Swingarm

I got the shock mounting studs tacked on the swingarm. I need to move the ones on the frame tube to give me the right length for the shocks so I figured I'd get the bottom ones welded on and then I can get an accurate measurement plus I wanted to make sure the back wheel is going to fit up right. I got a rough measurement on the axle spacers but I really need to make the axle and the adjusters before I can get an exact length. I also need to weld a tab on the swingarm for the brake stay. I'm going to make that out of 1/2" dia. aluminum that gets turned to 3/8" on the ends. One end gets right hand threads, the other left hand. A 3/8" Heim joint on each end, plus I'll machine a flat on it for a wrench so I can adjust the length. Sounds tougher than it is. At the rate I'm going, I might actually have everything ready to send out by the first of the year. That's a big ten - four.

Fast Reading

With a big can of this,

Photo from here:

I could build this.

Photo from here:

The holiday dinner and get together got pushed back so I've been catching up on my reading, among other things. I've been reading Kurtis-Kraft by Gordon Eliot White. I've had the book for a couple of years and have looked at the photographs and read all the captions several times but I'm finally getting around to actually reading the thing. It's a real interesting look at Frank Kurtis, the man who defined midget and championship car racing after the war up into the '60's. I've got a couple other books by White and the guy really knows his stuff. His Offenhauser book is a dandy and mine is autographed by Johnny Pawl, who bought out Frank Kurtis' midget business, by the way.

Even though I'm knee deep in projects and the honey-do list has several loooong overdue items on it and I already have two unfinished car projects, I've been thinking about a car build. This one's actually been floating around in the dark recesses of my mind for a long while. It involves a 225 CID Slant-Six and torsion bar suspension - like they used on the old Darts and coincidently on Indy cars. Probably a mistake to read the Kurtis book.

I managed to do a little work on the Rickati swingarm yesterday. I got everything figured out for the shocks, put the swingarm back on the jig and made a couple of pieces. The original Rickman wheel actually fits in the swingarm pretty close to being on center when the chain is lined up. I just need to machine up a couple of spacer bushings and make a brake stay and the rear wheel could be done. I'd still like to have an aluminum rim but I think I'll utilize what I have for now and if everything works as planned, I can always lace up a new rim later. If it doesn't work, I'm not really out anything other than time. I also got a chance to look at the footpeg situation and I'm going to machine up a piece for the side with the kickstarter and see how it works. If all goes well, I'll make the one for the other side.

Mr Fix-It

Lots of progress on things this week even though I only had to work three days. That's reason enough to give thanks. The muffler parts are for the Rickati project. I've got that pretty well wrapped up. After I get the footpegs on the bike I'll figure out what I need for a heat shield and get that on there. The shocks I want are going to take 3-5 weeks to come in. I'm looking for an alternative but I'll probably order them in. I should be able to have pretty much everything else taken care of by the time the shocks come in, so that's not really much of a setback. They are pretty much what I want - a little expensive but a lot less than buying the Greeves in the previous post.

The lathe tool is for the woodshop instructor. The chisels were loose in the handle so we put a little TIG weld on the tangs of four of them to tighten them up. I did the first one and a student finished them up. It was the first time he had TIG welded steel - good starter project. The shelf bracket is for Surly. He needed it a little stronger out on the end than what it was designed for. I also fixed a fondue pot that belongs to the boss's wife. The handles broke, so I got her fixed up. I didn't have any Bakelite in stock, so I made a couple out of oak. Plus, the parts photos were taken on top of one of the five desks the boys and I repaired this week. We also got the bench tops in the welding booths ground down, everything cleaned up real well, did a little maintenance on a couple of the machines and I got the holes in the walls patched that the little hooligans took the slag hammers to. The little hooligans who are no longer in the class, I might add.

The steam engine project is progressing. I need to do a little engineering on the valve assembly before I can do much more. I should be able to order in what I need and start machining that next week, however. I hope the thing works as planned. If not, I'm not sure where to go from here. We'll just have to wait and see on that.

I should be able to get some work done on the 900 pretty soon as well. I've got to work on the circular stair for the new barn one of these days too. It needs one more step added and the railing needs to be straightened out some. That shouldn't be too tough though.

Like always, lots of activity.

Thanksgiving

I'm heading out today to spectate at the race I usually run on Thanksgiving Day. My chest still won't allow me to run or even walk fast without pain. Regardless, I've got a lot to be thankful for. I've got mostly good health, a job with good benefits, and I'm going to spend the day with loved ones. Not too bad, all things considered. And I can be thankful I don't have a young one between the ages of 17 -24.

According to this article, "75 percent of young Americans, between the ages of 17 to 24, are unable to enlist in the military today because they have failed to graduate from high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit." Three out of four of these mopes aren't capable of enlisting! Good Lord, what's happened to us? The article's main focus is on recruiting better teachers rather than recruiting soldiers but you should read the article - it's short, follow the link and read it. H/T to Kevin

Surly has some real good photos posted of the action at the Demotte Boxing Club's last fundraiser. You can check them out HERE. On page 15 there is a real good black and white shot of Bazooka Joe. He's a guy who could have gone into the military and they would have been glad to have him. Tough guy and you could say the same about his opponent, Roberto.

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat some turkey, watch some football and tell the cook thanks for the good food.

Can Cars

I saw an article on Sandy Sanderson in Rod & Kulture magazine while thumbing threw some back issues. The guy makes 1/10 scale car models out of beer and soda cans. They're just phenomenal. If you've got a lot of time on your hands, you can order plans here and build one yourself. Or he'll sell you a completed one. The prices aren't cheap but why should they be? He's also a Technology Teacher according to the article, so you know Shop Teacher Bob has to give him a thumbs up.

Greeves Anglian

While wasting some of my obviously not so precious time on the internet, I came across the Greeves Anglian. These were some of the best trials machines back in the mid-sixties. Imagine my surprise to find they are still being made. I didn't have to build a vintage trials bike, I could have just bought one. They're 6,500 pounds - that would be the monetary amount, not the weight. I don't know what the exchange rate is but even if it's one to one, I can't see me parting with that much money to buy one. I do realize that most people don't have the skills to do what I'm doing with the Rickati project and you can easily experience some serious setbacks to the bank account when you have to start farming most of your work out on one of these old dogs. So maybe the smart money is to just start with a new "old" bike and spend your time riding rather than scouring the countryside for parts and waiting for your turn in line with the local Greeves, Ossa, Bultaco, etc. trials guru to get the thing fixed. Greeves is also selling a new trials bike, if you fancy a new "new" bike. It's pretty interesting to see the two of them side by side on their website.

I started on the muffler for my project and I e-mailed the guy with the shocks. I got the outside of the muffler formed up and need to make the end caps next. Not totally sure how I'm going to baffle it but when I'm done being baffled, it will be. The guy with the shocks said no go on my original specs, their trials shocks don't come in that length. I can make the shorter version work easily enough by moving the top mounts down a little and changing the gussets. I was waiting to weld on the bottom mounts anyway, so no problem there. I e-mailed him back but haven't yet received a reply. I'm hoping to get them ordered next week at the latest. I'll have the long weekend coming up next week due to the holiday, so I'm wanting to spend at least one good day taking my usual shotgun approach towards my projects. Doesn't really matter which one it is as long as I'm seeing some progress on one of them.

Rickati Progress

The bike's coming together. I got the swingarm tacked together, machined the backing plate and stuck the thing under the bike to see how it looked. It looked good. The static height of the bike is just about perfect - plenty of ground clearance and nice stance. I need to check and see about the length of the shocks before I weld on the bosses for them but I'll get on that pretty much pronto. Now that I know where the shocks are going to be I can finish up the exhaust. I'm thinking just a little short muffler with a right angle bend on the outlet just ahead of the shocks should work and look good. I can also start working on the footpegs and the levers. I'm liking it. It'll be a runner this spring.

They're finally done with the construction in the shop so I can start catching up on some other projects. The shenanigans in my one class has come to a halt, finally. One guy got expelled and three more were removed. The boys underestimated the old man. They didn't realize that in addition to my welding skills, I can run a video camera. That's going to allow me to bring jobs in for the boys to work on again. When you have a class that gives you the opportunity to work on real jobs and get valuable experience, you'd think they would want to protect that. Should be business as usual now.

We got a couple pieces made for the steam engine today. Should be right on schedule to have it running on air by Christmas break. I'm having breakfast with my buddy and Cuzzin Ricky Saturday morning to talk a little steam. We'll see what comes out of that. I need to get Cuzzin Ricky's buggy back in the shop one of these days as well. I'm in the project mode now and I want to make a little hay. I've got lots of jobs to start on and a bunch to be finished but good things are happening now.