I don’t know where to start, but that’s nothing new. We’re down to three weeks and still standing outside waiting for the UPS driver to roll up with our final components. Jim Murillo has the Gard Hollinger modified tank for paint. Yvonne Mecalis is posed to paint the Assalt Weapan girl on the front fender. I’m hoping to assemble it any minute now. Hell, we’re still in discussion on how to spell “Assalt.” Should it be “Asalt”? Hang on.
The Accurate Engineering 120-Inch Outlaw Engine is scheduled to arrive on Friday (3 days from now) and the silver sled should be running by the end of the next week. Here’s a report from Berry Wardlaw, the master of Accurate Engineering:
My red label custom emulsion tube from Zipper's did not show up on Thurs. or Fri. Came today and turned into an air cleaner, although the invoice was correct. My son, Jennings, started school this morning, and his dog was stolen Saturday. I’m sending the engine without the Bonneville carb, as I am waiting for Zippers to correct this problem.
Yellow Freight guarantees engine will arrive Friday. This freakin' engine is AWESOME! Do you still have the same dimensions for the last pipes we made?
We will build the pipes over the weekend, have them jet hot, thermal coated and be ready to rock. My only real concern is the myriad of wiring details waiting patiently to be worked out. The Nitrous system, the Pingel electric shifter and the AIM sports data acquisition system are no problem by themselves, but we’re stacking untested and untried elements. It’s gonna be a photo finish.
Here’s the latest regarding the D&D on the exhaust system: Dave Rash is shipping me a kit of components, chunks of pipes and a design for maximum power between 4,500 and 6,500 rpms. He wants us to run megaphones and told me not to heat wrap the pipes. I'm supposed to thermal coat them. He's sending me a stepped plan. “Heat wrapping is great for turbo systems,” Dave Rash said. He’s the boss of D&D. “The exhaust creates a layer of fumes inside the pipe, which the remaining exhaust slips through, restricting the flow some. The more heat, the thicker the layer. Exhaust wrap prevents exhaust system heat dissipation and that’s not a good thing. Thermal coat will do the opposite, and the pipes will work more efficiently for more power.” The pipes will be between 35 and 38 inches long, with the megs added to the overall length.
This report will deal final welds before powder coating, fork stops, True Track steering damper and powder. In the end we’ll grapple with a taste of final assembly and a handful of performance considerations. We’ll discuss Green metalflake paint from Rollin’ Sixes, the Baker shift drum installation for neutral at the bottom and seat pan construction from MC Advantages (Chapter 12). Hang on, some of the following will blow your mind.
We also had the wheels shaved at Nate's in Long Beach, filled with nitrogen and balanced, for cooler running, larger rear patch area and enhanced traction. According to Bob Bennett of Bennett’s Performance, this one modification will be a considerable enhancement to our success on the salt. I took the wheels to a backyard tire repair and suspension joint on the back streets of Signal Hill called Nate’s.
Signal Hill, on the Eastside of Long Beach, California, was a lump of oil filled dirt peppered with oil wells for 40 years. It was an industrial wasteland, which is now home to high-dollar homes that overlook the vast Long Beach Harbor. There’s still a few old school, backyard repair shops and oil wells trying to maintain a low profile as yuppies plaster the area with textured stucco, manicured lawns and BMWs.
From day to day this is a humbling experience. I always tell folks that life is a roll of the dice, and it is. We try like hell to research, ask good questions, follow directions and learn from experience. At the end of the day we reach for a high percentage of correct decisions over bullshit ones. I learn to roll the bones, stumble and fall, pick my dusty ass up and hit it again. I’ll explain as we roll along quickly heading for the flats.
I yanked the Wil Phillips designed steering damper off the Salt Shaker and prepared to mount it to the Paughco frame and Harley-Davidson Dyna-Glide front end trees. It looked as though it would work.
I carefully drilled and taped the bottom of the cast aluminum factory triple tree for 3/8 coarse threads. We machined a longer arm for the damper system to reach the frame bracket and prepared to mount the bracket.
We machined the slot in the bracket a tad deeper and studied positioning until we were confident the bracket wouldn’t encounter the front end. Ultimately we were forced to shave the locking tab off the bottom tree to clear the damper system. We wanted to shave that lump off anyway.
Without the tank in hand, but some knowledge of its position we made up an adjustable fork stop and welded it to the neck being careful not to over heat the bearing race on the inside.
This was an edgy time. We tore the bike down to ship it off for paint and powder and wondered if we addressed everything. We couldn’t build the pipes without the engine so I had to wing an exhaust pipe tab on the frame and pray for surf. We had to keep moving. Jeremiah and I shared welding duties until all the tabs were welded on all sides completely. We checked and rechecked all the elements. We studied mounting holes and Jeremiah, the master-grinder, checked every edge and curve.
We cleaned and shipped everything off to Worco Powder Coating that’s run by short, 75-year-old, Tony Pisano, who has out-lived a couple of partners, racing efforts and divorce. He’s located in Long Beach north of Signal Hill and is a helluva upbeat guy to work with. Fortunately Tony powders lots of wheels and automotive components, so he knows how to handle parts, what to tape off, etc. Generally, I would suggest masking any surface we don’t want coated and filling holes with masking tape to avoid powder. The shit is thick and a time-wasting pain in the ass to remove. The down side to that rule involves sandblasting. They must remove the masking tape to blast. I suppose the best plan would include handling the blasting yourself and delivering the parts masked and plugged. That’s the way to handle it for max efficiency.
On the other hand, it’s a terrific notion to take a shot of all your parts, keep one copy and take the other. When we decided on a color I wrote the paint manufacturer and the color code on the photocopy and gave it to Tony. I did that for our Magic Black components and the Prismatic Heavy Silver parts.
We’re burnin’ daylight bad, so we didn’t go fancy, but had a couple of notions. Valerie’s hues, the GoDaddy.com colors are green, black and orange. We wanted the bike to have that Weapan, or Bomber theme, so silver worked. I worked closely with Jerry, from Rollin Sixes Choppers, for a color scheme with those parameters and he came up with his bizarre killer flake.
”The flake is on it’s way by camel,” Jerry said. “Wait till you take it outside in the sun and you will know what I am talking about. It will blow you away. The flake needs to completely cover the bass coat so you can hardly see it. Put it on real heavy for the best effect. This bike will blow people away, just sitting there.
”Make sure the chicks gun and the guns on the tank are blazin away (as if shooting down another speed record). I forgot to put a “Kill” symbol on the back fender like the fighter pilot painted on his fuselage. Like If the painter needs to talk with me, feel free to have him call me. This is like having a baby and someone else is teaching it to walk for you. You know how it is.
It’s driving me nuts LOL. Let me know when you get the flake and what you think of it.
— Jerry
Rollin Sixes.
While the powder was baking we pulled the Baker transmission down to replace the standard 5-speed shift drum with a N1 unit that moves neutral to the bottom. Here’s the definition from Baker:
The N1 Shift Drums have a 0-down all-up shifting pattern, and eliminates any possibility of catching neutral on aggressive 1-2 shifts. Neutral is below 1st. The N1 drum is also popular with handshifting bikes where finding neutral without doubt or error is critical to safety or riding and looking smooth.
FOR 5-SPEED: BAKER N1 Shift Drums are available for stock or BAKER transmission applications.
80-97 p/n 2-5R-N1, 98-up p/n 2-5RL-N1
The operation was simple and easy. We pulled the top off the trans, removed the four ¼-inch bolts, lifted the sprung shifting arm out of the way and replaced the whole drum assembly and pillow blocks, making sure the shift forks slipped into their drum grooves.
I retighten the four bolts, made sure the drum was facing the proper direction and tested the shifting. “Don’t forget to get it into 3rd gear and adjust the concentric screw on the outside of the case so the hooks are centered. I did so and tightened the lock nut and checked it a couple more times. Worked like a charm.
We also needed to order wheel sprockets and chains. Again I was recommended by Bennett’s not to run heavy O-ring chains. To reduce drag I ordered ordinary 520 chains. “We need a 40 and a 42-tooth rear sprocket,” Berry Wardlaw, from Accurate configured on his computer, based on RPM, gearing and horsepower curve. “Start with the 42. Sorry it has taken this long but I am the only cat around here right now and you know how busy that can be. The engine is nearly finished. We are cutting the pistons for compression today.” (This e-mail came a week ago.)
I spoke to Bert Baker about running light oils for reduced drag. Nick, from Nick’s Performance told me that serious racers run 30 weight oils, but he didn’t want to go that far and suggested 20/50 Synthetic. Bert agreed, although he felt the lightest transmission Synthetic oil was best.
SIDEBAR:Nick's Performance Accessories is once again offering a $500.00 Contingency Prize for Fastest American V-Twin using Amsoil Synthetic Motorcycle Engine Oil this year at the 4th Annual BUBS Motorcycle Speed Trials. Last year the prize went to N.R.H.S. Racing for their 217 mph Buell. Who's gonna take the prize this year? Looks like N.R.H.S. is the team to beat but at Bonneville anything can happen.
See You on the Salt,
–Nick Roberts
For All Your High Performance Lubrication Supplies.
Nick's Performance Accessories
9608 Tiverton Way
Louisville, Kentucky,40242
Independent Amsoil Dealer ZO# 1124190
Phone: 502-548-3023
Fax: 509-691-4313
Next move was to haul ass to Worco and pick up the powder. They did a helluva job and we hauled ass back to the Bikernet Headquarters. We needed to scramble, build a seat pan and ship it to Duane Ballard for some wild leather work for the salt. We should have handled that aspect before we went to powder, but shit happens. We hauled the tank to Jim’s Custom Paint and that sealed the deal. Jim actually tested the tank again, brazed leaks and sealed the entire tank with aircraft tank sealant.
