101 Scout... going to take a while

[PaulCDF]

Thanks Harry
Would Walkers have any advice?
I am recalling Mike Tomas’ film on removing kicker stuff from 1940s Chief: A lot of heat an a big hammer!

Okay I’ll say it: JB Weld?!?!?!

[pisten-bully]

replacing the kicker stud turned out to be a bit of an adventure, the old stud was not original to the bike, it was at least .023 larger than original, so the hole had been "worked", it wasn't fully round and some brazing had taken place at some time:

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I got the hole mostly round with a small hone, but the largest stud available is .015 over, or .772 so when Kent Thompson and I talked I had him send me some shim material that he had, along with the .772 stud. On my first attempt I shimmed the hole, but the stud pushed the shim out the rear after it was halfway through. It was tight, but not supported at the kicker end of the stud so I beat it out and started over!

This time I wrapped the shim around the stud along with some Loctite, clamped it over night:
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A heavy hammer (using a deep socket on the stud to beat on), and some heat and it's in there to stay I hope!

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I had a good conversation with Kent and my point of view was that the stud is not a moving part, it's a solid point that doesn't rotate so shimming should be okay!

[TH47Indy]

Nice job! I wouldn't have thought about trying loctite, usually reach for JB Weld for this type of stuff, but I hate using it.

[pisten-bully]

My engine is finally moving forward! After languishing at one machine shop for over a year with negligible progress, both parties agreed it was too long to sit and so we both decided I should give a shout out to another local. So I contacted Miles Mushlin, you may know him as a specialist in Nimbus four cylinder restorations, but he also ran a highly regarded and successful company producing precision machined parts for various industrial applications. Miles has since retired from his business but is by no means done working! Lucky for me he agreed to take on the challenge of putting this motor back together with a repaired case.

The first steps were to measure and determine what, if any, effect the welding repairs had on the bores and centers of the pinion gear bearing race, the cam bushings locations, the lifter bushings locations, and how everything would match up with the gears and the cover in place. Concentricity was one term Miles used (...and I'm still not 100% certain I fully understand.) Remarkably things measured up very close, and by close I mean we were fortunate to have a second case borrowed from DKGOZ (....thanks Dave!) to use as a type of blueprint.

Today I went over to Miles' shop and he showed me a very smooth turning gear case, it was awesome:

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Of course it wasn't as easy as putting gears in and mounting the cover! First try and the gears were way too tight, so Miles machined up a new set bushings. I think he finally settled on a third or maybe even fourth set of bushings until he was happy with the movement and gear lash. All the machining done by Juris was consistently .015 over and with the cracking in the case there was one cam bushing that required a bushing center that is visibly offset. But it's very smooth and the cover fits perfectly!

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Finally!

[Steve Swan]

Harry, glad to hear and see more progress! I enjoy and appreciate following your journey!

[PaulCDF]

Harry your cases look GREAT Good to hear you are making progress.

[pisten-bully]

Thanks you guys, I'll see if I can get some other pictures...those are a bit dark!

[pisten-bully]

..slowly but surely things are coming together on my motor, in spite of two set backs!

Setback #1: there was a wrist pin gouge in one cylinder wall

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I had heard and read good things about Nikasil so I contacted Millenium Technologies. We had a good conversation and determined that their process, with a boring and then a coating of Nikasil and then a final hone would be the way to go, and I would wind up needing new pistons at .06 over and a coating of .011 of Nikasil. So I packaged up the cylinders (with lots of insurance) and sent them off to Millenium, meanwhile I ordered new pistons. A few weeks passed and I had not heard from Millenium so I gave them a call. Over the phone I was advised that they wouldn't be able to do their process, they told me that because there was is a small, thin lip extending below the cylinder base that any boring would remove or thin that lip too much, and they therefore wouldn't take the job. This was all second hand from a fellow on the phone who had not even seen the cylinders, he was only reading from the inspection sheet. The person who actually handled the cylinders and measured them was away for a few weeks. I had them send the cylinders back. I was pretty disappointed but Miles talked me into sleeving, so we'll go with that.

Setback #2: the new flywheels from T&O had a problem. The drilled and tapped holes for the four lockwashers that go to the crank pin, drive pin, and pinion shaft were drilled in the wrong place, too close to the pin centers and a standard lock washer won't work on any of the pins. Here's what I mean:

lockwasher on the new flywheel:

new flywheel.jpg

lockwasher on the original flywheel:

old flywheel.jpg

MIles will drill and tap new holes but It's just annoying! T&O said they didn't know how that happened and they didn't offer to fix them.

So the beat goes on, MIles is working on flywheels getting them ready to assemble, align, and balance. More when it happens!

[exeric]

I have never been a motor guy so it's like waking the dead to me. Sorry to hear you are having to re-group on your cylinders. Cylinders are the weakest part of early motors unless you get lucky and get a motor that was taken care of. I may be going through this on my '16 motor so I'll be most interested in your updates. Thanks for taking the time, and effort to post good pictures, and descriptions, Harry.

[PaulCDF]

Thanks for the update and pictures.
Very disappointing to hear that about Truett and Osborn.
I've read good things about Nikasil as well but I guess there is a difference between glowing testimonials and real world applications,

But HEY after your crankcase challenges it's starting to be a "down hill drag"

[pisten-bully]

Paul, it is what it is! I'd say many, many businesses are short handed now, and the workforce is full of new people, if you can find them, that need training. Nobody's to blame (except maybe that raccoon dog in Wuhan ) and restoring a motorcycle is not a life or death situation...so we move on...but it IS annoying!

...and it keeps snowing here, my Chief is tucked away in my cellar behind a four foot snow bank...and it's snowing right now! Here's a shot from last week:

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...But it's maple sugaring time and I had a nice ski this morning...so there's that!

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[PaulCDF]

Harry;
But, you HAVE the Chief tucked away and waiting next season. And you have made tremendous progress on your Scout
Those with a sugar bush were mapling last week here in Central NY. So we are closer to riding every day.

[exeric]

I'll bet you get tired of hearing; "But it sure is beautiful !" In Florida it's; "But at least the sun is shining !"

[Skirted]

Enjoying the very nice detailed updates Harry. The master of perseverance! All the challenges and details you highlight really shines the light how important it is when one is buying a rebuilt/restored early motorcycle to know who did the work and if there is any documentation. We can see there are so many opportunities for short cuts due to inexperience, frustration, and cost, many of which cannot be seen once assembly is complete.

It was strange as I spent no time this year in SW PA plowing or even shoveling snow, so I feel for ya! Supposed to be 83 here today!

[pisten-bully]

Thanks you guys!

Flywheels re-drilled and tapped and you can see how the original holes for the lock washers are halfway covered...they'd have never worked.

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