The Devil Has Come Down

 

The Devil Has Come Down

As you all know, this summer the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 opinion that claimed there was a right to kill the unborn in the Constitution which resulted in over 63 million babies being killed in the intervening 49 years. Obviously, the reversal was a cause for a joy among Christians and other people of good will, because at LEAST now there would be some states that could outlaw the barbaric practice within their borders. 

But the pushback by the culture of death has been dramatic. Quickly following the Court’s decision scores of pro-life pregnancy support centers were vandalized and even fire-bombed.  Many states that already had laws on their books that would have stopped the killing of unborn children once Rowe was overturned, were halted by a barrage of lawsuits. Right now, Planned Genocide, AKA Planned Parenthood is in the process of setting up mobile Abortion clinics to operate just outside the borders of States that do ban abortions.

In that same spirit, the man who resides in the White House has now ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals to perform abortions, even though that is in direct violation of a Federal law. To add insult to injury, the VA is also performing abortions in states that have otherwise banned the barbaric practice.

The FBI, in what could only be called an act of intimidation, recently arrived, guns aimed, to arrest an abortion clinic protester for an incident that happened a year earlier and had been dismissed as not worthy of prosecution by local officials. The otherwise peaceful defendant had the impudence to defend his young son who was being verbally abused by an adult member of the culture of death - with a push.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the “right” to assisted suicide has been extended to minor children, as long as they are deemed to be mature enough to make such a decision (and remember, the culture of death claims that 6 year-olds are perfectly capable of deciding to have their genitals mutilated).

Recently, California’s Governor signed a bill that, while it could be argued that it technically does not allow for infanticide, results in the same effect. The law (which I took the time to read) uses the word “perinatal” which Merriam Webster defines as “of, relating to, or being the period around childbirth, especially the five months before and one month after birth” (emphasis mine). But while the bill does affirm that murdering a baby during the “perinatal period” remains a crime, it also provides severe penalties for anyone involved in the “threat, intimidation, or coercion” aimed toward one involved in the perinatal death of an infant. However, the bill also spells out that the “criminal investigation, arrest, or prosecution, or threat of investigation, arrest, or prosecution” of that lawbreaker “constitutes threat, intimidation, or coercion.” Get that? If anyone even investigates a perinatal death, they will be subject to a $25,000 fine (the amount specified in the bill). In other words, murdering a baby 27 days after they are born is still technically a crime, but investigating that death will be the only crime with a punishment.

But it gets worse. The Governor of California also announced that he would be having billboards placed in States that ban killing babies with the following text: “Need and abortion, California is ready to help” and under it: “Love your neighbor as yourself, there is no greater commandment than these” Mark 12:31". The last line on the sign reads: “Paid for by Beelzebub for California Governor 2022”.  You might note that I changed the name in that last line, but not to protect the innocent, because the only innocent ones in all of this are the nameless babies being murdered.

As a Christian, I find that blasphemy absolutely reprehensible.  But there is something else going on right now that I find even more troubling. More and more I see political ads with men saying that the candidates from the party of abortion must be elected in order to protect the “right” of their daughters to kill their offspring.  That’s right, men cheering on the slaughter of their own grandchildren!

With all this wickedness and more taking place, one can’t help but ponder this other verse from Holy Scripture:

 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Revelation 12:12

Tolerance Stack Up

 Tempting as it might be to save this title for a commentary on modern day culture, I decided to use it for this piece with a more traditional understanding of the term.  As it pertains to motorcycle mechanics, the term is commonly understood to refer to the manufacturing tolerances of parts that are used together and how those plus/minus tolerances can affect overall clearances and fit.

When dealing with just two parts, it’s a very simple concept to understand.  Say a shaft is designed to have an outer diameter of 1.000” with a manufacturing tolerance of +/- .0005”, and the bushing it rides in is designed to have an inner diameter of 1.002” inner diameter with a manufacturing tolerance of +/- .0005”. That means if the both parts are spot on spec, the combo will have .002” clearance.  If the shaft is at the low end of the tolerance (.9995”) and the bushing is at the high end (1.0025) you will end up with .003” clearance. On the other hand, if the reverse is true (1.0005” on the shaft and 1.0015” on the bushing, then all of sudden you only have .001” clearance. 

Obviously when dealing with multiple items that are part of the same assembly, it can get interesting in a hurry.  Consider the “squish” clearance (distance between the ledge on the cylinder head and the piston deck at TDC) on an Evo or Twin Cam.  Each part that contributes to that distance has its own manufacturing tolerance which affects the final assembled clearance.  Here are some of the measurements that come into play: The distance from the centerline of the crankcase main bearing to the surface where the cylinder mounts, the cylinder length, the gasket thicknesses, the center-to-center length of the connecting rods, the distance from the centerline of the piston pin to the upper surface of the top ring land, and even the centerline distance from the main shafts to the centerline of the crankpin (which also determines the stroke, BTW).  If all those tolerances stack up one way, the squish distance would be smaller than if they stack up the other direction. And that is why those who build performance engines take the time to measure and adjust that final distance to make the squish clearance as efficient as practical.

But what brought this issue to mind and caused me to write this piece, is much more mundane, and in fact a bit humorous.  The other day I was putting the finishing touches on a cone Shovelhead lower end.  I had already installed the new oil pump, checking that it turned smoothly. I had selected the pinon gear which provided just the right amount of lash between it and the cam gear to provide quiet operation (not too loose and not too tight). I had test fit both the cam and breather gear for proper end play before the final installation of the cam cover with Loctite and a torque wrench applied to the screws. Satisfied with my work for one day, I would get back to it in the morning.

But the next morning, when I went to the next step, that of installing the tappet blocks and lifters, much to my surprise, the crank would no longer turn! Where in the world had I messed up?  The cam still had end play so the next thing that came to mind was that perhaps the cam cover gasket had compressed more than expected, taking up the breather gear end play that I thought that I had established.  Off came the cam cover again. Nope, …still locked up.  Now this would have really been a puzzler except that right about then I remembered that I did one the last thing after installing the cam cover the previous evening.  I installed the timing hole plug. 

The brand-new S&S crankcases came with a nice zinc plated timing plug that would easily pass for an oem part. But the customer had a nice new shiny chrome plated Colony brand timing plug, so of course that’s the one I installed.  Sure enough, the chrome plug was just enough longer that it contacted the flywheel and kept it from turning.  But before we condemn Colony, let’s think again about this whole tolerance stack up issue. This particular motor has a set of original Harley flywheels, …you know the kind with the wide and heavy left side wheel. So, the fact is, the Colony timing plug would not have touched thinner S&S flywheels when used in S&S cases, and neither would it have touched stock flywheels in stock crankcases. And of course, the S&S timing plug doesn’t touch the stock flywheels when installed in the S&S case. But the combination of parts from two different sources with their differing tolerances, turned out to be just enough to make them incompatible.

THE PARTS IN QUESTION

 

And that brings to mind a similar situation I ran into about 30 years ago, also while building a Shovelhead engine.  The parts list included Delkron Shovelhead cases and a set of the generic aftermarket lifter blocks that nearly all the major parts distributers sold (and still do to this day). One of the lifter blocks, whether front or rear I do not recall, would not physically fit into the crankcase.  In an effort to determine where the fault was, I took a stock lifter block and it dropped right in to the Delkron case.  But then, before counting the aftermarket lifter block out, I tried it in a stock Harley case.  Sure enough it dropped right in.  Try as I might though, there was no way that aftermarket lifter block would go into the aftermarket Delkron case without one or the other having some metal removed!

Maybe those two examples don’t quite fit the technical definition of a tolerance stack up, but they give some idea of the adventures that await those who source their parts from multiple manufacturers in their efforts to keep old Harleys on the road.

... or Banana Republic?

 

It would appear that the meme (above) which I created in response to the purloined Presidential race in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty is proving itself valid.  This is exactly what happens when a nation that was founded on Christian principles turns their back on the God who blessed them so richly.  Without God there is no longer any foundation for morality. The morals of the nation are now planted squarely on shifting sand, at the mercy of the hearts of those running the nation via government, media, education, and popular culture.  When those hearts are darkened, the people suffer the consequences.  “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” (Proverbs 29:2)

Because of this lack of morality caused by the rejection of God, we have no reason to think that “evidence” will not be planted, elections rigged (again), and our Constitution shredded. The FBI has shown itself to have metamorphosized into an agency more akin to the KGB than the entity that was once revered by good men.  The IRS is soon to get reinforcements for its weaponization to be used against any who love God and love freedom.  

 "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." (Psalm 2:1-3)  

By the way, just in case any might be confused, the LORD’s anointed mentioned in that Psalm is Jesus Christ: our only hope for peace and justice in this age or any other

[This was first posted on Face Book but it appears that their filters are keeping it from being viewed by very many -at least compared to how many see anything I might post about other subjects. Odd, isn't it?] 

4th of July Coming

 

So, with less than a month left to prep the Beast replica for the yearly 4^th of July drag racing extravaganza, I finally finished addressing the most prominent of the teething pains that were revealed last year. That would be my inability to get my feet onto the pegs in time to hit second gear.  It really tends to slow you down when the force of the launch sends your legs into a lay down position and you need to pull them all the way back to the sit up position to shift. By the time my feet were on the pegs, it felt like I had almost slowed to a stop (slight exaggeration but you get the idea).  Whether the culprit behind such unplanned acrobatics was old age or seating position, the solution seemed clear enough: convert the bike from sit-up to lay-down riding position.  And so, I did. The job was slightly complicated by my being unwilling to do any welding on what was last year a freshly painted frame.  

No air shifters for us

And a rear brake may come in handy at some point

 

I must say that a task like this is much easier with all the equipment I have now, that I didn’t have back when I took racing way to seriously.  Now I have a lathe.  Now I have a mill.  Now I have a TIG welder.  And now I have a band saw. 

That last little item, the band saw, brings back memories of days gone by though.  I distinctly recall somewhere around 1990, after Jimmy Cee and I had teamed up with the high expectation of conquering the AMRA Top Gas class with a supercharged Knuck.  But before we could do that, I needed to sell my old Pro Stock bike to help finance the transition.  About that same time, Jimmy brought on board a young friend of his that went by the name Pup.  Yeah, that was his “biker name” and it fit him well; still wet behind the ears, and I’d guess he had yet to see 20 summers.  I couldn’t honestly claim that I had socks older than him, but it was pretty dog-gone close. 

In any case, as part of plan, we would revamp the Pro Stock bike, put a Shovel top end on it (you just can’t go selling dual carb Knuck heads when you’re certified Knucklehead fanatics) and some cosmetic changes as well.  One of the things I did to “pretty things up” was to rework the fiberglass rear fender so that it filled in the area between the seat and the fender.  That meant it would need new fender struts, and guess who was the low man on the totem pole tasked with cutting the struts out from plate aluminum.  That’s right. Pup.  Remember that what I said about a band saw earlier?  Didn’t have one then.  What I did have was a coping saw.  Now, I’m pretty sure that a coping saw is a woodworking tool never meant to cut aluminum plate.  But Pup, God bless him, was so eager to be part of the team that he cut out those struts with an amazingly small amount of griping on his part, thus proving himself to be a valuable asset to the team. 

Seriously, a coping saw

 

The Pup's handiwork -the struts, I mean

Too bad the tank shell didn't make it into this pic

Well, Pup is still known as Pup to his old friends, though he grew up to be a bit of a bulldog (I say that with the greatest respect).  Another of those unforgettable characters brought into one’s life through the magic of drag racing. Hoping to see Pup, Jimmy Cee, and YOU at the 2022 Iowa Hog Drags and Nostalgia Reunion!