A Pilgrim's Progress

[k.perry]

otis
Junior Member posted 17 November 2003 23:16            
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Greybeard, No need to apologize, some of the archived posts are proof enough that everyone here understands and agrees with your frustration. But like you said, until we get more quality manufacturers like FHP, we have to have some alternative to keep the old bikes on the road. I for one am going to take my chances with Tedd's Knuckle cases. Someone is going to have to take the leap and hopefully it will prove that not all of V-Twin is crap. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress and if anyone has any question about the cases, I'll do my best to get the answers. Since there repop cases, I'm looking at putting together a magneto fired, 74ci bobber. Then if I have to grind, my guilt won't get the best of me. Mahalo again for the input now lets roll some dice and hope that we don't crap out...


Plumber
Junior Member posted 18 November 2003 03:42            
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All right Otis!... Go Big,... Go deep... brah!! Geeve's me da kine.... chicken skeen! (skin). Whose building your mill? Take your stuff to a Harley dealer if you can find one that will build your motor. A trained mechanic that builds these Knuckle/ Pan motors every day will take your pile of parts and go through them, saying "Good, good, no good, good, send back,...etc".
If you don't have a mechanic with a Sunnen hone, for your own time and money's sake, email Stett at http://www.stettsironhorseranch.com/ Send him your crankcase. He will pass or reject it and build you a 74 in. motor right. Shipping is not that expensive if your getting it done once. Or, buy the whole motor from Tedd. Or, ask Flathead power. Maybe they will build it . Maybe they won't, but you're the first person I know to sign up. Let us know if the Knuckle/ early Pan cam cover looks real. We had to spend a little time on our four-fin cover to get it round-tapered on the top (generator area) edge.
Get it rollling. I'm building a rigid Pan, but will maybe start on my Knuckle too, so I can build them side by side. Don't get "captured" by someone not qualified to build your motor. If the builder won't guarantee the motor, then wire Stett. You won't be sorry you did.

[k.perry]

Tedd Knuckle Motor History Begins

I have an offer from a world-wide publisher to buy up all our first volumes and they want to publish our second book and offer both and others, as a "builders package" of books a pilgrim needs. I called Chuck to check in and get his opinion.
I called him and it was late back there, probably almost 7:15, and he answered the phone! We talked about books for awhile, then it went to motors. He said he has commisioned an ex-marine motor-pool mechanic to build a Tedd Knuckle. The marine is a gung-ho. He gets these Taiwan parts from Chuck and never comes back and complains. If the star hub bearing sleeve racks 0.050" side to side because the cork retainer needs to be 0.050" thicker to take up the space, the marine fixes it on his own. He tells me this marine is like a Terminator guy. Like he's an unemotional robot/Mc Guyver fix-it dude, with a bunch of lathes and floor mounted tools. Chuck said he has an unopened cardboard crate on the floor of his shop. It's a Tedd crate and inside is a complete Tedd Knuckle motor strapped to a pallet. He's waiting for the mechanic to come over and pick it up. He said he saw another Tedd Knuckle motor un-crated recently. The huge 18mm spark plug holes were open (maybe to avoid condensate in humid climates).."Thought they woulda at least twisted some newspaper into the holes", he said. He said the cast iron oil pump body was brown-parkerized. It seemed he was talking about an animal in a cage and your looking at an antique replica, that looks antique. We are creating our own history now. You start pieceing out the parts and figure all the different people that it took to make the pistons, the'41-49 replica oil pump, the cam cover, the cases, the heads, the unbelieveably hard to stamp lower valve spring covers, and then you see this beast finally completed and crated. And the motor actually looks like a 1941 motor. When will a magazine do the first road test? Maybe our friends over at IronWorks will jump at the opportunity. Somebody call Marilyn Stemp or Dain Gingerelli and get them tracking on it. I for one, would re-up my Ironworks subscription just for the one issue that covered the Tedd Knuckle.