Powerplus or Bust, Eh?

[Shaky Jake]

I wanted to post a little about my swing arm. It's one of the things I ran out of time and didn't get around to, and it was so sloppy and bent that the bike handled like a wet spaghetti noodle. On top of that, several threaded holes were stripped so my chain guard was held on with safety wire, and my rear stand was always threatening to come off. It might not sound very interesting from a technical standpoint, but it actually took a couple of days to get it sorted out. The first step, of course, was to remove it.










The pins that connect the swing arm to the spring struts were worn and had no clips on them. In fact the clip grooves were worn away. The pins were held in by old, old paint. It must have been some of that good lead paint. I ordered new pins from Z.O.C.








One of the chain adjusters was broken off. Judging by the paint over the broken surface, it's been that way for a long, long time. It was a jagged break, so I smoothed it with a die grinder before I started drilling.











The drilling went well. Right down the middle of the threads.












Of course, I tried an easy out, momentarily, but I never expect those things to work, especially on metal this old. When two pieces of metal have been in contact for that long, sometimes they basically become one piece of metal.








Stay tuned, I'll continue this in the next post, same bat time, same bat station.




Kevin


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[Shaky Jake]

This isn't my Cannonball motor, but I thought you guys might like to see these pictures. This is a set of cases that I bought from a friend for another 1916 Indian I'm building. The mounting bolt holes and rear cylinder baffles had already been repaired and the right side case and timing cover were a matched set, but the left side case wasn't matched to the right. My friend Bob Alf did some work to match the cases. He doweled and skimmed the vertical joints. Then he align honed the bearing bores and squared the cylinder decks and magneto pad to the bearing centerline. It turned out really nice. This is going to be a great bike.














Cheers my friends,

Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Sorry everyone who tried to message me yesterday evening and couldn't get through. My inbox was full. I've cleared it now. Terry, I've got you down for an XL. I'll send you a message with the info.

Thanks guys, sorry for the trouble.


Kevin

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[TH47Indy]

Hey Jake,

Your PM is fiull. I love to support you and have one of your shirts. I'm an XL.

Please send me the info to order. I look forward to following your experience!

Thanks.
Terry

[Shaky Jake]

Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic response on these shirts. We are sold out of Mediums and XXXL's. We still have L, XL, and XXL's. Everyone who has messaged me so far has a shirt reserved for them.




Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Friends,

Team Kelly's Heroes is now offering these T-shirts with a beautiful 3-color graphic to help with expenses related to our Motorcycle Cannonball effort. They also have the image of my number plate on the left sleeve. These are nice 50/50 cotton/polyester shirts in heather gray. Right now we Have them in sizes M, L, and XL, XXL and XXXL. We are asking $20 each for the shirts, and postage is $3.00 in the lower 48 states. Quantities are limited, so please message me with your size and quantities. I will message you back with the address to send your check to. If you live outside of the continental US, let me know where you are and we'll figure out how much postage would be. Thanks for your support!








Thanks again for your support.


Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

I thought you guys would enjoy these pictures that my friend Bob Alf sent me. He put my Cannonball cases on his mill and checked how square the decks and the mag shelf are to the bearing bores. One of the decks is square within .003 inches and the other is within .005. He offered to square them up, but we agreed they're not bad and I hate to take metal off these old parts if I don't have to.

The mag shelf is off a little more, but the mag gear lash was nice and tight when I assembled it for 2016, so I elected not to cut any metal off. I don't want to have to shim the mag base if I don't have to.










Kevin

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[BoschZEV]

I hope that was of help to you.

It definitely was. However, I still haven't figured out a good solution to get all my stuff, organized or not, to ME and home from OR.

Can't wait to see you're Ariel in Maine. We gonna do some ridin'!

Indeed. Hopefully, all of approx. 3750 miles worth of riding.

[Shaky Jake]

Coincidentally, a few hours before you posted this I had decided to make a felt seal for the output shaft of my 1928 Ariel:

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...l-c#Post724959

I already had ordered the felt but was wondering how I would cut it once it arrived so that the ID would be a snug fit over the shaft. Not that anyone is counting, but your post about cutting felt was 18 months ago (time flies when you're having fun):

http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/bbo...elt#post156426

I hope that was of help to you. Can't wait to see you're Ariel in Maine. We gonna do some ridin'!




Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Pretty sure it went like this...
Two little Indian (transmissions) sitting in the sun;

On got frizzled up and then there was one.

Just kidding! They look great, Nice Work!!

Time will tell. Either way, we're ready!

Thanks Jim.




Kevin

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[BoschZEV]

I made the felt seal out of F-1 felt from McMaster Carr. If you want to see how I cut it out, scroll back about a year or so.

Coincidentally, a few hours before you posted this I had decided to make a felt seal for the output shaft of my 1928 Ariel:

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...l-c#Post724959

I already had ordered the felt but was wondering how I would cut it once it arrived so that the ID would be a snug fit over the shaft. Not that anyone is counting, but your post about cutting felt was 18 months ago (time flies when you're having fun):

http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/bbo...elt#post156426

[Jim]

Pretty sure it went like this...
Two little Indian (transmissions) sitting in the sun;

On got frizzled up and then there was one.

Just kidding! They look great, Nice Work!!

[Shaky Jake]

Let's wrap this three speed countershaft refurb up. All that's left is the shaft seal. It consists of three parts, a thin flat washer, a felt seal, and a threaded retainer. I made the felt seal out of F-1 felt from McMaster Carr. If you want to see how I cut it out, scroll back about a year or so. Ultimately the felt will get sandwiched between the other two parts.









You'll need an adjustable pin spanner with pins that fit the holes in the retainer.









Drop the thin washer in on top of the bearing. Place the felt on top of it, around the spacer that we polished earlier.










The retainer threads on next, with the recessed side toward the felt. Put some kind of sealer on the threads. The threads are left handed.










Tighten with the pin spanner. Lefty tightie.










And there they are. Two little Indian transmissions.






Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

That's an excellent idea. There's nothing like being pretty sure you have an item you need, but if you do it's probably somewhere mixed in the mess in a large cardboard box.

Were you this organized on the last Cannonball, or is this as a result of what you learned that time?

Last time most everything was in large bins, mostly because we didn't have time to organize it any better. We lost a lot of beer time digging through those bins looking for parts and tools.




Kevin

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[BoschZEV]

That's an excellent idea. There's nothing like being pretty sure you have an item you need, but if you do it's probably somewhere mixed in the mess in a large cardboard box.

Were you this organized on the last Cannonball, or is this as a result of what you learned that time?