Oscar Hedstrom Racing

[jurassic]

[silentgreyfello]

How about some footage of Brian riding the Indian in the snowstorm? Very cool bikes!!!!

[c.o.]

How about some footage of Brian riding the Indian in the snowstorm? Very cool bikes!!!!

Now that's a great idea!!!

[jurassic]

on the cannonball site i reposted ed youngbloods wonderful story about cannonball baker and his rotary valve engine. soon afterwards i nice fellow from holland emailed me to tell me how much he loved the site and really was amazed by the rotary valve story. it appears this guys father purchased this 1912 engine over 20 years ago . for some reason the guy they purchased it from had it in his head that it was a "cannonball engine" , whatever that means. the new owners didn't take much stock in the idea. it is however a very bitchin' piece that i thought i would share. comments?

[jurassic]

[Slojo]

and this is definatly the holy grail.the only big base engine known to exist. its got studs going thru the cylinders,all the lettering has been ground off too.in 1911 harley could'nt even get a twin to run.

Hey wait a minute ... my !911 double runs just fine. I have not run it at board track speeds though. What a great "big base" (what ever that means) photo.
Joe

[fillibuster]

Joe, I was waiting for someone else to explain what "Big Base" is all about, but the definition is either presumed to be common knowledge, or most don't know and don't want others to know that they don't know.
Back when reading Hatfield's account of the big base sport scouts I longed for that explanation also. What I've learned from my contemporaries was that the extra crankcase clearance relieved the flywheels of oil drag better than stock cases. I think that earlier explanations had to do with bearings also. .. Now as to the terminology relating to 1911 technology, well, I'm not ready to believe that the smart wrenches back then knew enough about oil drag to build roomier crankcases, but I wouldn't doubt that they realized that they needed more than standard bearings.
Hope for more ideas on this.

[Tom Lovejoy]

Pretty sure it's because of the size of the flywheel's, they were larger. If I remember what I read right, that's for the early machines - not the Sport Scout's.

[Slojo]

Joe, I was waiting for someone else to explain what "Big Base" is all about, but the definition is either presumed to be common knowledge, or most don't know and don't want others to know that they don't know.
Hope for more ideas on this.

Phil
Glad I am not alone here. Tony Watson once told me what "Big Base" is but my mind is cloudy. Indian info gets put to the back of the file as useless info (sorry guys). I think the term "Big Base" has to do with the size of the cylinder mounting area. Perhaps a larger area and a greater spread on the cylinder studs. Lonnie Help us out here.

Joe

[jurassic]

this is a small base engine. basically the same lower end used on all the production hedstrom engines from 1910 thru 1915.

[jurassic]

this is a big base engine, built only for racing in 1911 ,possibly 1912. notice the size difference in the lower end. both these engines use the same top end.

[jurassic]

the big base 8 valve was the first 8 valve indian made. so hedstrom actually made this engine strictly for racing,using almost no production model parts.notice the difference in the gear case cover the goes up to the mag. the later small base engines came after the big base, utilizing the best part of the big base engine,which was the top end.

[fillibuster]

Keep on keepin'on, or comin' on, Lonnie. Yes, visibly we see larger components on the outside, but the heart of rock n' roll is on the inside. Got anything on the inside?
I'd agree with Tom that larger flywheels were part of their program, for the heavier balance factor to keep the top of the rpm range smooth. The cam gallery is not necessarily larger, but yes, the mag drive must have asked for bigger gears.
Joe, the lack of documented R & D is not surprising to me. Hedstrom retired in 1913, and Indian's financial controllers were not nearly as competitive on the track as they were for their financial interests.

[jurassic]

unfortunatly i have never seen the inside of the one original big base engine.{or the outside for that matter} as far as i know only mike lange has. man i wish he was a member of this forum. so not having an engine to copy, i mearly made everything bigger. later i learned that the originals ran a piggy back rod setup like the spacke engines.

[c.o.]

Here's a couple links that may interest you folks.... here's one from the vintagent ... http://thevintagent.blogspot.com/search/label/indian that shows the insides of a "small base" and this one http://www.fredlangerestorations.com...indian_bb.html is from Fred Lange's site...