Friday, September 28, 2007

1955 chevy surfboard? almost...

My hot rod surfboard from hell, this was pretty short & very maneuvarable, vs long boards & their loss in turning properties,, cant believe i sold this on ebay to a celebrity hairstylist in NYC.
oh well. i always loved the flame design, great times surfing SoCal, i dont know how sharks see boards, as food sources?

1929 Indian 101 scout,Wall of Death bike

Heres a 1930 era four, mine looks like this, you can see 101s were very similiar in design to fours during 1928-1931. 101 production yrs, 101s were 45 cubic inchers & 37 cubic inchers,
37s were less powerful but still quick, the engines & primaries were the only difference. the rest of the bike was identical. 101s were the best indians ever made, many were used in carnival & circus wall of death barrels because of their center of gravity , ease of handling ,light weight.
the 1929 101 below is a wreck i bought, i'd call it a project but when the motor is a glorified boat anchor & the gas tank is a rusted out bedpan fit for a senior center.... its a wreck .

after high pressure washing it, i separated the cylinders from the pistons w a special bracket that has a large bolt in the center, i attach this assembly to the head bolt holes making sure to bury the attachment bolts all the way into the cylinder head,so as not to strip the threads out, after hitting it w a torch & liquid wrench , one then runs the impact driver on the large center bolt to push the frozen pitsons from the cylinder. there is absolutely no other way to free a frozen piston.

i've since found a 18 inch drop center rear wheel & rear fender, chainguard , & a excellent gas tank from Germany.i had to replace the rear cylinder as some 3rd world moron welded the exhaust onto the threaded rear cylinder exhaust port. Next i need a good set of handlebars & front fender, the handlebars that came w the wreck were junk only good to salvage the controls from. Fortunately there are excellent reproduction parts available from Europe. 101s had helical gear drive units w wet clutches, so dont run a synthetic ... synthetics increase lubricating properties as they heat up , no good for a clutch that needs to grab disks.,helical gears vs belts & chains, really amazing & durable old system to run power from the engine to the trans. so just to build the powerplant & reassemble......i think this is my 13th 101, they are absolutely fantastic machines. if you have been around old iron long enough , you will notice the "sluggish" feel in acceleration of a engine w original heavy iron pistons vs modern aluminum pistons.the modern aluminum pistons must be balanced, a mention on drop center or modern tires vs antique clincher tires, clincher tires would at higher speeds free spin on a rim & cut out the inner tube stem, not safe,, this wont happen w a drop center, i believe its about 1933 clinchers were left behind, not sure on that.
if you look at my foto archive theres a 101 w 1940 cylinders i built, yes they fit & turn a 101 into a rocket, 101s are very light weight & but w increased rocket speeds, one still has the primitive external band rear brakes & internal front drum brakes, quick to heat up but slow on stopping power.