My 101 Scout Cannonball Build

[d_lasher]

Did a 140 mile test run today. Everything went well, no issues at all. Knock on wood. Checked the oil level when I got back and it was a hair to high so I leave the oil meter where it is. The plugs looked good and clean and the carb seems right on. All in all I’m really happy with the run today.

One very small nick picky thing was the left footboard seemed to slope away from the bike and it my foot would want to slip away. I made the brackets from leftover steel and I might have screwed up the measurements. So I’ll look at that tomorrow.

Chris, you have my dream bike. When I’ve got enough money saved up, That’s my next project. If I can find one.

I think you give me too much credit when you say it’s very purpose built. I think it’s more a random walk every weekend in my workshop.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas for my todo list, keep the, coming if anyone thinks of more.

We leave California for the cannonball in 13 days.
Dana

[chuckthebeatertruck]

13 days. . .

good luck and gods speed ;-)

[gharper]

Hi Dana,

Looks like you're well on your way,! Great job building the bike too, you're amazing!

I like your check list, it is important to have one so nothing gets missed, that's why pilots use them all the time! I have 2 comments for you:
1. I see you've listed "adjust the oil meter" a couple places. I assume you are referring to the mechanical oil pump feed rate. I would caution you about that because it's a tricky thing to get right and easy to get wrong. Hopefully by now any ride you go on you can check the oil level after each ride and the oil level should be about the same. Of course oil consumption varies greatly with speed, temperature and load. Hopefully you've worked that out and are pretty consistent. When you drain the oil while gassing up, measure it if possible. Watch this amount and then only adjust the pump if you are CONSISTENTLY running high or low and then only a small amount. Avoid the temptation to adjust if it seems a bit off all of a sudden.

2. You mentioned "repack the wheel bearings" on the rest day. Do you not have hubs with grease zerks on them? I was able to build up all 3 wheels that way and filled the entire hub with grease. Yes, a lot of wasted grease but all I needed to do was hit each zerk with a pump or two and it was good. Hope you don't have to take both wheels off and disassemble the bearings to do that! You may very well not wear out a tire so the wheels may not need to come off at all.

3. Looks like you are running Coker tires, but I can't be sure. Regardless, inspect the tires carefully each night, not just for pressure but wear, damage etc. You may not need to replace a tire at all. On my Chief sidecar rig, I'm still running the original front and sidecar tires, with over 5500 miles on them. Of course, the rear has been replaced 3 times, but you aren't dragging a sidecar!

Attached is a copy of my check list, for whatever it's worth. Note that in addition to keeping the rig in good order, we had to be sure the "Princess" was set to go in the Princess sidecar as well, another part of the endurance challenge!

Good luck Dana, I'm confident you will do well. Remember, its an endurance challenge, so slow and steady wins the race!

Gene
DAILY CHECKS FOR 1924 CHIEF.docx

[d_lasher]

‘Remove Peas’?

[joe fxs fxr]

‘Remove Peas’?

The princess and the pea. Old fable about keeping a princess comfortable in her bed.

[d_lasher]

I will fluff the pillow and check for peas every day then.

Dana

[gharper]

Trust me, keeping the Princess happy was an added challenge! It was great having her do the nagivating from the sidecar though, it allowed me to concentrate on the road, especially in traffic!

[d_lasher]

I've been doing some last minute checks and went to retorque the head bolts and found this

unnamed.jpg
a broken head bolt washer. When I checked the head there were casting marks right under the breaks in the washer. I sanded them flat and replaced the bolt and the washer. Has anyone seen this before? My only guess is the heat treatment failed and it made the washer too brittle and I cracked it when I torqued the head down last time.

gharper - Do you not have hubs with grease zerks on them?

I do, but I didn't fill the hub with grease because I was worried about over greasing the bearings and having the grease squeeze out onto the brake drums? My thought process is to repack the bearings after a week and that would give me a chance to inspect everything in there. You think I'm better off filling the hub and using the zerks?

gharper - I see you've listed "adjust the oil meter" a couple places ... Avoid the temptation to adjust if it seems a bit off all of a sudden

"Long closed-loop stochastic feedback system". Now that's something I know, I write process control software in my other life.

We leave CA in 6 days!

Dana

[Jerry Wieland]

I've been doing some last minute checks and went to retorque the head bolts and found this

unnamed.jpg
a broken head bolt washer. When I checked the head there were casting marks right under the breaks in the washer. I sanded them flat and replaced the bolt and the washer. Has anyone seen this before? My only guess is the heat treatment failed and it made the washer too brittle and I cracked it when I torqued the head down last time.

gharper - Do you not have hubs with grease zerks on them?

I do, but I didn't fill the hub with grease because I was worried about over greasing the bearings and having the grease squeeze out onto the brake drums? My thought process is to repack the bearings after a week and that would give me a chance to inspect everything in there. You think I'm better off filling the hub and using the zerks?

gharper - I see you've listed "adjust the oil meter" a couple places ... Avoid the temptation to adjust if it seems a bit off all of a sudden

"Long closed-loop stochastic feedback system". Now that's something I know, I write process control software in my other life.

We leave CA in 6 days!

Dana

Dana One more part to carry in your toolbox and one more thing to check repeatedly! Jerry

[tfburke3]

my guess is that washer is a reproduction,not Indian.
Tom

[d_lasher]

Totally repo. I even know where I bought it. Just didn’t expect a washer to break under 45 lbs of torque.

Dana

[d_lasher]

That’s it, pencils down. We leave on Wednesday and I still need to pack our truck up.

I did manage to make some extra spare parts on the lathe this weekend. Here’s a pic of arcing a spare set of front brakes with my fancy dancy homemade brake jig.

8E7CA14D-D09E-4602-9DF0-6B3D1E7A960D.jpeg

We leave in 3 days. Mary has decided to track our adventure on Instagram, you can follow us at ‘TheCastleHillGarage’

Dana

[PaulCDF]

Fair Weather and Good Luck Dana!

[pisten-bully]

Will be watching, good luck Dana!

[TH47Indy]

Good luck and safe travels!! I look forward to following you on the journey.