Long story short

Well, this had to be the simplest project that took way way too long. My front exhaust pipe's T-slot was a bit too far forward and T-bolt keep falling out. I got a nice P-clamp from Columbus and noticed it would work nicely directly off the transmission mount. Doing the spacer was the trick. It took more than one try and I should have pulled the rear pipe to get it right the first time. But hey I'm happy with final results.

Crank seal up attempt getting started at least

So JB in NC told me try a 11167 o-ring behind spacer to keep the on in. Worth a shot, right?


It fits way done in there.


I bought a new Jim's spacer to go on.


New seal, greased on the rubber side and no sealant on the metal side, installed with my high tech specialty tools.


Well this job is postponed again. The stator wires are in too rough of shape to go back up any farther.

Care Package from Bruce

As a thanks for checking out that bike for Bruce, he sent me a box of goodies. I told him I didn't need anything just for taking pictures of a bike. He insisted on something so I told him to send me some wild parts with something for my pegboard and not  a restaurant gift card.

His package of goodies was perfect. A ratchet top clutch release arm, a crankcase breather with mount, a bicycle style kicker pedal, old o-ring pegs, a single spring loaded peg, some knick-knacks, a twenty dollar bill, and a highway bar with genuine Anderson pegs on it.

I was pretty jazzed about all of it. The crankcase breather with the mount is exactly what I haven't gotten around to getting on my Kawasaki. The lucky twenty dollar bill will go in the shovelhead's toolbox with my lucky one dollar bill from Ed. The rest will go on the wall.



This peg had a hole drilled in it at some point.


This one has a bit of rash on it, but I like my pegs to have a back story.


Here's this crazy peg with a detent spring. (I'm easily amused.)


Keychains and belt buckle... It's hard to believe that the MoCo licensed cigarettes as late as the mid-1990's

Barn Find Garbage Wagon

This bike is not really a secret. It's been on the local craigslist for a very long time.  If there are pictures in the ad, they are pretty much terrible and the asking price is on the high side of perfect.  I haven't been in the market for a hack rig, so I never called.  However, my internet friend Bruce from Nebraska was really interested and asked me to go and check it out.  I know why the ad pictures are so bad. The bike has been in a dark warehouse since about 1994, I think.  That was the last tag on it.

Here's the sidecar.


That's actually the seat for it sitting in the sidecar. Blue velour, yo.


All duded out even a side mirror for the hack passenger to use.





Lots of bumpers. Safety first I guess.


I haven't seen all this twisted rod stuff before.


The dude straight bought the full catalog's worth of the stuff though.











More bumpers.











Breaker ONE-NINE, breaker ONE-NINE!


This was the deal breaker. Bruce was told that the frame numbers for a 1971 should be on a boss on the frame leg not the neck. I don't know. I don't much about stock.















AMA.


What do you call this style of paint? Fishscale, maybe?



 

Bruce didn't buy it, but he sent me a very awesome care package and I got to see a crazy old bike on a Sunday afternoon.

Pegboard is coming along

Shovelhead crank spacer condition

Tomorrow is now. Let's get this figured out. I pulled the nut and "pipe tool" spacer and this is what I found. It's oily-gooey around the splines and spacer and yes some surface rust on the spline.


This is actually a good sign. Oil has seeped out from being parked. I would think that this would point to a seal problem more so than a crank case pressure issue.


Definitely oil coming out from the spline area and maybe the outside of the seal.


Well this is not expected. The holes I drilled to get the seal out should be bleeding like that. I don't know if that's a return issue or a regular old little sump issue from sitting four months.


Delkron cases, so I pulled the drain plug and it completely filled this drip pan.


Clean this up and take a look.


The little drain return here seems clear so that's good now.


Here's how the spacer fits to the crank. I think this is too loose and from the witness marks I would think it chattered and vibrated. I need a new spacer. I'm not sure if it was always loose or got loose when the front primary sprocket got loose.  I don't have one today, but that's the next move.