Powerplus or Bust, Eh?

[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

.

[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

.

[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]

...

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


.

[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

.

[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


.

[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.

[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

[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

.

[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

.

[BoschZEV]

Nothing worth doing is easy, right?

Oh, I don't know about that. Going to a museum is worth doing, and it's easy. Also, more than once I've told the trainer I started going to to prepare for the Cannonball that I do not subscribe to the "no pain, no gain" theory of physical fitness.

I hope you're in for 2020.

Sadly, no. I've proposed a fairly major project that must be completed late Fall of 2020 and the Cannonball conflicts with the timing. I had hoped to do the Cannonball anyway but the start date (but not the end date) keeps slipping, meaning Fall 2020 is becoming more hectic by the day.

[Shaky Jake]

Getting caught up

I’m trying to get caught up on posting Cannonball updates. You probably know that the 2020 Cannonball has been postponed until 2021, so whenever I say 2020 just imagine I’m saying 2021 . If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you’ve already seen this.

Kevin

[painterdale]

Great to see you back here, Kevin!

Dale

[Shaky Jake]

Great to see you back here, Kevin!

Dale

Thanks a Dale. It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it.

[BoschZEV]

It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it.

What do you mean? Have I missed something that's been happening?...

One thing that hasn't been happening is me re-rebuilding the bike I rode in 2018, so your posts to this thread are a welcome reminder for me to get moving on that project as well.