Thursday, February 25, 2010

post number 51


Here is the end of my new rods. The are the same length as the og spacke rods. The bottom of the rods are from a sportster and the tops are off of a knucklehead. They are Frankenstein rods!


HEre is a neat pic of my new rods next to the og spacke rods. My new set up allows more bearing surface and increased durability, especially for the front rod. My rods are the same length as originals. I will be using stock .080 over FL pistons which have a shorter pin to dome height, so I increased the stroke of my flywheels .200. This motor is going to be a real power house! I am so excited.


in other news, I completed my first week of circuit training which entails an hour and a half of insane exercise every morning for the last seven days. It is a necessary evil in order to change my body type into a leaner form for the race. I very happy with the progress of my bike and my physical condition. I can't wait for September!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010


HEre are the waxes for the oilers on my sears. They turned out well


And motor mount u bolts! I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered 24 of them lol.

Monday, February 22, 2010

post number 50


I went to my friend Brad's place today to find a front drum brake and hub for my sears project. Brad has over 100 japanese bikes, so I figured I could easily find something that worked. This is the only 40 hole hub/brake combo that I could find in the whole place. It is off of a triumph 650. This thing is huge! It is a beautifully made piece that will look out of place on my sears, but it will work well and do a good job of stopping the bike!


I ordered the spokes to lace it up to my 21 inch rim from buchanans today. The center of the hub has fins in it, just like my musselman rear hub lol.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

post number 49


Whoa! Look at the beautiful knurling on the upper race. If this race was a movie, its beauty would bring a tear to my eye.


four sets of brand new sears neck cups and races! They are made out of 8620 and heat treated for the long haul. I will send them off to get nickel plated next week!

Monday, February 15, 2010

post number 48


I got a package from Canada today with five sets of fork legs in it. These are a really high quality product. I feel a lot better about using them instead of my swelled up and fatigued fork legs. I have a lot of work left to do before these turn into forks, but it is a start none the less.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

post number 47


Here are my cylinders after boring them out .010, there is one little spot of discoloring from pits. I am so gunshy about taking any more metal out of them after Pete Young's cautionary advice about pre16 cylinders getting hot and letting loose at the base that I decided to leave it the way it is. I can not catch my fingernail on them, so that is a good deal.


Here is the card for Mike Lichter's 10th annual sturgis show that will be taking place this year. He asked me to bring my sears for the show. The theme this year pairs builders up with somebody that has been an influence in their lives.
I picked my daddy for obvious reasons, he is brining a 36 knucklehead.


Thursday, February 4, 2010


HOLY MOLY!!!! I got my intake manifold back from Pat, and it is the prettiest thing that I have ever seen!


Here is the back side, it is just as great looking!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

post number 45


I got my waxes in the mail today. Here is what my frame looks like, just add tubing!


Axle castings!



Seat post castings, Seat t castings and magneto/decompression castings!




Front Motor Mount Castings





And neck castings. This is all very exciting stuff and I am happy to be working on it.

post number 44


Here are the castings for fork struts for a sears. I bought some reproduction fork struts for an indian when I first started this project, but they are different from sears! I borrowed an original paint fork and pulled a mold off of one of the struts. They will turn out well!


Here are the rocker waxes. I built up the front of them to make them sturdier for my race bike. I had an original one that cracked in that spot.



Here are a bunch of waxes that broke on their way over here. I will send them back to dan and they will get melted down and turned into something else. I am really bummed about the fork pieces breaking, I was really looking forward to moving ahead with that project. Luckily I have enough stuff to keep me busy!




This is like seeing a picture of a bunch of dead bodies, it breaks my heart:(

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

post number 43


I got a package in the mail today from my friend Steve in CA. he sent me his patterns for sears mufflers. They are really beautiful, but I have no idea how they work! All of the parts that I cast are lost wax. Patterns like this are totally new for me. I am sending them to my foundry at the end of the week.

This is for the end piece, it is very nicely made.



Check out the nos linkages that Steve set me up with! They are for my carb and magneto linkages





Here are the baffles.