Powerplus or Bust, Eh?

[Shaky Jake]

Kevin
On my many pre-16 motorcycle tours, I have had some problems (minor) and seen other people that have had big and small problems (mostly their problems). For the most part, if it is fixable, then it is fixed that evening. The “fixing” is usual that night’s entertainment for the rest of the tour group as they all sit around giving advise (translated to joking and harassment) during the “fixing”.
Fixes like use a rubber budgie to hold a gas tank in place and epoxy a cutup beer can over the holes in the top of the gas tank from the ripped-out speedometer tank mount when the speedometer drive caught in the rear wheel taking the speedometer with it. Helping with that fix, allowed me to ride a Cyclone on a short 10-mile round trip at high speed down the interstate (per the owner’s instructions) to make sure everything was Ok and did not vibrate for the rest of the tour. Taking parts to the local welder or machine shop for “improvements” before they close and talking them into staying late. From fixing flat tires, to complete motor rebuilds, to re-truing a lower end, to filing of seized pistons to get the “right” clearance, to replacing broken cam followers, and many more repairs. All for the group’s nightly entertainment.
There are the on-the-road fixes also, to complete that day’s ride, or to completing the rest of the tour. Like cutting up an innertube to make a rubber band to replace a broken intake spring so one cylinder has atmospheric intake and the other cylinder has mechanic intake. Using vice grip plyers to replace a nut that has fallen off the axle. I could go on and on.
The biggest difference is, we only had to deal with it for 3 to 4 days, not over two weeks like the Cannonball
While it may be stressful, it is those little things that make the tours rememberable and not just another boring forgettable tour.
Spacke2speed

Your pre-16 tour experience has been a great benefit to me, Burgie. I really appreciate the posts and emails you've sent me over the last few years, sharing your experience. Many of them were so good that I printed them out and kept them in a binder labeled 'Burgie's Emails.'


Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

...

As Kevin's latest post shows, a problem so serious that under anything like normal circumstances it would have taken his bike off the road for at least a few weeks was diagnosed and addressed by a trip to the tractor store so that he could continue on for the rest of the Cannonball. Riding a 90+ (or, in Kevin's case, 100+) year-old bike across the country in the Cannonball is qualitatively different than any other experience I've had in 55 years of riding motorcycles. Reading a post like Kevin's gives a taste of the Cannonball but until I experienced it myself I did not have anything like a reasonable appreciation of what is involved.

Thanks for the comments Charles. Nothing worth doing is easy, right? I hope you're in for 2020.


Kevin

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[Spacke2speed]

Kevin
On my many pre-16 motorcycle tours, I have had some problems (minor) and seen other people that have had big and small problems (mostly their problems). For the most part, if it is fixable, then it is fixed that evening. The “fixing” is usual that night’s entertainment for the rest of the tour group as they all sit around giving advise (translated to joking and harassment) during the “fixing”.
Fixes like use a rubber budgie to hold a gas tank in place and epoxy a cutup beer can over the holes in the top of the gas tank from the ripped-out speedometer tank mount when the speedometer drive caught in the rear wheel taking the speedometer with it. Helping with that fix, allowed me to ride a Cyclone on a short 10-mile round trip at high speed down the interstate (per the owner’s instructions) to make sure everything was Ok and did not vibrate for the rest of the tour. Taking parts to the local welder or machine shop for “improvements” before they close and talking them into staying late. From fixing flat tires, to complete motor rebuilds, to re-truing a lower end, to filing of seized pistons to get the “right” clearance, to replacing broken cam followers, and many more repairs. All for the group’s nightly entertainment.
There are the on-the-road fixes also, to complete that day’s ride, or to completing the rest of the tour. Like cutting up an innertube to make a rubber band to replace a broken intake spring so one cylinder has atmospheric intake and the other cylinder has mechanic intake. Using vice grip plyers to replace a nut that has fallen off the axle. I could go on and on.
The biggest difference is, we only had to deal with it for 3 to 4 days, not over two weeks like the Cannonball
While it may be stressful, it is those little things that make the tours rememberable and not just another boring forgettable tour.
Spacke2speed

[BoschZEV]

the front cylinder that seized on stage 4 of the 2018 Cannonball, then ran for 3,000 miles after that.

When you run into a problem while working on a bike at home you can set it aside for a day or two while you think about it, devise a possible solution using your garage full of tools, machine a new part from scratch or order a replacement to be shipped to you, test your solution, and think about it some more if that solution didn't work. If you had planned to ride that bike on the following weekend you simply use a different bike instead.

On the Cannonball your alarm wakes you before you're ready, you ride all day, then in the evening when you're quite tired you only have a few hours to do all the routine daily maintenance plus figure out what might be causing the problem you had that day and what might possibly fix it, implement the hoped-for solution using the tools and spares you thought to pack plus whatever you can scrounge from someone else who happens to be working late into that particular night like you are, and finally go to bed to get not enough sleep in order to repeat the next day. For 15 days in a row just using a different bike the next day isn't an option.

As Kevin's latest post shows, a problem so serious that under anything like normal circumstances it would have taken his bike off the road for at least a few weeks was diagnosed and addressed by a trip to the tractor store so that he could continue on for the rest of the Cannonball. Riding a 90+ (or, in Kevin's case, 100+) year-old bike across the country in the Cannonball is qualitatively different than any other experience I've had in 55 years of riding motorcycles. Reading a post like Kevin's gives a taste of the Cannonball but until I experienced it myself I did not have anything like a reasonable appreciation of what is involved.

[Shaky Jake]

Here's the post-mortem on the front cylinder that seized on stage 4 of the 2018 Cannonball, then ran for 3,000 miles after that. As you would expect, the piston was pretty well cooked.








The cylinder had some scoring, but mostly it's just aluminum stuck to the cylinder wall. It would probably hone out and be useable.






And here's the smoking gun. A crack had formed between the threaded holes for the valve plugs. This caused a vacuum leak, especially once the engine warmed up and the crack opened up further.








This kind of cracking has been known to happen on these cylinders, usually believed to be caused by the original bronze valve plugs that expand at a different rate than the cast iron. I don't use the bronze plugs, but the cylinders did have bronze plugs in them when I got them.

After the crack formed, the vacuum leak caused that cylinder to run lean and hot, and it seized. It seemed to happen all of sudden, not gradually. The engine was making really good power, then all of a sudden it was not, then it seized in a very short time. After I got it running again, I could see by the spark plugs that the front cylinder was running leaner than the rear. In fact, to get the front plug to read right I had to richen up the carb to the point that the rear plug would get black and sooty. It was a pretty clear indication of a vacuum leak on the front cylinder, but I wasn't able to find the leak with the equipment I had with me. It clearly was not at the intake manifold. A pressure test would have found it, if I could have done that. In the end, what I did to get me through the Cannonball was I went to a tractor supply store and found a hotter plug for the rear cylinder so it wouldn't foul, and ran the carb rich enough that the front plug looked right. You do the best you can with what you've got.






I'll probably braze that crack up, hone the cylinder out, and use it as a spare. It will be a tedious process due to the fine threads, but it's worth saving the cylinder.

I'll try to get some pictures of my intake cam followers before I go on the road again. I'm really happy with the way they performed.




Kevin


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[Shaky Jake]

I've been experimenting with plastic blast media on cast iron. It pops the paint right off but doesn't affect the texture of the base metal. It doesn't do much for rust though.








For paint and some very light rust it seems to be the ticket, especially on antique items when you want to preserve as much of the original material texture as you can. Removal of heavier rust would call for chemicals or a more aggressive abrasive.

I haven't tried it on aluminum yet, but I'm anxious to do so. I think it's going to be the hot tip for aluminum parts, I have a feeling it will remove the paint and old grime without giving the aluminum that satin appearance that other abrasives do. I will also try it on sheet metal, my hope is that it will remove paint etc. without putting any stresses in the sheet metal that can cause warping. I'll post when I know more. If you have any experience with this, please chime in.




Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

...

I had completely missed it in the latest issue of 'The Antique Motorcycle', but thanks to someone mentioning it on another site I discovered I'm famous. Or, at least there's a picture of me working on my Ariel. The caption says I'm working on my timing chain, which I'm not, but I don't remember why I had the clutch off that night. As you know yourself, evening repairs blur together on the Cannonball...

Yes, I saw that picture of you. Congrats on the fame. It's a good shot. Perhaps you were changing gearing? The evening maintenance is one of my favorite parts of the Cannonball experience. Working on bikes, drinking beer, hanging out with friends, talking with people who are walking around looking at the bikes...

I can't remember if I asked, are you in for 2020?



Kevin


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[BoschZEV]

It's supposed to be 50 degrees out today, I'm going to try to get a short ride in on the Guzzi.

I live where winters are a bit warmer than in Nebraska. When I read your post a few days ago I had just walked in from outside where it was 51 degrees at the time thanks to an unusual cold front. When I was shivering outside I had thought to myself there was no way I'd even consider riding a motorcycle when it was that frigid. Same temperature; different perspectives.

I had completely missed it in the latest issue of 'The Antique Motorcycle', but thanks to someone mentioning it on another site I discovered I'm famous. Or, at least there's a picture of me working on my Ariel. The caption says I'm working on my timing chain, which I'm not, but I don't remember why I had the clutch off that night. As you know yourself, evening repairs blur together on the Cannonball...

[Shaky Jake]

While I'm posting, someone had asked about the bushings I made for the rear swing arm. I'm happy to say that they held up very well. There's really nothing to report, other than there is no discernible wear or play in the nylatron bushings, and more importantly no discernible wear in the shaft which is an original Indian part. The last shaft I had wore terribly, with the original steel bushings. Here is a picture, for what it's worth:






I also want to mention that I have signed up for Instagram. Magnetoman recommended it as a quick and easy way to share pictures, videos, and information, so I'm going to give it a try. If you want to follow me, I think you can find me by searching on 'Kevin Naser' or 'Meanderthal.man'




It's supposed to be 50 degrees out today, I'm going to try to get a short ride in on the Guzzi.


Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Some pictures of yesterday's progress:










Some newspaper clippings that my Aunt Alyce sent me from Belle Fourche, SD:










More to come.




Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Your workshop is way too clean and uncluttered. Did you post those photos to make the rest of us feel bad?

Happy New Year to you, and may 2019 find your workshop messier than it is now as you make progress on your projects.

That will happen Charles, I guarantee! ;-)

Happy 2019 to you and yours.


Kevin

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[BoschZEV]

Your workshop is way too clean and uncluttered. Did you post those photos to make the rest of us feel bad?

Happy New Year to you, and may 2019 find your workshop messier than it is now as you make progress on your projects.

[Shaky Jake]

It's almost next year so I guess I should give this thread a jumpstart and get ready to start thinking about some post-cannonball work on Patience. I have been spending some time cleaning and organizing the moto-shed. It got pretty bad as a result of the pre-cannonball rush of activities, but it's looking pretty good at the moment. I could almost call it 'comfortable' or 'homey.'












I did spend quite a bit of time cleaning up the Sunnen hone. It works great but was pretty grimey.












I took the catch pan apart so I could clean it up in the parts washer. I drained the old honing oil out of the sump, removed the sludge traps, and cleaned it all out. I had 10 gallons of fresh oil shipped in from Michigan. The only part I had to replace was the 'stay-put' flexible hose for the oil. I'm happy to have found this hone with the dual (course and fine) controls and the two speed drive pulleys. Here's an after shot.






That's about it for now. I'll get started on the Indian again soon, and post some pictures of that. Today I need to split some fire wood.






Kevin

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[BoschZEV]

I feel like I hit the sweet spot with the old Sprinter van.... The one thing that I'm lacking is some sort of motorcycle lift or work platform

I can see where your van works well for a single rider, but I guess I'm thinking in terms of a two-person team. That said, the tour bus with two-story trailer was for a single rider...

It's tough enough working on a bike after a full day on the road, but crawling around on your knees to do it makes it a lot worse. Even if all the other factors were under control, if the Norton Team hadn't kindly given my Ariel space on one of their lifts to replace its worn valve guide it would have been a nightmare -- not only because all the work had to take place at night -- to work on it. A lift and plenty of lights are like, ahem, night and day.

[Shaky Jake]

I have to solve the logistics problem. This year's event taught me that a U-Haul truck carrying the minimal tools and spares that can be shipped to the start is sub-optimal. The sweet spot on the Cannonball seems to be something between that rented U-Haul and a full-size tour bus towing a two-story trailer (how did they even find places to park that rig??).

As others before me have observed, I'm busy all the time and don't know how I was able to do anything before I retired.

I feel like I hit the sweet spot with the old Sprinter van. Easy to park, hauls plenty, comfortable for the support crew. The one thing that I'm lacking is some sort of motorcycle lift or work platform. I'm tired of working on my knees in hotel parking lots. I have some ideas for that. Also, I my work lighting could be improved.

Of course, you could always pull a Kelly Modlin / Doug Wothke and just ride the bike to the start, ride the Cannonball, and ride it home. That would be maximum fun for minimum investment. There should be a special award for that.


Kevin

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