A Sport Scout followed me home!

[AdminGuy]

It's a 1940 CDN military hard tail SScout. But I'm still excited. Going to convert to civilian. Finally got some time to layout the parts and take some pictures. To many images to post on board so I whipped up this hack web page. Which you can take a look at if your curious.

I realize that this may not be such a big deal for some folks. But we just got a few new modern repro Indians in the neighbourhood and two of those Kawasaki Vulcan w/ quazi Indian fenders, ohhh-boy..... So I'm looking forward to getting this bike on the road to show these folks where the design inspiration originally came from. It's going to be alot of fun putting this one together -as I was fortunate to get alot of it.



Click here to see heap of rust

[AdminGuy]

Good Luck with your "new" bike.

[T. Cotten]

Delightful project!

It looks to be in excellent condition to me, and the spares are certainly icing on the cake!

And your history attached makes it priceless. Although I would not let that stop you from re-createing it to your own tastes.

(You ARE going to stroke it, aren't you??)

[AdminGuy]

Thanks guys,
Yes, my eyes were popping out of the sockets digging up all the parts. A very large jig-saw puzzle. Long story.

The history clip clued me into why the laughing Indian riders have three 1940 Sport Scouts in club. I think. Now I know where they came from. Interesting stuff I thought.

Back in the late sixties a family member of mine (east) restored a couple of HD war bikes. His son moved to the island (west) w/ the bikes(70s). I wonder who owns them now? Perry? Danny?

CDN purchased Indian, H-Ds, Sq4s and Nortons for WWII. Nortons were better for off road bush whacking. ie road being straffed or mortored. DR riders would hit the ditch/bush pretty quick. Getting clipped by a tree was no fun. Guys prefered the Nortons, so I've heard. I should read a few more books about the war bikes.

WWI CDN used Indians from Toronto factory. 12-14 Mercer st. I think.

Re: stroking. I'm debating it. I should phone Max and talk to him. Cotton what advantages would I really gain from doing this? If it were period modified, ya I could see it. But now? To what resolve? I'd really like to hear some input. Pro's/con's.

I'm a young guy, and am planning to ride the bushings out of this bike. Until my spine/knees say enough. I do not have a large collection. So a rider is a must. The extra horse gain from stroking it? Is it worth it? Blowing a few Chiefs into the weeds may be worth it.....I need convincing.

Re: building a military bike. If I had a large collection I would do it. But I can hear all my ancestors saying. "Your nuts! build something that looks good." A Mike Breeding siren would be super fun to play with on a military bike. If I had more military parts I would.

But a full skirt 40 Sport Scout is such a thing of beauty. Well, worlds fair colors on a 39' is super slick also. Hummm...the beauty and the brawn in one package. That would be something.

[T. Cotten]

The main argument for stroking is not necessarily for more power, but to get rid of the ****py hardware.

If you have Z wheels, then great, but the cast flywheels have a horrible reputation. Judging from the airbubbles in them,.. I believe the horror stories Wilson tells.

And the rods were flimsy as hell in the first place.

There are several stroker formulas. Chief wheels gives you 57",.. but feels radical, and probably has a shortened life.

Stroking with WL wheels has been a longtime favorite, I have learned. The problem is that those wheels have gotten just as expensive, although the stronger WL rods are well worth it.

Modern Sportster (ugh) rods and wheels seem to be the most promising alternative, but no one has produced the hybrid shafts that are necessary. (The WL converison either uses hybrids that are available, or tapered adapters to the original shafts.

What little I know about this I have gleaned from discussions on the VirtualIndian mailing list. There is a lot about various pistons and other insights in the archives.

[AdminGuy]

Yes, I can see it now.
I have no pistons (which I read were really questionable when manu. in 40). I also have been looking at cons and have been thinking about structural integrity of them. Nothing visable -just 30-40yrs of being knocked around and exposed. So I've been thinking -they gotta go. I don't want to risk it.
Z-Wheels image. attached. Note bubble.

So, I guess I should start looking for some WL rods?

I should get on the VI email list. List server thing. I'm a little nervous about being flooded w/ mail. Cause I get tons fr many different directions. But I'm sure it's not a problem to unsub. fr list.
I have been into the VI site. It's great! I'd like to see specific H-D models do the same thing. I think I'm going to write a personal cheque to Lyle to cover some of the hosting costs. And to say thanks. I have CAD 14 and was thinking I could help blue print a few parts?

[T. Cotten]

The hardware looks fine!

The Zs were a malleable metal, and the bubbles are insignificant. The 'cast' ones make yours look as good as forged.

If your rod rebuild includes steel shotpeening, and straightening and alignment (don't forget inspecting for offset), then keep the rods too.

Yes, the VI list will wear out your delete finger, but the golden info is there. Go for the digest format.

It's truly a shame that very few vintage H-D oriented sites (FHP's board is an exception) get much attention. If it ain't about tats and lifestyle,.... it gets ignored by the harley crowd.

And about this board's format: I was surprised to see that c r a p got bleeped, but not "hell".
I'll watch my language in the future. honest. really.

[AdminGuy]

First let me say crap - crap - and... crap. Ok, it's a trial and error process.

I did take a boo at the VI list digest and liked the fact that I could quickly read through the digest much like a BBoard system. The advertising was kinda strange, but I just blazed through it. No bother. This was the one of the ideas behind THIS board being set up. No in your face advertising for club members. But if your clever you can soft sell. Which is cool and fair game. It was nice to see some familar email addresses yaking it up in there. I'll have to put my questions in when I get a list of good ones.

Tats and life style - all part of the big marketing machine. It's strange -what was once consider individualistic is now conformity. If you really want to let your "freak flag fly" you've got to be creative. I'm thankful the club has attacted a few of "the originals". I respect and enjoy that. I'm personally a "no logo" kinda guy. I love it all. From antique steam farm equipment to bizzar mopeds, to solar powered low voltage stuff. I had to look under the rear fender of the Kawasaki Vulcan to see how the engineers (VS H-D) integrated the mono shock w/ the hard tail appearance. Strange, but still very interesting. History does repeat itself. The owner told me the fender styling came from some old American bike? "Oh, really"? I said. -Just left it at that.

How sad. Time for some serious PR.

OK- great! so the con rods are doable if I have a pro work them over and check them out. Happy days!

I hope someone brings a fairly accurate 40 Sport Scout out to Davenport or the Evergreen Road run so that I can shoot a ton of pictures of it. Just to see how it's set up. It's all the small detail stuff that is driving me crazy.

I'm gearing up to put the (pre-cleaned) aluminum chunks in the dish washer. I just need a good window of opportunity. If you know what I mean. I think the oven needs a hi- heat self cleaning as well. Tee-hee-hee.

I used to do this with a single hot plate and a metal garbage can. But have gotten lazy. Metal garbage cans are hard to find?

[AdminGuy]

Cotton, you have a great shop over there at Liberty Motors. I really like the clever oil pump tester that you built. Very clever! Great in house equipment. I was looking at some pictures that were on the VI yahoo list. How goes the land speed machine? Looks like fun. Very cool. I should drop in to see you some day. OK, so this is off topic....

[T. Cotten]

We are all anxious to hear about the Dream Catcher,
more when it happens!