Assalt Weapan Bonneville 2007 Effort, Chapter 1
By Bandit |
This will switch, change and fluctuate through out the process, but the notion is simple—Build The World’s Fastest Panhead. Of course there’s no goddamn Panhead class, but what the hell. We’ve never followed any rules in the past, why start now. I’ll ramble about racing on the salt, some of the rules and some of the notions behind our concept. See if you can keep up.
I joked at the Bubs International Speed Trials on Bonneville Salt flats for 2006 that I tried to learn something daily. At Bonneville, surrounded by devoted racers, and Salt snorting maniacs I learned speed info by the minute. Some of the key elements we absorbed were aerodynamics and gearing. Our code this year will be to build a bike fitting our rider, Valerie Thompson, comfortably and like a glove, to be a wing slicing through the air. It needs to move comfortably through the atmosphere, free to make the speed of 200 mph and yet handle like a dream. No streamlining. We’re shooting for an open bike, but the rules and regs are delicate. There’s a trick to staying out of the partially streamlined class, yet making the bike as aerodynamic as possible.
I learned from old salts, like Mil Blair, that my thinking was somewhat accurate. If we follow the wing notion, the front end will handle and remain stable while the tail will allow the wind to close around the chassis without creating drag on the power train. This is critical to world land speed record success according to the masters of the salt, like Wink Eller, who now works for BDL between races.
Speaking of Drive Trains. We ran an Accurate Engineering, 120-inch Panhead motor last year for shits and grins. But I’m sticking with this power plant for several reasons. First, it was built by one fine engine builder and a brother, Berry Wardlaw, the boss of Accurate, who is passionate about this industry, every goddamn thing he does and speed. He’s my partner in this endeavor and a brother I can reach out to for anything, at any time. He bleeds 60 weight and snorts nitrous. Let me finish about the engine, then I’ll shift to nitrous systems. Three notions in the engine reasoning department. First, is the Panhead heritage. Panheads were built from the year I was born, 1948 up to 1965, the year before I graduated from High School. They’re my favorite H-D engine configuration, and when it comes to Bonneville racing they add a sense of class. Finally, who the hell would bring a 50-year-old technology to Bonneville, to set a record except the Bikernet 5-Ball Racing nuts.
One of the myriad of things I noticed on the salt was the power notion. Lotsa guys feel it’s all about power and engine displacement, yet a 50 cc streamliner is capable of 130mph and a 440 cc open-bike Buell Blast also cut through the air at 135 mph. Also, when a guy looks at me like I’m nuts, to even mention 200 mph, I envision a stock Hyabusa, capable of 200 mph on a freeway. Keep those mysteries in mind as we stumble through this effort.
The Tranny will be a direct drive performance Baker 5 or 6 speed (we haven’t decided), linked to the engine with a BDL belt and clutch system. We will run chain to the rear to allow easy rear wheel sprocket alterations. Mil Blair recommended Hyabusa wheels for the 200 mph reliability and design. I will study those wheels but hope to run a solid U.S.A built wheel in the rear and nearly solid wheel in the front (by the rules 30 percent of the front wheel area must be open). I want to prevent any loss of power or additional drag from the paddle-wheel effect of wheel spokes or billet shapes.
We are working with Leo De Orio on a shapely girder front end to enhance the aerodynamics of the front end and handling. One of Leo’s front ends led Roger Goldammer’s build-off Bonneville effort last year, and it was sleek and killer looking. I’m hoping to run a 19 front and 18 rear, but keep both wheels narrow, especially the rear wheel for aerodynamic purposes. There’s a slippage consideration. At speeds some bikes loose grip because the rear end is too light, the tire too hard, or not enough patch on the ground. We won't worry much about the weight issue. Having weight at Bonneville is a plus. Many bikes are small and light. They want to lose traction and fly away at speeds on the salt. We will run the oil bag under the transmission and perhaps additional low center of gravity weight to hold her down at speeds.
Our plan is to build the roller first, then fly Valerie out from Phoenix to the Wilmington, CA ghetto and the Bikernet Headquarters. We hope to form a mold of her lovely-self while straddling the bare frame. We want her to become apart of the bike, and build it in such a way that it is absolutely comfortable and manageable to ride. The more comfortable and vibration free, the easier it is to handle and maintain vision at 200 mph. Besides we want our pilot to be as comfortable and confident as possible. It’s official now. She took 6th place in Destroyer points standings for 2006 and was 11th in 87 Destroyer riders nationwide.
One of our crazed goals is to make this an open bike. There’s several classes: Production, modified, special construction, modified partial streamlining, special construction partial streamlining, sidecar, sidecar streamliner and streamliner.
There’s also a number of engine classes:
Production
Production Push Rod
Production Supercharged
Production Vintage
Modified Engine: Gasoline
Push Rod Engine: Gasoline
Unlimited Engine: Gasoline
Supercharged Engine: Gasoline
Supercharged Pushrod Engine: Gasoline
Supercharged Vintage Engine: Gasoline
Then the list starts all over again with Fuel at the end. Wink Eller is the master of classes. He’s a racing maniac and when he started chasing World Land Speed Records he studied the Southern California Timing Association Record and Rule Book and sought achievable records. He searched the record books for untouched records and built bikes specifically for low or never-set records. There’s another category I left out, the engine displacement button. Those categories run from 50 ccs all the way to 3000.
50
100
125
350
500
650
750
1000
1350
1650
2000
3000
Get this. There are three sanctioning bodies. The SCTA mentioned above authorizes racing at the El Mirage lake beds in California and two events in Bonneville: Speed Week and the World Finals. Bub’s event is only sanctioned by the AMA and FIM, the European sanctioning body. While standing on the Salt and trying to figure out what category the Bikernet Salt Shaker was in last year, I discovered that my 120-inch Panhead fell in the special Construction, Pushrod, fuel or gas, 2000 cc category. There was no record for my bike. Unbelievable. I consider myself lucky, but that roll-of-the-dice took the cake.
That’s just a taste of our notions. Hang on as we plan, change the sketch and move forward. Berry’s studying nitrous systems. Leo is working on handling, rake and trail. Chris Kallas, the artist behind our sketch, is working with Valerie on more info to refine our drawings. I’m working with Rick Krost of US Choppers on our frame. Hang on.
Bikernet Bonneville Effort 2006–Part 19–The Race
By Bandit |
We checked into the Wendover Nugget late that night with a broken motorcycle, two teeth busted off the distributor drive gear and just 50 miles on our Bonneville project. We woke up at exactly 7:00 a.m. My cell phone rattled across the nightstand. Berry Wardlaw, the boss of Accurate Engineering, wanted to know every move. Hell, it was 10:00 a.m. in Dotham, Alabama.
Nyla and Kerry set up the Bikernet headquarters with our new Sponsorship banner. Glenn and I tossed an On-Site down on the tarps to catch any oil or debri off the bike and unloaded the Salt Shaker. We rolled it into place and went to work while the Chop and Grind bastards sat around and poked fun at us.
I backed off the pushrods and removed them, removed the cam cover and retrieved the busted gear teeth and scrutinized the distributor drive gear in the cam case. She was cool. I borrowed a magnet from the bastards next door and dug around in the cam case for shavings. I was on a mission to make the Salt Shaker run again.
The two teeth bounced right to the forefront of the case, as if someone positioned them for easy access. More damage and I could have been dead in the water. I called Berry, and he coached me on adjusting the valves. I’m not a big fan of hydraulics. They’re uncertain and I don’t believe you can get the best performance out of their soft existence.
Dr. Hamster and Gene Koch, from Drag Specialties drove out to assist. Glenn and the good doctor began to remove the controls, the dash, and flip over the bars. They removed the shocks and dropped in the struts we made to lower the bike. Plus, they removed the taillight and taped the headlight with duct tap. I was reaching a turning point. We installed our heat wrapped step-tuned exhaust for the salt.
I buttoned up the engine, adjusted the valves and fired her up. She rumbled to life, as if she was meant to be there. We adjusted the controls for Valerie and she rode it for the first time. It was time to take the bike to Tech Inspection. I was narrowing in on our first pass. I suppose most first-time racers shake-up the butterflies in their stomach, as they near tech with their experimental babies. I ran into enough disturbing glitches in this project to scramble my mental doubts. As Valerie made her first warm-up lap into the salt I followed her every move, like a father watching his baby take her first lap in a pool. I questioned every adjustment, every fastener and every decision.
I’d never experienced Tech, but the Bubs Inspector was light hearted and easy going but thorough. He had a vast, printed checklist but slipped through the categories with confident ease. As the inspection neared the end he asked if we safety wired the transmission and engine oil drain plugs. The answer was, “Nope.” And finally he pointed out that one of our wheel valve stem caps was not metal—god forbid. Scooter, our photographic connection from Phoenix, hauled ass to find one. While Val made another warm-up pass we discussed drilling the oil drain plugs. Larry from the Chop and Grind Gang made a pass, lost his velocity stack and clocked 143 mph. Not bad for his first time out. Fortunately Lee Wimmer supplied us with his velocity stack kit, so we had spares.
The salt surface spread out around us, for 65 square miles, as if a pure white surface on the moon. People have mistakenly lost direction in the dark and never found their way out. It’s bizarre and pure beauty at the same time. As the sun dipped in the west we packed up and headed toward town. Since the wind can whip up in the afternoon, like nature’s cleaning lady with a wicked broom, we were recommended to tear down our headquarters every night and secure our bike.
The next morning ushered in a big day in the history of Bikernet.com. We rolled out of the hotel around 8:30 a.m. after fighting poor hotel, restaurant help for a cup of coffee. We drained the oil from the tranny and the engine after a warm-up and Larry from the Chop and Grind Pirartes drilled the plugs. Glenn safety wired them back into place and we refilled the oil bags with Amsoil synthetic oils. Nick Roberts from Nick’s Performance and Amsoil rode out to the salts on his 2003 Road Glide and ran it in the run-what-ya brung category, between assisting us on the salt. He was a helluva helpful sponsor.
The brotherhood in the Bub’s tiny encampment on the salt was exceptional. Everyone helped everyone. A fuel truck contained the Sparkplug Doctor, who would analyze any plugs and make recommendations. We had him take a look at ours before our first run. “They haven’t seen enough heat yet,” he told us, “but you certainly don’t have any problems. Go for it.”
Wink Eller was a constant source of information and advice. I ran into Brian Klock and his girlfriend, rider, the lovely Laura, who brought her two daughters to experience the vast desert of salt and speed. While we tuned and prepared for our final tech inspection Hugh King, Roger Goldhammer and Matt Hotch shot footage for their Discovery Channel Biker Build-off. I found a carburetor jet connection for Roger’s bike, a big burly biker with a box of jets and a flathead Indian.
I was still at a loss about the categories and racing etiquette, but I was scrambling to learn. Before the end of the week I told folks, “I try to learn something everyday, but on the salt I was learning something every minute.” I didn’t hesitate to ask the seemingly stupidest question. I needed to know and race, goddamnit. I grabbed a Bub’s AMA rule book and studied the categories. I couldn’t find the record for the open bike in the pushrod 2000 cc class. I asked what it meant and was told, “The category may be open.” That meant whatever we ran, if we were successful, would set a record in the AMA book. There’s three sanctioning bodies: AMA, FIM (European) and SCTA (Southern California Timing Association). The SCTA runs Speed Week, the World Finals in October, on the salt, and the El Mirage, dry lake bed, events.
Valeria rode the shaker some more. Glenn rode it while Valerie, an experienced Destroyer drag racer, suited up. We were ready to hit the salt. This was turning out to be more of an adventure than I ever anticipated. The Salt was amazing in the best condition in half a decade. The people represented brotherhood in its finest form. There was competition, but the mood was all about survival and speed. We wanted everyone to succeed. The Sun was warm, but not blistering. The sky was as blue and crystal clear as her eyes. Every photograph was amazing.
There was also an amazing historic aspect to Bub’s 3rd annual International Speed Trials. The Boss of Bubs Exhaust, Dennis Manning, a Salt Flats junkie since he was a kid, was determined to break the World Land Speed Record set by myself, and the Easyriders team, 16-years prior in 1990, at 321 mph. We beat ourselves up on the salt to take the land speed record from a dual Kawasaki powered streamliner, of 317 mph, owned by Don Vesco.
Dennis was so determined to own the record he started his own event, to allow him more time on the track. You can imagine the expense. For 16 years he and others tried time after time to bust that record open, but the readers of Easyriders held fast. There were four teams on salt poised to take their best shot at the record, while we messed with our own Salt Shaker, Brian Klock prayed for the worlds fastest bagger and Roger Goldhammer prepared to set a record for his first time out. Each camp, tent, trailer and team had a goal. Even the bastards next to us, those sand and salt snorting bastard bikers from 18 Palms, California were shooting for something. Fuck if I know what it was?
The big dog streamliner teams consisted of a dual Hyabusa powered Ack Attack streamliner, Dennis Manning’s pure American Bubs team with his self-designed V-4 engine, Sam Wheeler’s beautiful, dual Kawasaki-powered green streamliner and a dual Vincent powered black streamlined beauty.
Valerie and I lined up at the staging tent for our first run when the Ack Attack made their first pass on the long, 11-mile course and smoked the record for the first time in 16 years. Like a bullet passing in the distance we watched it rumble like a freight train through the traps at 339 mph. The miniature tent city went quiet for a long moment, then all involved cheered for the Ack Attack team.
But that’s not all. For an official speed record, two passed must be completed in 2 hours. The two speeds are averaged for the final tally. The Ack Attack team had 2 hours to get their shit together and back down the salt. We moved up in line. Then Valerie was called to the starting stage two miles down the salt. There’s a short course for smaller displacement open bikes.
Valerie rode the Salt Shaker to the starting gate for her first run. Scooter gave me a lift in his SUV and shot photos of us as we checked the bike over, tie-wrapped the kickstand up and I discussed the run with Valerie. She rode a turbo-charged V-Rod last year for 153 mph. She knew was she was getting into.
She looked up at me after polishing her face shield and I told her to take it easy, to feel the handling capabilities of the bike on the first pass. It’s designed as a sport bike, not a raked out, straight line beast. I wanted to see how she handled before we poured the power to her, besides the bike, the engine and the transmission still weren’t broke in.
We waited under a single tent two miles from the timed mile marker, surrounded by bare salt and waited for the two riders, in front of us, to approach the line. Only one bike runs at a time, and it must clear the track 5 miles away before the next bike can take off. We waited patiently for reports.
Finally Val was given the green light to approach the line 50 yards deeper into the salt. She was coached to ride out, align the Pan with the cones and watch for the official to drop the green flag. She did, rolled near the line, adjusted her position, and glanced back at the tent. Finally he received the signal over his walkie-talkie and the young official wearing reflectorized shades unfolded the green flag and waved it frantically in Val’s direction.
Unlike drag, dirt or speedway racing Val wasn’t required to speed away at the first huff in the flag. She shut her chromium facemask, took a long breath and crouched as low as she could on the Shaker. We had always intended to add some rear pegs to allow her to stretch out, but ran out of time. She let out the clutch and began to roll up to speed.
Scooter and I listened to that sweet engine pull her along the salt through one gear, then another. She had six with the Baker touring transmission. It sounded like a new freight train rumbling from one gear to the next. No hiccups, burps, just pure pumping Panhead, Ross pistons, firing behind two plugs and dual Dyna coils. We listened to that sound, we love so goddamn much, for as long as we could, then stood there quietly, as if to absorb the pure joy of every reverberation.
I turned back to the official. “Is there anyway I can get that speed,” I asked?
He picked up his radio and called the timing station, then turned back to me. “That was 140. 3 mph.”
I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it. I would have been please with anything over 100 mph for the first pass. I was blown away. We jumped in Scooter’s car and hauled ass to the other end of the track and the impound area. You can’t take your bike back to the pits, it must remain in impound until you’re free or prepped to make the return pass.
In impound you can fix anything, but you can’t change any performance aspect of the bike or switch an engine. The Panhead needed nothing except the required tie-wrap to secure the kickstand. Most of these bikes don’t even have kickstands. We waited our turn while the Ack Attack made another pass. We were much closer to the track where we stood and watched the dual Hyabusa blast past for a thundering, record run of over 345 mph, for the new world record of 342 mph and change. We just watched history take place before our very eyes.
The sun was still high on a crisp, beautiful day. The WLSR changed hands and the Bikernet Salt Shaker was staged to entered the AMA record books. What could be better, and the day wasn’t over. Valerie hadn’t even hit 6th gear. She made her return pass and wasn’t sure of shifting, but she made that Panhead sing once more for 139 mph and the Bikernet Salt Shaker entered the AMA record books at just a hair over 140 mph.
We returned to our pit area to discuss gearing, tuning and timing while Dennis Manning pulled his fire-engine red Bubs streamline onto the salt for his first run. It split through the traps so smooth the small crowd of enthusiast stood still in the afternoon sun a wondered what speed it could possible clock. The numbers came back in the high 340s. Less than an hour later the Bubs Streamliner peeled along the salt at over 350 mph and broke the record once more at over 350 mph. History was made and broken twice in one day on the glistening salt.
The wind kicked up on the salt as the Monday afternoon sun set and the crew scrambled to tie-down our pit area and head for the casinos. The girls gambled and the guys discussed history, performance, clutch plates, gearing, rpms, tuning and aerodynamics. Blood pumped high as the night lingered and thoughts of top speeds filled the next day’s agenda. I was on the phone to Berry a dozen times. “I’m jumping up and down in my kitchen,” Berry hollered about our runs. “I’m proud of your guys.”
I was also damn proud of his Outlaw 120-inch Panhead engine. I’m not sure you want to hear every blow-by-blow move during this weeklong quest, but what the hell. It kept getting better. Tuesday morning we were back on the salt with high intentions. Valerie reported that the John Reed designed V-Rod with Wil Phillips suspension upgrades and his True-Track in place handled like a dream, straight and true. She was completely comfortable and wanted a True-Track for her V-rod.
We had just a couple of hitches. We weren’t sure of the rpms, because of my piss poor wiring, lack-of-direction-reading capabilities. Between Berry’s computer, our speed, the BDL gearing and Larry’s calculations we figured the engine ran 5,800 rpms. I was about to change our rear sprocket from a 48-tooth job to 41 teeth when Berry figured that we still had a long way to go with our current configuration. “Let’s see if we can’t get her up to 6,500 rpms in fifth gear,” He said. “My calculations show that she will do 168 mph at 6,500 rpm.” Sounded good to me. We changed the timing to 32 degrees before top dead center and had the plug doctor evaluate the plugs. The primary plugs were cool, but the secondary set were hot, but just a hair.
Nyla and the girls sought out a batch of cooler plugs and we rolled the bike back to staging where Larry attempted to retime the engine with timing lights. What a bitch that was, trying to view the timing mark in the oil hole with a 1-inch plastic lense screwed into the threads. No can do. We made a mark on the BDL belt pulley and gave it another shot. Static timing worked the best. Val made another pass after the Ack Attack threatened Dennis Manning’s record with a 347 pass. If they backed it up over 355 they would rock the world once more. Dave Campos showed up with the Easyriders Streamline in tow to watch the action. He was our ER rider, record breaker. Val kicked the Salt Shaker speed up to over 145 mph and we were pumped.
I had the Salt bug. I wanted to witness the Shaker break Val’s previous salt speed of 153. I was sure we could make 155 or better. Unfortunately the gremlins of the Salt didn’t support my contention and Val made a 137 mph return pass. The Ack Attack couldn’t make a back-up at all and missed their Tuesday comeback run. The Vincent rumbled through the traps missing and sputtering. Jay Allen of the Broken Spoke Saloon, made one successful pass after another on his beat-up, lowered all orange FXR. Brian Klock and Laura made one dresser pass after another pushing 140 mph.
Ray Wheeler, on his street hot rod Dyna peeled through the traps at 137 mph. He was jumping outta his skin. A gentleman with a 50 cc streamline broke 130 mph and an open Buell blast topped 130 mph.
My mind spun like the gauge on a nitrous bottle. Records were breaking, wrenches were flying and bikes were whizzing through the traps. Everyday the Bub’s team tried to improve the run waiting times, so more guys could make more passes. My Australian team partner got sick and his German doctor counterpart took over. Wil Phillips, of True-Track and Salt Shaker suspension showed up to back up our team.
The weather kicked up in the afternoon and rain threatened. The front moved onto the flats like an ominious natural threat. We hung on as long as we could, then tore down the encampment, as if a team changing sets at a play. We hustled and hauled ass.
We hauled ass to the salt early Wednesday morning and rolled the Shaker to the staging area and started to make adjustments. This was our shot. We needed Val to drive the revs and make sure she pounded through the traps in 5th gear. We installed the hot Lee Wimmer velocity stack without the screen. The wait was grueling in the sun and fatique from standing on the salt pulled me down, like a battery setting on a concrete floor. I was drained, until Sam wheeler pulled up with three plates stacked high with slabs of watermelons, like a plate of steaks to starving cannibals. Val, Wil and I devoured the sweetness and were revived.
Val made another pass in 4th gear at 127 against a 13 mph wind. The elevation in Bonneville is over 4,000 feet and we discovered that at sea level the bikes would run 20 percent faster. We owned a fast Panhead, maybe the world’s fastest in our division. Sam wheeler rolled his dual Kawasaki streamliner to the starting line on the long course. He made his run and turned the camp on its ear once more for a single pass record for the event of 355 mph. Tires are rare for streamliner and most are used and porous. Dennis loaned Sam a rubber for the front wheel, and Sam prayed for two passes. Unfortunately, after the traps the tire went flat and the streamliner rolled over at slow speeds. No replacement was available and his 2006 Salt Flat effort was over.
Alan Gurgler, from Cycle World said, “Manufacturers won’t make tires because liability reasons, yet not a single person has died on a motorcycle at the flats. No one has even been severely injured.” We all promised to lean on Larry Hoppe at Avon or search out another manufacturer. We were running Avon, Z-rated (200 mph) tires on the Shaker.
We didn’t make a return run but got back in line, checked the bike over and prepared for another pass, then another dark front moved in, like a dense fog over a harbor. Except this mass brought high winds and we were forced to shut the camp down and fly to the Casino. We talked about renting a motor home next year.
The final day was balls out. Berry asked me to adjust the timing like I would the needle on a carburetor. We fired up the engine and I twisted the distributor for maximum rpms, then locked her down. I was supposed to check the tire pressure and and push them to the max for the rating, for reduced drag. Glenn recovered from Salt Late Mung and returned to his post. The Good doctor jumped Gene Koch’s BMW and headed back to the coast. Wil helped Glenn tighten every nut and bold and we prepared for a final pass on the last day.
She passed throught the traps at 137 mph, which wasn’t bad, but we needed to back it up with the wind at our backs at over 150 to jack up our record once more. Through the traps, the bike sputtered and quit. We checked the fuel filter and figured that my street valve wasn’t allowing as much fuel into the carb as it needed. We also check for a vacuum problem in the tank venting. We thought she was good to go.
She lined up at the stage, the flag dropped and she took off, but before she reached the first mile marker the bike sputtered and died. A professional, she immediately pulled off the track and we check her out. It didn’t sound right. There was a clanking in the top end, so I immediately shut her down. We called her quits and pulled the Shaker into the inspection area. I was proud she hung together under these high altitude, top-speed-continuously, conditions.
Wil Phillips, Glenn and I tore the top end off the engine so that the Bubs inspector could verify our engine displacement. The inspector looked at my pistons and said, “Jesus, I need a longer set of calipers. These things are massive.”
That struck me, like a bolt of lightening. I looked across the inspection area at a 130 mph Buell blast with a lousy 400 ccs. I knew then that we had the power in this Accurate Pan to build the Worlds Fastest Panhead. We didn’t need revs. We need aerodynamics and gearing. We came back with a plan and you’ll see it come together on Bikerne.com. Berry Wardlaw is working on the engine. I’m going to design the chassis with Chris Kallas and Wil Phillips as the artist/engineers behind the madness. I’m hoping to work with Leo, the man who designed the girder front end on Roger Gold Hammers bike. The list goes on. I’m hoping to give you a teaser sketch right here in the next couple of weeks.
May the need for speed never end! Many thanks to all our sponsors.
–Bandit
Here’s a couple of shots from the run out and the trip home. We couldn’t resist.
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 18, Fire-Up
By Bandit |
Wow, what an incredible report this will be. It covers final assembly and the road to Bonneville for the 2006 Bikernet Adventure. Talk about an exploit. Also, this build was fraught with abnormalities. At one point I wondered what the hell I was doing? At several other junctures I was like a kid in a candy store with a bag of quarters. In one case the V-Bike kit offered opportunities and solutions. Then I would blunder into another experience and felt like pounding myself with a crescent wrench. But I gotta say that this bike turned out to be an amazing quest, and that’s what it’s all about, right? I hope so, goddamnit.
Generally this John Reed designed frame makes working on a bike project a breeze. Everything fits and is accessible. Unlike a lot of bikes, I could reach the battery, all sides of the engine, the brakes, wiring and the gas tank slips off without a chore. I actually discovered that I could work on the bike, remove the engine, reach all the wiring without taking the tank off. I could leave the cross-over line in place, undo one bolt at the rear of the tank, jack it up to clear everything and leave the feed line to the carb in place.
Let’s see if I can capture the time scenerio. I returned from Sturgis on the 12th of August. The Paint by Jim Murillo and Yvonne Mecialis was completed the next week, the 19th. The following week the Engine arrived from Accurate Engineering, the 23th, after being lost in Yellow Freight's cave of desire . Talk about a scramble, like eggs in a frying pan on run morning. Toss in the salsa, grab a cup of joe and go. She’s damn hot looking engine and tough, but she didn’t drop into place. I had less than a week to mount her, tune the bitch, build another set of Salt Flats exhaust, break in the bitch and hit the street for a 600 mile run to Bonneville.
We planned to pull out on Wednesday the 31st. Racing was scheduled to start on the 3rd and run to the 7th, right smack in the middle of the Labor Day rush. That’s always a heavy consideration for LA residents.
I went to work. I discovered my case vent oil fitting smacked the return fitting on the transmission based oil bag. Whatta drag. The vent fitting had to be removed. I re-tapped the 1/8 pipe threads in the tranny oil bag case and re-installed the fitting, but it still didn’t clear the case. A portion of the STD cast aluminum needed to be ground away.
Next I removed the fitting and put the engine back in the frame. The oil line fitting still rubbed against the case, but the case still needed to vent. You can imagine the jangled nerves anytime you’re working on a completed engine and there’s a possibility of slipping a metal shaving into an oil line. I plugged the case vent hole with a rubber cap, like the one above, over the fitting.
I checked with the boss of Accurate, Berry and with Wil Phillips, of True-Track, also a master machinist. Then I went to work, grinding the case, drilling and taping a new hole for another breather fitting under the case.
I needed the fitting to be deep enough in the threads to allow me to grind 3/16-inch off the case material away, install a new plug and have room for the new breather fitting. I measured it over and over, ground the precious case material away, then drilled my first guide hole.
Burning through my last weekend I installed the engine, loose and used the BDL inner primary plate to pull the engine and trans into alignment. With Gard Hollinger’s, LA County ChopRods machining I had a semi-mid controls shifter mechanism in place.
I was getting damn close to a running motorcycle. I double checked my fork installation and modified a Progressive Suspension shock spanner wrench to fit the Paioli neck fasteners. I stamped it, so I could find the bastard in the future.
I damaged my ISR high/low beam switch, and found a replacement at a local electronics store. Not quite the same size, it turned into hours of fucking with it to make it fit.
The throttle cables were part of the V-Bike kit, but I ordered a separate throttle housing and the cable ends were designed for late model housings. I couldn’t find the right housing, so I modified this cheap one, greased the Rolling Sixes grip and oiled the cables. Remember, build everything as if it will run forever.
For some reason, wait, I know, the tranny vent stuck straight into the air and needed a formed oil line to aim down so it wouldn’t collect water or debri. I dug around, but couldn’t find one. We scrambled through boxes of fittings and junk and came up with the above solution. Works fine. It’s an old car hydraulic brake hose.
With one more fastener in place on the dash for extra support, it was time to see if she would fly. Nyla’s son and Dr. Hamster loaded the Salt Shaker with fuel and we were ready to rock. We thought. She wouldn’t fire, but kicked back. We shut down Sunday afternoon so I could investigate.
On Monday the 28th of August, Glenn and Kerry Priddle arrived from Australia. That’s when we started to get shit done. Glenn was tremendous help all through the Bonneville process. While Nyla headed to the airport, I scrambled to make the Shaker start.
I’m going to back up for a second and tell you about all my wild fuck-ups and how each one had a positive ending. Unbelievable, right? Some of these are a tad embarrassing, but what the fuck. Hopefully they will help other builders and brothers in the future.
Berry set up the engine to be a dual-fire, dual-plug-per-cylinder system with a Mallory electronic ignition distributor. I used “Bandit’s Common Sense” through the wiring process. I had the coils wired in parallel, but she wouldn’t fire. In fact she kicked back so hard she broke teeth off the BDL clutch ring gear. Berry Wardlaw was out of town, so I investigated through other sources.
One source was convinced my wiring was correct, but the timing was out. I made a narrow felt pen mark on the Mallory distributor/base and rotated the distributor clockwise ¼ turn to retard the timing. Then I attempted to return the positive battery cable to the starter. I couldn’t readily find the stainless nut for the copper stud on the solenoid, so I grabbed a fresh nut, although I suspected the stud had metric threads. The coarse thread lock nut went right on until the nut fully concealed the stud, then it bound. With the next throw of the wrench, the shaft pivoted and something arced in the chrome solenoid. The puppy fried, just as I was about to start the engine—I thought.
As soon as Glenn set his bag on the floor, we jammed out to Spyke’s new location, since I thought the starter was a Spyke unit. It wasn’t, but Bill McCahill saved my ass. Then I had to find another Odessy gell battery. I smoked the brand new one. We found one at a local Long Beach speed shop and returned to the Bikernet Headquarters. Scan
That morning Berry arrived in Alabama and e-mailed me a detailed wiring diagram for the coils and told me to return the distributor to the original timing setting. “It’s timed perfectly,” he said over the phone. His wiring diagram showed the coils wired in series. We hooked it up and immediately the motor fired to life. In a sense I was glad the starter failed when it did. I could have damaged other components.
Next, before we fired this 120-inch Accurate baby to life, we pulled the plugs and turned it over to insure lubrication throughout the engine. I did so with an oil line yanked from the Harley-Davidson Oil cooler and watched for fresh oil to bubbling out. It did and I felt confident the oil lines were fastened appropriately. I called several partners to confirm touring model, oil line placement (with the oil tank under the Baker transmission). Again, I was about to hook them up using “Bandit’s Law”. Most guys didn’t mess with touring trannys. I checked my 2003 Road King Manual, but it was a twin-cam—different deal. I finally received a response. Bandit’s Law was off-base. I thought for sure the bottom, tranny oil fitting was the feed, center-return and the top, the vent. My source (names are removed to protect the guilty), called for the bottom being the return and the center, the feed. The starter drill confirmed the oil circulation, and I was good to go, I thought.
I fired it and ran it, but the oil indicator light didn’t work on the Wire Plus dash. We immediately replaced the new oil sender switch. The light still didn’t go out. I pulled the line off the oil filter and oil pumped out. I thought I faced a wiring problem, then the light went out for a quick second, then returned.
Talk about perplexed. I was going out of my mind. I took if for her first test ride around the block, but she wouldn’t shift into second—a small linkage adjustment. I returned after one block. She would shift into neutral, but not second. The oil light was still lit. Then the Devil called from Houston as we adjusted the shift linkage. I asked him, since he recently performed a major custom job on a Road King, but it also was a twin-cam.
”Hey,” Kent said, “pull the bottom line off the oil bag. If it spews oil, it’s the feed.”
“Damn,” I thought. “Why didn’t I think of that?” I yanked it and it puked oil onto our lift. I pulled the center-line and it was bone dry. That confirmed it, but it didn’t jive with the oil coming out of the oil cooler. Berry runs all his motors, so I could only ascertain that the engine was shipped full of oil and it was picking it up from the crankcase. We rerouted the lines and the oil light went out immediately. I took it for another ride. She was beginning to hum, but my speedo didn’t work, nor did the tach.
Again we thought for sure the wiring was cool. I picked up the supplied paper work and the bold faced, underlined copy hit me in the mug. “This device will not run straight off the coil (even with an adapter). If you are installing this device on a stock bike with a tach wire, be sure that the wire provided does not run to the negative side of the coil. Check for wire color and continuity at both locations (tach and coil) to determine if the tach wire is connected to the coil. Improper connection of this wire will burn out the tach input and void your warranty.”
The wire was connected to the coil. I was fucked. The only gray element was the statement about the negative side of the coil. So, of course, I moved it to the other side of the coil, since it didn’t seem to have a positive or negative marking.
Since Bonneville, a number of alternative recommendations surfaced including a speedo that runs off a satellite. I like this puppy so I’m sending it back to the factory for fixing or replacement. They are now making a unit that will run off the cable. I’ve also since found out that if the transmission sensor is not within .060 of the transmission trigger, if won’t read the signal. Since I’m not running a Rev Tech Transmission, but a Baker, I may need to check that connection. I’ll check everything, goddamnit.
So there you have the glitches in this seemingly perfect custom motorcycle scenario. We we’re burnin’ daylight. Our plan was to ride out to Bonneville on Wednesday, then we moved it to Thursday and ultimately Friday. I’ll toss in the Wink Eller’s Bonneville run Formula. Wink, from BDL, has been one of my most helpful mentors during this process.
“I’m always running late or waiting for a part,” Wink told me. “I can’t get out of town early, so I make it to State Line and spend the night. Then we get up early, blast through Vegas and roll to the Flats.” That made a lot of sense, so we didn’t press ourselves to rise at the crack of dawn and hit the road.
State line from LA is 250 miles, then it’s another 400 to Bonneville. But we hadn’t even pulled out yet. We had a couple more days and we still needed to align the bike with the help of Wil Phillips. He was manufacturing a custom steering stabilizer system for the Salt Shaker and needed to mount it. We had to build short struts and another set of exhaust designed for the salt. We burned through another day, and got up at the crack of dawn.
The next night I rode the bike to Gard Hollinger’s LA ChopRods and he pointed to my front fender brackets. “You don’t have much travel with them mounted to the lower legs like that,” Gard said. “See if you can turn them over.” I made a feeble mental note.
Berry conferred with Dave Rash of D&D Exhaust in Texas. Dave has a Bonneville V-Bike and tests exhaust systems constantly. “We don’t sell anything that doesn’t perform,” Dave said.
Dave and the D&D crew shipped me a box full of exhaust pieces and Berry sent me another set of exhaust flanges and gaskets. Glenn and I went to work to make a set of two-into-two, 39-inch exhaust pipes that started with the following percentages:
1-3/4 inch for 25 percent
1-7/8-inch for 34 percent
2-inch for 41 percent
Or
1-3/4-inch 9.75 inches
1-7/8-inch for 13.26 inches
And 2-inch for 15.99 inches
Okay, we still needed some 2-inch pipe and a chunk of 2.25-inch for additional tuning. We hit San Pedro Muffler and West Coast Choppers for some scrap materials and returned to the Headquarters to jam. Wil Phillips showed up that night and started to install the steering damper. Every night since Glenn arrived we worked until 2:00 a.m.
Wil is an engineer of the highest order and I’m a hack, rat-bike builder. From time to time he wandered past and sneered over his glasses. “What the hell do you think you’re doing,” Wil asked?
I was filling gaps in the pipes and smoothing welds with my torch and a length of hanger.
You can’t use hanger,” Wil spat. “Check with any welder web site. Hanger is made out of shit and pot metal.”
“But goddamnit,” I said, “My pappy used hanger forever.” I’ve been burning hanger for 35 years. Sure, it pops and smokes. Sometimes it helps if I sand the paint off it. Okay, so I learned something.
“Are you going to test those pipes,” Will said as we were getting close to finishing them and Glenn soaked the Lone Star exhaust wrap?
I looked up like a lost puppy. I needed more information. How was I going to pressurize these chunks of pipe? Water was the answer and Glenn filled each pipe with water and sure-as-shit found leaks. I welded them and we proceeded to wrap the pipes with that scratchy shit.
Rodan, an SCTA official, and Bonneville racer for 30 years, stopped by and gave me the rundown to meet the safety requirements. I needed a steel chain guard. I needed to safety-wire the front axle. Plus we needed a primary belt guard. Glenn and I hit a performance joint and bought the safety wire and twister tool. He went to work on the front end and I made the chain guard
So we used the safety wire instead of hose clamps to attach the heat wrap to the pipes. We carefully slipped the pipes aside and out of Wil’s view. Then turned to assist the master of the True-Track with the stabilizer install.
Wil oversaw the entire suspension system on the V-Bike, and if you’re building or restoring a FXR or touring rubbermounted system, you might take notes. If there are no adjustable slots in the frame for the front motormount, it’s not a bad notion to run a 3/8 bolt through the front motormount into the front rubbermounting bisquit for some side-to-side adjustment. We eliminated the goofy rubber insulated bushings in the swingarm and replaced them with oil bronze swingarm bushings with the taper to the inside. We used rear rubber biscuits from a late-model Buell.
“They won’t work on stock frames,” Wil warned. He used them on his rubbertail frames and they’ll work on aftermarked frames with some trimming. That night we aligned the bike vertically, then the engine in the frame. Then we made sure the driveline was aligned with the frame. Then we confirmed that the rear wheel was adjust correctly with a measurement from the swingarm axle to the rear axle on both sides. Then it got tricky with measuring to make sure the front wheel was aligned with the rear.
On top of the bike work, Nyla and Kerry were chasing down 5-Ball Racing uniforms, and planning the packing side of the trip. We took pop-ups, chairs, and On-Sites to catch any mess, coolers, clothes and a Bandit’s Bedroll full of tools and spare parts. The Chop and Grind gang scheduled to haul their entire shop, so I thought tools were covered and they were and more. The clock was ticking.
I attempted to ride the bike every night, but we still needed to build the primary chain guard, flop the front fender brackets and make a rough fuse safety kill switch. We ran to Phillips steel for a chunk of stainless and to a truck parts joint in Wilmington for a fuse. Get this. I bought two tether handlebar kill switches, one for the 45 Flathead, and I needed another for the Salt Shaker. The first trick was finding one for 1-inch American bars. I monkeyed around with one, then took the unit off the 45 and installed it on the Shaker with a duct tape spacer. Getting close I started to wire the sucker and discovered that this bastard made a connection, didn’t sever the connection from the coil. It was meant to ground a magneto. That’s when I made the call to Rodan, “Help.”
Get this, we wired a simple glass 30-amp fuse between the Hot wire to the coil and the coil. I attached the sprung plastic tether line from the fuse with a tie-wrap and we were golden. If Val left the bike the tether would pull the fuse and kill the engine. Crude, but it worked.
I taught Glenn how to use Japanese Jay’s plasma cutter. After he carefully made a pattern for the primary guard, he went to work, diligently designing then fabricating the cover. We burned through another long night. After several tests I rode the bike again and we prepared for our run for the salt. The bike was running fine. The 120-Pan started like a dream. The first set of pipes we made didn’t rattle windows around the neighborhood. I was ready to rock—I thought.
Friday morning we packed, took our time and readied to roll at 11:00, ducking out of town, before the Labor Day rush kicked our asses. Glenn and I made a quick gas run to top-off and the bike was a kick to ride, except I noted a knocking sound. When we returned, we pulled Glenn’s primary guard and checked the engine and transmission pulleys. Good thing, they were loose. For some reason using the impact gun didn’t tighten them completely. We used a long ratched to snug them down once driven on with the air gun. I fired her up and she was good to go, no knockin’.
It felt extremely light and easy to handle. I was dying to nail the throttle, but Berry gave me very specific break-in instructions and I held to the Commanders requests as we rolled down Anaheim Boulevard toward West Coast Choppers.
A block before the neon Iron Cross we slipped onto the Long Beach freeway and motored north. The Salt Shaker dipped into traffic and breezed from lane to lane darting in and out of a sea of 18-wheelers and commuters. I spotted our first transition, 1.5 miles ahead, the 105 freeway leading us across Long Beach South toward the 605 freeway. Just about to signal a lane change, with Glenn along side me, on the blacked out Bikernet King, and the Shaker sputtered and quit. I was in number 2 lane surrounded by industrial traffic.
I signaled, pulled in the clutch and dipped toward the emergency lane. Talk about a roll of the dice. I don’t know how many times I’ve broken down in the center of traffic and prayed for a hole in the confusion, to escape to the right, over four lanes onto the nut, bolt and broken glass scattered emergency strip of asphalt. Once more I survived along with Glen.
We bumped off the freeway and tried to check out various solutions, but it wasn’t barking anymore. A brother from a warehouse, below the freeway, blasted up and offered help, but there wasn’t anything I could do. I discovered that the distributor had rotated 40 degrees on its own. My mark had mysteriously moved. We pulled the distributor cap and discovered that the 3-cent doomed Allen screw holding the rotor in place had vibrated out of its location and jumped around in the distributor housing. It jammed the distributor. I called Berry from freeway and he ordered another Mallory unit.
Then it dawned on me. I had a spare distributor cap. I grabbed it out of the bedroll while trucks thundered past us by the hundreds. I replaced the cap and adjusted the timing. It didn’t start. We hadn’t plugged in the cap connector. We were sure she would fire. I plugged it in and nothing. We were dead in the water and a 3-cent part was responsible. We loaded the bike in the truck, with the help of the girls, and headed toward State Line.
If I could fix the bike at State Line I could still ride with Glenn to the flats. We buzzed out of town passed Barstow into the desert. When the traffic thickened we set Glen on his own, to split lanes out of town. State Line is located in Prim, Nevada, just over the border from California. All the land is owned by Mr. Primm. It’s a bizarre, minny, Las Vegas across the border from California, housing three major Hotel/Casinos, a sprawling outlet mall, a Starbucks and a Shell gas station.
Wink didn’t recommend one facility, over another so we tried Buffalo Bills, with their western motif and goddamn rolly coaster encompassing the massive tin barn looking structure. It was cool except for staff training. No one wanted to help. Many of the staff were Russian exchange students, but their homeland had nothing to do with employee demeanor. Must be the boss. We tried to park the truck in a safe place, impossible. We tried to park the King with the truck, impossible. We tried to collect a package on Saturday, impossible. I’ll never stay at Buffalo Bills again. On the way back we stayed at Whiskey Pete’s. Night-and-day difference. Everyone helped and the restaurant was fine. No problem.
UPDATE ON PRIMM VALLEY PROPERTIES–Because of Bandit's complaints while at Buffalo Bills, we were contacted and reimbursed for our stay, which we were very thankful for.
On a whim weekend get away with my kids a few months later, I stayed at the Primm Valley Casino to do some back-to-school shopping at the attached outlet. My kids shuttled over to Buffalo Bills to spend the afternoon on the rides and play at the arcade. The Primm Valley is much nicer than Buffalo Bills, however it just depends on how much you want to spend.
We were very happy this time around and would recommend any of the hotels. Any of the hotels, Whiskey Pets, Buffalo Bills or Primm Valley are really are perfect for taking a break in the drive from Southern California to Bonneville. After preparing for for weeks and then getting on the road, it was nice to drive for about five hours then stop for the night, gamble a little and have a nice dinner. We will be staying with them again on our way to BUB's for 2007.
Nyla
After we dealt with the bullshit valet service, we sat in the back of the truck and started a timing procedure. Glenn pulled the timing plug off the engine case on the left side and turned the engine over until we were roaming into the front cylinder compression stroke. Nyla crawled in the truck and eye-balled the flywheels through the timing hole while Glen turned over the engine. She placed the front timing mark dead in the center of the hole. I checked the distributor position then prepared to button it up, but something bothered me.
We double checked it. Then, just as I was about to bolt the distributor back together I asked Glenn to turn the engine once more. With a large breaker-bar on the engine pulley nut, he turned it and I watched the distributor. It didn’t move.
Teeth were sheared off the drive gear. I started to pull the cam cover to inspect for more damage as the sun went down, and I had no light. We cut a dusty trail toward the bar and ice-cold Coronas. The distributor was shipped to the hotel, overnight, priority, for a.m. delivery.
The next morning we traced the package. It arrived in Vegas at 6:00 a.m. The ETA was 11:00—11:30 a.m. We paced the deck. I started to tear into the engine. I still wanted to ride. The girls shopped, but when they checked in I asked if they’d drive around the hotel and look for a UPS truck. They did and spotted the driver getting out with a foot long box, about the size of a Mallory distributor. It was 11:45. We immediately hit the reception desk. No luck.
I caught a female executive in the hall and jammed her. “UPS doesn’t deliver on Saturday,” she had the balls to say, followed by, “and our receiving department is closed for the holiday.”
Bob Tronolone called me from the flats. “Don’t work on it there,” he said. “You’ve got to get moving. It’s another 400 miles, and we have all the tools you’ll need.”
Nyla returned to the reception area. It was almost 1:00 and she spotted the box on a file cabinent. “No ma’am,” the clerk said. “We haven’t heard anything. You might call downstairs.”
”It’s right there, goddamnit,” Nyla said pointing at the box. We threw our shit in the truck and hit the road. We blazed through Vegas and caught 93, straight north through Nevada. You can run along the 15 direct into Salt Lake then back pedal into Wendover. Or you can take a more direct route and stay in Nevada. Highway 93 peels north through vast valleys, Sheep range, past the Delamar Mountains, then you can save 43 additional miles by shifting onto highway 318. When we hit Ely, we shifted back onto 93 through Steptoe Valley, over White Horse Pass, at 6,045 feet, then dropping into Wendover another Casino strewn berg on the state line. The borderline runs right through town.
Bikernet Sidebar: The gods of wrenches weren’t inline with our mission, but we kept pushing. Our Australian couple kept us in stitches with their terminology. Glenn told me, “I saw a couple of stacks on our way to the airport.” A “Stack” in Australia is a car accident. A “Torch” is a flashlight and a “spanner” is a wrench. We also discussed the code of the West. I was forced to point out that the words “cute”, “pretty” or even “petite” were banned from the biker vocabulary. He had to replace them with “cool”, “hot” or “bitchin”.
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 17, Details
By Bandit |
Here we go. I’m buzzed. It’s Thursday and we just completed the news. It kicks our ass every week, but we love doing it. It’s what this site is all about, constant, quick and complete news of what’s happening in this industry.
Okay, enough of that. The lovely Sin Wu just brought me a Mojito Mango Martini. Does that make sense? Let’s roll into Chapter 17 of the Bonneville V-Bike Salt Shake build and see how far I get before I pass out.
Since I moved my controls forwards I needed to do something about the shift lever. The V-bike was designed by John Reed to use standard/stock mid controls, but I shifted gears and ran a BDL system, then moved the Dyna controls forward and down.
I decided to punt and develop a way to hold the stock linkage across the top of the primary for ease of assembly, then I went to see Gard Hollinger of LA County Chop Rods about some aluminum welding. He builds mid-controls into lots of customs and has the bushings pre-made.
He offered to bore my BDL system, extend the shift linkage, run it through a piece of tubing, spot weld it and make the whole system work. One of the critical aspects was the clearance behind the inner primary and the left engine case. We did our best to make it all work with guess-work as a guide.
One of Wil Phillips strident recommendations included installing Dyna type axle adjusters for a stronger, more controlled rear axle. We’re hoping this motorcycle can endure 200 mph. It needs to be tight.
I considered building the axle plates but checked at California H-D first. Dyna plates are heavy solid chunks of steel bored for ¾ axles and threaded for 3/8 axle adjuster bolts. We were good to go, except the plates were very tight in the swingarm. We carefully shaved the sides for a tight smooth fit.
Ultimately we made both plates fit snug in the swingarm. We filed the entrance port, drilled out the adjuster bolt plates and I guarantee that the axle will be secure. The next move woulda been to run with a 1-inch axle. That might be a mod for next year.
I’ve asked that Rodan come by the shop and give me the rundown on Bonneville regs. I know that the axles need cotter keys or safety wiring. I need to know what else needs to be drilled and wired. I know I need to safety wire the front axle and maybe the fork pinch bolts.
The chain has been a problem. We adjusted it too tight and I needed to add a link or two. Then I only had permenant, riveted master links. I’m anticipating a much smaller sprocket for the speed runs and will need to adjust the chain length by removing a link, so I need a spring clip masterlink. I bought two today at Walker’s. He was the only guy in town who had 'em for O-ring chains. I found a place in Azusa that can make a sprocket in two days. I’m waiting on the teeth number from Berry Wardlaw tomorrow. I also discovered that the chain wasn’t aligning properly and quizzed John Reed.
John Reed sent me the following info: It can be only one of three things,
1: put a straight edge on the rear sprocket while it’s on the wheel, and it must have enough clearance on the tire for chain clearance , if it doesn't you may have put the sprocket on backwards, it has to have the clearance for the nuts and this is on the out side. If it still hits once you have checked it has to be either: the wheel is to far to the left, or b: the tranny sprocket is not far out of centerline.so..
2: make sure wheel is in the center, if it’s not, check that you have the spacer in the left hand side, (the one that fits on the anodized bush when its pulled from wheel I remember its about ¼-inch.3: If it hits after you have checked number 1 and 2, it has to be the tranny sprocket, which is too close to centerline, check the offset of the sprocket. I remember that you are using a Baker one. I used a Baker one on the bike I am building now, and I think that I used the one with 0.9 offset.And if all the above is correct, you have to have tire clearance to the chain.
As it turned out we had the sprocket on backwards. We fixed it, but the chain still runs close. That can be due to the tire manufacturer. The difference between an Avon and a Metzeler can be over 1/8-inch. We changed out the Baker tranny sprocket for a 24-tooth, for taller gears. The sprocket offset was fine.
One final recommendation from Wil, of True-Track, included grinding some of the casting marks on the transmission. “You should also remove the chrome covers and replace them with bare covers,” Wil said. “Chrome holds the heat in.” We haven’t been able to do that yet.
I’ve known Yvonne Mecialis for years and her shop is fortunately down the street and she works closely with Jim Murillo.
I’m trying to pry the secrets of her trade out of her lovely self to pass onto our readers. But as you can see, she’s transferring Chris Kallas’ art to the bike. I may have more on the process in the next couple of days. Hang on, it’s going to be an exciting weekend.
Jeff from Sucker Punch Sally's gave me this historic neck plate and asked me, in Sturgis, if I installed it. I took care of it, just after I returned. It's cool. Through this plate the SPS gang found a plate manufacturer to make neck plates for their bikes.
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 16, Wiring The Beast
By Bandit |
Getting down to the bottom line here. I was beginning the wiring and hooking up hydraulic brake lines from ISR controls, from LA Chop Rods to Brembo brakes. These controls are slick and mechanical looking. Gard told me right up front, “Use only DOT 4 brake fluid.” I was blown away. I thought DOT 5 was the answer to all custom applications. Seems it messes with some of the Tephlon internal components. Gard supplied me with a jug of DOT 4 and I was good to go.
Since I had a black throttle cable and clutch cables, I slipped ½-inch shrink tubing over the pre-made Goodrich hydraulic cables and used a heat gun to shrink 'em.
The V-Bike kit comes with a complete set of hydraulic brake line fittings and copper crush washers. I tried several options before I got serious. The Brembo Calipers come with interesting knobs that catches chromed hydraulic fittings and prevent them from pivoting during the tightening process. If you’ve ever marred a fitting trying to hold it still, you’ll relate.
There comes that time when a builder scours his list of options and concludes that he’s made all the goddamn adjustments needed and it’s time to bleed the brakes. I thought I reached that delicate spot then discovered several loose fittings. With everything tight we added DOT 4 and began the bleeding process.
The key to bleeding is gravity. If it’s working for you, like this front ISR brake job, you’ve got it made. If not, you’re fucked, no matter how many bleeding tools and tricks you know. Some builders inject the fluid from the bottom up on front brakes to speed the process. I filled the master cylinder, and pumped until it was empty, allowing the bubbles to release. When I sensed the lines were full, I let it set over night after refilling the reservoir. It sorta bled itself in the ghetto moonlight. I pumped it a couple of times, topped it off and was good to go in the morning. LA County Chop Rods owns the exclusive distribution rights for ISR in the western states and we’ll show you more of their components over the next couple of months.
 between the pads, lifted the rotor so gravity hauled the air toward the bleeder screw and went to work. In a couple of pumps it was bled and tight. I removed the file, replaced the caliper and the job was done.</p>
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Next I started back on the wiring. After laying it out I decided that I could still use the goofball, machine turned panel I built for the ignition switch. I decided to use Gard Hollinger’s ISR switches on the bars for the High/Low beam and the starter button and ignition switch on the right.
I drove over to the local Marine store to find the toughest, most durable toggle switch and they didn’t have shit. The guys at LA Chop Rods have turned me onto a couple of fantastic hardware stores and I discovered an electronics supply that kicks ass.
I cruised past California Harley-Davidson and picked up a 30-amp circuit breaker then later discovered I didn’t have the spring clip holder. Larry Settle clued me in about the aftermarket jobs. “They don’t last,” He said. “They don’t seem to have the same level of spring tension.” I dug up a stock one and mounted it to the V-Bike Battery box with a pop rivet.
Initially I decided to roll with a starter button and a kill button, but changed my plan to a starter button and on/off ignition switch. I also need to add a Bonneville launched rider switch that kills the bike if the pilot leaves town. I’ll get to that later tonight.
Here’s the ISR High/Low beam switch and behind the scenes switch. “Be careful soldering the connections,” Gard said. “The switch is delicate.” I immediately broke it. Then I found the cool electronics store and discovered a replacement, albeit slightly different. It’s tough enough dealing with the original, but modifying a slightly different on-on switch to fit into these tiny enclosures is a bastard. I ultimately ordered another switch. Now I have to endure the drill once more. Be careful.
I used connections in a couple of positions like the headlight and rear brake switch to give me some flexibility in the advent I need to remove components.
Here’s my modified kicker mechanism with a Dyna Glide Spring. As it turned out it works well.
I ground most of the welds, then send the bracket to Foremost Powder Coating for protection.
There she is powdered and installed. I still haven’t tested her lean angle. Just jogged down into the shop and backed her out of the lift vice. She leaned over just perfect. Moving right along.
It was that time to mount the clutch cable to the Baker 6-speed transmission. I don’t really have a preference between cables and hydraulic clutches. It’s a personal choice. Sometimes cables just seem easier to me.
I popped off the cover and grabbed a large set of clip-ring pliers to remove the bearing ball ramp. I remember later wondering if the throw-out bearing and clutch push-rod were in place—they were. I get such a kick out of building something and being surprised that all the elements are already in place. Some companies, like Baker, do a helluva job, also BDL, about making their shit complete. With the cable in place, screwed into the cover, I assembled the ramp to the inner cable and returned the bearings, the cover and the clip ring. I smeared some lubricant around the fresh gasket and installed the cover. I made sure all the Allens were snug by cross tightening them, then torqued them down.
I kept the photograph of John Reed’s original V-Bike design handy for reference. It’s the inspiration for this bike which will run on the salt flats soon. I have high hopes for its tradition to last as a bike that handles like a Buell, but’s big enough for me and hauls ass. We’re getting close.
These Odyssey gel batteries come with specific instructions from Custom Chrome. I was told to start charging it early and build to the final stage. I marked the positive terminal with a silver felt pen and put it on a Battery Tender for a day.
It took me awhile to find the fastener length I needed for the True-Track. Then I felt the spacer needed lengthening to keep the Heim joint reasonably straight to the modified True-Track. As it turned out I rode my altered Road King, in concert with a new 2007 Road King, to Sturgis. With the True-Track installed on my King it handled better than ever. The new 96-inch King still had the 85-95-mph sway.
In the next segment we’ll discuss Dyna axle adjusters and Gard Hollinger’s mods to my BDL inner primary to allow me to run mid controls. We’re exactly two weeks from leaving for Bonneville. The paint is complete, but we’re waiting on the Accurate 120-inch Pan. If we’re damn lucky, it will be running this weekend. Hang on for the next segment which includes shot of Yvonne Mecailis handling the graphics on the tank.
–Bandit
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 15, Scrambling the Salt Shaker
By Bandit |
We were flying on this build, one item slammed together after another. We were flying, because I’m at a standstill at this moment waiting on a couple of elements. But that’s another story. Six days until I’m due to pull out for the run to the Badlands. It’s currently looking shaky. We’ll see what happens next.
This project has been a rush for the most part. It’s like building a bike to be more performance oriented than any other motorcycle I’ve built. Everything about this V-Bike, by John Reed, of Custom Chrome, is about handling and performance and we took it to another level with this segment. I spoke to a friend, Wil Phillips, of True-Track, the man who designed the first working rubbermounted Softail frame, the Rubbertail. Wil’s complete focus in this industry is handling right now. He developed the True-Track system to take the wobble out of touring Harleys, but his investigative efforts never stop.
When I told Wil I was building a big twin Buell with an Accurate Engineering 120-inch Panhead engine for Bonneville, his handling lights went on. He explained every aspect of the rubbermounted FXR chassis and how to detail the handling for high speeds. Here’s the list:
1. The very latest H-D forward rubbermount
2. Buell side rubbers
3. ¾-inch swingarm axle
4. Brass, self lubricating swingarm bushings
5. Dyna Glide axle adjusters
6. 1-inch axles (we didn’t go there)
7. Stainless steel Heim joints
8. Modified True Track for the V-frame.
Here’s the notion. We needed to eliminate vibration but retain rigid handling, prevent wobbles, flexing in corners or flat out. If you ride a touring bike, you know the drill. The True-Track is the first line of defense for any Touring model. So our first move was boring out the swingarm bushings for the heavier, stronger, H-D swingarm axle. Wil cut off a chunk of his stock Touring True Track and machined the edge on our milling machine to contour the frame member.
Wil had to make his system work with the Custom Chrome frame. He turned to the vast Bikernet Headquarters machine shop and went to work trimming his system and creating a way for it to mount to the CCI frame.
With each move Wil refit the True-Track to the frame over and over for a perfect fit. His extruded True-Track system was a step-up from his original billet machined units that gobbled time and material.
That was the last move before I completely stripped the bike, finished welding brackets and prepared to haul the components to Foremost Powder Coatings in Gardenia, California. During this process, with permission from John Reed, I cut out the kickstand frame member, running between the engine and transmission. This member didn’t exist on stock bikes, so I felt confident. It ran too close to Baker Transmission oil fittings for comfort, so I cut it off and decided to make my own kickstand.
It’s fortunate that I didn’t destroy the actual kickstand bracket. I cut it down and made another kickstand unit out of it and mounted it to the original mid controls mount on the frame. I’ll go into that later.
I divided the powder order into three groups and took photos of each and sent the shots to Don Claypool, at Foremost, so he could keep track of each part. This is critical to getting the job done right the first time.
You’ll have to forgive me if I ramble. The headquarters were just over-run by a bunch of kids and hot babes and they’re feeding me iced Coronas and limes. For SoCal it’s hot, like 96 degrees and 70 percent humidity. It’s warm.
Okay, what’s next? A couple of weeks slipped past and the powder was ready to pick up. I immediately started to assemble parts.
I chased threads, peeled off Powder tape and prepped for assembly. Keep in mind most parts are sand blasted before they’re coated, so there’s shit in the threads.
Here’s a perfect example of preparation. I was excited to slam this bastard together and roll. I started on the rear brake system and discovered they coated the lever axle shaft. I called Sin Wu away from the computer and she stroked my shaft with emery cloth until the powder was gone. I pressed Tephlon bushings from the stock lever into my hand made brake lever and dug the paint out of the clip-ring groove. Some of that was wasted time. If I had indicated to tape off that shaft, I would have saved an hour.
With a pneumatic cut-off saw I cut the steel lip off the Buell rubbermount. I had to be careful with heat, so I worked in shifts and cooled the casting between each operation. I needed to do that to clear part of the frame.
Wil pointed out that casting tabs and lips can form weak spots. He told me to grind them as smooth as possible to prevent cracking.
I needed to install the front end and discovered that the sand blaster blasted the neck bearing races, so I drove them out of the frame and installed a new set. JIMS machine makes a special tool, but I don’t have one. I winged it and spoke to a buddy, Larry Settle, who has owned a shop for 30 years in Harbor City. “I bang ‘em in generally,” Larry said. I tried to press them in, but they don’t want to slip in evenly, so it’s best to tap them until they’re start and press them the remainder of the way.
This is a kick-ass Paoli front end and it slips together easily. However, the entire unit is metric and I had to pay close attention to the fasteners. Since I was replacing bright-plated nuts and bolts with stainless Allens I started to learn the metric thread business. There are at least three thread pitches, not just fine and coarse like I’m used to.
Next, I pressed in the self-lubricating swingarm cleave blocks. They glided in simply and Wil told me to leave 4.5 inches in the center for the transmission. This actually works out easily since the rubbermounts on either side sit flush with the swingarm and hold the bushings centered. With the bushings in place I slipped the swingarm in the frame and snugged it down with two rubbermounts, then frame caps, nuts and washers.
With new stainless ½-inch fasteners I installed the shocks then the rear wheel. I’m still grappling with the chain alignment, but I’ll get there.
All the bolts worked out perfectly, except one. It rode close to the brake caliper anchor bracket. Ultimately, I shifted the flat washer on the back of the swingarm shock bracket to the front and I was golden.
I was anxious to install the dash plate we machine- turned for class. We also installed the digital speedo and padded the back of the dash to protect the wiring and prevent shit from flying into the back of the system. I’m hoping I didn’t interfere with any controls or adjustment screws. We’ll see.
I had to install the Le Pera, classic, gold metalflake seat. Since the bike is rubbermounted and has killer suspension, I didn’t go for any seat springs, but just 1-inch rubbers under the rear of the seat.
I installed the EyecandyCustom’s taillight with new stainless fasteners and started to think about wiring. I was working with Rollin’Sixes Customs and they make a complete set of Iron Cross, Spade and Star grips, pegs and shift and brake pegs. I decided to give them a shot since the back of the taillight sported an Iron Cross. But I’m not giving up the rubber pegs for the ride to Sturgis.
I started to understand the wiring harness that comes with the V-Bike kit from Custom Chrome. I flipped through the manual for the Wire Plus, The Ultimate Wiring System (602) 221-2417. It wasn’t bad. The more I picked through it, the more I understand where I could place electrical components. It comes with it’s own circuit breaker system, flasher for turnsignals and starter relay. Except for the headlight wires the schematic was clear and I went to work.
Next I had to design and mount another kickstand. Kick stands seem until until you jump into the task. They need to lock, so if the bike rolls if won’t topple over. They need to fold up, out of the way and not run into the primary drive or the frame. They need a spring that will control all this activity.
I dug through the trash and found the old Dyna style frame bracket and cut it.
That’s it. I started to install the brake lines, ISR controls from LA ChopRods and make the kickstand. Sturgis is just around the corner and while I wrote this the bastard painter called me to tell me all his fuckin’ woes while I paced the floor waiting on the sheet metal and the engine. Will I make it to Sturgis this year. It’s all up in the air. I’ve never been this close.
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 14, Chop N Grind Hides Out
By Bandit |
Since the visit to the Biker Net Headquarters a lot has transpired. First off thanks to the 5-Ball Racing Team we were able to score some parts from some of our sponsors. Jims USA and BDL Belt Drives. Also a few extra parts unknown to the 5-Ball team. What the hell. they were just lying around. I thought everything was up for grabs. There were parts everywhere; we just helped ourselves to all the good stuff.
Well all hell has broken out since then. 5-Ball Minutemen were spotted all over the desert looking for us. We are now forced to go underground. Our original shop has been shut down due to all the heat from our so called brother team. Shit, I just took a few parts, no big deal. So we found a secret bunker in the middle of nowhere. It’s a big desert, so I suggest our 5-Ball competitors watch your step. People tend to get lost out here, fast.
The good news: Dave Mackie finished the heads. Jim Leinweber is going to deliver the cams. One set of Avon Tires are being buffed and shaved at Nicks Tires Service in Long Beach (5-Ball Territory). Ross Forged Pistons are ready to go. A small amount of welding is yet to come on the rear controls.
We are on our way. I would like to say thanks to all our sponsors and all those who have contributed to our cause. I have received a lot of e-mails from other riders and race buffs across the country, looking forward to meeting you all on the salt.
Saw the “World’s Fastest Indian” the other night. Now, I can’t wait to get on the Salt again. Remember if you can throw a few bucks our way, it sure will help. We’re getting down to the wire. Larry P still needs Race Leathers, pop-ups for the shade on the Salt, and other miscellaneous items. But this won’t keep us down. We are going come “Hell or High water”.
We’re proud to report Bill Hayes of the Booze Fighters wrote an article on the 5-Ball team for The HORSE Magazine, look for it in July /August issue.
http://www.leinewebercams.com/Links.htm
–Bob T
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 13, Shakin The Salt
By Bandit |
First off I’ll announce that D&D is making my Bonneville Racing Exhaust System. This system, designed to take may ass to Sturgis, is the street version. My goal was to make a set of pipes that performed well and were close in so I could bolt them to the driveline. It’s prohibitive to attach a rubber mounted engine exhaust system to the frame. Suddenly there’s more vibration and it will generally tear the shit out of the pipes.
The engine and trans move around, and the frame remains solid. I’m working with Wil Phillips of True-Track to control the standard touring wobbles and handling problems. Wil is the master of Touring Handling with the True-Track (under the transmission Heim joint system), stronger front motor mount, Buell style rear motor mounts and he recommended I use his stainless Heim joints and a ¾-inch transmission axle. We’ll cover that more, but if you have a dresser, you need to check his site.
Wil also supplied me with solid, lubricated bronze swingarm bushings. I pressed the stock rubber jobs out of the swingarm before I sent it to powder. The bronze bushing also eliminated all the caps, washers and spacers associated with the stock bushings. I will also us Wil’s fork dampers for both bikes, for handling and fulfilling the SCTA Bonneville racing rules.
I hate to admit this, but we may have eaten a couple of digital film cards and I’m pissed. I don’t know why? Well, I do. It’s a pain in the ass to work on a bike, then stop to take shots. It’s like the mad scientist trying to stop, so he can document his insanity. Actually I enjoy slapping these articles together, just wish I had a staff, a photographer and a gorgeous redhead note-taker following me around all day.
We started with the notion of a two into one system for several reasons. We wanted a tight system and Jason, from Roland Sands Design, recently told me that a properly designed two-into-one system can make up for unequal length pipes, because one pipe is helping to pull the exhaust pulses out of the other. I grabbed a used Thunderheader and sliced it off at an angle and positioned it near the center of the transmission and made a mounting bracket.
Then I started bending a chunk of 16-gauge, standard car exhaust pipe coated with aluminum to prevent rust. I bent a piece of welding rod as a guide and went to work with my Muffler Master non-mandrel bender. It’s a blast to mess with, but unable to make super tight bends.
I turned to Hooker header bend segments and began to piece the exhaust, with various bends, cut with a Makita saw and held in place with Hooker exhaust alignment sleeves then tack-welded. My bender is cool for slight adjustments, or spreading pipes to slip over another one, but it won’t give the tight bike bends I need and make ‘em cool.
Shit, I got off track. Not really. I was going to discuss baffles, sound suppression and performance. I’m actually going to start on an extensive exhaust science article in the next couple of days, drawing from most of the pipe manufacturers in the industry. I’m writing it for American Iron Mag and Bikernet.com. I’m hoping to find out all the secrets to exhaust tuning known to man. Yeah right, but I’ll give it my best shot. Back to my system, I ordered three-point exhaust flanges from Accurate Engineering and discovered why they are cool and why the factory never used them. They are bitchin’ and strong, but touchy to mount.
Okay, I pieced several pieces together then decided I better call Berry Wardlaw, from Accurate, and ask a delicate question. You can build an Evo system as a one-piece unit in most cases and be able to remove it, but could I do the same with a Pan with three-bolt exhaust flanges. Also, did I need to run the pipes into the heads or cut them off at the mouth of the exhaust port.
Berry was in the middle of helping his girlfriend, Gypsy, build a bike for the Discovery Channel Biker Build-off against Kim Suter. They were scrambling, but he took a moment out of their pressurized schedule to give me a call. “It’s best to have the system break into two pieces,” Berry said. “There’s also a lip inside the exhaust ports, and you can run the pipes up to the lip. Now, get back to work. Sturgis is just around the corner.”
”Thanks a fuckin’ lot,” I said as he hung up. I was able to use a spreader tool on my Muffler Master and spread the front pipe to slip over the chunk left-over on the Thunderheader.
After everything was tacked into place I removed the system and finished all the welds. I need a TIG welder. Then I ground all the welds and rattle-canned them with flat black barbecue paint. It’s the only way to go, but I didn’t make heat shields, because I have some Lone Star Choppers Heat Wrap that I might try out. Larry Curik, the owner, was also working on Gypsy’s Build-off and out of his shop.
How’s this for a Panhead Sportbike Luggage rack. I’ve removed all the normal sportbike crap and replaced it with old school touches, I suppose. We’re hoping to engine turn this and clear powder them to match the dash. We’ll see.
Recently all the parts were shipped to Foremost Powder for special coatings. We hope to start assembling the 45 flathead by Friday. In the meantime I dug up this brass/bronze experiment and made another belt buckle. It’s sorta a ride-on-acid buckle, but what the hell.
Just when I thought we had these bikes under control a couple more projects surfaced. We need a kickstand for the 45 and I’ll order a center stand and have it powder coated. I also need lowered struts to replace the shocks on the Panhead to lower that puppy to the ground for salt running. Oh, and I need various sized sprockets to push the top end on the salt. Here’s what John Reed, the V-Bike designer, told me about the wheels and sprocket.
Don’t forget that the rear sprockets on the V are not Harley wheel fit, They are ducati fit, with Harley size on the outside(chain).You will either get someone (a manufacturer) to make the sprockets, or modify Harley style (fxr) ones, which means welding up the holes round the center, putting it on a Lathe, which is an absolute pain in the ass, and opening up the hole in the center to fit the wheel and drilling holes to fit the hub.
I use a rear-wheel sprocket with two less teeth than the one that comes on the V, and it makes it a lot better for my style of riding.–John
Holy shit.
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 12, The 45 Brakes
By Bandit |
I’m running back and forth between bikes fabricating shit, waiting for parts, dodging bullets and counting the days. Yesterday I received a note from David Zelma at Performance Machine. “We found the front caliper bracket,” he said and I sighed. I was beginning to wonder whether I dove into an odyssey to find the un-findable part.
I can vision that 10-inch front brake rotor bracket. I could swear I owned one at one time. Here’s the number, PN 1208-0017. It was designed for their standard 4- piston calipers to mount on XL-FX 1978 through 1983 with 10-inch disc brake rotors. The 10-inch number is the critical bastard. I have a handful of the ’84 and up jobs for larger rotors. If you have one of the 10-inch brackets, frame it and mount it on a wall.
So we shifted to the rear bracket. We had the coolest PM 8-inch floating rotor without holes in the aluminum center. Jay took it home and carefully measured the center of the lip, figured out five even positions and drilled them.
The PM based rear wheel hub needed to be drilled, for the rotor and that was going to be a trick. We didn’t have a drill press base large enough to reach the hub but we did have a large chunk of 6-inch steel tubing and center punches to mark the holes.
We marked, punched and drilled the holes with guide holes first. We taped the drill bit to give us the proper depth without drilling through the hub. Then we drilled the holes the proper diameter to tap them with 5/16 coarse threads.
With the rotor drilled and fitted, we dug around for a bunch of domed Allens to fasten the rotor to the hub.
The bolt heads needed to be shallow enough to miss the caliper bracket and stainless domed heads did the job. The other consideration is strength. According to Derek from DMP Enterprises, our fastener connection, (818) 775-9804, we should not use stainless fasteners on rotors. “You need grade 8 fasteners,” Derek said.
Okay, but this is a much lighter, less powerful bike. Next move, a wheel spacer between the two Timken bearings in the hub and Jay brought over the seamless tubing necessary, and we did our damnest to make a measurement. Then he took the data to the lathe and cut the tubing square to make sure the bearings ran true to the races in the hub.
After several precision cuts, Jay cut the bearing slightly short and we used a couple of shims to make it good with a clearance of .010-inch. Then I greased the bearings thoroughly and slathered grease on the races. With the spacer/shims in place we installed the bearings and seals. The wheel was ready to rock. We needed to grapple with the small rear PM two-piston caliper and mounting bracket.
This is a tricky Performance machine setup. It works with several sized rotors for axle spacing. It also allowed us to run the anchor bracket out either side of the caliper. It bolts into the middle of the caliper halves. First, we determined where to drill the ¾-inch axle hole by the PM gauge stamped into the caliper bracket. We drilled a guide hole then the major ¾-inch puppy.
Here’s the deal. The bracket fit right onto the axle, then we had to take the caliper apart and install the anchor-rod bracket. As you can see, in the top of the shot below, the bracket is sticking north. It can also be installed aiming south, or east and west, depending on how you’re holding the caliper. I musta split that caliper a half-dozen times during this process.
It was a trip figuring out all these components and how they fit together. You get the results of all our puzzle work. Okay, so once we put all the pieces together properly and wrapped the caliper over the rotor, centering the pads with the proper wheel spacer, we installed the wheel.
Our first custom notion was to mount the caliper Softail style so the caliper rested between the frame rails. We actually manufactured a brake anchor bracket and machined it to fit perfectly. Then we discovered that the wheel was seriously off center and we’d misplaced the sprocket spacing. We had to regroup.
We returned to the bike and dropped the axle caliper bracket straight down to allow the bracket to act as one of the wheel spacers and be pressed against the frame axle plate. There was a catch, a lump in the frame that didn’t allow the plate to set flat.
Bikernet.com does not have a CNC machine, but a BJ&M (Bandit, Jay and Masa) machine. This is truly state-of- the-art machining. Jay controlled one cutting direction, I controlled the other and Masa sprayed the cutting fluid for perfect accuracy and efficiency.
Note the cutting fluid being precision fed into the Bikernet Machine Shop operation.
We notched the bracket then discovered that our notch was on the wrong side. No worries, as the Aussie’s say, we flipped it and notched again.
During this operation a highly trained guard cat watched the shop door while positioned in the fairing we planned to modify for the 45 flathead, Sportster front end, since we my run this puppy in the partially streamlined class.
We’re missing some shots of the heim joint anchor rod we built and fastened to the frame through an Epson scanner glitch, but we’re working on it. We may retrieve them yet. In the meantime our frame is out to powder at Foremost in Gardenia.
But the shop isn’t on vacation. We’re cleaning the shop, rearranging equipment and refurbishing some new-to-us equipment in preparations to build these two bikes fast, once the powder is back.
We captured two old Delta wood working machines and transformed them into metal shop hands. One is a belt sander and the other a band saw. We needed both. We cleaned and grease ‘em, then try to make ‘em work. My problem was finding the right blades for the band saw in the correct length.
John Reed, the V-Bike designer for Custom Chrome, came to my aid.
You can get a blade welder. You buy a bulk length of blade cut it to length, put it in the welder and it joins each end. Then you have to heat the weld red, and let it cool, to anneal it. Rutland tools sell lengths of Starett band saw blades in specific lengths.
Come to a crunch, you can get your saw blade the right length, grind each end so it chamfers to a razor edge about ¼-inch in on each end of the blade.Put some silver solder flux and warm it with a gentle negative acetyline/oxy flame until it melts, (just under red) and touch it with just enough silver solder to let itcapillary across the surface, hold each end together with some flux, heat it, and it will join, and grind the side so its the same thickness all over.
We tried the welder and it didn’t work so we decided the man with the torch could weld it, and I did, very carefully. Then ground it and we have a working bandsaw, I hope.
Next, I’ll bring you the exhaust pipe fab on the V-Bike 120-inch Panhead, followed by the assembly process on both bikes. We’re burnin’ daylight and Whiplash reminds me of the Sturgis deadline on a weekly basis.
Bikernet Bonneville Effort, Part 11, The Classes
By Bandit |
I spoke to an official, Tom “Rodan” Evans, from the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) about rules, classes and Bonneville racing. Delvene reminded me that it was time to pre-register. “Running open bikes is the most fun,” Rodan said. “But let’s look at what you have?” According to Rodan the 1940 45 Flatty will run in the 500cc class, but there are several categories. We discovered that the record for the Modified Vintage 500 cc Gas Class is 126 mph. Get this the MPS-VF, vintage, partially streamlined fuel class record is 110 mph and the gas record in the same category is 123 mph. We're going after the MPS-VF first then change classes if we break that record.
Remember that the record must be obtained by running both ways on the salt within 1.5 hours and the average speed is our score.
Here’s the deal on the famous Salt Shaker, 120-inch (Accurate Engineering engine and Baker Transmission) Panhead Sportbike, designed by John Reed and modified by Bandit. That’s me. It can run in the Pushrod category 2000 cc class or A-PG. A Harley currently holds the gas record at 165.5 mph, but get this, the A-PF record (fuel), is just 157.010. We will shoot for that one first. “Run nitrous,” Rodan said. “It’s one way to make up for the shitty air on the salt flats.”
Now here’s the secret score for the day from Departure Bike Works. Speed secrets from the early days, slipped to us under the counter in the DBW service department:
”We received a communique from none other than Fast Eddie Boomhower himself, regarding the Bonne Belle motor,” said Greg from DBW.
“This page will self-destruct in 2 minutes, so read fast. This is some kick ass info. You can post some of it on Bikernet if you wish, so the faithful readers can see how it was done BEFORE computers and CNC machines….”
Eddie Boomhaur owned Richmond, Virginia, Harley-Davidson until the late ‘70s. He still restores vintage engines and sets them up for vintage racing. He also builds replica vintage Sprint frames.
Factory venturi blueprint.
Keep It Greasy,
Greg @ DBW
service@departure.com
