Thoughts?

 

[zx4ever]

I would weld tabs and rivet it. With the amount of work you have put in this what’s another 1hr for a nice finished product. And hdpe is great I used it on my old tube frame tunnel and it held up great

 

[Nikolai]

I think if I did tabs & rivets I would use aluminum or carbon fiber panels so I could cut the amount of tabs in half. I still have to enclose the front around the track and headers as well so I may still end up with a once piece carbon insert. I need to get the motor and header installed and see how difficult that’s going to be.

 

[YamaMTX]

That is an awesome build!

 

[Nikolai]

I’ll get the motor in next and see what the front close off is going to look like. My other thought was to use plywood to make the shape of the enclosure with the front and sides all a single piece then make a fiberglass mold from the plywood for building a CF enclosure.

I do like the HDPE being a separate piece though because it gives good access to everything. Kinda nice being able to put the sled together and install the tunnel sides last.

 

[Nikolai]

Couple years ago I made a heat shield for the header that was just larger than the header. My plan at the time was to do carbon fiber for the rest.

Fast forward to now and I recut a larger piece. Fuel tank will cover the top of the tubes so snow can’t get trapped in between. The sheet is .040 7075 and weighs 1.12 lbs. I don’t want to put any holes in the tubes on this frame so I’ll weld tabs on and rivet it.

 

[kinger]

Looks sick all together but naked yet. Run with HPDE this year and see how it goes. My guess is the zip ties will freeze and crack, but won’t hurt to try it out and that is an easy thing to mod later. I would do carbon only if I could prove snow won’t stick to it.

 

[Nikolai]

I don’t think the zip ties will break. I used cheap ones for now but I have some really nice 50 lb zip ties I get from the aviation store that are a different type of plastic and have a metal clip. Easy enough to carry a couple extra zip ties out riding.

Only one way to find out though!

The frame will also just be painted, no powder coat, so modifications down the road will be easy.