Wheelin and Dealin, now we're rollin

Two Indian frames head south and a box of fork arrives from Germany. add a pair of wheels and we're rolling

Light Headed

A busy weekend getting the Sport Scout running and rideable, but at the same time my good mate Grizzy came north bearing Chout parts 8o) ........... the bits i'm most excited about are a pair of ultra rare 1933 spec alloy heads, one set of only 3 sets made. head on the left is standard cast iron, one on the right cast alloy

Updating the Strathbran Speedshop website

More pieces of the jigsaw

Stainless steering head bearings and modified 101 top yoke

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Peek seals

Custom cut to suit the alloy manifold that came with my '33 motor ready to fit to the '40 motor

Cylinder comparison

On the left we have the heavyweight contender, 1940 on Chief cylinder weighing in at a massive 12.1kg on the right we have the mediumweight contender 1933 Chief cylinder weighing in at a considerably less portly 6.5kg. Multiply that by two cylinders - thats a massive weight gain in seven years!!!!

Thats a relief

Had a quiet night in tonight, and got the oil scraper relief cut out, a little dressing with the file and it's ready to put back together

Cases split

Cam follower post replaced, still to do some relief work for the late 40's spec oil scraper conversion and helicoil two of the transmission mounting threads then I can get it back together again.

Another piece of the jigsaw

A small box arrived from North Judson Indiana in the USA this morning, clutch hub for a Chief transmission, one mor part ticked off the need list 80)

Its not the fastest way to piece together a one off special, but I aint in no hurry!

Back on the motor build..........

or, to be more truthful stripping it down again so I can sort out a couple of issues. I need to replace one cam follower post, also want to do the late model Chief oil scraper conversion. Sometimes, the only way forward is a couple of steps back!

Thursday night I picked up my newly made timing pinion puller from Richi Foss's workshop, made to drawings done based on Neil's pinion puller. Pinion off now, ready to split the cases

Mesinger seat arrived from Germany this morning

A very nice piece of kit, will need a sub frame made up fitted then broken in to shape

The pictures below supplied by Ray via Grizzy, show the subframe components and how they go together

The Gathering

New Years Day, time to look forward to the new year and plan ahead..... take stock and see whats needed to bring the plan together.

frame...... in hand with Mr Foss for alterations
motor........ nearly there, should be together in the next week or so
transmission........... in hand ready to rumble
primary......... in hand
tanks........ two options both in hand
forks......... on order, due sometime this month
seat......... just ordered, expected very soon
wheels......... in hand built braked and ready to go

 

 

Messinger No 3

Just ordered mine from http://www.geloman.de/index.html

Valve spring study

After a trial fit of the Shunk cams, bonneville followers and the cylinders fitted with standard spec valves and springs it was noted that the springs were binding just before full lift. With the Chief std spring fitted I measured fitted length, with it removed and fitted in a vice I measured free length then fully compressed to coil bound.
Std Chief  - free length = 65.65mm
                 -fitted length = 45.10mm
                 - coil bound = 36.71mm

with the Shunk cam and bonne followers the lift is 10.91mm so its easy to see that there woulnt be sufficient free movement in the spring.



I pulled a set of used 741b springs from my spares pile and checked them out.

used 741b - free length = 59.58mm
                 - fitted length = 45.10mm
                 - coil bound = 31.05mm

a full 5.66mm of extra spring movement. referring to Jim Mosher's valve spring study the spring pressure of the shorter Scout spring is similar to the Chief one throughout the movement range, so it seems that 741b springs will be suitable to use on the Chief motor with the hi lift cams and bonne followers.

                 

Custom 101 tank

Collected from Parcelforce this morning and straight round to Richis workshop to try it in the 101 frame. Its a good fit, similar in profile to athe original 101 tank but abit more shark like! There is no provision for an oil tank in it so the plan is to half it and make two seperate tanks similar to the Junior Sout ones, oil on one side petrol on the other.

Transmission parts arrived

I am planning to use a mixture of parts (if possible) from various years of Chief production. I have in hand a complete early, helical clutch transmission and a 1940's case fitted with new bearings. today I recieved a parcel from India with new mainshaft, high gear, slider gear and cluster. I plan to build the 40's box with a later chain type primary clutch basket that I also have.


The Indian made parts look to be of good quality, I will report my findings as I go!

Odd jobs 4

Tonight I set to work on the piston rings, checked and set all the ring gaps, and fitted the rings to the pistons. I started to fit the valves and springs to the cylinders but found that my compressor is a bit lacking in leverage, tomorrow I will bring in the heavy guns and use the hydraulic press wiyth the modified end off my small compressor!

Top yoke

Arrived from the States today, been modified to take risers and aftermarket bars at some stage 8-)

Odd jobs 3

Keeping busy while I wait for parts, tonight I set to with the Dremel and started to do some work on the cylinder ports, there was quite a sharp lip where the bore for the valves meets the cast in port, I have roughed thes out this evening on bth cylinders, work ground (gettit? ;)) to a halt when I ran out of tools for my Dremel, a trip to the shop tomorrow and I can get the ports tidied up.

Cams and Lifters have arrived

Valves are on their way, so I should be able to get the cam chest and cylinders all buttoned up real soon.
Original set  of Shunk race cams fitted to gears and shafts, bonneville lifters and pushrods supplied by Jim Mosher of  Performance Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Odd Jobs 2

Today I took the spacer and seal kit, supplied by Moen at IPE, in to John at Moray Firth Precision Engineering. I got John to turn up a spacer (or four) to suit the oil seal kit. While I was in Inverness I dropped the cylinders and pistons off with Autohead Recon to get the bores honed to suit the new pistons, They should be ready to collect tomorrow 8)

Odd jobs

Keeping busy waiting for parts  I have on order, I pulled the drive pulley from the 1940 motor and removed the two outer races and spacer, which will need either turned down to 0.25" thickness or replaced with a 0.25" one so I can fit the driveside oil seal conversion. That'll let me have a semi open belt primary without oil leaks from the crankcases.

The Forks

Not got these yet, still saving up!!!! reproduction Indian 101 fork from Hecker 101 via IPE

The Frame

The frame is from a 1929ish 101 Scout, bought from Conneticut in the USA via ebay. It has had a hard life, bent bottom rails like it has been dropped at some point or had something heavy stacked on top of it, there are also some old repairs which have not been carried out successfully, so this morning I took the frame in to Richi Foss ( Foss Fabrication and Welding) in Inverness to get the frame restored to good order ready for the alterations to be carried out to fit the Chief  powerplant into the cradle.

Junior Scout tanks pt 2

Tonight I bolted the motor cases and transmission together, put them into the frame with the 33 cylinders on and got the rear trnsmission lug into positon on the seatpost mount levelled the powerplant through with a wooden block.

 With the Junior tank fitted over the back bone of the frame there is plenty of clearance (once the crossbar is removed) with it below the backbone it will be a tight fit but will look more like a 101 should