neat pictures

evolution in progress

The top pipe is an original y pipe for a 36 to 40 big twin muffler. Notice how the inlet for the rear header pipe has such a nice saddle to it. This feature is very difficult to copy. The pipe below the og pipe is a nineties and earlier replacement. Notice how the pipe is filleted and then welded to the bottom pipe. The saddle below is a Dennis Corso CO. saddle, this is what is on most of the y pipes that you buy from v twin or J and P or anyone else. I remember when Dennis came out with these circa 98 ish. Everyone went nuts, it was honestly the best thing since sliced bread. They are pretty damn close, but still leave a little room for improvement, which brings us to the saddle below it---- my first prototype saddle!!!! This is a corso saddle with a skirt welded on to it. The mystery part from last week was the skirt. It is still in prototype stages, and I will probably end up having to make it a little bigger, but it is the next step in making the saddle closer to the original style.

Here is a picture of the inside before metal finishing. This took about an hour to do, which is a long time for such a minute detail. Life was a lot more simple when I just relied on other people to make parts and before I knew how to manufacture stuff.

Saturday muffler pictures

This is a 36 and 37 fin, it is metal finished to a nice peak on the top. These ended up being a bit of a challenge. I am happy with the out come and they are worth the effort.

Here is a re worked 38 to 40 fin. What a bunch of work! I am glad that I got them done after two days of grinding, bending and sanding.

Here is what I started with. You can see where the new rivets are installed and where the fin needs to be cut. Check out the seam on top of the fin anc compare it to the picture above, you can see that it needs to be cut down and re welded. Stuff like this isn't really important to 99 percent of the people in the world, but it is to me.

After the fins are cut to the right length, re shaped, riveted and shaped on top and re welded, they get welded to the baffles. This assembly will slide through the top hat, canister and reducer then be spot welded in place.

I spent the day filling orders so...

Here are some cool pictures anyways. This is Marty's dual engine drag bike. It is amazing. I talked with Marty the other day about the next motor I want to build/ play doctor Frankenstein with. It should be pretty exciting, but probably not as cool as a dual engine shovel head drag bike.

My dad worked on John's 48 rear fender. It is best to take fenders completely apart and start from scratch for fitting.

48 pictures and early stuff

We pulled john's 48 out to fit the rear fender today. I bolted on the freshly painted primary cover and oil tank.

NO OIL TANK

OIL TANK!

Here are some of the pieces for mounting the rear fender.

My batch of center baffles for my muffler project showed up. unfortunately they are 1.756 rather than 1.750, so I have to run them through a center less grinder to get them down to size. They have a .040 wall thickness, so the extra grinding operation won't have an affect on the strength of the material.

Here are standard reproduction lower horn mounts. They are parkerized. Originals were not parkerized.

So I blasted them and blued them with gun bluing, then shellacked them. The bottom one is dry, the top one is still drying. This works well and makes the parts exactly like originals.

pressure testing pictures

My Dad made a pressure testing cap a long time ago out of a cheap car cap, it finally gave up, so it was time to make a new one. this is a nos army oil cap, it is important to use a non vented cap. The first step is to drill a hole through the cap.

Then weld a Milton fitting onto the end of the cap

Here is a picture of the tank with air in it. I like to have fifteen or twenty psi going into the tank, then I spray it with soapy water. If there are any leaks, they will bubble, and you will know where to weld. I tested four tanks and only had two leaks to fix.

Here is Wayne's 46 with the freshly tested tanks on it.

I dropped these tanks along with John's 48 tanks off at Mikes to get in Primer. Once they are primed, I will fit the dash on both bikes!!!!

We picked up our batch of exhaust paint this morning. Here is a cool picture of everything on Jim's 39.

pictures!

Man o man, the bike actually looks like a real motorcycle. The exhaust is in getting painted today along with six other sets of pipes. Thanks for all the comments on what seat color to go with. I asked Jim- the bikes owner, and he said brown, so brown it is. Here is a cool picture of my dad lapping tappet adjusters.

I got the mats glued and riveted onto the boards.

VOTE HERE! Brown or BLACK

Please advise

fair pictures and shop stuff

Brittney and I went to the fair for a few hours this weekend. Here are some pictures from some crazy ride that spun us upside down. I used to really enjoy the fair rides, but after six or seven rides, I was feeling pretty sick. I think that I am getting old. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

There were all sorts of animals to check out. Most of them are raised by farm kids, and then shown at the fair every year.

I thought this sheep with a ski mask looked like he was about to rob a liquor store.

Here is a picture of a .250 ball bearing from the kj motor that I am working on. Check out how it is eroding. Luckily the races were still good, so I just have to replace the balls.

I spent the morning working on Jim's 39, I got the overhead oil line soldered up and ready for plating. The carb and manifold are on for good, now I can start hooking up cables.

It looks like a real motor now! Bit by bit.

Here's a blurry picture of Eric's 39 motor. It is all ready for delivery.

henderson kj and m5f carb

I spent some time on the kj this weekend. It is coming along nicely. It has matching cases, but sometime over the last 82 years, the crank and flywheel have been replaced. IT is all good usable parts though.

All of the inserts are blued and assembled in order to find potential high spots. It took a few tries to get it spinning freely. It works well now.

Everything is spinning freely now and working right. Now it is time to move onto the flywheel, clutch and bevel gear.

Here is a cool carb that we pulled out from inventory. It is an m5f which was for california highway patrol. The body casting is identical to the standard 37/38/39 m5.

This is the cool difference. The throttle disc is polished to a knife edge for more airflow. It is similar to m25s and m35s carbs used on early wldr and wrs

You can kind of see the taper to the edge in this picture. It is a difficult thing to photograph.

carb pictures

black paint and other stuff

I spent some time at Mikes today laying out decals and checking out black paint. This is the oil tank for John's 48. It should be finished by next week, then I can start fitting the rear fender!

I fit up the oil lines on Jim's 39. They are aluminum and very difficult to move around.

Short nuts with aluminum lines!

I spent some time wiring as well. Those are nos copper flags that I took off of nos wires and recycled them on this bike. I still have to set up the seat post.

Before I went to sleep I glued some mats to the foot boards. Maybe someone will see my name in this foot board in sixty years.

36 to 39 clutch bearing covers were flared and only held on by the tab on the bottom. To make one of these covers up, you have to turn a piece of metal and drill a hole in it, then weld it to the cover, then cut it off.

Now it just needs to be painted.