Powerplus or Bust, Eh?

[Shaky Jake]

Clutch 1

I've got parts of three clutches. Clutch 1 came out of Canada where it had been mounted on a V-plow. It's rusty and the hub has been welded. Some parts are usable and some parts aren't. Clutch two came with a transmission that I bought. It's in pretty good condition. I plan to take it apart, clean it up, and use it as original. Clutch 3 I only have part of. I plan to combine its parts with Clutch 1 along with some new parts to make a second good clutch.

Here is clutch 1 on the left, clutch 2 in the middle, clutch 3 on the right, and some other random parts scattered about:







I'll start with some pictures of clutch 1, as found:




















You get the idea; it was pretty rusty. Some of the pictures were even taken after I cleaned it up some. I managed to get the broken screws out with left handed drill bits:







The rollers are pitted, so further disassembly will be required. Here you can see the rollers, I'll detail the disassembly process in my next post:







Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

Taking Clutch 1 Apart

In order to remove the old rollers, you have to remove the four pronged piece that is threaded to the hub with left handed threads. The four pronged piece is the inside race for the rollers, and it has a flange that hangs over the ends of the rollers. There is a ring shaped lock nut that has to come off first, it also has left handed threads. You can see the four pronged bearing race below, and the lock ring inside it:







After soaking for several days in Kroil, and application of a little heat, the lock ring came off using a hammer and drift. Removing the bearing race required making a special tool though. Keeping it as simple as possible, I used some 3/4 inch key stock that had laying around, and two socket head capscrews. I made it about three feet long, for leverage:









The tool clamps onto two prongs of the race, and the heads of the capscrews bear against the other two prongs:







After considerable soakage, judicious application of heat, and considerable mechanical agitation with a ball peen hammer while simultaneously tugging on the tool, The inner race came free:







Since the kick start pinion shaft had been welded, and I had another, I decided to remove and replace it. As you can see below, I ground the rivet heads off and drove them out. New rivets have been sourced from McMaster Carr. It will be reassembled after plating:









I also remove the clutch lining and dust shield, in preparation for plating. Again, new rivets were sourced from M-C:









Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

more about Clutch #1

The friction face on the clutch basket for clutch 1 was pretty rough:







So I decided to take a light cut on it:







I didn't want to take much off of it, because they don't make these anymore. In the end I took less than 0.012 inches off, and made a significant improvement. I didn't take all of the pits off, and it had some hard spots, but I think it will be good enough.







Here are the best parts from clutch number 1, combined with the best parts from clutch number 3 which was not all there. Some of the parts are at the nickel plater right now. Then the plates will be sent out to be re-lined and the clutch will be assembled with new rivets and rollers:







Kevin


.

[Shaky Jake]

Clutch number 2

This is a picture of clutch number 2. Ignore the reproduction plate that is right center in the picture, it shouldn't have been in the picture. I took this clutch apart, the rollers look good, and the plates don't need to be re-lined yet. I'm not going to take the inner bearing race off of the hub, nor am I going to re-line the plates. I'm going to clean this one up and put it back together with new springs:







Those will be my two clutches. It will be interesting to see which on works better; the one I did all that work on, or the one I left basically original. I'll post more on clutches when I'm ready to put them together.


Kevin


.

[painterdale]

Glad you are back, Kevin. I was beginning to wonder. Dale

[Tom Lovejoy]

very interesting Kevin, keep em coming!

[Shaky Jake]

A Seat

I needed a seat, and I found this one:







I don't know what kind of seat it is, but it fits and looks right on the bike:









The suspension needs a little work, and of course, it needs to be covered:







I blasted the loose paint off, and did a little weld repair on the nose:







Then I rattled canned it and sent it off to Heather's Leathers for cover:







The guys at Heather's Leathers were great to work with. I had them put a gel pad under the foam:







Then a layer of foam covered by old looking leather. I'm pretty pleased with the way it looks:







This seat is kind of unusual, it has these steel straps on the bottom that hold the leather tight. I anyone knows what brand of seat it is, I'd be interested in knowing:







Once I fix the seat suspension and get it mounted, I'll post some more pictures. Stay tuned!






Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

Valve Guides

The valve guides thread in from the bottom:







It sounds like a good idea, but after a hundred years they are pretty well frozen in place. When you try to thread them out, they just snap off, as you can see. I got the new ones from Lonnie at Competition Distributing:







The natural next step is to drill them out:







It became apparent, however, that I'll need some kind of a drill guide so that I don't damage the threads in the cylinder castings. If I had a bridgeport, I could use that, but I don't, so I can't. It appears that the threaded valve plugs are centered with the guides though, so I had an idea:









You may remember that I got some pepop valve plugs and machined them to accept 18mm spark plugs. So, I got another one, and drilled the hole to fit a piloted counter-bore cutter that is slightly smaller than the minor diameter of the valve guide threads:









The piloted cutter drops into the guide from the top, and the drill guide drops over it:











Too Be Continued in the next post!


Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

Valve Guides, part 2

So, as shown in the previous post, the cutter is in place, it has a pilot on the bottom and a guide on top, so I can turn it with a hand drill and not worry about damaging the female threads:











Then you just have to spend three or four hours with dentist tools and a very small punch getting the remaining threads out:











And you end up with squeaky clean threads, ready for new valve guides:







I put the new guides in with anti-seize compound, so maybe it be easier on the next guy in the year 2115 or so.






Kevin


.

[Shaky Jake]

Gas Cap

While I'm messing around, I should post some pictures of this. Karen over at Blair Pawn Shop gave me a 1916 Indian Head nickel to mount somewhere on the bike. So, I cut an inset in the top of the gas cap and soldered it on:











Kevin

.

[BigLakeBob]

Good idea and great work on getting the valve guides out.

[Shaky Jake]

Good idea and great work on getting the valve guides out.

Thanks Bob. The cool thing is, I threw all that tooling and a couple of spare valve guides in a little tin box and I'll throw it in the support truck for the rally. That way, if I or anyone else seizes a valve and breaks a guide or something, we'll have a recovery plan.




Kevin

.

[exeric]

Good thinking on the valve guide removal Kevin. In regards to your seat pan; I believe it might be an early Henderson seat, although full pan seats were available (aftermarket) for all motorcycles in that era. I know the '17-'19 Hen seats were a full pan Persons but I thought I recalled Steve Cicalone telling me early Hens had a seat like yours with the bottom braces. It's still a great looking seat, and should be comfortable.

[Shaky Jake]

Good thinking on the valve guide removal Kevin. In regards to your seat pan; I believe it might be an early Henderson seat, although full pan seats were available (aftermarket) for all motorcycles in that era. I know the '17-'19 Hen seats were a full pan Persons but I thought I recalled Steve Cicalone telling me early Hens had a seat like yours with the bottom braces. It's still a great looking seat, and should be comfortable.

Thanks Eric. I saved the original leather and horsehair padding from the seat. The leather is shot, but the horsehair is in surprisingly good condition.



Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

crankshaft

Here's a picture of my crankshaft. I got the new drive shaft, pinion shaft, rollers, bearing retainers, crankpin, nuts, and lockwashers from Randy Walker at Walker Machine. Joe Klyman at Joe's Machine & Welding made the wrist pin bushings for me, and he assembled the crank for me in his truing stand. And yes, my desk is cluttered.








Kevin


.