1912 HD Belt Twin (AKA EVIL TWIN)

[Slojo]

Test ran the 13 Barber bike on the stand this afternoon and found it still lacking in the rev department. Advanced the ignition timing a little and still no improvements. Bang,,, I then remembered the Ghost also had a similar limit to the rev range, I found that its intake valves were floating. Replaced the intake valve springs with a different wire wind and size, including a few other upgrades the speed increased from 75 to 90.

Tomorrow new intake valve springs will be wound up. In fairness to Dale and Matt maybe I will take some to Maggy Valley prior to the race. If Matt is to get these springs he will have to promise to maintain his race line this time and not cross mine. It appears Matt will be ridding William Sylvester's 13 and Dale will be on the 12 defunct and resurrected red skin for a second year.

Lets hope this Barber Century Race will be recorded for TV again it will be a real hoot. These three bikes should be very competitive this time as they all are 61 inch twins and who knows what else will show?

Hope to see you at Barbers come October, I know a group of local friends whom, to keep cost down are renting a high capacity van and hauling about 12 fellow enthusiasts to the event.

joe

[Slojo]

A quick lunch break and back to work.

The test run of the Barber 13 went poorly, it only ran 50 mph a gain of 10 from the last run. Last chain adjustment the chain was one click from tight to lose I set it tight and found it way to tight after the run. This may be a problem for speed. Chains are readjusted and it is time for another firing.

joe

[c.o.]

"Three photos of the fabricated seat mounting hardware and fitment of the seat."

[Slojo]

Two days to fabricate, fit and mount the seat is to much time. The seat mounting post strap required a lot of work to produce. Overall the project came out nice. I like this seat, it leaves a confident felling of handling without the swaying left to right as did the previous seat.

The 13 should be ready for its test run tomorrow. If the weather holds out, a trip is planed to run at a remote location for final tuning in preparation for Barber.

I am itching to get back to the Twin, frame components are ready for brazing and Tony (welder) is on stand by.

joe

[c.o.]

"The following three photos are of the stud required to pitch the seat bracket tight to the under seat frame and seat bar. Material is Quadco XR no longer available. This steel will hold high torque loads"







"Following photos demonstrate step by step procedure of making the pinch bracket for the under seat mounting hardware. Tomorrow I will finish the bracket."

[Slojo]

Side tracked again

1913 twin Barber bike

A call to Dale Walksler today in search of some fairy dust ( Form Ross's comment, Forum Thread: 2013 Century Lap - Barber Vintage Weekend "Joe I will be there to cheer you on but beware...I visited Dale in July and that Indian will have fairy dust sprinkled on it".). Dale is anxious to race Barbers Century laps again and apparently he used up all the antique fairy dust.

A significant realization had me tweaking the carburetor on the 1913 in search of missing performance. Next a seat change, this will be the most important performance enhancement as the other seat left a vague feeling of the road surface.

A Messenger Superba leaf spring saddle is to take place of the existing seat. Problem is the seat is missing a couple parts to mount it to the seat bar. Following photos detail fabrication of these two items

joe

[c.o.]

"Some of what pays for all this fun. I replaced chip L31 62307 . De-solder pump, butane solder pen, magnifying glass, solder , flux, flux cleaner and small diagonal cutters will get you through this process."



"Finished bottom bracket. Both ends were extended and the threaded end diameter is increased to two inches."



"Frame ready for final brazing. this frame front section is all original Harley the rear fabricated parts from Lonnie Dewy and myself."

[Slojo]

Back to the future

Work today had me busy with circuit board repair. Sixteen pin chip removal although fairly straight forward came off with some difficulty, caution is the best procedure. Replacing the old with a new chip did not solve the issue with this spindle drive board. Another component is still on back order and should be here next week.

Enough with the future

The past is so much more interesting. Dewy sent three bottom brackets for pedal crank assemblies. My job was to convert them to belt drive from chain drive style. The conversion did not go well with to many issues to cover here, although I did get one of three finished and it came out good not great. These parts are not meant to be converted, next time I will give second thought before attempting a conversion.

With the completion of the bottom bracket the frame is ready for final assembly, silver brazing will be the weld process to handle the frame assembly as the factory did 101 years ago, A hundred and one years ago think about the differences in shops, mine verses theirs, line shafts versus variable frequency motor drives, fluorescent lights verses saw tooth roof lines, computers and calculators verses slide rulers, coated carbide cutting tool verses high carbon tool steel, circular interpolation verses rotary tables, you get the idea.

joe

[fillibuster]

" Marbles out of spray cans have great accuracy" end qu of Tom

I work around grain bin sites, and it's unbelievable how much hardware is thrown away! I have a bucket full of rusty 5/16" nuts, and they're great for cows, scary for dogs, damn near lethal on cats! I did have a bucket of rusty 1/4", but ran out. ... gotta get past this ammo-cost thing, guys.

[c.o.]

"Original muffler parts and Jeff Willlis remanufactured castings"



"Chamfering the flywheel."



"Turning pipe into a muffler canister."

[Slojo]

The flywheels received attention tonight, breaking the sharp edges on the OD to face in the Monarch. Afterwards to the Bridgeport to clean up the edges on the inner casting surfaces. A new ball nose end mill will be necessary to finish the mill work, Move on to the next project.

Stalled on the flywheels and frame bottom bracket its time to work on the muffler. Jeff Willis comes through again . This time Jeff has decided to be my first Cannonball 2014 sponsor. Today a muffler casting kit arrived in the mail. Jeff makes quality casting for our early bikes such as pedal crank arms, mufflers, fuel line Y pipes and many other pieces. Time to get to work on the muffler.

My friend Dave retired so original style muffler canisters with lap joint, seam and rivets are no longer available. Dave's muffler cans were the best. Last year I returned to my old sheet metal shop and found another position left vacant due to retiree. I ordered muffler cans anyway and found the fit and finish to be unsatisfactory. Left with two decisions , look for anther sheet metal source and try out the talent, pass..... make my own canister on the Monarch from a piece of pipe,,,,, done.

joe

[T. Cotten]

Hey now, it ain't the dog's fault.
(I prefer a slingshot. Marbles out of spray cans have great accuracy, and you only need to to hit them once.
The whistle through the air is warning enough, thereafter.)

But I agree "that "old" anything, is far superior than most things today," particularly when it comes to browsers for this forum's incredibly over-designed format.
(See "Why Why Why" thread.)

Can we hear more about flywheel machining?
Looking forward to it,

....Cotten
PS: Tried to machine some valve guides from window weights once.
It quickly exceeded the capacity of my equipment, as well as my patience.
Got plenty of stock if anybody needs some.

[Steve Little]

Steve

The lathe is a 1954 Monarch with a ten inch six jaw Buck chuck.

Heat treat, vibration and cryogenic are common forms of reducing stresses from the manufacturing of the raw material or finished part although, these treatments speed up the process.

I had a computer lock up this morning and lost my update, sorry.

(The dog ate my papers also)

joe

Thanks Joe. I find that "old" anything, is far superior than most things today.
If it's not you'r dog,....the muzzle of a air rifle, slowly eased past the curtains of the front window, and Pow in the rump.

[exeric]

Years ago, I worked for a race engine builder who specialized in small block Chevy motors for nascar and below. He got high nickel content blocks directly from GM and they were always rusty. He said they had to be outside for a least a year. I also knew a tool and die maker who did the same thing with tool steel parts that he made for himself, (1,2,3 blocks, angles, v-blocks, etc).

[T. Cotten]

Fillibuster!

History herself is re-written constantly.
Unfortunately, it is most often to suit someone's personal agenda.

Holding inventory for a few years will certainly be horrid to modern producers, because 'time is money', making traditional 'seasoning' anything but cheap.

(I use the "cheap" term carefully, as I have recently been b!tched off of yet another forum, this time for defending a fellow's frugality. There's that 'personal agenda' thing again.)

A small cryogenics outfit, an hour south of my shop, had begged attention to survive.
Unfortunately, vintage carbs and manifolds do not require such treatment (that I am yet aware of, anyway).

But yes, with any modern productions, some sort of treatment is certainly in order.

....Cotten
PS: I only replied as an anecdote, and hope this discussion returns to its tracks!