Seat Tabs - Part II

Spent a lot of time today grinding down welds on the frame, and making sure the new seat tabs fit the way they are supposed to. You are only looking at part of them. There are two more pieces that are mounts for the back of each tank.

The good news is that the 1938 tanks that Jeff sold me are just like the ones on the bike, in terms of mounting spacing, so either should work. The seat T and seat should all work out fine too if I can just get the welding done.

Now I just need to find a weldor, and figure out how to transport the bike to the welding place. I sure wish I was close to Trent.

Made a very quick visit to Dave Eady's place today. That place is amazing! Gotta go back when I have more time, and take a camera.

Seat Tabs

Rumor has it that the Flathead clan grows restless due to lack of new posts. Several reasons for that. Wednesday might I went to a Seattle Cossacks meeting. They didn't throw me out; that's a good sign, I suppose.

Last night was spent fabricating replacement frame tabs to mount the original style seat T. This is a source of mild frustration, since I didn't know they had been cut off. Hope I can find the Seattle version of Trent to weld them on for me. I will be overjoyed if I can make that happen this weekend.

I am getting pretty proficient at making stuff with a hack saw, files, an ancient drill press, and my Harbor Freight mill vise. I would be a damned miracle worker with real machine tools.

I also cut off the front mount for the Biltwell bobber seat bracket, and ground the frame back down. Nate's panhead seat is ready to mount. It has beautiful "patina" (to borrow a word I learned from Antiques Roadshow), from 50+ years of butts on seats. I'll bet Lee Marvin even sat on this seat in between beating up on Marlon Brando for riding a Triumph...

I still have clutch problems to sort out. Also a bit frustrating, because this was not anticipated, but "Fuzzy" from Classic Thunder couldn't be nicer about providing advice on this issue. A class act!

An opportunistic sale of a 1933 Plymouth exhaust manifold will likely provide $$ to purchase a repro Sparto taillight to get me on the road until I get an original rear fender and taillight. The new WA license plate also arrived thie week.

All in all, the 38U is teaching me patience. Not my strong suit. By the way, I have been thinking of a name for the 38U. What do you think of "Hollister"?

Crickets...

V & I are both convinced you need to post a little more often, even if you don't have tons of progress to show. V just watched the video 5 times.

Cool Foundry site

I couldn't sleep last night (Harley on the brain). I was researching the Linkert air horn online, and stumbled across Landstrom's Foundry Motorcycle Parts website. Not only does he make some really cool parts, but threre are some great blog entries documenting how it's done.

Tinkering...

This picture is just eye candy. Apparently the brass Linkert intake cover is vintage speed equipment that takes the place of an air cleaner. The aft half of the thing is open so that air can get in. Note also the primer cups in the heads. They weren't there for long after 1938.

Spent most of today trying to diagnose a clutch dragging problem. I got the stock clutch and brake linkages pretty much back, but the clutch release arm seems to have too much slop inside the transmission. That results in insufficient release when I move the rocker heel down, which results in hard shifting.

I took the primary cover off to see if I could see anything out of whack. This is a picture of the BDL belt drive. "Fuzzy said it would deliver on the promise of less vibration and quieter operation, but he's worried about longevity of the belt. I think I will order a spare to have around in case it breaks.

My lack of patience will get the best of me. This week's projects are to track down seat mount tabs that can be welded back onto the backbone of the frame, and to sort out the clutch problem. These two things make it impossible to really ride.

Oh yeah, also ran it out of gas today. With only one side flowing gas, and a thirsty big flattie sucking it, it goes down pretty fast.

Unchained melody...

Customizing a bike is a very personal thing. Most of the previous owner's choices were pretty cool in my opinion. The "chain" linkages were not to my taste. I am definitely a fan of the "form follows function" school, or as Trent from Atomic Customs puts it, "if it doesn't work better or make it faster, it doesn't belong.

Suffice it to say I wanted to get rid of the chains, and also get the rocker clutch back on... I need to do some more adjustment of the clutch - seems to be dragging a bit.

John.Q.Public asked for video of it running. My son helped me throw something together...

First Ride...

Here, in no particular order. and not of very good quality, are pictures of my 38U. Note the makeshift seat, removed from an African Bicycle called a Black Mamba. Hey, it let me ride...

My first impressions - it's WAY more powerful than the 45", and it's a fair amount heavier. The magneto has no means of retarding it to start, and once in a while it kicks back. Starts pretty nice though. Seems to handle pretty well - no wierd steering issues like the VL in NM, and feels a lot faster...

First order of business was to move the front brake handle back over to the left, to match the 45". Don't much care for the suicide clutch. It kind all or nothing, and with the power of the 74" all is enough to almost throw me off the back. I have most of the parts to return the rocker clutch; that will be my next project, along with installing a borrowed panhead seat and post from Nate, and making an improvised taillight - more on that tomorrow...

The motorcycle is not very clean, but if I look beyond the dirt, I think it's from being ridden - a lot! The cylinders and cases are in pretty good shape, with no broken fins. The number on the laft case half is in really nice condition - no evidence at all of ever being messed with.

Some of the Cossacks have the same brass cover on the carb throat. It has no filtering at all (well, okay, it might keep a sparrow out!). The carb is a stock Linkert M-51.

The two chain linkages really need to go - just not my thing. It's getting late, so I think I'll stop blathering for now.

All in all, seems to be very rideable. I like it!