Saturday, February 18, 2012

Ist ride!

I just came in from riding the Chief for the first time in my life! Sorry no video. Weather was pretty cruddy, and it was just a down the block and back ride.

The Indian left hand throttle is quite the challenge for me. Felt like I had never ridden a motorcycle before. I may end up switching throttle and shifter so I don't kill myself.

The clutch drags enough to grind a bit going into 1st, but seems to work fine in all other respects. Transmission shifts very nicely underway. Got it into all three gears.

The ride was cut short when it started to smoke. The scavenge pump doesn't seem to be working. I'll have to sort that next.

It desperately needs wiring, and I need to figure out the best battery/regulator solution... $$$ is tight, so I need to be P A T I E N T . . .

Never was my strong suit.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Motorcycle fan belt?

While I was cleaning the Chief this weekend, I saw that the v-belt driving the generator had definitely lived it's life.



Went online and found a belt replacement number, 4L210. Decided to try my local NAPA distribution center. They had it. The belt they brought out is GREEN! Also says "Garden"...


Maybe for a John Deere garden tractor...? Perhaps I can start a trend...

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Smalls...

I am a pretty big fan of American Pickers. When Mike and Frank are picking small items, they refer to them as "smalls". I guess I was working on "smalls" this weekend on the Indian.

Lessee...

- Got the new head gasket back on the front cylinder, and ran it and retorqued the bolts. front now has compression approximately equal to the back...



My side stand just got back from a short vacation to see Bitmonkey, so I celebrated by painting and installing it before it decided to take any more trips. Works great.



Chipped 42 years of Oklahoma dirt and grease off of the final drive chain, disassembled, cleaned and lubed the starter gear so the kicker pedal can come back up after the engine starts...



Other than that, just spent several hours trying to clean years and years of oil, grease, and dirt off of everything I can reach. I am pretty sure I will be doing this for some time to come. Good news though: Turns out it makes a pretty good preservative. Once you get it off, what's underneath looks pretty pristine... Hope your weekend was as satisfying as mine...

Chief of New Guinia

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Hank Young's Indian

You guys have similar taste... I way prefer the non-telescopic forks but it's still cool.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Blown Head Gasket

Sometimes when working on Grandpa's motorcycle, one has to resort to his tools... Couldn't seem to find quite the right tool to get at some of the front head bolts. I found these two wrenches at a pawn shop today. They did the trick!



After I managed to get the front head off, I clearly found my compression leak. Look at the thin missing section just below the top bolt hole in this picture. I could also see evidence that the bolt was being eroded on the inside by hot exhaust gases.

Really lucky that bolt didn't break when I took it out!



I will try to clean everything up tomorrow. With some luck, I might just have a Chief with good compression on TWO jugs.

Ace Mechanic MIA



Missing my Ace Mechanic...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Stylin Chief

Phil Blackford president of the Pirate Motorcycle Club 1948 to 1956