My 101 Scout Cannonball Build

[pisten-bully]

No leaks no liner.

I think that's good advice with new steel (having had a Caswell's liner fail a few years ago).

Not sure where Dana got his tank, but a friend of mine got a 101 tank from India and the fit was good, the construction looked good, but the fittings were metric and that caused some headaches. Indian Teile-Dienst, Jurgen Mattern in Germany, has well made tanks that fit....soldered not welded.

[D.A.Bagin]

When I purchased new tanks from IHC for my 440 after suffering 2 separate leak issues on my original tanks, I had the same choice to make. Line or not. I PCd them at 4lbs for 30 mins and checked with soapy water to see if any leaks showed. DO NOT GO TOO HIGH ON THE PSI!!! No leaks no liner. Speaking of new 101 tanks, where can I purchase repo ones that fit?? I have heard that some out there do not fit between the frame rails which would be a major issue.

[Jerry Wieland]

I would avoid a gas tank liner at all cost. New metal should hold liquid with ease - just pressure check for leaks before painting. Jerry

I've been working on the sheet metal the last few weekends. Nothing on this project has been easy. I got a great deal on a 101 chain guard from ebay. I'm pretty sure it's really for an earlier scout and it doesn't fit the 101. It's too short and doesn't have the cut out for the rear frame member to go by. So I sliced it in two put a 3 inch patch in. I took a piece of 1.25" round stock and used that to shape the cutout and welded it all back together. It's not my best work ever but it will look nice with some paint on it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]26170[/ATTACH]
My old gas tank was beyond repair. Plus I'm worried about gas leaks during the rally. I've seen a couple of pictures of BAD things happening when the gas tank leaks. So I splurged on a new tank. It was closer to fitting then anything else but not quite. One of the mounting holes was off by just a hair and the seat mount bracket was interfering with the tank. So I drilled the mounting hole on the frame one size bigger and ground down the bottom of the seat mount. I had fabricated the seat mount earlier because the original frame didn't have one.

I spent this last weekend working on the headlight. The original light was swiss cheese and I didn't have the glass or reflector for it. I won a tractor headlight off of ebay for $20, patched up the holes and welded the original light's mounting ears on. I little sanding and some filler to hide my welds and it looks just like the original one should have.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]26171[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]26172[/ATTACH]

And this how it came out
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Before anyone says anything, I know it's upside down. I think it looks better that way and that's how I got it so I'm keeping it that way.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but is there a general consensus on lining the tank? I'm leaning toward leaving it bare metal and trying to keep it full. I live in CA and it's super dry here most of the time so I don't have to worry about wet winters or humid summers. I think I'm more worried about the lining failing and causing a mess. Should I clean/prep and line it or leave it be?

WTR : 46

[d_lasher]

I've been working on the sheet metal the last few weekends. Nothing on this project has been easy. I got a great deal on a 101 chain guard from ebay. I'm pretty sure it's really for an earlier scout and it doesn't fit the 101. It's too short and doesn't have the cut out for the rear frame member to go by. So I sliced it in two put a 3 inch patch in. I took a piece of 1.25" round stock and used that to shape the cutout and welded it all back together. It's not my best work ever but it will look nice with some paint on it.
IMG_1509.jpg
My old gas tank was beyond repair. Plus I'm worried about gas leaks during the rally. I've seen a couple of pictures of BAD things happening when the gas tank leaks. So I splurged on a new tank. It was closer to fitting then anything else but not quite. One of the mounting holes was off by just a hair and the seat mount bracket was interfering with the tank. So I drilled the mounting hole on the frame one size bigger and ground down the bottom of the seat mount. I had fabricated the seat mount earlier because the original frame didn't have one.

I spent this last weekend working on the headlight. The original light was swiss cheese and I didn't have the glass or reflector for it. I won a tractor headlight off of ebay for $20, patched up the holes and welded the original light's mounting ears on. I little sanding and some filler to hide my welds and it looks just like the original one should have.
s-l1600.jpgIMG_1513.jpg

And this how it came out
IMG_1515.jpg

Before anyone says anything, I know it's upside down. I think it looks better that way and that's how I got it so I'm keeping it that way.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but is there a general consensus on lining the tank? I'm leaning toward leaving it bare metal and trying to keep it full. I live in CA and it's super dry here most of the time so I don't have to worry about wet winters or humid summers. I think I'm more worried about the lining failing and causing a mess. Should I clean/prep and line it or leave it be?

WTR : 46

[d_lasher]

It's been awhile, but I have been working on the bike. I got the rear cylinder to fit and modified the transmission shift to be a right hand shift. I had to do that so the shifter cleared the cylinder heads. Now, I'll have to switch the throttle and brake lever to the right. I'm not worried about the throttle but my brake lever is left handed and they're expensive to buy. I'll figure something out.

I got the carburetor all cleaned up and rebuilt. It's amazing how much dirt can come out of one little carburetor. Over the years I've become an expert at 50 year old oil soaked California dirt. I had a DLX 130 schebler that I converted to a DLX 110 by swapping out the venturi. Gave it a good cleaning, replaced the throttle bushings and float and everything rubber. I used cotten's tiny puller to get the main nozzle out. It's just some #10 threaded rod, I put a nut on the ends and pulled it out like a pulley puller. Easy peasy. All in all the carb was the most straight forward thing yet.

After that I started on the exhaust. As I said I'm using sport scout heads on top of a 101 bottom end. So there's no just buying exhaust headers. So, I bought these from amazon for like $25.00 and started the 4 week process of making headers.
IMG_1489.jpg
3D puzzles are not my strong suit I'll tell you that. It's definitely tighter down there then it looks.. There's about 3/8" clearance with the brake pedal, 1/4" clearance with the frame and chain guard, and 1/8" with the cam case. I'd get one right and the others would move. There's probably some secret to it that I just don't know. But I got it done and I think it came out nice. Here's a pic before I do the finial grind and paint.
IMG_1499.jpg

Now that that's done I'm going to make a empty muffler shell that I'll fill out later once I get the engine running. I'll experiment with different baffles and packing and see what I like. But for now it's just going to be a 2.5" pipe with caps on the ends.

I'm down to honing the cylinders, then sheet metal, and then paint. I'm in a race to get to the paint in October, it starts to get cold here in California in November and it might even rain!

WTR : 48

[d_lasher]

Bruce, I’ll give you call when the money shows up in my bank account!

Here’s mock up number 2,

D2F125C1-1C9E-4FAB-86FB-7FCEB7203D20.jpg

Three problems,
The rear cylinder interferes with the shift tower. I’ll have to trim back a little of the fins
The shifter is never going to get around the cylinder, I’m going to have to switch back to a left hand shift.
The ‘got a great price’ repop chain guard is two inches too short. I’m going to have to rework it.

[moldthread]

Hi Dana,
I found out there was a problem with the brushes about a week before the last cannonball from Portland to Portland.
It seems that all the brushes being made now are too soft and leave a carbon buildup on the inside of the cap causing mis-fire.
I solved the problem by changing the rotor from a "wipe spark" to a "jump spark" like Splitdorf did on their next model magneto.
I do have these rotors in stock and the work with both the original caps and mine.

[kitabel]

If you're satisfied that the actual seated and full open spring tension are within limits excess coil bind distance is harmless.
The assembled distance is only useful if you are using a spring with the actual lb. per inch deflection rate.

[d_lasher]

I'm trying to get the spring loads as close to the original 101 values as I can. I'm getting the specs from George Yarocki's notes in the 101 R & O manual.

[kitabel]

I'm sorry I haven't been following this closely.
.350" to coil bind is way, way more than any safety margin I ever heard of, like 5 times too much. It won't hurt anything, but how do you know you have enough spring load for the valves to operate properly at speed? Do you have specs for closed and full lift spring tension?

[d_lasher]

It was a good weekend. I got two of my three magnetos working!

But, no one seemed to notice I was driving my test jig the wrong way. I thought the NS2's were counter clockwise, but they rotate clockwise. And, I had the magnet installed backwards. I reread the scout 101 R & O manual and there was an appendix on the magnetos. It clearly showed I had both backwards. Rotated the magnet, turned the magneto around and everything still worked, big spark. The only problem is, I only have one working cap, and one brush for the pickup and no brushes for the rotor. Anyone have any good ideas for the brushes?

The next thing on my weekend list was finishing the cylinders. I got the coil bind issue resolved by taking a little off my new springs and shortening my valve keepers a little. I'm up to about 0.350 from coil bind. That should be fine. I also had to cut down some of the fins on the front cylinder to make room for the magneto. I left about 1/4" space from the cylinder to the mag case. I'm hoping that's enough so the magneto doesn't overheat. The only thing left for the top end is honing the cylinders to fit the pistons.

Next weekend, the carburetor.

WTR : 53

[Shaky Jake]

Excellent. Thanks for posting the video.


Kevin

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[d_lasher]

I’ve been on the road for work a lot lately and haven’t had much workshop time. But I did have enough time to get one of my magnetos running. Once again most of the time was spent making the tools.

Here’s my home made magnet charger. Don’t judge it on its looks, it’s mostly scrap parts I had laying around the shop.
0F733FBB-2B2D-4AF2-9D18-369FD78E4558.jpg

And here’s a video to the test jig I made for my drill press making a spark!

Many thanks to gharper who gave me some tips on magnetos when I met him in Denver. Mostly just that they’re not black magic and a little studying would be all I needed.

Kitabel, when I mocked up the engine a few weeks ago, I was .250 inches from coil binding the valve springs. I was able to get it to .5 inches just by modifying the valve keeps, and guides, and putting the gaskets on. I’m using a sport scout head and valves, and 101 springs and cams. So there’s a little bit of mismatching going on.

WTR : 55

[kitabel]

More about the coil bind issue?

[Shaky Jake]

This build would go a lot faster if I didn’t have to work so much to pay for it all.

WTR : 57

Hang in there Dana! And thanks for posting your build. I had to chuckle when you said “I swear I spend more time making tools then using them.” So true.

I’m looking forward to riding with you in 2020.


Kevin

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