Cheap Shop Tool

The material I have for posts is beginning to stack up. I have been too busy in the shop to post very often, despite very few interruptions as I worked through Sturgis week. I have several short items that I hope will get me back on track, and keep you the reader interested.


This may only be useful if you are "in the business" or do a lot of your own work, but if you have access to a lathe, it is a no-brainer.

The "Old School" method of squaring a piston ring in the cylinder bore for checking end gap usually involves putting the ring into the bore, and then using one of the pistons to push it down evenly. There are only two problems with that method (that I can see). First, since the top of the piston is smaller than the skirt, it is easy to have the piston cocked a little, which will throw of the end gap measurement. The other problem, is that if your piston has a dome, then there is also the chance that the dome will not square up the ring properly.


Of course, if you happen to have some junk flat top pistons laying around your shop gathering dust (and what motorcycle shop doesn't?) your project is nearly done. Simply select a piston from the next standard bore size larger than the one you need a squaring tool for, chuck it up in your lathe, and turn the top two ring lands down to just under standard bore size. De burr, wash, and you're done. By machining down the top two ring lands, when you push the ring into the bore with your new tool, the third ring land will stop on the head gasket surface leaving your ring about 1/2" into the bore, and perfectly squared up!

883 piston cut for use on 45" Flathead

For example, I used an 883 Evo piston cut to just under 2 3/4" for use on 45 Flathead motors. I made a 3 7/16" tool for Knuckles/Pans/Shovels from a stock 80" Evo piston, a 3 1/2" Evo tool from a 3 5/8" S&S piston, and a 3 5/8" tool from a stock 88" Twin Cam piston. In the near future, a 95" Twin Cam piston will provide the raw material for a 3 3/4" Twin Cam 88" tool, a 4" S&S piston for a 3 7/8" Twin cam, and a 4 1/8" S&S piston for a 4" .

The best part is that all it should cost you is a minimal investment of time!

Drag Racing - a Family Sport

Perhaps it is genetic. After a couple of years absence from the annual "soapbox" race as part of our local Shakopee Derby Days celebration, my grandson Max came out of retirement for this year's event. Max, seen here in the far lane, seems to have perfected a type of "body english" which seemed to aid his mid track acceleration.

The hard right turn Max executed at the end of the race was also reminiscent of numerous passes from my own drag racing career when it was questionable whether I would finish in the same lane I started in.

One thing that caught my attention is the huge increase in payouts compared to back when I raced. Max walked off with $15 cash as well as certificates for two free Dairy Queen treats. Awe... maybe its just that he's not drag racing motorcycles; it seems that racing on four wheels has always payed better than on two....

1985 Revisited

(Maybe, just maybe I finally figured out how to post a video right here on my very own blog)

The above is from some home movies from 1985. It was originally shot with an 8mm camera ....you know, the kind you set up a screen and projector to play. Yeah, I know; the dark ages.

We took our little Shovelhead drag bike out to Farmington North Carolina for the HDRA (predecessor to the AHRDA) National Finals. The good looking kid in the camouflage T-shirt is Bobby McGranahan, my racing partner and owner of the engine. The fat guy on the fast bike is me; the engine builder and owner of the chassis. Bobby was the pilot, but he always encouraged me to take the bike down the strip during test and tune to keep me enthused. His charity back fired on him though, as the following year I built a dual carb Knuckle motor to go in this same chassis, and went racing on my own. Bobby passed away several years ago, and we all still miss him.

If I am not mistaken, the gentleman in the red T-shirt adding H2O to the water box is Red Roberts, the founder of the HDRA.

BTW, the bike in the right lane did not break. It was not uncommon for our bike to win by that kind of margin.

Why So Sad?

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

There is an old saw that goes "there are only two things sure in life: death and taxes. Face it, death is all around us. Every day we either read about it, hear about it on the news, or less frequently, we are touched by it personally. It is generally at those times when someone close to us has died that sorrow grips us.

And yet, if we mind scripture, we see that the death of another Christian is not a cause for great sorrow. Not that it is wrong to mourn the loss of a loved one. I would liken it to having a family member move to a different state; far away but much more beautiful, with a better climate, and with a really good job waiting for them. Sure there is sadness involved, but is it sadness for them? No, of course not. They are far better off where they have gone. So why are you so sad? Easy, you are feeling sorry for yourself, because you no longer have their company. Is it wrong to be sad about your loss? Certainly not.

And so it is with the death of a Christian. If you yourself are a Christian, then there has to be a goodly amount of joy mixed in with the mourning. After all, the one you are mourning is with the Lord, and the thought of that is so wonderful as to defy description!

But, as the above scripture states, there is another group in sight; others which have no hope. Those others are the ones who do not have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Indeed, they have good reason to sorrow. Not only for themselves, but also for their loved ones who sleep, but not in Jesus.

This past weekend I attended the best funeral I have ever been to. Now that's something you won't often hear! But it is true, nonetheless.

About 7 months ago my brother Bill found out he had stomach cancer. To make a long story short, he passed away last week, but not before he and his wife Carol had shown themselves to be splendid examples of faithful Christians. Bill was completely upbeat and praising God right to the end; but of course "the end" was only the end of his pain and suffering. It might be more accurate to say right up to the beginning, for as the Bible tells us, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Knowing that his time was limited, Bill and Carol, together with their Pastor and Carol's brother (also a Pastor) planned the memorial service in advance. They wanted it to primarily be a Gospel message; something that would bring glory to God's name ....and I believe they were successful. One of the highlights was the reading of Bill's written statement about faith The whole service was down right inspiring.

Of course there were some tears, but for many of us, they were tears of joy.

Tire Change Video

Knucklehead Tire Change - How to Video

The first step is to make sure that you really need a new tire. Humor.

(finally gave up on trying to upload this, and put it on You Tube instead)

2010 Knucklehead Reunion Rousing Success

Last year, attending the Knucklehead Reunion was one of the goals I set, but I failed to get "The Knuckledragger" finished in time. In fact, it may not even have been named yet. But with the announcement that Pete Hill would be appearing at this year's event, there was little doubt that I would have to make time to be there. The fact that I have the drag bike running (though as yet un-tuned and untested) only helped seal the deal.

The adventure began with Kevin Baas (instructor of the Kennedy High School Chopper Class) talking me into riding out with a group on vintage bikes. This necessitated installation of a new rear tire on Jane's '47, which in turn necessitated a little time in the burn out pit with the old tire. I have it on video, but so far Google's "Blogger" program has not co-operated with my attempts to post it.

Fast forward to Friday morning. We left Teach's house in Lakeville Minnesota nearly a half hour past the projected 7am start because Krazy Karl got stuck in traffic. The plan called for us to be to Menomonie Wisconsin by 9am sharp to leave with a larger group who were meeting there. Suddenly our leisurely ride on 63+ year old Knuckleheads turned into a 75mph blast down the freeway with Jane in our Jeep, trailering the Knuckledragger, in close pursuit. Behind her were Karl and Jason pulling a trailer with three more Knuckleheads inside. The next glitch occurred just across the Wisconsin border. Sure enough the newest part on Jane's '47 (a V-Twin replica rocker clutch pedal) broke in half. Luckily the part hit my foot and I was able to trap it on the footboard so that we wouldn't have to stop short of the Menomonie exit. This did, however end my ride to Milwaukee, putting the '47 into the trailer alongside The Knuckledragger.

From Menomonie we followed the now larger group of Knuckles (plus a Flattie and a Pan) on backroads to Black River Falls to meet up with an even larger group of antique Harley riders. The remainder of the trip to the Milwaukee area was uneventful. Once we were close, the group split up for their separate destinations. Kevin had already contacted his good friend Mario, to confirm that he had a rocker clutch that I could borrow to put Jane's bike back on the road.

Mario and his wife Pat were unbelievably gracious hosts, and soon convinced us to spend the night at their home rather than looking for a motel as per our original plan. It turned out to be simpler to repair the broken weld on the clutch pedal than to change out the whole unit. Mario supplied the welder, Kevin supplied the welding expertise and before you know it, the '47 was roadworthy again. A quick tour of Pat and Mario's house left me a bit dazzled, leading me to ask him if perhaps he is the King of Wisconsin. Mario didn't admit to it, but on the other hand he didn't exactly deny it either. The breakfast that his wife Pat prepared the next morning confirmed my suspicions, because it is obvious that Mario also eats like a King.



finishing a quick repair on Jane's '47

The night was rounded out by a trip downtown to the "shed." The shed is a building in a warehouse district where a group of like minded guys each rent a space where they work on their hot rod and/or motorcycle projects. A neat concept, to be sure, and a good way to compensate for lack of garage space at your home. Mario had arranged a bit of a reception there so that Kevin, Jason, Krazy Karl (by now joined by Krazy Konnie) Jane and I could meet his friends.




jason and the seven Knucks @ Mario's


By the time we arrived at the Harley Museum on Saturday morning, Pete Hill's supercharged Top Fuel Knucklehead dragbike was already set up on display. I felt really honored to set up the Knuckledragger in close proximity to Pete and Jackie's bike. John Endrezzi of the Knucklehead Company (hosts of this great event) did a nice job of interviewing Pete in front of the crowd.





John interviewing Pete Hill

One of the stories Pete related was about the very first "Harley Homecoming" AMRA drag race at nearby Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove in 1988. Pete blew a tire at speed during the first day of time trials, sending he and his bike sliding on its side at an estimated 140mph. With no serious injury, he and Jackie managed to get the bike back in shape overnight and went on to win the event. Jane and I were there racing at that event (flying the #1 plate in Pro Stock on our Knuckle drag bike by the way) so I remembered the incident well, but had forgotten that Pete had come back to win the event.

Pete on his Top Fuel Knuckle

A little later in the day, Jane and I got the chance to spend a little time visiting with Pete and Jackie. We came prepared, with some photos for Pete to autograph. They say that behind every successful man is a good woman, and its no different for Pete Hill. I feel confident(and I am sure Pete would agree), that without Jackie Hill, there never would have been a "Pete Hill -Drag Racing Legend."

myself, Pete, Jane, and Jackie

Field games were held in the afternoon, plus most of the participants in the show also found time to tour the Harley Davidson Museum. Just before the show wound down, members of the Knucklehead Company were kind enough to invite me to start the Knuckledragger for the crowd. To be honest, this was more pressure than an actual drag race. By the time we got the roller starter unloaded and the bike fueled up, we had the entire crowd gathered around to witness the results of my handiwork. If there weren't a hundred people in the crowd, it sure seemed like there were. It certainly was a prime opportunity for me to make a fool of myself if the Knuckledragger decided to play a trick on me by not firing up.

Teach putting alcohol somewhere besides in his stomach

But, I survived with my pride intact. The bike started with an impressive roar, and I avoided doing anything stupid. Rather than doing a crowd pleasing tire smoking burnout, and thereby running the risk of wearing out the welcome that the Harley Museum has given the Knucklehead Company for this event, I tried to make up for it with a lot of noise. One lap around the show, clutch in, and revving the engine just a few hundred rpm past where a sane person would take it, seemed like the best compromise. Besides, I already had enough excess adrenaline pumping without doing a stress test on the notoriously bad vintage springer front brake.

Overall, a great time was had by everyone. A special thanks the the Knucklehead Company for hosting this great event. And if you own one of these fine '36 to '47 motorcycles, you owe it to yourself to bring it to next year's Knucklehead Reunion!

Cone Knuckle Part 2

When we left off in part one, we had looked at and discussed four of the five issues relating to running Knuckle heads of a Shovelhead Cone lower end. We talked about rocker arm ratios, lifter blocks, cams and pushrod tube angles. That leaves the toughest issue for last; oil return from the top end.

Perhaps a review of how the stock Knuckle oil return system works is in order. Starting on one end of the system, the Knuckle breather gear has a hole that is not found in any later breathers. This hole is timed to provide crankcase vacuum to a passage (also unique to Knuckle cases) which connects to the Knuckle lifter blocks. That is what the fifth hole in a Knuckle lifter block gasket is for. In this way, crankcase vacuum is applied to the pushrod tubes and the aluminum housings which give the Knucklehead its name.

Note that this passage in the Knuckle lifter block goes to the top of the lifter, with no drain hole into the gearcase such as on a Pan or Shovel. In fact, if you have replaced your Knuckle lifters with any aftermarket lifter (with the exception of the ones from S&S, which are made correctly) there is a good chance that you have a hole drilled through the lifter which will bleed off the vacuum that is needed to evacuate the heads. This hole is not supposed to be there, and could very well be the root cause of your smoking and oil consumption on your stock Knuck.

The reason that this vacuum in the pushrod tubes and Knuckle housing is critical, is that the 'spring cups" depend on that vacuum to "suck" the oil, through the 3/16" O.D. Steel lines uphill into the housings. If you have ever had a Knuckle head apart, you are no doubt familiar with the seals that are between the aluminum housing and the tin covers. These not only seal the assembly from leaking to the outside, but they also separate the two sides of the rocker arm to keep vacuum on one side only.

Compare this to the oil return on a Shovel, Pan, or Evo. All of them return the oil from the heads via a passage through the cylinder directly to the crankcase. They basically depend on gravity aided by crankcase vacuum when the pistons are on the upstroke (or crankcase vacuum aided by gravity, if you prefer).

So, what are you to do, if you have a set of Knuckle heads, and a Cone lower end you are dying to put them on? It looks as though there are a few possibilities. One which I have performed is to rework the steel lines coming out of the spring cups so that they don't run uphill as much as in the stock application. From there grafting on soft lines and routing them externally down to the crankcase roughly adjacent to the timing plug converts the drainage from the spring cups into the gravity/crankcase vacuum style like Pans and Shovels. The oil from the aluminum "knuckle" returns down the pushrod tubes.

A second method comes directly from a comment received on what I posted in part one of "Cone Knuckle." Richard writes that he has been running a Knuckle-Cone motor since 1986. He uses Shovel lifter blocks with a brake tube brazed to the intake pushrod tube and plumbs this into the fitting on the crankcase that returns oil from the primary in stock configuration. This puts timed vacuum to the heads much like the stock system and so avoids any mods to the spring cups, etc. I think this is an absolutely brilliant idea, and though I had considered the idea of using the primary return, my thought was to go directly from the spring cups to the primary return. Richard's system is much simpler and cleaner! Thank you Richard!

But, now there is one more viable option. It turns out that I have a reader who works for S&S Cycle. After reading part one, he informed me, and got permission for me to break the news, that S&S is introducing a complete Cone Knuckle engine this summer. The S&S version will be called the Kone Knuckle, and will feature appropriate passages and machining to use Knuckle lifter blocks, and hence a stock style oil return system. Plans are to also make the cases available for those of you who have a bunch of Knuck parts stashed away for just such a project. This will make the whole process relatively painless.

Keep in mind though, that excess clearance between the Knuckle rocker arms and shafts can be a source of excessive oil in the top end, enough that even an otherwise correctly working return system will not keep up with. A rebuild of those parts may still be in order.

So, just one last thought. Whoever said that Cone Knuckleheads couldn't/shouldn't be built ....well, aren't you glad that neither Richard or S&S listened to them.