Day 8 - Starting the final mock up

I don't know if I am incredibly slow or what, but I figured with my lack of experience, I really should take my time to do this right. Almost every piece/system on this bike needs some sort of attention to make it fit or line up correctly. There's apparently a lot of finessing to be done to get it right.

So, I am nearly finished gathering parts, applying the right paint and finishes, and out sourcing work. I am currently getting my wheels trued and tires mounted. I have a contact back east who can rebuild my generator. Everyone I've spoken to has said you should have someone comptent to do it. Obviously, I don't fit the criteria.

What I have done is started the final mock up of the bike. I am checking for fitment issues and mounting every last nut and bolt. I plan to tear it back down again and, for the final build, have everything dialed in so it's just a matter of assembly.

So, I have the frame back from the painter and it looks better than it did before I had it straightened. I've installed the rear stand, forks, steering damper, front and rear footboard support rods, brake crossover with levers, engine with carb, transmission, inner primary, clutch, and primary chain.

The inner primary was a pain in the ass. I spent well over an hour trying to get everything to line up. The rear footboard and engine breather/chain oiler have to pass through the inner primary as well and they caused me lots of problems. I then installed the clutch, primary chain, and front sprocket. I don't know how tight the chain is suppose to be, but it's very tight right now. I have a feeling it might require more play in the chain than I have now. I'll be sure to ask a pro once they're all back from Davenport, IA. I also can't get my repop chain oiler to fit at all. It simply won't screw into the oiler and pass through the hole in the inner primary. I wonder if I have a poorly made tube, or something's wrong with my setup. I don't have the resources to manipulate the tube...this might be a problem I set aside.

Engine is in, forks are on

Breather tube next to the jack stands. Can't get it to fit!

Inner primary cover, clutch and chain installed. Shit is tighter than Dick's hat band.

Next, I am going to install the mudguards, battery box, and coil. I think I need a few more parts to mount the coil. I also need to paint my tail light assembly.

Dash

So, I got the dash pretty much squared away. An expert source informed me I have to put insulators between the bakelite plates and the base plate. I'll have to tear it down and do that again. It looks great I think!

Big dry patch...

So, I haven't been up to much these days. I did accomplish a few things and I was set back on a few others. I decided to powder coat a few items that might need some extra durability: Inner primary covers, wheel hubs and rims, and a few other small parts.

I finally got my spokes media blasted to simulate the original finish. The powder coating and stainless steel spokes are AMCA approved as far as I know. I laced the wheels, but I am going to have some one else true the spokes and then mount the tires and tubes.

Wheel laced and ready to be trued

I found a painter to re-paint my frame. Hopefully that will be done soon. After that, I can get to work on the bike.

Here's the bike during a mock up. About as far as I've gotten...

Update...

My to do list includes:
Getting left over parts painted up
Lacing wheels with media blasted stainless spokes
Waiting for the rest of my parts to come in
Getting generator rebuilt
Parkerize some more parts including the dash base
Repaint frame after it was trashed during straightening (my fault for not getting it checked before paint)

I'll be posting more progress in a few days hopefully!

Fixed commenting settings...

My settings were to only have registered users be able to post. I can see how many would rather not do this, so I opened it up to anyone who wants to comment. Please feel free to do so as I need all the help I can get! Thanks!

Thomas

Day 7 - Forks and Fenders

Another quick post as I am tired as hell. I just finished installing the fork rockers and hardware, front fender and hardware, and rear fender with hardware. It's actually starting to look like a motorcycle!

Please disregard low light artifact. The iPhone 4 isn't that good in this regard.

Another pic, darker but better color

I believe this was a 1918 JD with english side hack. From the Dixon AMCA swap meet

Setback

Rear rim is bent...you can see it when I spin the wheel. Why didn't I see that before? I guess I can use the spare from the side hack!

Day 6 - Front end mock up

Quick post...I had the bearing cups pressed in on the neck. I then mocked up the forks, steering damper, triple tree, and handle bars. Here are a few crappy pics...iPhone sucks in low light

How do high do I place the handle bars? 

Shows the headlight mount detail and upper damper

Freshly park'd triple clamp bolts, damper arm, et al.

Day 5 - Been busy...

Well, all that talk about how things weren't lining up correctly turned out to be true. The frame was sent to the Frame Man in Sacramento to be straightened. Sure enough, it needed a lot of work. On top of that, he said some things couldn't be fixed. Uhm, what?! Apparently the immobile object (engine) wasn't able to be fitted where all mounts could be accessed. Mainly, the top. I don't know if this is BS or what. I'm stuck with it now. Any advice on this would be awesome....except peanut gallery comments. HA!

Anyhow, the frame needs to be painted, but you know what? I should have waited to do that anyhow. I should have known to mock this thing up right and get everything lined up before I had it painted. Hmm, all of my lessons have a monetary value it seems.

I did mock up the engine and transmission with the primary chain attached. Just to see if it lined up. It seems to look good. I slowly hand cranked the starter and it looks true. Hard to turn it over by hand. I suppose that's a good thing. Lots of compression. Here are some pics

Yeah! Primary chain is on! 

Sweet goodness

Uhm, looks straight... 

This shit doesn't line up. Grrrrr!!!!! WTH!

Day 4 - Rear Wheel assembly

While waiting on parts for my forks, I decided to assemble the rear wheel. I reinstalled new components into the rear wheel hub as well as the rear brake hub assembly...bearings, washers, felt dust gaskets, etc. On the brake side, I installed new shoes, brake springs and a new brake operating stud. I had a brake operating lever from an early bike, so now I'm trying to score the proper lever.

Everything seemed to go together fairly well. I had to sand some of the paint off the frame where the axle went through and where the brake hub retainer stud inserted into the frame. The axle went through a small spacer, corbin speedometer gear and through the wheel hub and brake hubs. I installed the brake hub spacer and nut and then the locking washer and axle nut with alemite grease fitting.

I'm asking some experts regarding torque specs, wheel play tolerances, alignment,etc. The wheel turns by hand, but drags heavily on the new brake shoes. I also wonder about alignment. It seems a bit shifted to the right, but it doesn't rub anywhere and the wheel doesn't wobble.

At this point, I am considering this a mock up. I have to get the hub nuts, axle, and some other parts plated as well as the wheels relaced with cheater cadmium, media blasted stainless spokes.

Here are the finished pics.

Rear Wheel

Detailed View of spacer and corbin speedo drive

Detailed brake side

Lined up properly?

Brake side

Video: Checking wheel bearing free play

 Any opinions or suggestions, please let me know!!

Parkerizing - a side adventure while I wait for parts in the mail

Tried my hand at parkerizing with mixed results. Pics to follow!

Day 3 - Finishing seat plunger and seat

Stand back, it's looking like a bike. Notice my springer up front. I've got to parkerize those springs.

Not much work done today as I have to go to my real job tonight. I painted the seat T with black epoxy paint. I used it on a linkert carb and it seems to be a very "authentic" looking paint. It's called VHT (Very high temp??) I also had to ream out the seat perch mounting hole for the seat. The pin wouldn't fit through it at all. It fits nicely now and seems to work well. I also mounted the front of the seat T to the frame without much incident except more paint flaking off at points of contact with the seat T. You can't really see it now that it's all installed. Here are some pics!

Messinger no 3 Saddle

Front mount with Alemite fitting, parkerized hardware

Detail of perch to seat connection showing pin and retaining spring 

Ass view…Did I miss a spot with the paint!?!?

Day 2 - Seat plunger

I was going to do the springer front end, but for some reason I grabbed the seat plunger and decided to fit test it.  I started off by pounding in the brass bushing. Prior to the installation of the bushing, I ran it over the outside of the seat perch and it cleared perfectly.  Of course, once it was installed, it must have compressed a bit because it was now impossible to pass the seat perch. I then bored out the bushing a bit, sanded it and it works fine. I'm a little bummed though because some of the paint chipped off right around the perimeter of the seat tube. I guess I will touch up the paint.

A little chipping around periphery

Not too bad looking, I was a bit rough

I then got to work putting the seat plunger assembly together. It seems like I won't have any issues, but I need a pin spanner wrench to tighten the collar at the base of the seat perch. I tried putting it on by hand, but it won't seat. I'll have to wait a week or so to get that tool in. It should just drop in...I might need to adjust the load setting to finalize. I will also need a zerk fitting on the right side of the seat down tube. How much grease can I pump in there?

Cadmium plated perch and plunger assembly

Build Day 1

So, this isn't really the first day that I've started on this project. It's actually been over 2 years since my dad and I bought this bike as a basket case from a man in Woodland. We were looking for a "project" bike that I could build for him.

Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into! What we thought would be a quick/fun/easy project, turned about to be none of those things...well, it has been fun. Now, over the years of researching Harley Davidson and the side valve years of 1930-1936 and scrutinizing the parts we had AND the parts we were wanting to have, we've finally come to a point where we can start reassembling and turning this pile of parts into an authentic antique motorcycle.

It's been a long road up until now and the exciting part is that I am not even half way there in finishing this project. I thought, however, that it might be fun to blog now about this stage of the build. Now because I'm at a stage where the bike can start to take form and hopefully we'll breathe new life into this 89 year old motorcycle.

Ok, enough with the introduction business. I'm not one for words, so I don't want that to become to apparent through my writings. I'll make these posts short and concise and hopefully entertaining to those who are interested in what I am doing or at least in antique motorcycle restorations.

Day 1
Just got back all of the painted parts back from my dad's shop in Las Vegas. Basically, all painted parts including the frame, tins, handlebars, battery box, headlight, toolbox, etc. came back in various shades of antique paint curtesy of John Pierce at Colorwrite. Although most of it won't be seen today, the paint scheme is Police blue as primary and Creme as secondary. We went with a paint scheme that might have been done somewhere in between 1932 and 1933. It's a two-tone scheme with the 1932 only tank scroll and fender stripes seen in 1933 models. We decided to stick with the 1932 practice of painting the frame in the primary color (Police Blue) as opposed to black which I believe started in 1933.

Today I started out simple by merely blocking the frame. The "How to Restore Your Harley Davidson" book recommended installing the rear stand and then blocking the front with stacked 4x4's. I didn't think this simple task would take me so long, but because I'm basically an idiot when it comes to restoring antique motorcycles, I'm also not entirely surprised. My first hurdle came when I tried to install the rear stand. I tried running the hardware through the mounting holes and they didn't fit. I set out to reaming the bushings a bit larger. Ok, no big deal, they'll fit inside without a problem! Next, the repop stand I bought needed a little "coercing" to fit onto my frame. I basically had to bend it open to clear the ends of the frame. My last problem came when I had to push the springs onto the posts located on the rear stand. They wouldn't fit. I ended up sanding a lot of the paint off the end of the posts to get the springs to slide over. I also used a little grease inside  and on the bushings to get everything to slide on. It was very tight, but everything eventually slid in. I lost only a little bit of paint in the process. You can't tell though now that everything is installed.

Rear stand installed and up on 8" blocks up front

I then quickly put in the foot board support rods and threw a stack of 4x4's under the front support rod to lift the front end up. I was concerned however because the front support rod leans.

Right side higher than left

Although, when I checked if everything was level, it pretty much was. Wood blocks are level. The rear of the bike is level, but front is a bit skewed. What's bent? Frame/rear stand/ front support rod casting?? Any advice on the matter would be appreciated!

Rear mostly level...don't mind the cobwebs!

Whole setup from rear

Closeup of hardware and, apparently, dust. Details how dark the blue is.

Well, I think the next thing I will be tackling is the springer front end. It's already assembled with the springs all cadmium plated and new hardware. See ya'll then!!