Rhubarb Time

Skipped a couple of days of working in the shop, mostly due to the weather. Tuesday because it was really nice and yesterday because it was cold, damp and gloomy. It got up to 77 degrees Tuesday so I spent a few hours working on the yard and garden along with a few other chores including picking up some steel for the jitney project and to stretch the frame on the little midget racer I made years ago. As soon as I finish putting the Rapido back together I'll tackle that one so the grandson will fit in it.

Yesterday was a mostly indoor day due to the rain and gloom so I baked a couple of loaves of rhubarb bread since the rhubarb was ready for picking. Today's weather is calling for a similar day but dry up late afternoon but temps only in the low 50s. Might make a couple of more loaves this morning to stock the freezer with. Looks like it might be a wise idea to top off the pantry and the freezer with the way things are looking with the ag distribution system. With packing plants closing and vegetables rotting in the fields due to the virus, you know that's going to have an adverse effect on what will be available and the prices of what's on  the store shelves.

I picked up a small heavy bag yesterday to hang out in my shop. There's already a bracket for it out there, so it should be easy enough to get it rigged. I've been wanting to get back to something close to my regular boxing workout. I can do a few rounds, ride my bike and work in the garden and I should be golden. I ordered some perennials to dress up the yard a bit and I'll be planting a few veggies in the next week or so as the ground warms up. 

Grifters

There were a few really smart people in my high school class and I'm sure there are a few smart ones running the country but on a whole, what a bunch of immoral grifters. If you go here, and scroll down until you find the article by Bill Bonner titled No Crony Left Behind you'll see where all the money the Feds are handing out is going. I'll give you a hint, it's not to small business or the working class. You have to read the numbers very carefully so you'll know if you're looking at millions or billions and I'm sure you'll agree with the author when he questions why the money was allocated as it was. In my book, it's absolutely disgusting. Take a few minutes and look where our money has gone and then decide for yourself.

Staying With It

I thought this was pretty funny, especially since the U.P. pulls a coal drag past the shack at least once a day on the way to the generating station. However, the generating station is scheduled to close in a few years.  I would guess the air quality has improved noticeably in the last few weeks with all the lay-offs and travel restrictions. Since I live out in the country I haven't noticed a lot of difference in the traffic but I haven't been out much either. I just hope this virus goes away soon. The Missus and I are doing OK but it's putting the pinch on a lot of people and if things don't get back to "normal" soon it's liable to get ugly. Unfortunately, there has been a jump in cases both statewide and locally in the last few days. Not good.

While working in the shop yesterday, the radio came on with their virus update. From what I heard, looks like the social distancing will be around all summer long. And this is right after I heard from Cuzzin Ricky about another train museum out in Nevada for us to go visit. Balls!

Here's my lovely mower blade sharpening atelier. Part of my duties at the part-time gig is sharpening mower blades. There I use a professional grinding gizmo. I was planning on taking my spare set of blades to work and sharpen them there but that only works if you go to work. The set-up in the photo actually works quite well. Clamp the blade to the horse and turn the 9" hand grinder loose on it. It only takes about a minute to sharpen each end . The mower has a 48" deck under it using three blades. Since the blades are short I don't worry too much about any imbalance from taking too much off of one end. I don't own a balancer but I can always hang them on a nail if I think they're too far out.

And from the diamond in a pig's ass department, I painted the cover that holds the sprocket on. As you can see, the rear wheel is in rough shape. Between the rusty chrome and the faded silver paint and the dirt, not much hope for making this one look good. I'm going to look into buying some rims, spokes and new rubber. I can always re-lace the wheels at a later date. I'm just hoping the little Rapido is going to run when I get it back together. I certainly don't want to split the cases and put new crank seals in it. I just want a decent little bike the grandson can ride around the yard. I should have the answer before too much longer.

Rapido Clean-Up Continues

Two separate projects going on here. The swingarm for the Rapido. Obviously in need of some paint. Some of it is just dirt that washed off but as you can see in the photo the right leg is pretty much void of paint. In between the legs are the flanges for the Slant-Six headers that came in the other day. I haven't tried them on the cylinder head yet but I'll get around to that in the next few days.

The swingarm looks a lot better after being bead blasted. I got it primed and painted yesterday. Since I reworked the blast cabinet, doesn't take long to clean up parts like this. I should have modified the cabinet right after I got it - would have avoided a lot of frustration.

Cleaned up the hub while waiting for the primer to dry on the swingarm. Washed most of the grime off, then rubbed it with some steel wool with AutoSol polish, then finished it up with just the polish.

Since there's no front down tube, there's a head steady to keep the engine where it belongs. That could use a coat of paint. If I take that off not much else holding the engine in the frame at that point so I might just yank it out of there. Or I might just pull the air filter housing off and throw a blanket over the motor and spray what I can get at and call it good. Have to see how it all unravels when I get out there. I'll give it my customary two hours of shop time and see what I get done. I need to get some garden work done if it stops raining so I can plant some peppers and tomatoes. I also need to sharpen the mower blades and get those swapped out. It's that time of year again.

Fillet Welds

I've been working on cleaning and organizing my big barn. I rent part of it out to the young man who farms my property. The balance is mostly a disorganized mess. I've been behind the eight ball to a certain extent ever since I left the high school. I had planned on retiring one year later but the heart attack changed that. It also had me dragging some stuff home in a hurry and being on light duty for a while. The Missus had her medical issues that slowed me down and I ended up working more than I planned at the college. Not complaining here, just trying to justify why the barn is such a mess. Now that I'm not working at all, no reason what-so-ever for it to stay that way. In fact, I'm going to look pretty silly having all this time on my hands and not get a few things done around here.

In the photo are some brackets I knocked out the other day. The two large ones are for hanging up my large extension ladder. The other two are for my bike ramp and the track for my track torch. It's just a small step but one in the right direction. I've got a steel rack I'm going to put together and organize my material storage a bit. I'll eventually get it all cleaned up to my satisfaction. I've been retired eight years - no point in hurrying now, I guess.

Detail of one of the welds on the ladder brackets. Fillet weld with the TIG process using 3/32" ER70S-3 filler - that's welder talk right there. If I was to critique this weld, it would certainly be acceptable for the job at hand. However, it's a bit sloppy as a result of being in a bit of a hurry. The right end has a kind of a blob but that's intentional. When you weld a fillet weld like this (a fillet weld being one that is triangular in cross section) best practice is to either come in from both ends and finish some place in the middle of the weld or give the weld some extra material when finishing up the bead to fill the crater to prevent a crack from starting and running back into the weld bead.

Tee or corner joints that will be subjected to movement are susceptible to this type of cracking. On structural steel, especially bridge work, inspectors normally are pretty fussy about filling your craters and wrapping your bead around the end of a component if possible. Likewise the size of the weld must be adhered to closely. Most of this type of construction is governed by the AWS Structural Steel Code and all the welding procedures need to be qualified, or use a AWS prequalified procedure, and the welding personnel must be qualified to the procedure also.

Obviously a couple of brackets to hold up a ladder weighing less that 50 lbs. don't require a WPS (welding procedure specification) but anyone who welds anything needs to remember what's at stake if the weld fails. The cosmetics often are important also - these are getting a coat of paint - but most importantly on this job, things are getting organized.

All American Boy

This one's from my formative years and that's pretty much all I wanted to be - an all American boy. Meaning I played baseball, rode my bicycle and then as I grew a bit older transitioned from bicycles to motorcycles and hot rods. And, of course, there was the music and the discovery of girls. I was a little young for the start of rock and roll and the hot rodding movement but like most guys my age I was certainly influenced by it.

We all have a soundtrack to our lives. I was heavily influenced by Chicago radio back in the sixties. WLS and WCFL were the two biggies for rock and roll. WLS had Clark Weber - in fact I was a Weber Commando. WMPP - "Where the Brothers Are" - played R&B. All three of these were AM stations. Later FM  stations became the go-to with WSDM, "the station with the girls" and WXRT coming on at 3:00 in the afternoon at first and then going full time. WXRT became my station of choice for years. I've still got a button tuned to them on the truck radio.

Starting on Saturday nights I'd listen to the Prairie Home Companion, Mike Flynn's Folk Sampler, Fiona Ritchie's Thistle and Shamrock, and later jazz programming on WBEZ. If I stayed up real late I'd catch Word Jazz - an acquired taste but interesting just the same. Sundays were Piano Jazz and then Dick Buckley playing "the good old good ones", His traditional jazz selections always seemed to reflect the weather of the weekend. If it was a beautiful spring afternoon he'd be swinging. A gray early winter day would be more subdued ballads. The selections were always good, however, coming from his own extensive collection of records. Hard to find any jazz music on the radio any more. I listened to a lot of jazz programming when I had Sirius Radio but they never played the variety that Dick Buckley did - Philly Joe Jones, Bix Biederbeck, Red Nichols, Louis Armstrong and all the other greats from 30s to the 50s.

As I told Surly in a comment the other day, I've got a turntable to convert my LPs into digital recordings. I've got at least 300 albums that I can draw from - jazz, blues, rock, country - to get my own soundtrack playing out in the shop. I need to take an evening, pick out a few of the ones I haven't heard in a while and start converting them. What I'd really like to do is start that low wattage radio station I've thought about for many years. Radio Free Kersey right Kevin?

Stay safe and keep on a rocking!

Typical Day Around The Shack

I was going to run the truck through the car wash when I went out two weeks ago but it was closed. I didn't think a place where you didn't interact with a single solitary sole would have been closed but yet it was. I wanted to get the normal dirt and mud off but also since I had driven it in one of the late snows I wanted to get the salt residue off. Since the truck is skinned with aluminum, I don't want to have problems with corrosion so I got ambitious and washed it at home yesterday. Not that this is a big deal but it does show how far reaching this shut down is.

The painted parts for the Rapido turned out pretty well for a rattle can paint job. I'm real pleased with the way the shocks came out. I started cleaning up the frame and it could use a fresh coat of paint but I think I can make it look acceptable without taking it all the way down. Have to see how that works out in the next couple of days.

Welded up the lead pot yesterday as well. I'm going to hammer in a couple of spouts to facilitate pouring the hot lead into molds. I'll heat up a spot with the torch 90 degrees to the handle and then hit the top edge with the cross peen and form a small vee in the side and then repeat the process for the other side of the pot. Surly borrowed the molds for the lead soldiers for some project he's got in mind but I didn't have a lead pot to give him. This will take care of that operation, plus one of these days I want to pour some more bullets for my muzzle loader. No hurry on that since I've only shot the thing once in the last 15 years or so, plus I believe the range is currently closed due to the virus. Even if it's not, I'm not going to chance it.

I ordered the exhaust flanges and a book on rebuilding the slant-six. I'll keep bouncing back and forth between the car and the Rapido project until the Rapido is completed and then tackle another bike project. It'd be nice to wrap up the 900 project this summer. I'd like to take that sidecar for a spin.

I got a text yesterday from a buddy of mine about a young lady who's touring the world on a Royal Enfield Himalayan like I've got. You can read about her adventures here. I didn't dig into the site too deeply yet but looks to be pretty interesting reading. She's solo touring from South America to Alaska. She's already done quite a bit of touring around Europe.

Stay safe, wash your hands, stay home as much as possible.

Let it All Hang Out

Interesting times when these were on the airwaves - '67 & '68. The mid to late sixties was a time of turmoil in the United States, some of it pretty serious right close to home for Shop Teacher Bob. The Watts riots were in '65, Detroit in '67 and Chicago, which was only about 50 miles away from where I was living back then, had not just one but two riots. One early '68, about a week after I bought my Harley Sprint, and another when the Democratic Convention came to town later that year. The latter had Chicago's finest versus the Yippies and gave us the famous quote from Mayor Daley "The police are not here to create disorder, the police are here to preserve disorder." I also remember hanging out at the Texaco station in town and watching the National Guard go down Main Street heading to Gary in case they were needed if Hatcher didn't win the election in November of '67 and a riot broke out. Troubling times, indeed.

In case you've tuned in late, this is what I'm currently working towards - a nice looking '68 HD Rapido and making a bit of progress too.

I bought myself one of these in April of '68 - a '67 Sprint H model. Great little bike for a kid who was a senior in high school and a big step up from the Honda Sport 50. Both of these little  Harleys give you an idea of what the latest Italian styling was looking like, with a few concessions to the American market like high rise handlebars, because we were used to wrestling steers, don't you know. No mirrors, though. The Italians were never too concerned with who was behind them, as long as they were.

Now that I'm in quarantine it's starting to feel like the sixties all over again out in the shop. I'm spending a lot of time working on a '68 Rapido and I've got a couple of Sprint projects in the queue (threw that one in there because there's a BSA in line as well). Even though the Rapido project seems to be growing, time in the shop is pretty much just like it was 50 years ago - can you dig it? I knew that you could. I do need to get some better music on my MP3 player. Something more like what's up above. "The classic rock" stations I can pick up are starting to play a lot of music from the eighties and as all of us old farts know, nothing good came out of the eighties.

Hooker & Heat - that's the stuff!

The Prime of Life

The Rapido's life that is. The weather was rather ugly yesterday but not near as bad around here as was forecast. They were calling for 5-8" of snow but we only got about two. It never warmed up much more than 40 but I turned on the heater in the shop to warm it up enough I could finish priming the rest of the pieces. While waiting for things to warm up I polished up the brake lever. I put it on the buffing wheel but the compound didn't want to load up on the wheel. They carry that at the hardware uptown so I might hazard a trip. I'll probably check with Eastwood or Amazon first. I'm in no hurry for that.

I cleaned up the chrome on one of the shocks while waiting as well. It cleaned up surprisingly well, so I'll mask off the chrome and bead blast the rest of the shock body. The swingarm is pretty funky with dirt and grime from the chain oil. I'll see how that looks after a bit of elbow grease. Since I'll have the shocks off it wouldn't take much more effort to take the swing arm off. In which case, blast, prime and paint. Then with the back end looking good, I'll probably have to do something with the headlight bucket and the fork. If my blast cabinet was big enough I'd just go whole hog and strip the whole bike down right now and repaint the frame.

Surly sent me some info on some new wheels for this little girl. Price is real decent but then I'd have to get spokes, new tires and tubes, and the time involved in re-lacing the wheels. I might give a call to see if he's got everything in house and if so, get a quote. Knew it was going to happen.

Supposed to be near 60 today. Good day to paint the primed parts and start cleaning the frame.

Books

Looks like that's how it's going to work out, unfortunately. However, on the plus side of staying home I'm once again making time for reading.

I'm currently working my way through this one as my bed-time reading. I'm about half-way through it. I've got a Mickey Thompson biography up next. Still haven't read the signed Malcom Smith autobiography I got a couple of years back. Might do that one after Mickey. No shortage of books to read from my home library. Good thing, since the libraries I normally frequent are both closed up. I did get an e-mail from one of the library systems showcasing their new digital reads. I don't have a Kindle or anything, nor do I have any desire to read books electronically. I'll stick with print versions of books, magazines and newspapers as long as they're around. And when they quit publishing new books in print, I'll scour the second hand stores if I run out of things in my own collection.

The weather wasn't too bad yesterday - got a bit warmer than what they were forecasting. It made 50 in the afternoon, so I went out to the shop. I welded the mounting bracket on the chainguard and a couple small cracks on the rear fender for the Rapido. I also primed the taillight and foot peg brackets. Depending on the weather today, I'll try to get those painted black and prime the remaining pieces. If we get the snow they're talking about, I might just do the chores outside and do some more reading. Crazy weather.

Photo Stuff

My gardenia has made it through the winter and has quite a few buds on it. This is the first one to open up. I bought the plant last year from Menards. It was close to four feet tall and actually quite cheap I thought - it would have to have been or I never would have bought it. Just a tick over $20.00 if I remember correctly. I brought it in for the winter and it started shedding leaves about December. I was never sure if I was watering it too much or  not enough. After I did a bit of research I think I had it too close to the heater fin tube even though I had a tray of water on it to provide humidity. Fortunately, I didn't kill it. I've been misting it and taking it outside on the warm days and it seems to be doing well enough that it'll be in fairly good health if nice weather ever gets here - high of about 43 yesterday and it was spitting a bit of snow in the afternoon.

Here's a scan of the last roll of film I shot. The roll I shot in the camera that called for 620 film was junk but the old Franka turned in another great performance. The film is Acros from Fuji. I bought a 5 pack of this stuff about a year ago and I really like it. I was going to buy some more but apparently they no longer make it. Fine grain, good exposure latitude, makes nice prints.

I used a yellow filter on this roll since they were all taken outside on a nice sunny day. I followed the "sunny 16 rule" for my exposures - film speed same as shutter speed, aperture set at f16. I gave it one extra stop to compensate for the filter and they all came out looking good. I usually do a pretty good job of guessing the proper exposures so I don't bother with an exposure meter. If it's a shot I really want I'll bracket the exposure, one over and one under. One of these quarantined days I want to start putting a scrapbook together with some of my work. I might have to reprint a few things but that's part of the fun.

Got a bit more done on the Rapido yesterday. Foot pegs and fender are blasted now. The sandblasting cabinet is not quite large enough for doing rear fenders, even on a small bike like this one, so I hand sanded the very ends. Every day a little something.

Rapido Progress

Jumped back on the Rapido project. I wanted to get the rear fender and taillight painted and then I could just do a little bit of cleaning and see about lighting it off, at least that's how the thinking was going. Taking the fender off was a little more work than I figured it would be - don't know why I figured that. Probably because I hadn't taken apart a 50 year old bike in a while. It was the usual encounter with caked mud, rusty bolts and wires that didn't have a convenient disconnect that would make the job relatively easy.

In order to access the brake light wire, I had to remove the foot peg. For some reason there was a gob of weld on the bracket. As long as it's off I'll grind it down, blast it and repaint it. The other foot peg is bent, so that'll need some work as well. And while removing the fender, I came across a broken bracket on the chain guard. One more thing to fix. If I go much deeper I'll be taking it all down and repainting the frame. However, I'm hoping the frame and swing arm will look half-way decent once I wash off the schmutz. The wheels are really rusty so it's not really worth doing a frame up if I'm not going to do the wheels and I really don't want to get in that deep from both a time and money aspect.

The bead blasting was going really well until I started getting some moisture coming into the cabinet. The alterations I made to the sump really worked well, and the dryer I installed in the line was trapping the condensation until the bowl filled up with water. I didn't think to check it while I was blasting until the glass bead quit coming out. After draining it down and cleaning out the gun it was all good once again. The weather is supposed to be cold again the next few days so I'll work on getting everything cleaned up and primed and wait until it warms up a bit before painting the color.

Stay safe everyone. I did go out for some groceries yesterday but I was masked and gloved. The local grocery has a senior hour first thing in the morning, so I went in got some fruit, veggies and soda and then headed out. When I came home it was hit the shower and wash the clothes. We should be good for at least another two weeks now.

Welding & Motorcycles - Match Made In Heaven

Photo from here

A little something celebrating the importance of welding to society. With April being National Welding month, no better time.

The latest Welding Journal features welding education. In addition to listing various trade schools to choose from, there is also an article about the Harbor Freight program to recognize outstanding instructors and an article addressing the lack of interest of young people to entering the trades. The results of a poll of young people ages 18-24 said 56% said they're not, nor ever were interested in going to a trade school. 51% said they would rather work as a barista rather than a welder - I'd never even heard of a barista when I was in high school but I damn sure knew what a welder was. According to the figures cited in the article, the average trade school degree costs $33,000, compared to $127,000 for a bachelor's degree. In addition to all the facts and figures, the article also gives some background as to how this stigma against the trades came about starting with The Nation at Risk report back in the 1980s. Interesting take on the problem and I'd have to concur with the author, having seen most of what was stated first hand during my teaching career.

Photo from here

George Roeder as seen on the cover of an old Cycle World magazine. George was a factory HD rider and like all the old racers competed in all the various racing disciplines pursuit of the number one plate required. He also set a land speed record of 177 miles per hour at Bonneville in  250cc Sprint powered streamliner. The streamliner and the bike in the photo are on display at the HD dealership in Ohio. When the cooties die off I need to head over that way and check the dealership out and the AMA museum as well. Cuzzin Rick isn't really a motorcycle guy but he's a race fan and he's always up for a road trip. We're going to need to get out - we had some big plans for this year.

Parts showed up yesterday. They're in quarantine until this afternoon. I'll open the box and check the order but I want to finish up some parts for the side hustle first.

I'm going to have a box of parts when I finish the pieces on the left. They still need to be ground off and have the holes drilled and bent but that won't take too long. I'm getting better with my plasma cutter and since all the cuts on these pieces are straight cuts, I used a straight-edge to guide me along. Mostly I just need to clean the slag off rather than having to do much grinding to straighten out crappy edges. Finish these up and then back on my own stuff.

Stay safe.

Nick of Time

It's been eight years now since I had my heart attack. Other than the Missus getting cancer, it's been a pretty good eight years. I was fortunate to come out of it with only the minimum of damage, plus the heart muscle was in good shape going in to it. The diet change and retiring from the high school has helped keep me plugging along. I'm no longer a strict vegan but I think I've found the balance I need. I'm more a vegetarian who eats some cheese, a little ice cream now and again, and my kryptonite, a breaded pork tenderloin at the race track. Not much chance of overdoing it on those for a while, however. I've been keeping the weight at a reasonable level - I could afford to lose a few pounds but can't we all. My resting heart rate was 55 when I checked it the other morning, so that's pretty damn fine for an old dude pushing 70.

I'm hoping for at least another ten years. And I'm going to need every damn minute of that time to get most of the projects done. I still need to keep things in balance between work, play and rest. I've been doing a fairly good job of that, I think. My ability to prioritize things might not be top notch but it keeps the stress level way down and that's super important. This Wuhan Flu thing hasn't been helping but the Missus and I are much better off than many, many others. Fortunately, we were well prepared for the self-quarantine with a well equipped pantry. I do need to get some tomato and pepper plants. There's a local garden center that you can phone your order in and they will bring it out to the car. Might give them a call next week. I didn't leave the shack this week other than my bike rides and a trip to the pharmacy for the Missus - complete with the mask and hand sanitizer. 

Everything else is A-OK. Making a little progress on all fronts, both of us holding up well, considering, and enjoying the arrival of spring. Please be careful out there. Stay home, wash your hands, consider a donation to the food bank if you can.

Stayin' With It.

I ordered some more parts for the jitney. I've got a front beam axle with the factory spring and wishbones attached. I'm thinking it's out of a fairly heavy duty truck looking at the spring. It's 2" rather than the more common 1-3/4" typically used for T-buckets and high boys, etc. It's also 50 " wide rather than the more common 46" or 48". I ordered some spring clips and a shackle & bushing kit, both in stainless. I'm planning on taking a few leaves out of the spring to get the ride like I want it, so that'll require a bit of experimentation.

I also ordered some "U" bends for making the exhaust. There's a guy on eBay selling the flanges like in the photo. I'll have to buy a set of those and see what I can come up with after I get the engine set down in the frame. I'll bolt up the head and intake manifold and take a look not only on making a header but also the height of the air cleaner. I want the air cleaner completely inside the hood but if it's too tall I want it to stick up proud. I don't want to cut a hole in the hood just to clear the wing nut on the cleaner.

Weather's turning to crap again - beautiful day today. Looks like it'll be rainy and chilly for at least a week - maybe even a few snowflakes. I'm going to have to close up the big doors on the shop again and maybe even run the heater to take the chill off. I got another call from the boss yesterday. I made up a few spare parts but I didn't print up any installation instructions, so I had to "talk him in". He also put in an order for some more items. I have some material here but when I go through that we'll have to work something out to replenish my stock. He also asked when I was coming back. Told him the governor said at least until the end of the month. Good to be needed.

Stay safe and stay home. If we all stay home things will get back to normal just that much quicker.

Mask Time

Since we're all going to be wearing masks now, here's a link to a handy how-to - making a mask out of an old tee shirt. I've got no shortage of old tee shirts, so I'm going to give this a try. Obviously it won't be an N95 when it comes to filtering out the cooties, but it'll prevent me from drooling on anyone and remind me not to touch my face. Actually, I could have used one yesterday when I mowed the yard. The dust and pollen triggered a sneezing jag about ten minutes after I put the mower away. I must have sneezed twenty times.

I got out a bit yesterday and shot up a roll of film. With the old folding camera you only get eight shots per roll, so it doesn't take long to shoot a roll. I loaded it up in the can last evening, might get around to developing it today.

Got a little more work done in the shop for the side hustle but nothing on the "jitney" - I'm starting to really like that word.

I did a bit of research on the web checking on Slant-Six installations in hot rod vehicle types. These photos give a pretty good idea as to what my installation should look like, including motor mounts, installed height, accessory mounts, etc. The photos came from here. Unfortunately the gentleman who wrote the blog passed away. There's some pretty good stuff there.

I'm hoping to get my motor sitting in between the frame rails this week. I should be able to get an idea of the finished height of the installation and start making motor mounts. I've got a pair of the round universal "hockey puck" type but I don't have anything that bolts to the motor or the frame rails. Also, when I've got the motor set down in there, I can start figuring out what I want to do for an exhaust. There are several ways to handle it, including the stock manifold, but I'm thinking maybe run all six cylinders into a single pipe running the length of the car like it used to be done. Not the most efficient way but that's how they all used to be back then.

Stay safe, stay home if you can, wear a mask if you go out, wash your hands when you get home.

Milk Cow Blues

No blues here, though. It's been a pleasure working in the shop lately - big doors open, no noisy heater running, music playing and things getting done. I got a text from my boss that had a photo attached but couldn't make out what it was so I called him. It was a photo of the gas cup on the MIG welder. Apparently the boys have been keeping up with their welding practice and got a big goober-ball in the cup while welding vertical. Not an unusual problem, just glad the boys are keeping up their lessons. April is National Welding Month, after all.

I noticed the other day while watching the news coming out of New York a trailer the Corps of Engineers was using to set up shop at the Javits Center. It looked to be a Talbert, made only a few miles from me. It's quite conceivable that one or more of my students had a hand in manufacturing that. I'll put that one in the small world file.

I did a bit of manufacturing on my own Friday. My little layout jig worked like a champ. Less than five seconds each to lay the pieces out. Tapping the threads was a bit repetitious. Have to stay focused with a small tap like that. The little pile is about three feet worth of material and the boss bought four, six footers. I brought two of them home with me and I "borrowed" three feet for my car project. I'll do another three foot or so and that should tide them over for quite a while. If I deliver parts Monday, maybe I'll run in and get the other two sticks. Or better yet, maybe have the boss drive by and pick up the parts and leave the material outside where I can decontaminate it.

I made this little gizmo for sharpening my tungstens on the TIG welder. It has a collet and collet body inside so it functions just like the torch. Works good for 3/32 and 1/8 tungstens. I'd probably have to have the tungsten sticking out too far for sharpening a 1/16. They're pretty brittle and might snap off with too much stickout. It was pretty easy to make. A piece of 5/8 round aluminum 2-1/4" long. The only tricky part is having the proper tap for threading the inside - 3/8-32, in case you were wondering. Just so happens I have one. I bought one years ago to chase the threads on the torches after the students would cross-thread them. I think I'll make another one of these things so I don't have to swap out the collets. One each for 3/32 & 1/8 tungstens. I suppose I could just buy a dedicated tungsten grinder. But what's the fun in that?

Pretty Day

The first flower on the orchid has opened up. We all can use some beauty in our lives every day, but even more so now with all the pandemonium going on. We've got daffodils blooming outside and my gardenia plant will bloom shortly as well. Likewise the magnolias look to be covered with buds. One of them has already started flowering. As long as we don't get a late frost, should be a great spring for the flowers and the flowering trees.

I got the arched piece for the cab/dash tacked on today. I'm not real pleased with the piece in front of it for the cowl. I think it could use a little curvature in the middle of it. I used my bender to form the 90 deg corners but left the middle straight. That's what it showed on the print but I'm not sure how that will blend in to the curved piece for the dash when I form the outer skin. I also tacked on a couple of pieces of flat stock to bolt the cab assembly to the frame.

I did some measuring and head scratching on mounting the engine into the frame. I made a couple of pieces that I can bolt to the engine block that will support it by laying on top of the frame rails. I've got the front one all figured out. When I bolt it up to the block all I'll have to do is set the block on the frame rails and if the ends of the tubing are even with the frame rails the engine will be centered in the frame. I can't finish the one for the rear of the block until I unbolt it from the engine stand, which means I'll have to set the front end down and keep the block hanging from the engine crane while I finalize the rear support. Once I get the block setting between the rails I'll have a much better idea of how far down in the frame I can set it. That'll allow me to get a better idea of what I need for both the cowl piece and the grill unit on the front end. I can cut some cardboard, bend some wires, run some string, etc. to better visualize the shape of things. Plus, I can start figuring out the motor mounts.

I did some more yard work yesterday, got my bike ride in and made a little progress on one of the jobs for the side hustle. I've got a bunch of small pieces to make that have to have two threaded holes in them. The layout has to be pretty accurate but I don't want to have to lay out each individual piece, so I made up a little jig for laying out the parts that should allow me to lay out each piece in a matter of just seconds. I'll find out today if it works as planned. I plan on making a few other pieces in the next couple of days as well and then I can drop them off Monday morning. I can swing by the grocery and resupply the fruit and veggies during the Senior hour, drop off the parts, hit the bank, and then come home and hit the shower - using hand sanitizer between each stop, of course. Might just throw the parts out the window of the truck and head home. It's starting to get bad around here.

Be careful everyone.

Frame Work

Blast from the past. Surly posted this the other day on Facebook. I'm guessing this was '78 at US 30 Dragstrip - "Where The Great Ones Run". This is my first frame build. I didn't have a tubing bender, so with a bit of Yankee ingenuity and some help from the machine shop instructor at my first teaching gig, I made a bending die for 1" tubing and I was in the frame business. The engine is a 900 Kawasaki from my buddy's bike. That's him in the saddle. The bike's a bit crude but it worked well and we had some fun. He's since passed away - probably been gone at least 10-12 years. Nice guy, good family man, helluva bike rider and one tough dude.

Cuzzin Ricky passed this one on to me, also from Facebook. You can read the particulars here. Short version it's a updated version of a Kurtis sports car frame. Beautiful craftsmanship. While I've always been more involved with motorcycles than cars, I've done a few frame things. Nothing like this one. In fact, my current project is going to be my first ground up automotive project. However, if I was a younger man, I'd pursue doing more of this kind of work rather than being a handyman. However, that job's not too bad. In fact I got another call from the boss yesterday asking a hardware question. The boss missed the boat when he didn't hire me when I first put in my resume, rather than waiting seven years or whatever it was. But then I would have missed my time at the college, which was something I wanted to do and enjoyed. We'll see how the current project works out - maybe a Kurtis or Watkins replica roadster some day.

Did work on my track racer yesterday. I got the piece for the cab made and fit -up. Didn't take me long but I didn't take my camera out to the shop with me. I'll get a photo up next post. I need to work on a couple of things for the side gig and get the mower out. The grass will need cutting in the next day or so. Got a few other yard things to address as well. Going to be busy but it's spring and it's what we've all been waiting for.

Take care everyone.

Rubberband Man

I've been working out a bit with the rubber band. Starting slow with only 20 reps on three different exercises to keep the arms from losing any more strength while in quarantine. Maybe I should try to match The Spinners step for step and get a little cardio as well. This video was made in 1976, the same year I started my teaching career. It was at an inner city school and about half the guys in school would have fit right in with The Spinners - big 'fros, bell bottoms and platform shoes. There were some rough dudes that came through the doors of the school but for the most part they were respectful if you treated them the with respect. Good times back then.

I got out on the bike yesterday, or should I say my wheel. I've been reading Women On The Move by Roger Gilles about the cycliennes from back in the mid to late 1800s. Back then your bicycle was described as your wheel. I might adopt that description with bike being used to describe my motorcycle. Of course, motorcycles were often described in the past as just motors. I really was born about 75 years too late. Anyway, what I discovered in this time of refraining from touching your face is that if you're riding your wheel when it's only 40 degrees out, it's hard to deal with your runny nose without touching your face. I'm fairly adept with "the farmer blow" while riding. Tough to pull that off, however, without touching your face. Maybe some type of thumb on a stick I can sanitize and carry with me when I ride. Just a thought.

My steel order came in yesterday morning. I put it in quarantine for 24 hrs, so I'll unpack it and try to get a little more done on the track racer project today. The piece I'm going to make will be the frame for the dashboard. I'm planning on making the dash out of a sheet of aluminum and I'd really like to have it engine turned.

I made this one for the little midget racer several years ago. Engine turning, or jeweling as it is sometimes referred to, is a classic way of dressing up an automotive dash. My '62 Impala had this on the dash and much of the trim - classy. The only problem with me doing it is that it's extremely time consuming. I did the one in the photo on the mill so I could make all the swirls with the same offsets. Lots of cranking on the dials. However, I would imagine if a guy had access to a CNC, you could write a simple program to accomplish this and you could knock a dash out in no time at all. I'm going to consult with Surly and get his input. His old neighbor has a machine at home that might be capable of that. The professor in the college lab might be agreeable to something like this. The dash will start out from a rectangle 8 x 22, so I don't want to do it by hand. We'll see.

My neighbor passed away Monday night. I didn't know him well but we'd chat when we saw each other while out mowing or getting the mail. He was about my age and went rather suddenly. It wasn't the corona virus but he's dead just the same. Nice guy, good neighbor. Rest in peace, Clarence.