1929 Excelsior Super X Restoration at Barbers

[denismccarthy]

Hello Guys

Hope everyone is doing great. Wanted to say Hello and to let you guys know I'm in the process of another complete restoration here at the Barber Museum. This is a 1929 Excelsior Super X. When I wheeled her onto my lift I was hoping it would be a rather straight forward project with only a few high hurdles to overcome. Well... Other than the frame, engine, front suspension, wheels, handlebars, switches, and a few million other things it's been a pretty smooth sail. Mmm... Not so much. But, the good news is the project is picking up a little steam. So here are a few pictures. I'm hoping that someone will have a good contact source for parts or any other Excelsior Super X information. I've had some luck but not much.

As always, Thank you very much for any help at all! Hope you like the pictures...


Before the tear down. Doesn't look too bad!



Another angle..



Notice the broken cylinder cooling fins..



Here is a side image from today. Starting to come together!



Another angle..



Right hand view of the engine. Unfortunately after the engine teardown I found the engine cases to have severe cracks running from top to bottom around the main crank pin bores. There were several other areas in the cases that were cracked as well. We were lucky enough to find another set of usable cases that only required welding of the left front engine mount ear. A little TIG work and the cases are good.



Left side of the engine showing some fin work on the rear cylinder.



I thought this picture was pretty interesting. This is a good example of my cooling fin repair technique. Both cylinders required several repairs to broken fins.



Hope everyone has a good rest of the week and a great weekend!

Take care -

Denis

[downunder vl]

Hi Denis, Always interested in your projects.

Could you outline your fin repair method. Everyone seems to have their own ideas and with the number of fins that would have been done at Barber I'm sure that you have a tried and true method.

[duffeycycles]

Ex5.jpgEx1.jpgEx2.jpgEx3.jpgEx4.jpg
Here you go Dennis

[Tom Lovejoy]

very cool, keep sharing as you go please. I really like the streamline Super X's.

[c.o.]

Good to see you here again Denis. I always look forward to hearing about your "goings on" down at Barber's. Cool project.... Gotta love them Super X's!

[denismccarthy]

Thanks Guys

I need to try and get back to posting more often. Seems like we're always knee deep in things around here. I really like the design too Cory. You can pretty much draw a straight line from the design of this bike to the later twin tank Harleys as well as a few others. One of the interesting things about this bike is the fuel tanks are cast aluminum like the Crockers. I was very lucky to have tanks that are in great shape. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to try and locate another set.

Downunder.. Regarding the fin repair; I usually run into this issue with just about every restoration. These cylinders had multiple broken and cracked fins and these fins are quite thin by design. My process is to first clean the cylinders then blast off the rust and grease. We are lucky to have several blast cabinets with different grit loaded in them. I tend to like a heavier cut when dealing with rusty cylinders and the more course media gives the brass more of a hook to bite into. In other words it sticks better if the finish is clean but rough. I usually don't grind away to the area to be repaired unless the area is very oddly shaped. If you take a typical broken fin that has sort of a smiley face profile, I will start my braze in the middle of the smiley face. But before I ever put the torch to the cylinder it must be preheated. We have a powder coating oven and that's my weapon of choice to preheat cylinders. 300 Degrees F usually works fine. Once the cylinder is clean and up to temperature I'll fire up the torch. I tend to set the flame on the oxidizing side, that is with a feathery kind of flame, not a sharp razor flame. The problem with the feather flame is it tends to block your view of the work.. So once I've started the braze I tend to sharpen the flame. The feathery flame seems to help make the brass stick well to start out with. I will build up the brass in the middle of the repair then try to level things out as I add material (brass) into the repair. Another tricky part it to keep the repair as straight as possible. This can be a bit tough if the fins are thin as these were. After I have built up enough material, I'll start to shape the profile of the fin. I usually do this with a 90 degree die grinder with a 36 or 80 grit sanding disc. ...Pretty simple! I hope that helps!

I'll try and post up a few more pictures in the next few days.

Take care

Denis