!914 Twin HD Cannon ball request

[Slojo]

Living with the Ghost

This week was a maintenance week for the rear wheel. The brake cam failed so a removal of the rear wheel, reverse engineer and produce a new cam from a superior pre heat treated alloy. I also found three of four rivets broken, these rivets secure the brake stay arm to the brake backing plate,,, then to the frame.

I programmed the Okuma to make the new brake cams and ran a few off, a days worth of work (a bit rusty). The brake cam is made complete on the Okuma in one operation other than a slight amount of deburring. I will add another tool for rough milling I think this should reduce the cycle time from 16 minutes down to 10 minutes. Pat has placed an order for some of these difficult parts to make.

With rivets replaced, bike back together, shined up the Ghost is ready for an exclusive local concourse showing today. Wine, hors d'œuvre and hob knobbing with the "elite" shheeshh??? I will ride to the event it is only 6 miles away so a little road grim may be picked up in transit. What one will do for a good cause and a favor for a friend!

Joe

[Slojo]

Ten Months After

Can you believe it, Cannonball is right around the corner, it is time to prepare the Ghost. I have been busy on a couple other bike builds and have one (1912 49" HD belt drive twin) finished other than the pedal cranks assembly and magneto. The bike is being prepared to compete in the October 2012 Century Race at Barbers Motor-sports Museum so it must be finished prior to Cannonball.

My first thought on this article, pick up where we left off and continue posting updates on the Ghost with the minor improvements to handle the challenges this new event promises to bring on. My greatest concern is the10,000 foot climbs through the Rockies on a single speed bike. 2010 Cannonball maximum elevations reached 7000 feet, not a problem for the Ghost.

This past few days have been focused on caring for minor chassis issues. First was to reduce the exposed fork springs compression strength. I already had some smaller gauge springs wound and nickel plated. Installation was a concern, I thought a complete fork tear down would be required. Not so, just remove the fork spring caps the fork then extended to its maximum amount which allowed the relaxed springs to be slipped out and replaced with softer wound springs.

With the fork finished, the clutch lever was removed, the bend slightly altered and the shoulder on the pivot bolt shortened to tighten up the lever action. Next was to address the pedal starter pawl mechanism. The starter pawls have proven to be a slight problem and require a little maintenance.

The motor came out tonight so exhaust valve guides can be made and installed. The pistons look a little scorched on the skirts a minor concern. With a little emery paper on the skirts and a fresh hone in the cylinder all should be well.

joe

[Tom Lovejoy]

Right on Joe, looking forward to the updates. Is the 12 HD 49 cu inches? a V twin? very cool.

[c.o.]

Here Joe goes again... making it all look easy....

[Slojo]

Right on Joe, looking forward to the updates. Is the 12 HD 49 cu inches? a V twin? very cool.

Yes Tom a little twin, looking at the cylinders you can see the difference.

joe

[Slojo]

Decisions / Strategy

Tonight the pistons were removed from the rods and will be replaced with a new set. Next was to split the flywheels to inspect tolerances. They were difficult to split, the tapers are perfect matches. The rods, wheels, crank pin, rollers and races all look good. A new set of rod rollers a couple tenths ( +.0002" ) larger will be installed to tighten clearance. The cylinders will be honed out to a fresh crosshatch and no more. I am still looking for the proper piston to cylinder clearance, .0085 is my new target. The original manufacture suggested clearance was .003 ".

Climbing 10,000 feet above sea level has me thinking of a trip 30 years ago that had me forced into first gear on a loaded 66 shovel tackling the very same mountains. I will be looking close at the intake system (and exhaust) to find areas to make even the smallest air flow improvements. These old motors have tight port and manifold configurations with little room for improvement, I will do my best.

My goal this year it to build this single speed 66" twin with performance characteristics (under normal conditions) to maintain pace with the late models. Currently by way of rule change the Ghost has been advanced to class three status. This class change aligns my bike with the KJ's 80", JD's 74" and of course the stokers, JDH two cam'rs, Indians and other developed machines. I will have my hands full with these big motored three speeders.

The challenge is to take a good bike and make it better. The week point will be the intake valve springs, their is currently no room in the rocker towers and under the tank clearance's for larger springs so I may look into alternative methods to help return the valve train to a closed position.

The plan is to run the entire event with one gear ratio with enough gear to climb the mountains and enough rpm to achieve speeds of 60 or 65 maximum 70 MPH currently brings on intake valve float.

joe

[chas]

Whoa, same class as KJ's 80", JD's 74", Indian's and JDH two cams?

Whoa, single speed vs. 3's too??

Whoa, go, sic 'em Joe. Get 'em. Please keep us informed.

[fillibuster]

Joe, I've always wanted to ask, have you done the math to see what your rpm's will be over the mph range? ... or what it is at 60, for instance. Being single speed, only one formula would be applied.
Sounds like a daunting task, lugging up the hills, especially. How 'bout 50 extra clutch discs so you can ride the clutch? (okay, I'm outa here)

[rwm]

joe go with forced air. this is for sale by fellow cannon baller chris knoop. small 7x7x5 good up to 1200cc top rating 36hp!
http://www.prewarcar.com/index.php?o...972&Itemid=433

[Slojo]

Deep Breathing

As previously mentioned, with the bar raised in performance standards and mountain power robbing elevations for 2012 Cannonball the Ghost must be in a higher state of tune. Tonights task, clean up some of the sharp edges in the air flow passages, mostly intake. While working on the carb I notice a broken solder joint holding the throttle plate to the shaft, a maintenance issue. After finishing the die grinder duties (a couple table spoons full of chips) it was time to called it quits for the night.

I have to get up early tomorrow morning to meet with a painter at six AM an hour away from here to oversee installation of tank decals on a set of fuel takes, the other project.

joe

[Slojo]

Joe, I've always wanted to ask, have you done the math to see what your rpm's will be over the mph range? ... or what it is at 60, for instance. Being single speed, only one formula would be applied.
Sounds like a daunting task, lugging up the hills, especially. How 'bout 50 extra clutch discs so you can ride the clutch? (okay, I'm outa here)

No math yet Phil but I will look into it. I would like to gear it higher if it weren't for the mountain climbs. The current gear ratio has me slipping the clutch to a speed of 30 MPH. The Ghost runs nothing but Barnett clutch friction plates, they are the best!

joe

[J Wall]

Joe,
Could you swap gearing for high altitude segment of the trip?? Seems like reliability is king.
Jim

[fillibuster]

Joe, measure the diameter of the rear wheel,
count the teeth on the rear sprocket,
count the teeth on the drive sprocket,
count the teeth on the driven sprocket,
count the teeth on the motor sprocket,

report back and we'll do it in class tomorrow.

[c.o.]

Did somebody say class? I'll have to try and get a seat up front for this lesson!

[10E]

mountain climbing

hello
Joe, assuming you still have 4.07 ration I calculate your rpm at 70mph at 3409rpm
that's turning.
Looking at the HD factory 1914 v 1915 Dyno tests you are way beyond their performances.
My experience is that elevation plays a smaller role in climbing mountain passes and that grade steepness and tight turns is more the killer of single speed machines.
Going east over Carson Pass (8,600ft) was a breeze, long straight grade all the way to the summit, coming west from Minden Nevada was a challenge, short and steep.
My mainly stock 14 I think will make the Rockies if the engine is in good shape when we get there.
I can see you doing you doing a wheelie as you summit the pass whilst I'll be sitting side saddle waiting to make the top.
I did have Mr Cooley make me a 13t, just in case.
Oh, my engine does 2435rpm at 50mph and it's pretty much tapped out, does like going above that speed.
all the best
victor