Ryan's A.M.C.A. Giveaway bike build!

[davidsonp9]

Great work guys especially Ryan. We are all impressed and envious. I like the paint layout on the tank and think that the silver a black sheet metal will really compliment the overall bike. You could also incorporate it into the fender skirts and rib. Very enjoyable reading your progress.

Paul

[J Wall]

Ryan,
Choosing paint colors can be painful. I vote for a dark red and white. Go man Go, sure fun to see an ehtuastic young guy taking care of business.
Jim

[1945UL]

the next bike i do is either gonna be red/ black or black/ white. im definitely impressed with the progress that's being made though.

[jurassic]

ryan ,what ever paint design you decide on ,i would be glad to have my painter ,and tim peterson in spearfish do the job.tim has a great eye for what color striping goes with which decal ,and base color.send the tin to sturgis ,and i'll get it done in less than a month.no charge.

[Ryan Mackey]

Nothing is set in stone yet so keep the ideas coming.

Ryan,
I like your idea of incorporating a decal color into the pinstriping. I noticed your other bikes have flat black paint. Just as food for thought, have you considered the black parts, frame, etc. & the black fender & tanks in satin finish with the silver in gloss?
Your doing great work.
-Bob

I never thought of that but definitely am considering it now, I think that could look really cool.

ryan ,what ever paint design you decide on ,i would be glad to have my painter ,and tim peterson in spearfish do the job.tim has a great eye for what color striping goes with which decal ,and base color.send the tin to sturgis ,and i'll get it done in less than a month.no charge.

Thanks a lot for the offer but Larry Medwig has already offered to do the job and as luck would have it lives only a few miles away from where I live. So since I am so close, I plan on working with him on it and learning that side of things, too!

I got a little surprise today from Carl...he got me my own apron with my name and all! Now I can keep my clothes clean in style!


I got the front mount done on the battery box this morning. Here is what it looked like before.


I measured off of a repo box to make new tabs.


My box needed the tabs replaced before the bend so I made the two tabs out of one piece and then bent it in half. Then I cut it in the middle which left me with a 90 degree bend on each tab. I thought this way would be much easier than having to bend each one separately.


And here they are welded on before I drilled the holes.


Tonight I milled down one of my heads. The heads that I have are low compression so by milling them down I boost the compression from 5:1 to 6:1. More power baby! My head is on the left and a high compression head is on the right.


Here is the head on the mill.


Tomorrow I plan to mill the second head and hopefully finish up the motor! Only 8 days of work left before I head back to Cleveland.

[Slojo]

Ryan
I love the apron, good work Carl. Ryan your enthusiasm is spreading with this project. Look to all the positive input from the guys to identify with this fact. You appear to be having the time of your life go for it, it only gets better from here if you continue to put forth the effort.
If this activity is any indication of future bike giveaways the club gets for this program we should offer one once a year. Instead of charging for spot rental at meets vendors should be allowed an option of paying in parts for another program like this one. Select a bike and then let the club collect the parts.
Joe

[Bills37]

Nice looking ride you got going there Ryan. Looks like you're have some first class experience and help. I can't wait to see the final product.

[Ryan Mackey]

Ryan
I love the apron, good work Carl. Ryan your enthusiasm is spreading with this project. Look to all the positive input from the guys to identify with this fact. You appear to be having the time of your life go for it, it only gets better from here if you continue to put forth the effort.
If this activity is any indication of future bike giveaways the club gets for this program we should offer one once a year. Instead of charging for spot rental at meets vendors should be allowed an option of paying in parts for another program like this one. Select a bike and then let the club collect the parts.
Joe

I really hope that another contest like this happens again so that someone else can get the experience that I am getting. I am sure there are plenty of other young people like me that would love to have this opportunity.

I made up some brackets for the battery box to replace the one that attaches to the fender. Since the fender is narrower, I did not like how the bracket stuck out. Here is what the stock bracket looks like.


Here is where I decided to cut it off.


All gone!


I had to put a flat piece back on to leave room to mount the brackets. Here it is all welded up.


While I had the welder set up, I decided to fill in the gap that is stock on a battery box. It will make it stronger and I think it looks better. It also gave me some more practice! Here is the gap.


And here it is after I did some sanding and filing.


Here are the brackets that I bent up. The middle one goes on the underside of the fender to give some extra support.


Here they are on the fender after I welded on some nuts. I ended up having to cut the bolts down to make some room so they mount flush.


And here they are mounted on the bike. They still need welded but that will get done tomorrow. These should be as strong if not stronger than the original bracket and fit much better with the sectioned fender.


There is still a list of things to do and only 1 week left to get them done so we are going to have to buckle down and get to work!

[Uhairball]

That is one sweet ride!

Hey Ryan, Do you have any plans to bring your bike down to Eustis or Bike Week to show it off? It would give you a chance to log a few miles and get an early jump on the riding season. Trust me, I know what it's like to be stuck up north in the winter! Keep up the good work!

[schmittm]

Work Ethic

Ryan,
I have been following your progress since before you even started and everything you have done so far is impressive. Of all the things you have learned and accomplished I think that your work on the battery box sums up the entire experience and is a lesson for all of us. Here are my thoughts on the "lesson" of the battery box.

Anybody can buy and install a repop battery box, no brainer, easy fix. There are very few restorers, if any, that would take the time and exert the effort required to drill and chisel an ancient and swollen H-2 battery carcass out of a corroded and rusted battery box, drill the spot welds, cave the old sheet metal box out of the frame, make patterns for the mounting tabs and completely rebuild the box. Then, when it didn't fit the sectioned fender, cut it apart again and make new brackets. The work you have done on that one single part tells us everything we need to know about you, and its all good.

I'm not saying all this to give you a big head, in fact I've avoided posting anything until now to try to prevent that. Everthing we have seen so far indicates that you are learning how to do things for yourself, and do them right. This also speaks highly of the guys that are guiding you through this. But, here again, I don't want anyone to get a big head. (Carl's is big enough already)

Us old guys are getting older and its comforting to know that there is another generation getting ready to step in and carry on, and, most importantly, do it right.

So, thanks Ryan for giving us all some hope for the future of our hobby, thanks Matt for getting this program off the ground, and thanks Carl for nurturing these skills and passing them on.

I guess all you guys will need bigger hats now......sorry

Mike

[Ryan Mackey]

Hey Ryan, Do you have any plans to bring your bike down to Eustis or Bike Week to show it off? It would give you a chance to log a few miles and get an early jump on the riding season. Trust me, I know what it's like to be stuck up north in the winter! Keep up the good work!

Unfortunately I am only here until next sunday. I have to get back to school. The plan is to come back in July and do the final assembly of the bike and then ride to Sturgis to show it off. I'm not quite sure yet how I am going to make it until July without even being able to see my bike but I'll have to find a way.

Ryan,
I have been following your progress since before you even started and everything you have done so far is impressive. Of all the things you have learned and accomplished I think that your work on the battery box sums up the entire experience and is a lesson for all of us. Here are my thoughts on the "lesson" of the battery box.

Anybody can buy and install a repop battery box, no brainer, easy fix. There are very few restorers, if any, that would take the time and exert the effort required to drill and chisel an ancient and swollen H-2 battery carcass out of a corroded and rusted battery box, drill the spot welds, cave the old sheet metal box out of the frame, make patterns for the mounting tabs and completely rebuild the box. Then, when it didn't fit the sectioned fender, cut it apart again and make new brackets. The work you have done on that one single part tells us everything we need to know about you, and its all good.

I'm not saying all this to give you a big head, in fact I've avoided posting anything until now to try to prevent that. Everthing we have seen so far indicates that you are learning how to do things for yourself, and do them right. This also speaks highly of the guys that are guiding you through this. But, here again, I don't want anyone to get a big head. (Carl's is big enough already)

Us old guys are getting older and its comforting to know that there is another generation getting ready to step in and carry on, and, most importantly, do it right.

So, thanks Ryan for giving us all some hope for the future of our hobby, thanks Matt for getting this program off the ground, and thanks Carl for nurturing these skills and passing them on.

I guess all you guys will need bigger hats now......sorry

Mike

Thanks a lot. We had talked about getting a repop battery box but like you said, anybody can do that. I learned way more doing what I did than just throwing a new part on. I know probably a lot of people won't even realize how much work went into just that one part when it is all finished, but I will and I guess thats all that really matters.

Speaking of the battery box...first thing this morning Matt welded the brackets on for me. All it need now is some sanding and it will be all set.


Carl and I worked on the motor all day today. The first thing we did was drill out the old breather valve.


And then installed the new one.


We had a lot of trouble with the oil pump. Everytime we installed it, it would cause a sticky spot when the motor was turned over. After a while messing with it and process of elimination, it was caused by the pump being a bit off center due to one of the studs. Someone at some point must of drilled and tapped the stud hole a little off which caused the pump to mount poorly which caused the rubbing. The best way to fix it was to eggshape the hole on the pump on the mill.


Here is what the hole now looks like. It wasn't much but worked like a charm!


After that was all worked out, we installed the pistons.


Then we had to make sure that the rods were aligned with the cases. The front rod needed a little adjustment but the rear was good!


Here I am torquing down the cylinders after we installed the rings.


And here are the tappets after I adjusted them.


There is still a little bit to do on the motor before it is good to go but it is really close!

[Ohio-Rider]

Thanks a lot. We had talked about getting a repop battery box but like you said, anybody can do that. I learned way more doing what I did than just throwing a new part on. I know probably a lot of people won't even realize how much work went into just that one part when it is all finished, but I will and I guess thats all that really matters.

Ryan, When no one notices or realizes how much work something took you to do, that is when you know you have done it right. -Steve

P.S.....As much fun as your having building this bike remember school is way more important. I knew you already know that but I couldn't help from saying it out loud.

[motorhead1]

Who did the coating on the piston skirts for you?

[Carl Olsen]

Motorhead,
We do the piston coating in house, Moly on the skirts and Ceramic on the tops. For all of you responding to Ryan's build I would like to say thank you for all of your interest, he is an amazing young man and has a bright future ahead of him. I taught machine shop for 6 years in a vocational high school and if all the students would have been like Ryan I would be still doing it, this young man is not afraid to try anything and picks up on running different equipment so easily that you would swear he has more experience than a person twice his age. Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people involved with this project and state that we chose the right winner.
Carl

[exeric]

The only thing that bothers me is, the poor guy has to wait until July to finish his bike. This project has been one of the most positive and enjoyable things the AMCA has done. Hang in there Ryan, and haunt this forum to get your old bike fix.