Sunday, September 20, 2015

Lime Rock Historics 2015 - Part 1

 This past Labor Day, I had the opportunity to go to Lime Rock Park for the 2015 Historic Festival 33. Here is Part 1 of the pictures and videos I took:


















Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Diesel Land Speed Racer Mk2 - Part 4 - Wheels, Wires, and Welding

The next step of the project was to fabricate and install the front engine mounting plate. This required a bit of headscratching, because it was necessary to carve a clearance into the engine block, in order to avoid modifying the front frame bend. As a result, the frame had to pass THROUGH the mounting plate. 

I accomplished this by machining a pair of slots into the plate that allowed the tubes to pass through. Next, I welded a brace underneath the tubes that joined and strengthened the three edges of the plate.


 




Shaping the front mount brace



Adding reinforcement braces

Fully Welded



After the frame was finished, I replaced the wheel bearings with a set of homemade tools. I took the opportunity to upgrade from the old two-piece tapered bearings to single-piece ball bearings.


New bearings and a custom-made installation tool
Removing the old bearing race



Knocking in the new bearings
Motor bolted in place

Beginning the wiring harness



Sunday, August 30, 2015

Diesel Land Speed Racer Mk2 - Part 3 - Motor Mounts And Setbacks

During the summer, work has slowly progressed on the second diesel bike. The first major milestone was installing the welded motor mounts on the Sportster frame. I hit a snag when a hidden rotten section blew through, but I was able to clean it up and cover it with a welded patch.

 

Rotten section

Bad metal carved out and cleaned

Fabricating the patch

Tacked in place

Repaired



Pressing in fresh wheel bearings