My 101 Scout Cannonball Build

[d_lasher]

The best laid plans....

I had wanted to spend July and Aug working on getting ready for the cannonball but a few days after my last post my Dad had a heart attack and quad bypass surgery. I flew out to North Carolina to take care of him and spent most of July in hospitals and doctor's offices. I'm glad to say he is doing fine and is expected to make a full recovery. My last week there he was giving orders like I was still a teenager!

So now, four weeks later it's time to start getting ready. I still have a bunch of little things to do on the bike and I need to get the truck ready for a around the country haul. Stay tuned it's going to get crazy over the next three weeks.

Dana

[gharper]

Dana,

Good job finding the problem! To me it's very unnerving when things aren't working as they should and always satisfying to find and fix the problem!

You mentioned your concern about a possible air leak making the engine run rich. An air leak will make the engine run lean, which corresponds to a HOT engine, and that will lead to disaster, not good!! I was always concerned about that on my chief. I made PEEK manifold seals which sealed up beautifully, however they wanted to work loose. My solution was a bit of loctite which solved the problem. However, just to be sure....... I put a big black witness mark on the manifold and nut using a sharpie, that way at a glance I could tell if they were working loose. Eases the mind when you're motoring cross country and worrying about what might go wrong....

On your magneto picture I see the coil wire is coming in from above, which is ok but not ideal, and the wire you are using appears to be heavy gauge standard wire. I see a potential problem, one I had on a road run in 1990. The wire from the coil should be what is called brush wire. This has about 56 strands, woven into a cable. Being # 16 wire, it is very small but most importantly, VERY flexible. The reason here is that every time the spark is advanced or retarded, that wire will flex and at the terminal connection, a non flexible wire will eventually break. I originally used a standard wire with maybe 12 strands which is not very flexible. Within the first 500 miles that wire broke right at the ring terminal connection. The nice piece of shrink tubing I used held the wire in place for a very frustrating intermittent bad connection! Since then, every mag I do gets the flexible brush wire. Also, by routing the wire along the right side and looping under the points then up to the terminal, this keeps that connection from flexing and possibly breaking. This was the original routing by Splitdorf. See the attached picture of my cannonball mag for the correct routing. It is an S model, so slightly different inside than yours, but wire routing should be the same.

Note also the damaged fiber gear in my picture!!! This was my nemesis on the cannonball, causing us to miss our only miles on one day. I think we talked about it earlier, but I'll mention it again because it is a potential game ender. The fiber gear is driven by a steel gear so gear lash is critical, a tiny amount but not too much and no bind at all. The gear is mounted on a steel sleeve which rotates on a big bronze bushing. This sleeve / gear assembly MUST ROTATE ABSOLUTELY FREE! The bushing is oiled by a wicking system in a small reservoir around the bushing. In my case, the reservoir had never been properly cleaned out and decades of dried oil, carbon, dirt and dust plugged the wicking system. Even though I added oil every other day, it started to run dry. This caused one tiny spot where the steel and brass started to gall up. This created a slight drag at one point and caused the gear rotation to stall momentarily. wasn't long before the teeth started to break off and that was the end. So, bottom line, if you haven't done so yet, clean the reservoir on both of your mags and be absolutely sure the gear rotates freely and lash is et properly. You will need to remove the whole assembly and the wick to get the reservoir cleaned. I used solvent, pipe cleaners, wires and a water pick. I was amazed at how much crud came out! I also did all 6 of my Splitdorf mags, they were all very nasty inside! Carry a spare too, on the bike!

Good Luck!
Gene


Magneto failure cannonball 2018.jpg

[d_lasher]

I picked up about 10mph cruising speed when I got a better insulated helmet.

Lmao
Dana

[tfburke3]

I believe the cam gears were all the same at least 34-53,with any differences just manufacturing tolerances.The cam chest gears should all have a little clearance.Hold on gear firm and its mate should be able to move a little,almost clicking.The only way to improve the fit is to try a number of different gears.THe magneto may be adjusted for best lash but its a compromise between centering in the hole/seal or moving off center to improve lash.
Indians gears are pretty noisy.
I picked up about 10mph cruising speed when I got a better insulated helmet.
Tom

[d_lasher]

Joe,

I know what the noise is not. I replaced the valve lift rollers. I checked the clearance of the valve gear bushings and they all checked out. I replaced the idler gears with no change. I swapped out the magneto with my spare and new mag bearings. And the gear noise is still there. So either I'm just to picky and that's the way it's supposed to sound like or it's the cam gears.

I haven't heard of different pitched gears for the Indian. Though if someone else has I'm all ears! At this point I'm just going to keep looking for cam gears that are in good shape and cheap enough. Till then I'm just going to live with the whine.

In other news I got to be in our local 4th July parade. I'm told we were a big hit with onlookers.

Dana

[TH47Indy]

Great to have you back Dana! I’ve really enjoyed following your build and posts, and looking forward to following the next steps to your Cannonball run.

[joe fxs fxr]

Have you figured out your gear noise problem? On my shovelhead harley, they used different pitch diameter gears to dial in lash. You measure them with .105" or .108" diameter pins in opposing gear roots, depending on the year. Is that something Indian specifies somewhere?

[PaulCDF]

Looks Good Dana; Great detective work finding the magneto issue. Have a BLESSED and GREAT 4th of July!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!!!!!

[d_lasher]

Two months to go until the cannonball. I guess it's time to get this thread back up and running. Back a few weeks ago we did the "Mother of all runs" in Kanab Utah. We had a blast and learned a lot. The bike ran OK, it was down on power right from the start and lost power as the week went on. I wasn't able to finish the last day out to the Grand Cannon. So we packed the bike up and took it home to figure out what went wrong.

I was pretty sure I had a manifold leak and was running to rich. I took the carb off and did a leak test but no bubbles. Put the carb back on and did a propane test but still nothing. Checked the fuel filter, plugs and all the easy stuff but still no power. The bike started and idled OK but it had no power to get me up a hill. Then I remembered a quote I saw here, "Carb issues are ignition problems and ignition issues are carb problems, OK that's not the real quote but that's what I remembered. So I pulled the magneto out and found the screw holding the ignition cam was lose and the cam was lose in the magneto. This was causing the timing to move all over the place. Turns out when I rebuilt the mag I didn't Loctite the screw in and it shook lose. This time I used green Loctite on it and I'm going to watch it closely to see if it shakes lose again.

Put everything back together again and I've got power back again and I can get up hills now.

We'll be in our local 4th of July parade and then it's time to get serious about the cannonball.

thumbnail.jpg

[TH47Indy]

Hey Dana, great to see that you are back at it and prepping for the CB this year. The bike and location look great. I look forward to following your progress this year.

[d_lasher]

It's a new year and it's time to start preparing for the cannonball again. 32 Weekends left to prepare. The big thing on the bike right now is there is still a loud gear lash type noise from the valve train that I just can't find. I now think it might be coming from the magneto gear. My plan is to put my back up mag on and see if the noise is still there. I've replaced the rollers on the cam followers, and checked and double checked the clearances on the gear bushings. Anybody have any good ideas on what it might be? Any ideas on how to check the actual gears for abnormal wear?

I've still got to work on my riding. I've done a couple of 50 and 100 mile days but I still need a lot more but time in the seat to get ready for 3000 miles in sept.

Here's a pic up at Henry Coe, one of the state parks here I rode too a few weeks ago.

IMG_1984.jpg

[pisten-bully]

Bummer Dana!

Maybe find a like-minded soul and do a long trip anyway? Half a Cannonball, out and back for 1500 miles through some nice country, like go to Sturgis? You’ve put a lot into your Cannonball effort and have also put another vintage bike on the road, so enjoy it!

[d_lasher]

https://www.facebook.com/motorcyclec...50120998343667

Phooey

I know it's for the best given the current environment but I'm still a little sad. I've worked on Oscar just about every weekend for the last 18 months to get ready for this and just as it was all coming together it's not going to happen. I guess I'll finish off a few last minute details and enjoy the bike on a few more rides and then put him away until next year. I've got another project waiting to start so I might clean the shop and start working on Oliver.

Still a little sad, no cannonball this year.

[PaulCDF]

Beautiful Dana!

[d_lasher]

I got in a couple of 20 mile runs on Saturday, mostly to get the oil meter dialed in and check the carb settings and spark plugs. Today we went on a long 130 mile round trip ride to pinnacles national park. We had a nice picnic lunch and met a bunch of nice people who all wanted to know how old the bike is. People don’t get to see a 90 year old bike very often.



Here’s a nice pic from the side of the road up to the park.