R60-R60/5 conversion

[niall4473]

My good friend has had a life-changing accident, and him ever being able to ride a solo motorcycle again, or kickstart a pre /5 is now impossible. Just for clarity, this was not a motorcycle accident, he fell 3 feet whilst decorating his home and damaged his spine. He has now got as good as he ever will, so time to do what he can rather than mourn what he cannot, and he can still drive a sidecar outfit so he needs another, because he cannot start his old one, an Ariel Huntmaster.
Rather than break up his R60 solo, I thought that I could build something out of stuff I have, consisting of a modified 1958 R60 frame and a 1972 R60/5 engine-gearbox, and my friends 1968-ish Watsonian Palma chair off the Huntmaster.
I am not going to try to re-invent the wheel, but I will need some help from people with prior experience I don't want to spend a lot of time solving problems that have been solved a thousand times before.
One question I have straight away is I believe I will need to make or purchase a packing spacer to go between the gearbox output flange and the driveshaft universal joint, IIRC you could buy these ready-made, is this still the case?, and if not, how thick does it need to be? I seem to remember 6mm but I wouldn't bet the farm on it, can anyone tell me, otherwise I will have to wait until I get to the building stage, and I would like to get as much done in advance as possible.
Thanks to all.

[cwf]

I don't suppose you've done this in a month but it's an interesting bike, on ebay.co.uk

[niall4473]

No, but the R60/2 ISDT rep that you must also have seen is mine.

[cwf]

Mmm, tempting. So far, I've used road bikes for all my off-roading but sump and exhaust pipes suffer a bit.

Was the bike ever used in earnest? It seems perfect for MCC events and road trials.

[Tinkertimejeff]

Looks familiar but I used a '65 R 50/2 motor and transmission.

[cbclemmens]

I can't opine on the need for a spacer. Maybe you can get Vech to weigh in on that for you.

I'm thinking the R 60/5 engine might be a little light for a sidecar. My sidecar bike is an R 90/6 and it struggles on the larger hills here in western PA. MAX BMW has a kit to convert an R60 engine to 1,000 cc (It's $1,250.00). That should give it plenty of torque for a side car. I tried to copy the page here but it didn't work.

Good luck on your project.

Craig

[niall4473]

Regarding the ISDT-style R60/2, no, it has never been used at all, hardly, my Dad built it for the fun of building it, I ran it in and green-laned it a couple of times and then it got put away and turned over a couple of times a year.When Dad died I started working through his bikes.

[niall4473]

Re. the conversion, my R69S outfit has enough power and it makes the same as a 60/5, although tbh its characteristics are not ideal for pulling a chair, the R69 I used to have was better.
If it turns out to be a problem, I have a 60/7 motor and a pair of R100 top ends which could be pressed into service, but I need to build the thing first.

[cwf]

Is this what you were looking for?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/387226030859?

Charlie.

[niall4473]

Hi, it might be, until I can try a dry run assembly and offer everything up, I won't know, but I have bought it anyway, because if I don't, it will be what I need and I won't see another for years.