!914 Twin HD Cannon ball request

[c.o.]

There should be more pics in the morning folks!!!

[Slojo]

Mirror Mirror....

Mumble mumble tired, late, lots done some bad some good. Thought about it and then forgot to mirror image the Y axis after flipping the female rod over,,, aargh. Scraped when almost finished and it was to late to purchase more material. So I moved on to chassis assembly.

Muffler is the first item to be installed, after a little fine tuning on the assembly/hardware I ran down the street (on my 50cc "big red" ruckus) too the dollar store for some copper scrubbing pads. The copper pads are now packed into the muffler for silencing the Gray Ghost a true Silent Gray Ghost.

All the hardware for the oil tank had to be "fitted" prior to assembly, four hours latter everything fits fine. A freshly sharpened point on the needle valve will help ensure shut off of the oil supply when the needle valve is closed. Once the oil tank was ready for installation some heavy paper shop towels were wrapped around the important painted surfaces. The frame was then spread open at the seat post pinch bolt junction and the tank slipped perfectly inside its nest.

The chassis looks good with all mounted items aligning properly. Tomorrow the luggage rack and gas tank will be picked up. The rack will be mounted immediately while the gas tank gets striped perhaps . Steering cups must be fitted and the front end will be installed to the bike. A roller by weekends closing.

With the time restrictions short cuts are now being taken, namely omitting plating on some hardware items. These details can be addressed at a latter date.

Joe

[c.o.]

The female rod is on the machine and half finished with exterior work. Programing has been time consuming. It is late details tomorrow, perhaps photos tonight if Cory's eyes are still glowing.
Joe

Glowing.... but fading fast........

[c.o.]

Way to go Corey!

I'm just merely a messenger Buzz.... hopefully it saves Joe a little time......

[Slojo]

Females, Difficulties, Synonymous

The female rod is on the machine and half finished with exterior work. Programing has been time consuming. It is late details tomorrow, perhaps photos tonight if Cory's eyes are still glowing.
Joe

[Buzz Kanter]

Buzz
Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. Personally I thought this bike would have been finished by Oley Penn. 2010.
Joe

PS: Buzz thank my partner in crime Corey for standing fast throughout this entire process.

Way to go Corey!

[c.o.]

Paint!!! That's always a good sign... (And it does look good!) I won't press ya Joe for an ETA on fire-up but man it's really coming together now... This bike is being built to really stand the test of time!!

[Slojo]

Paint

Buzz
Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. Personally I thought this bike would have been finished by Oley Penn. 2010.

Today, rods still on the front burner are taking shape. The male rod now off the machine and ready for final operations. I will begin processing the female rod to catch up with the male rod. Developing part programs and the part itself simultaneously is not something you can rush through.

Handle bars are not without their problems, the usual threads not fitting, plating again. Cable housings run through the bars and the twist grips have been fitted, lapped and polished for smooth operation. All controls must operate free and proper or I wont ride the bike until they do have smooth operation.

PAINT ! can you believe it? I picked up the finished fenders and tool/oil tank this evening. They look fantastic.

With two days time into machining the male rod I can only assume the female rod will consume three days of my precious remaining time.

Joe

PS: Buzz thank my partner in crime Corey for standing fast throughout this entire process.

[Buzz Kanter]

Joe - you blow mw away. Not only are you building an amazing machine pretty much all on your own - and better than the factory - but you find time to photograph, write and post it all here. That is serious dedication.

I am proud of what you are doing and excited to see and hear that old girl rip down the road with us.

From what I am hearing many of the Cannonballers are still way behind schedule too. I was hoping to have my 1915 Harley done by April 1 and have over 1,000 miles on it by now. The reality is I finally rode it for the first time this week and it still needs a lot of work and fine tuning.

Hang in there Joe - great project you have going there.

See you in Kitty Hawk!

[c.o.]

[Slojo]

Increasing the Heat

With the striper showing this morning I waited for him to complete his work on the fenders and the oil/tool box. After loading the car I was off to the city. The painted parts were dropped off at the now impatient painter for clear coat. Afterwards a run too a customers to finish a spindle job that I had started last week.

Work and running now pass tence for the day, it was dash back home to make rods. When I left this morning the Okuma Machining center was struggling to operate normally. It was not happy with the slightest vibration from the 1.5" inserted cutter. Before heading out I set the machine to take .02' depth cuts and it managed to run until the program had finished the profile of the female rod without my supervision.

The Okuma appears to have a defective optical encoder. This device is used for detecting spindle position and has become hyper sensitive. Since it appears to only dislike the previously mention tool I will continue to run it as long as it will make the rods. I will show extra caution when using the offensive cutter.

With several tools and process proven the male rod is nearing completion. After machining, the rods will make a trip to the shot blaster before the race bores are finished.

Rob the painter called late this evening stating the sheet metal dropped off this morning is ready for pick up, come get it tomorrow, when he returns from his day job. The gas tanks are ready for paint also.

My new spanner wrench for the clutch, the heat treated shafts and steering head lower cones arrived by U.P.S. this morning. I will need to finish grind the sprocket and pinion shafts prior to usage.

Joe

[c.o.]

[Slojo]

Paint and Rods, the big hold up.

Lonnie
That is a good looking tow rig not to mention the 15 twin.

Striper showed this morning and bleed a little more on the fenders and tool box. Still not finished, yet another trip for tomorrow morning. It's hard to believe this striping is taking so long.

Next a road trip to the spring shop for the clutch springs round two. I had the springs made 3/32" larger in diameter (.590) from the same wire size as original. They are also 7/8" in total length up from about 3/4. To keep the springs on center with the screws six brass sleeves were spun up on the Monarch lathe and used to take up the space between the screw and the spring. The original springs are marginal at best, add some extra squirrels under the hood and you will find an inadequate clutch.

Speaking of springs a little spring tuning of the front fork rebound was made today. It appeared the spring rebound was overcoming the compression just a little to much so I cut two coils out of the rebound. this raises the front end a small amount giving more fork travel and a softer ride.

A trip over to Leo's for some time on his I.D. O.D. grinder again. The nickel plating on the inside of the throw out bearing had to be removed otherwise it would flake off under the strain of the ball bearings.

Now that the clutch is finished the rear wheel is basically ready to install, except final torque I am waiting for a spanner wrench to arrive tomorrow to fit the ring nut on the freewheel plate. Also near finished is the long awaited seat assembly. This hi bred assembly should provide extra suspension and hopefully all day comfort.

Some new nuts for the fender braces were spun up today and the steel for the con. rods came in. I promptly pre machined all surfaces to get the steel squared up for holding purposes.

[jurassic]

[Slojo]

The original Harley Skunk Works Team would have been very lucky to have you on there team. You would have changed history. May be you are now? The parts you are makeing are top notch. I am going to buy some. So bring some to Davenport.

This would be especially true if I had my current shop, tooling and resources back then.
Joe