Cannonball Fever!

As of today, there are only 44 days left until the CANNONBALL!  The '36 Chief is getting closer to being done.  Hopefully, Jeff, the painter will have everything done by Monday......or at least that's what Steve is counting on.  We will see......

It's CHRISTMAS in July!

That's just how Steve acted... he just couldn't get back from Wauseon fast enough to get to the painter's and pick up the rear fender and see just how it turned out!  Looks pretty sharp!

Now waiting on the front fender and tanks.....so gonna get handlebars all wired up, installed and wait.

Wauseon AMCA Meet

Got in a few parts from the painter just before the Wauseon AMCA meet, so they are on the carts and ready to be installed just as soon as we get back.  Hopefully, we can pick up a few pieces of sheet metal, like say the rear and front fenders when we get back to make the old girl start to get dressed up!

Getting Ready to Roll

                        Finishing up the rim work and getting ready to add the rubber!

                                       All aired up and ready to install on the bike,
                                       when the fender arrives from the paint shop!

Thank you Polaris!

Now, here my soapbox sermon for the blog..... With Polaris taking over Indian and all rights that go with the name, they are issuing cease and desist orders all over the antique motorcycle community for all items Indian currently in reproduction with the Indian name and/or logo on it.  Now, while I am in complete agreement for T-shirts, hats, signs and the like, the actual motorcycle parts that are needed to restore these old girls that are all but non-existent and repo parts are what most of us use, I AM NOT!

For instance, my 1936 amp gauge....since I can't get a repo one now, I have to try to piece and patch on this original to make it work.  Certainly would have been nice to have been able to have gotten one from Kevin Flanagan or the like....no such luck now.

Hopefully, the antique motorcycle community, who are solely responsible for keeping the Indian name alive will one day again be able to have the needed repo parts and pieces to these old girls become available.  If not for guys like my dad, Polaris may have been building a Cleveland, an Ace, or another early bike.

DISASTER Strikes....

We all know how anxious we get waiting on parts that we desperately need, so when the day comes when they finally show up, you install them almost immediately.  This is where my problem began... I am using the later style valve covers versus the clam shell. (I don't want to deal with the oily mess)  So, I  installed the later style valve guides.  After adjusting the valves, I went to close the valve covers and found that they were to short.  Damn!!! The ridged style valve guide is 3/4" longer due to the lack of fins as compared to the later cylinders.  So cylinders came back off..  I ordered a new set of valve guides from Rocky and they showed up the next day.  Out with the new and in with the newer??

Then it was back to putting it all back together.  With help from Dad on a Sunday we got the motor done, heads on and torqued, carb on, and distributor on and wired up the plugs..  Looked great.

Then Dennis (Beam Equipment) shows up with some honing oil I ordered from his shop and is asking about the progress.  Now earlier in the year, I had bought a Sunnen hone and a Valve guide and seat machine from him.  He was kind enough to come over and even show me how to use the seat machine as pictured earlier in this blog.  As I was telling him all about the valve guides, he had a strange look on his face.  His comment was "Tell me that you reground the valve seats!!!"  With that comment I sadly said "no".  Hell, if you used new ones to install the seats and replace them with new ones whats the big deal.....  Okay it is a really big deal!!!!  Dennis calls his wife and tells her that he will be late coming home and starts out with my tools taking parts off my motor...  "I am not going to let you run this motor like this" 

Well here's the problem.  All new valve guides are not concentric!! Period.  So, with the cylinders back off, and on the bench, we reground the valve seats.  And sure enough, they were not seating..  Then that's fixed and the reassembly starts.

Major new problem!  Valve spring pressure.  "What the F#@K!!"  It was so bad that at the top of the cam lift we were almost at coil bind.  So started going through boxes of NOS springs that I have and luckily found four shorter ones that worked great!  So, a world of thanks to Dennis for showing up and giving me more education on engine building.....

The Motor IS IN THE FRAME! HURRAY!!!!

I've got it together and in the frame, now onto the next step........

P.S.  This was the FIRST TIME that the motor was put in the frame, before disaster struck

They Gotta Be Round To ROLL

We spent the first week of June working on finishing up the lacing of the wheels and then getting them true, so they would be round to ROLL!  I also worked on the motor until I got to the point of waiting on parts yet again.    So...I worked on getting haymaking equipment ready for the next two weeks of making hay with my wife for her miniature donkeys.  We have 32, yes 32 miniature donkeys to feed through next winter....unless I can convince her that someone else needs them more than her.  Anyone interested......

Anyway, here's some pictures of the lacing process......

My buddy, Art Decker, working on lacing the wheels and making them true.

Motor work and Wheel work!