1920 Harley Model F

[exeric]

Looking for the ideal house and property is just like vintage motorcycles. Unfortunately, we are competing with real estate experts that can smell when the perfect house, is going to sell for half of it's real value. I hope you find what you are looking for, John.

[TechNoir]

John, my wife and I are in the same boat. I really have to be in the mood to work on our house, which means I have to be whipped into servitude by my 'trouble and strife' We're looking to go to a much less hectic location, and further away from civilization, and congestion. Is that the goal of your family?

Broadley speaking we are in a very similar boat. Where we live is very quiet already but we are looking for a small farm or "Smallholding" as they are known in the UK. Ideally we want at least 15 acres of land and within a reasonable travel time from my main place of work.

As is probabally the case where you are? There are lots of places that have been for sale for ages because they are either overpriced or have an "issue" such as being adjacent to a freeway or the land floods or such like. The desirable places that are priced about right seem to be gone almost as soon as they are put up for sale hence the need to be ready to sell our current place at the drop of a hat.

It have to motivate myself to do a long list of "stuff". some will take only 10 or 15 minutes work, some a few hours. The main issue is the length of the list.

I suspect that your list is long too, as soon as you start making the list it seems to grow expenentionally.

Good luck with your house hunting.

John.

[exeric]

John, my wife and I are in the same boat. I really have to be in the mood to work on our house, which means I have to be whipped into servitude by my 'trouble and strife' We're looking to go to a much less hectic location, and further away from civilization, and congestion. Is that the goal of your family?

[TechNoir]

I had hoped to have been posting an update by now but other issues have inadvertently taken centre stage.

Last time I said this:

I am taking steps to resolve the space issue although it wont happen overnight

Those "steps" were not building a bigger workshop but instead looking for a new house altogether. We have been halfheartedly looking for something for a little while now and at the same time I had halfheartedly been working on that list of jobs that need to be done to get our current place into a sale able condition. We saw a place that looked great (on paper) last week so we have been spurred on to get our current place sorted. There is lots to do plus all of the de-cluttering and de-personalisation. It turns out that when we actually saw the house it isn't as great as we first thought but we have decided to get the current place sorted out and sale able asap so when the right place comes along we can get things moving quickly so the HD has to go on the back burner for a while.

I will try to fit some bike stuff in where I can so i will post when I can but it will be at least a couple of weeks before I expect to be able to make any progress at all.

John.

[TechNoir]

Ouch eric, I feel for you and also your friends.

It seems that I am not the only one who has fallen foul of a cluttered shop. Hopefully I wont ever pull a bike off a lift with an airline.

John

[exeric]

I have 2 cluttered shop stories: Mine involved a pair of early Excelsior cylinders that had (expensive) fin repairs done by a super talented welder. I knocked both cylinders off my workbench, broke different fins, and was too embarrassed to ask that same welder to fix them. The second story is a lot worse, but it happened to a couple of friends (not me). One friend was helping the other friend paint his house, using a paint sprayer and a long hose to the compressor in the shop. Somehow, the hose got wrapped around a motorcycle that was on a lift, and on wooden blocks because the front wheel was off. . . Sure enough, the friend doing the painting needed more hose and gave it a good yank. After the big crash, it took many beers to bring their blood pressures down. I'll only say, the bike was a '40s vintage American twin.

[TechNoir]

Hi eric, thanks for the comments.

I made bronze shims for my timing gears as well, John. I feel the same as you about the lack of confidence in a fiber washer in such a harsh environment

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one who has come to this conclusion. That said, I have had some feedback that the fiber washers don't break up but when I looked at the fiber washers in my possession that would suit this purpose in terms of ID and OD and then compared them to a 0.015" feeler gauge I just couldn't imagine a fiber washer standing the test of time.

Sorry about your Bosch end plate tragedy. I do see them on ebay, so a replacement can be had.

I was pretty angry at myself, lets just say I used some very Anglo-saxon language for a minute or two. Part of the explanation is that my workshop is full to more than 100% and so I end up moving stuff around. This isn't an excuse for me being an idiot but it is a contributing factor to occasional mishaps although its usually something pretty benign. I am taking steps to resolve the space issue although it wont happen overnight so in the mean time I am endeavoring to be ultra careful with 98 year old motorcycle parts.

I will look for a replacement end cover as at some point in the future I will probably get the spare magneto rebuilt.

John

[exeric]

I made bronze shims for my timing gears as well, John. I feel the same as you about the lack of confidence in a fiber washer in such a harsh environment. Sorry about your Bosch end plate tragedy. I do see them on ebay, so a replacement can be had. Thanks, as always for the great pictures, and your insights.

[TechNoir]

Hi again, I am back home now after a bit over a week away helping my daughter with some equestrian stuff so I managed to do a little bit on the 20F earlier today.

After some thought and some helpful feedback from some folks on here I decided on using bronze for the shim that I needed for the cam "secondary" gear. It needed to be 0.015" which just seems too thin for fiber.



A little reassembly later and I noted that despite the instructions to get the cam gears aligned to within 0.0075" the first gear driving the magneto is ironically 0.030" out of alignment with the secondary gear.








Next job is to fit the magneto. However there was a problem.

The main problem is that I am stupid!

Some months ago I had what I will call a mishap. The magneto got knocked off a small stack of books on my bench and onto the bench top, a distance of about 4 inches. However the result was this.





I have a spare magneto but it needs a complete rebuild. So I figured I could just change the end cover.







The original end cover had suffered from significant corrosion as can be seen in the comparison above but I am not sure if this contributed to the amount of damage.

I also needed to make a new bushing for the short circuiting terminal. I had previously consulted with BoschZEV (who else?) for a recommendation on the best material and made one from black acetal.







Next I need to gap the rings so I can get the top end back on and time the mag.

I have a question. In the manual it says, when fitting the magneto, to fit the felt washer and the tin washer on the end of the magneto shaft. My motor had neither of these but it seems to have been sealed with some sort of rubber washer. Is the tin washer there to support the felt washer? Does anyone have dimensions of both felt and tin washers so I can make them? Or do I need them at all?

John

[T. Cotten]

I agree Mark!

Especially about it becoming a generic term.
(Kinda like "nitrophyll".)

My finds vary greatly, but they all have that phenolic sick burnt bones smell if you get them hot.

Mica is a hard mineral that I wouldn't want breaking up into my oil.

Do I have to give my PEEK scraps away, Folks?
They won't decompose in the landfill for thousands and thousands of years, if ever.
I feel bad enough about using the turnings for shipping packing, spreading them across the Globe.

....Cotten

[MMasa]

Eric
I'm not sure if "Micarta" actually contains any Mica. It was originally a trade name that is now used generically to describe a whole host of reinforced phenolic/thermoset materials.
Mark

[exeric]

I think I'm going to answer my own question: MICA- - - MICArta. Obviously there must be a lot of mica in micarta.

[exeric]

I make mine out of fiber reinforced Micarta when I need them. Same as the material used in the -23 rear hub spacers.
Mark

Mark, is Micarta the same, or similar to Garolite? I use Garolite which is fine fiberglass cloth imbedded in epoxy resin. It's been called phenolic as well.

[T. Cotten]

Just wondering, Folks...

It seems "red fiber" washers and red 'vulcanized rubber' washers are sold interchangeably.
Shouldn't they be different? Or are they?

Micarta is unique, and I cut it for the little finger on late Schebler H lift levers, but for everything else I have too much PEEK scrap to ignore it.
Twenty-five cents a gram if anybody needs a little. Or a lot. I got twenty pounds.

....Cotten

[TechNoir]

Thanks for the input Mark. Also I have spoken to Steve Slocombe and he says that in his experience the fibre washers dont break up in use on the VL's.

I am currently reviewing my options. I wont be able to do anything to the bike for just over a week as I am away until Easter but I have various materials to chosse from so i have a week to mull it over.

John.