Merry Christmas

To all my Friends and everybody else.
Special thank´s to  Dave at Morris Magneto, Don at Hilborn and Jarmo who keep it toghether for so many.
Now it is up to me to get the details right and the Ironhead Fuel Injected.
We got snow, and lot´s of it, but I keep my runway clean, Santa can land safely here. no problema. 
 

Time travel

I´m exploring a couple of areas more or less unknown to me, Mechanical fuel injection and the very tideous project of bringing a set of heads to birth. Basically MFI is the only righteous FI option for "Mother" and my approach is to listen very carefully to individuals who has proven it´s functionality with time slips and speed performance, and Hilborn has been very nice and responsive.

The Heads is another story and it´s been going on for years now, right now I have all critical dimensions and patterns set and checked and then checked again,  I`m also self educating myself in the CAD world and it´s not my day job so everytime I get back to it, it´s days of finding my way around SEKE´s, cordinates and views. But now I honestly think it´s time to make some shavings. With some help from Karling Racing I got the cubes of Uddeholm "Alumek" in the shop a year ago and the last few days I found some time (loooong hours) to verify height  dimensions for the rough machining to get it started. I posted a pic with a original dimension head in a same size cube rendered like glass (yeah I know it´s b.s.) but the Winterbrew tasted well when all dim´s where in.The final product is all about performance and basically 5/8" taller than original heads adressing the limitations such as spring height, short grip for valve guides etc  and the capability in todays CAD very quickly reveals the possibility for slightly less valve angles as the valve seat is further down.etc, etc.

Any decade now and it will be done. and if you wonder about the choise of material it´s easier the first time with Alu.  and two very heavy chunk´s of a secret steel matrix in the shed.......

Planning for the mods

Canned the idea of hex holing the cam for the Mechanical Fuel Pump, and if driven by the cam it´s done differently, basically pressfit of a hex 3/8 bolt head. The way I have it now i will add a drive to the Generator pad. for good reasons,  pump will be in front of the engine rather than sticki´n out on the right side, and it´s logic when the intakes are on the left side with shorter lines etc, the cam cover will be left untouched.
The drive will be partial Morris Magneto H5 drive gears and flange and additional bearings/plate. Kind of a nice winter project. haven´t decided on the type of pump fitting yet, flange bolted or clamp I´ll decide after I got the drive design set. And sure a magneto would fit nicely but that would be another project when I´m satisfied that the mechanical fuel injection is the way to go.

Things to do

It´s easy to slow down at this time of year and then you realize in April what should have been done.
I´m off to SoCal next week and target for my spare time spells Hilborn and Jarmo P.
I´ll be smarter after that...
One camshaft is due to be handed over to Nicma and get Hex-holed.
I did the tricky part on installing a side door on the Hauler, now I have to figure ot some clever opening/lock mechanism, typIcal I´ll do it later that never get´s done.
I even managed to order som Amber lenses for the LED strobes on the old EMS hauler, my current blue are basically so illegal  and I figure it´s only a matter of time until I get pulled over and it is amazing that you can find anything on the internet and have shipped in five minutes.

Too late for race

I was hydroplaning into Mexico City on Thursday, so home late Friday and no time for racing.
Too bad, I really need another wide open run before winter.
I´ll post a pic that looks like all the other, this one taken at Mosten by Finn Bojer, I only remember it felt real good.

Fall, too early

One track is open next weekend but I can´t make it as I´m travelling.
To bad I would really like a full length track before going in to hibernation.
The wicked people in Orsa (Dalarna, region in Sweden full of motorheads) are providing a fully prepped track 25-26 september,  could be snow by then but I´ll think about it, nice drive and beatiful country as well. Bike is ready, needs an oil change and a kick shaft, but that would be it.

Mosten rocks

Mosten is different from other races, good mix of spectators with the great majority bikers who can´t spell trailer.
The response is great and any combination get`s it´s share of fans and some of the bikes raced here would not turn up elsewhere. a very well prepared track and super proffesional crew. I worked hard on my runs and in the final 3 attempts I managed a 6.501/177.05 which was enough for a third place in the field of eight starting in the Harley Drags Class. Rules are simple, anything goes except wheelie bars. I broke my kick shaft early on final day and had to remove the gear and clean up the cover, safety wired shaft secure in the hole and went looking for a crew as I now had to use the remote starter, not good for the image but WTF, no problema Atte and Perry gave me a hand , thankyouverymuch, and a Pro Mod Corvette crew lended their little cart to take the batterys and starter to the line up and the rest is history (or at least a story) I got a price and even some price money. The motor was running stronger then ever and it felt like a screamer, the 177.05 (110.01mph) top speed done twice is much better than any previous on 1/8 this year and maybee, just maybee the geometry correction on the rear exhaust rocker did make a difference.

The truck is back

Got my hauler back after the transmission repair, and it is a good feeling when it is so obviously done right, on time, at the right price, hat`s of to Norrorts Bil och Van, also I have had very good help from my local  shop, Åkes Bil och Motor ÅBM to troubleshoot and much moore. Andreas at ÅBM is running the Engine Overhaul shop and he is also just about to completely finish his ProMod Chevelle, an amazing feat by a guy in his twenties ÅBM Racing.

Race ready

Serviced both heads over the weekend, major oil leak in the front intake tin was explained as the bottom of the cup was separated (cast alu) , had to restore one original tin for a replacement,the shaft hole was big as a quarter so I welded in a washer with the TIG on 35 amps and it worked out well , no dressing required. I also finshed up a rear exhaust rocker arm with bushings in both ends  and spend some time on tooling on order to reassure geometry (mid lift)  as I this was an opportunity to correct.
Fixed a problem with the right handlebar as well.
Started to remove heads 10 a.m.  Saturday and I´m completely race ready 9 P.M. Sunday and a stranger to the rest of the family...., I´m off to Mosten on Thursday.

 

Mosten Raceday

2 thru 5 September is Mosten Raceday/Denmark, finals are on Saturday and Sunday is recovery of what´s left...
If you click on the "You Tube" logo in the Mosten site you will find some evidence of which one is my good neighbour burning rubber out of the bar in his blown -32, 5 window hitting a pole spun around and took the wall down on another bar across..........Bar run
The hauler is in for a Code 1870 transmssion slip deal and I spent quite some time to locate a reputable shop to fix that and they are on it. I´m servicing the bike this weekend, got some things on both the front and rear head, including replacing the rear exhaust rocker arm with one that I prepared with bushings in both ends.

Blacksmith

10.248/212,77, on my last run and got some mechanical on the return so i´m done.
Previous was 10.293/214.54 so there is some consistancy.
I´ll have a beer, or two....  The "Six Shooter" slingshoot ran a 7,2xx something and this track is 7,50 "breakout" so i guess that was a mishap..........

Fail stage

A "Fail stage" ruined whatever chances I had. "Fail stage" is when you roll back out of the stage light after it being lit, that happens not necessarily due to being nervous but rather over focused, forgetting about the possibility when it has not happened in the last zillion runs and being overcautious not to deep stage...and with a springer front end and launch RPM getting up, the wheel bounces alot, enough to clear the beam....anyway I lost.
Ran a time slip after the finals and managed a 6.65, better but still..........

It was real nice to see "Columbo" back, normally to busy to attend  and used to wheelie down on a Shovel chopper style with some unmanagable homebuilt Injection system, now he turned up with a well built bike to the latest numbers carburated Evo, and took it all the way to the final with a best of  6.124/182.6 but aginst the remaining Dane, Marcus who ran a best of 5,613/203.9 most anybody on this planet is runner up. 15 year Old Marcus will end up with the championship this year. 

Next for me is "Blacksmith" Pre-73 this weekend, overpowered slingshots and some real crazy wonderful people, insane Norwegians and a good track.

1/8

Embarrasing,

No excuses, bad driving and a few mishaps.

12th qualifier in a 16 stage, and 6.67/173.13 is nothing to brag about, missed out on the last two attemps, first I broke my rear brake pedal in the burnout, (long story), 2nd time a  rocker nut leak developed with a steady stream of high press oil. Will face the scary Yamaha warrior Michael B tommorow, turbo, coolers,electronics and what have you, and he knows how that shit works.......but on the other hand he´s still having his birthday party and i´m going for my beauty sleep, it ain´t over until the race is done.
The good part of today is that Mr. Swecomposite most likely found the ghost on his V-Rod Turbo setup and made a very decent 6,4732/190,81, first time he had a clean run, and tons of work behind, but that´s what it´s all about, perceverance.
My first belt since -84 had to be replaced (stone punched a hole) and my nut´s are tight...tommorow.

"Honeydoos"

If I finish up the the kitchen workbench, elecric outlets, benchlights, and trim I been promised a
Jack just like the one seen in the fearless Norwegians toolbox, and I have a race this weekend.
I´ll better get started..

Vintage racing

OK! so that´s a track prepped by xperts.

Bike ran well and 10.30xx/206 km/h on the first is allright for me, next was the longest wheelie I ever held on to, I just would not let go off the throttle , 10.4 something, my kickstand came out and i had a hunch so I made damn sure not to lean over to left. I have to make a "lock" feature for that, reason was the return spring dislocated and actually acted to pull the stand.....it can be seen on the pic, click on it.
Also check out the pics on this link http://www.mek.nu/bilder/010728_btb/index.html

Getting ready for "back to basic"

Bike is loaded in my trusty hauler, a -97 ex. emergency vehicle 4 ton Chevy retired Ambulans.
Don´t think anyone died in it, but maybee a few births.
3500K 6,5 TD is reliable and I try to take good care of her checking fluid levels and such.
I kept part of the oxygen system for later, who knows how long it will take before i either get there or quit (die that is).
Interesting to try a track preperad for the heavy hitters, I will give it my best.
Rear light has to be on the bike as we may run late on saturday.
Noticed some hits on this blog from North Texas, greetings, I have done some work in Wichita Falls when I worked out of Claremore OK,  North Texas has the big sky.
As a matter of fact I did "Hotter Than Hell 100" back in -97, and what a sick idea that is, 100 mile bicycle run in August and no less than 105 F, damn....

Health

All well, "Mother" is up, started, crissssssspy.

Took time to check up the on the neglected "Gudrun" 96 incher, leak down check on front was 6%  allright, rear was another story,  sooo sick 98% exh. leak no wonder she was limp and coffing.

Put together last time 2001 and hasn´t  dropped a bolt since, time for some T.L.C.
I wonder where this is going to end.........poor thing is rusting.
Rumours says another guy is putting a Leineweber 5 in his street job, hmm got one of those
somewhere.......need more comp....and springs....and........
.

Lesson

5 1/4 stroke, rpm´s @s 6,500 on 15 runs over a couple of days.
Day 3 and during the burnout the rear exhaust valve decides it is time to retire.
Steel pieces of which the largest is about 3mm leaves the edge of the valve

and are in a hurry to get out. The valve doesn´t quite close when the pieces are leaving so the pushrod leaves the ball on the rocker arm and now hits the ball with the edge of the pushrod cup. and with very limited travel to coil bind that is exactly what happens, and something has to give...this time it is the rocker arm at the
spring end.

I will miss this rocker arm, it has done a good job and had bushings in both ends.

I have a spare one already prepared which mr Baisley did the roller on, not bushed on the spring end, but it should not be a problem these days after i learned to adjust pushrods with generous clearance.
To little and the knuck will starv for oil on the shaft at the spring end when clearance is eaten up by the hot valve, and with hard springs and steel to steel it seizes on shaft.

The valve is a 5/16 stem 1,800" but somewhat taken down on the dia.
I used a S&S S B2 head exh.valve to start with and reduced thickness on the disc and the dia , cut the groove and then the stem to the right length. 

New S&S valve on the left and the reduced new valve is right.

Ok i got a valve and a rocker arm

I have not decided if I should go into a full head rebuild with guide replacements and the rest, or just put it togheter which should be ok and then do the zerosetting coming winter, there is still three races left this season.

Will exhibit in the "Back to Basic" races at Mantorp last week of July, after that we have championship races first weekend of August in Lindesberg, and after that it´s Mosten Raceday/Denmark in September, Mosten is end of season, great music and gigantual party.

Out

Sunday and one or two runs available before eliminations,
after the burnout i lost fire on the rear and my carbs started to come off, familiar
indication of valvetrain problem, and it was the rear exh, rocker arm.
For those who follow me this is something I had problems with before.
It looks a little different this time and it may be easier...but not today, my spare is back home.
So I´m in to the fine art of eating hamburgers in a crosswind and watching my buddies.
Home alone next week so I should be able to focus on fixing it.
This event has been the best excersize I ever been to.

Allright

10,2078/211.42

I got 10 time slips on my table, this is the kind of event I need.
10,2842 followed by the 10,2078 and again it is the strange feeling of calm when it´s
going well, "what´s for dinner thoughts" between full throttle shifts.....
Air is good, no tach signal to the logg but with the number of runs we
have i´m trying different setups, so I´m upp on mains right now and
we will have more runs tomorow before the eliminations.
If anyone knows how to get a stable tach signal from a dyna S, let me know, I have tried
the standard shit that comes with the unit, the logg is a Wego 3.

it workzzzzz

Retarded 2 to 3 degrees (blooody strobelamps) and it´s breathing freely again.
Huge wheelie but revs way way better, will not be a time to write about but
I´m looking forward to tomorrow.
The slip from the previus run was 10,3077 so it´s improving.
The timing excersize shitted the plugs so I had to kick 45 times to get goin, should have
cleaned it out by driving to the line up, anyway  the T/F teams nesting close to the line up are all smiles and sympatetic towards this sorry fat kickbag....

All bike weekend

On a short notice I entered the Orsa "All Bike weekend".
Renewed track and good weather.
Bikes only and some 65 teams are expected, qualification is open
and "run when you feel like it".´4 runs so far and my best is 10,3357.
Waitng for my last slip as they ran out of paper....
Getting warned up and I feel some lack of crunch on the top end, so I will try
some fine adjustment on timing.

Racing

Season is on, first race was 1/8 at the supertrack , Veidec Malmoe,

Lot´s of rain and only two qualification runs, and I decided to shelf the Ethanol for a while.
Insufficient fuel pressure and starving is not winning any races.

Back to the old Gasoline setup but too late and no qualification with a 6.74 run.

Next was Sundsvall and full lenght 1/4 mile, and again lots of rain and only 2 qualification runs, managed to enter 7th position (8 ladder) with a 10.605 and in the Quarter final I faced one of the quick
Yamaha Warriors and my 10,391/207 km/h aginst his 9,514/221
is not in the same legue, but fun it is.

I notice continued fuel starvation so fuel pump, regulator and suitable
needle valves are now on hand.

I may drop out of the points race due lack of time, as the next two races are just to far away and one weekend after another.

I´m looking at running some match racing possibly at the "Back to basic" days which is opening for the European Championship races at Mantorp Park (Veidec) last week of July.

Some previosly retired Nitro ironheads from Norway may be there and
the track would be top class. 

Bike and Engine/gearbox is working fine apart from the fuel issue,
I need more runs to get warmed up.   

Test & Tune

The Dyno test did not go as planned, during the warm up the gearbox suddently engaged as the 3rd gear on the main shaft seized, and taking the gbx out, clean and replace all internals was a nights work, and when back up, we couldn´t get a tach signal which you got to have, so time was up, at least we noticed a severe lean condition on 205 Main Jets.
The good part was that the gbx. did act strange on third gear last season, so  now it´s sorted.
Test and tune was on the Kjula airstrip, this time set up for 1/8 mile.
New to me was that during kick starting i got kick backs, so I had to retard which is the wrong way when trying to bring the HP out E85.
The carbs also ran dry before 1/4, and the map indicated I was still  lean, I was on 240 mainjets so now I´m prepred with 245´s.
So for the seasons first race coming up this weekend I machined the distributor to allow more movement to get both more advance and retard, I also manufactured fuel bowl extensions including Main Jet tubes which i reamed conical, and I´m sure it`s going to be a groundbreaking modification and leave everybody behind....................
Took the day of and did all the mods and then some, and started up and it start and sounds like

a knuck again, but smells better.

Ethanol

Started to dial in to the E85, -95 needles and mainjets in the 200 and up range.
Great help from B.I.G who is a good Mikuni and other Carbs shop on the front (west) side of Sweden.
I also did my first starts with the handheld starter and that was a relevating revolution... fantastic, I was in doubt considering that the kick start is rock solid when i´m on compression until I wait out the leakdown for the throw, i marked out the crank position on compression, and the thing just
spun the engine effortless, and chok, chokatook , this thing is just what you need when you

are lost in jetting.

Chain Guard

Ready

A/F sensor boss

April

Started and runs fine.
Planning a dyno session at Pro Service but first I will get the motor running on the new juice.
E85 is not that easy to come by as the gas stations switch to 70% Ethanol over the winter (Cold start), and they don´t know what they sell during the period when they phase over to 85%.
Located a supplier and ordered race grade 85% which should get here by next week.
Recorded my current jetting and ordered richer needles for the 45 Mikunis.
As I only use one A/F sensor for the log I had to install one more for the dyno, decided to manufacture it (i know the bungs are cheap) but I have a lathe and everybody should learn how to cut threads....it took me the best part of a day.
Also I beefed up my chain guard, trimmed and installed the Trans Guard which Swecomposite made, and that took me a couple of days as I had to design mounts which can survive.

March and ready

March 14th and I´m ready to start, that´s a first.
The front head is in place.
The new cam is installed and the only thing left is to figure out
some clever stand that locks the bike with the wheels up if i´m alone and use the remote starter, I´ll dream something up over the week.

Head assembly

Assembling a cylinder head takes some work and patience.
Done with the guide replacements I got my seats adjusted by Cala in the impressive Sunnen VGS20 and they now check out within .00015" (Inch) when we take the concentricity readings.
It is a big difference to use the mm indicator which reads in .002 mm increments rather than the common .001 Inch, sure it`s the same factual but the gauge action is so much more obvious.

Most of the assembly is like other heads but, getting the valve spring cups, or "tin`s adjusted and the rocker arms shimmed to the right position takes some time and repeated mock ups where one has to tighten everything in the right sequence, rocker arms, rocker box and check free movement, take it a part, adjust do it again, take end play, shim and over again. (you figured right, it´s a lonesome deal and requires a solid rock channel...)
Anyway I use cast Alu. "tin´s" FHP style, and I had to replace the front Intake one, so I prepared a new one never used, and that took some work, as I had to open the spring cup dia. and mill the rocker arm path for clearance, weld and relocate one threaded hole for the cover as well as weld the cover to facilitate machining clearance for the roller .
The old FHP spring cups does not locate like the stock ones with the guide thru the tin but still need some help getting located so I machine the Valve spring bottom cap with a short flange to snap around the guide flange and fit to the hole in the cup. After two nights I´m ready to shim spring height and close up the front head and that´s usually only one night´s work, I´m happy.
Update: Back to using original tins, the Al has a tendency to crack due to spring loads and action. also the tins provides better room as  they are for the springs.

Starter Hub

Allright, time to get busy.
It`s late January so things better get going.
Finished machining the hub for the starter.
Also I got some valuable advice on the starter routine
form the Bikeline Team, Ulf Ögge and his Crew Chief
Ola, Hand Crank using a good quality ratchet handle
to just after TDC, hands off throttle.
If this works allright I´m in good shape for testing
cams and maybe also tune in to E85.
I have to do some homework on E85 ,basically Comp. required and
if/what the Mikinis will react to it, the starter comes handy and tuning in may just be a breeze.

Straight Line Frame

The latest version of this bike uses a Unique frame.
Unique is the effort to maintain a straight line from the Rear axle to Engine drive.
Way back gearboxes where raised for ground clearance on track bikes but on the "Mother" it´s an effort to distribute load.
Unique is also the manufacturer, Unique Custom Cycles (UCC) did this one for Calas High Performance more than 10 years ago and some details are typical for UCC back then.
I´m lucky to get my hands on this one, CNC Engine mounts, gearbox is raised about an inch and tubes are 4130.
UCC are among the most talented chassie builders and I´m truly impressed with everything that leaves their shop.