My grandfather's 1916 Indian Power Plus coming back to life

[bbinns]

Hi Stephen,
That is a brilliant original bike that you have. What ever you do, dont use clear coat or any such coatings to seal the paint and patina. I would coat with something like lanolin just to preserve the finish. Dont use anything aggressive and try a small patch in a not so obvious area first. Ive cleaned up a lot of nickle parts on my 1923 Excelsior with WD40 and steelwool, although I would be reluctant to touch the finish on your bike at all as it already looks quite good. Once you start cleaning one bit up, you have to do the lot! You could coat the whole bike in WD40, but its a bit of a pain when you rub against it and get all the dirt and grim on your clothes.

Another thing that you are very luck with is that your bike is an electric model with most of the hard parts still intact like the switch box, horn, battery box and taillight. Do you have the headlight or generator?

Cheers Ben

[Grampa1916]

Hello Ben,

I have not found the light or the generator. My Grandfather must have changed the magneto for a non generator version and made some linkage modifications to make it work. I have that mag out for rebuild and will get the bike working with that one before I start looking for the generator version.
Thanks for the preservation ideas. It has a good deal of grim already, so I will probably use wd40 on any metal I expose for now.

Thank you,
Stephen

[Grampa1916]

Hello Roger,
I will have to look you up when I get to Iowa in 2019.
Thanks for the route information. I am sure it will be a challange to retrace my Grandfathers route exacty due to all the road changes.

Your icon got me thinking about my muffler.
Here is a picture of what I removed from the muffler.
Muffler.jpg
I think a mouse made a home in it.
Inside.jpg
Now it is all clean inside.

Regards,
Stephen

[Ross]

I too like WD 40 but in time it evaporates. it is not aggressive to original paint and finish. I have also used trumpet oil with great success, the stuff your kid uses in band class. Both of these after a good cleaning with soft soap and warm water and dried by soft clothes very well. Nice bike, you are extremely lucky to have such a family piece.

[Grampa1916]

I too like WD 40 but in time it evaporates. it is not aggressive to original paint and finish. I have also used trumpet oil with great success, the stuff your kid uses in band class. Both of these after a good cleaning with soft soap and warm water and dried by soft clothes very well. Nice bike, you are extremely lucky to have such a family piece.

Hello Ross,
Thanks for the trumpet oil idea.
What would you do for the muffler? I just cleaned out debris from the inside of the muffler and I noticed alot of grease and oil buildup on the outside of the pipes and muffler body. My concern is that once I fire up the motor, the pipes will get hot and start burning off the old buildup. The other side is that if I clean them well, they will start to rust. I don't want to paint them because then they will look too new compared to the rest of the bike.

Thanks,
Stephen

[Grampa1916]

Hello All,
Here is a picture I just found that shows the bike working on the farm.
I am not sure when it was taken, but it shows the bike without the light and after the brakes were modified.
work bike no unsharp.jpg
Regards,
Stephen

[fillibuster]

looks like he's hauling in a sack of spuds and a small barrel of milk?

[Shaky Jake]

Hello All,
Here is a picture I just found that shows the bike working on the farm.
I am not sure when it was taken, but it shows the bike without the light and after the brakes were modified.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18992[/ATTACH]
Regards,
Stephen

That's a great picture, Stephen. Thanks for sharing it. As far as the muffler, mine also had a layer of baked on grease coating it. I left it that way. I think the leaky transmissions is the thing that preserved these old mufflers!

Good luck.


Kevin


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[bbinns]

Oven cleaner will take the grease and oil off, just be careful to use in a ventilated area and dont get it on paint you want to keep! With a total loss oil system (i.e. the oil in the motor is burnt or mists out the exhaust rather than scavenged back into the oil tank for reuse), the muffler will soon get a fresh coating of oil again with the motor running.

[jellywrestler]

I too like WD 40 but in time it evaporates. it is not aggressive to original paint and finish. I have also used trumpet oil with great success, the stuff your kid uses in band class. Both of these after a good cleaning with soft soap and warm water and dried by soft clothes very well. Nice bike, you are extremely lucky to have such a family piece.

the museums over here said stay away from crc wd40 etc as while it evaporates there's a residue left, i have an original paint 1918 henderson;i don't use anything, it doesn't deteriorate in my shed whatsoever try that approach first while others comment. even if i'm out in the rain it dries off and any new rust is 'dusty' and will wipe off with a cloth.

[Grampa1916]

the museums over here said stay away from crc wd40 etc as while it evaporates there's a residue left, i have an original paint 1918 henderson;i don't use anything, it doesn't deteriorate in my shed whatsoever try that approach first while others comment. even if i'm out in the rain it dries off and any new rust is 'dusty' and will wipe off with a cloth.

Thank you, Jellywrestler,
It is doing fine in my garage without anything, so I will leave it that way for a while.

[Grampa1916]

Rear Brakes

Hello,
I just removed the rear wheel and opened the brakes.
My grandfather changed the linkage for the brakes and was only using the outer band for many years. You can see the linkage in the working bike photo I posted eariler.
It looks like the brake drum is worn down on the outside and grooved on the inside. The bearing races have reduced the spacing causing the brake parts to rub on the drum.
Flipped Used drum.jpg Flipped Inside Drum.jpg
It looks like there is a grease shield inside the brake that was missing from Shaky Jake's rebuild.
Flipped Brake parts.jpg
I was able to find a rear bearing kit from Ziggy in Canada, I am ordering them this week, but I have not found a new brake drum. Does anyone know where I can find one?
Thank you,
Stephen

[Shaky Jake]

Hello,
I just removed the rear wheel and opened the brakes.
My grandfather changed the linkage for the brakes and was only using the outer band for many years. You can see the linkage in the working bike photo I posted eariler.
It looks like the brake drum is worn down on the outside and grooved on the inside. The bearing races have reduced the spacing causing the brake parts to rub on the drum.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]19010[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19012[/ATTACH]
It looks like there is a grease shield inside the brake that was missing from Shaky Jake's rebuild.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]19011[/ATTACH]
I was able to find a rear bearing kit from Ziggy in Canada, I am ordering them this week, but I have not found a new brake drum. Does anyone know where I can find one?
Thank you,
Stephen

Stephen,

I got my brake drums from ZOC (Ziggy of Canada). I may have gotten one of his last ones. I got the cups, cones, and grease shields for my bearings from Walker Machine. The balls are available from McMaster Carr, I think they are 7/16 inch but measure an old one before you order.


Kevin

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[Spacke2speed]

The rear brake drums came in two versions, I have not tried to look up which is for what years. On one version, the outside brake surface was curved, the brake band would wear into the curve, thus keeping the brake band centered on the brake drum. The other version, the outside brake surface has “curbs” on both edges retain the brake band between them.
It is interesting to see the front wheel speedometer ring gear from the Stewart #200 speedometer system still on the front wheel.
It is also interesting to see a lot of the Splitdorf magneto/generator electrical system still there.
The amp meter, battery box, fuse holder, taillight, and headlight mount.
The two switches on the handlebars, one if for the horn and other is for easier starting, which applies some current to the Splitdorf magneto/generator top coil to energize the magnets more until the motor starts running, at which time the magneto/generator will support itself.
It is hard to tell, but it looks like there is the later version of the switch plate with the two switches on the back of the tool box. The littler switch next to the bigger center one, is for dimming the headlight, you will find a coil of wire inside the switch box for that switch.
Spacke2speed

[Grampa1916]

Stephen,

I got my brake drums from ZOC (Ziggy of Canada). I may have gotten one of his last ones. I got the cups, cones, and grease shields for my bearings from Walker Machine. The balls are available from McMaster Carr, I think they are 7/16 inch but measure an old one before you order.


Kevin

.

Hi Kevin,
Ziggy is checking to see if he has more than he needs for his machines.
I am getting the cones & cups as a complete kit from Ziggy. He says it will have all the parts needed for the rear axle including the hollow and solid axles and the price was good.
Stephen