Viking Meet 2014

I just spend last Friday and Saturday in my booth at the Viking Chapter of the AMCA's (Antique Motorcycle Club of America) National meet in St. Paul.  Except to mention the fact that word had it all the swap meet spaces were sold (good news!) I won't bore you with a lot of details.  Instead I will share some pics with limited commentary.

Who doesn't love a Knuckle bobber?

 

 

 

1942 Sunbeams had a nice shape to their air cleaner

 

 

 

And by 1956 it looks like it could have inspired our friends in Viola

 

 

 

1970 Harley Sprint Flat Tracker

 

When I was younger most of us biker types considered Sprints to be a joke.  Well, when considering this one, the joke would have been on us.  One of three built to this spec, it will tach up to 14,000 RPM putting out 72 HP with a top speed of 137 MPH from 350cc.  Local racing legend Billy Hofmeister rode it to three consecutive indoor flat track championships.

 

 

 

 

This Indian inline 4 cylinder is nothing short of a masterpiece.  Note the air intake of the carb.

 

 1939 BSA M20 is a 500cc Flathead Thumper

 

Its easy to see the family resemblance between the '39 and this 1953 Gold Star
Note the crossed rifles cast into cylinder: BSA = Birmingham Small Arms

1953 BSA Gold Star

Yes, it looks German, but how many of you recognized this as a 1954 Honda Dream?

1960 Triumph Tiger Cub may be small, but the aesthetic appeal of the engine is large

Billy Hofmeister's vintage Flat Track bike

The last picture for this post deserves an extra footnote.  It is a 1975 XR750 rolling chassis which was once campaigned by AMA National Champion Gary Scott.  Later Billy Hofmeister rode it to a Canadian National Flat Track Championship.  The bike is still owned by Billy, though these days it is used for vintage racing powered by a 1969 XLCH motor.  The Sportster motor is no slouch either with porting work from some guy who won a couple National Championships in drag racing.

 

One last note: this is a very small percentage of the bikes on display at the meet.  To see more, make it a point to come to St. Paul next year for the event.

 

The Multiple Valve Job Low Down Performance Blues

The term "tired" is one often used to describe the engine condition of our antique (or on the verge of antique) bikes.  Often times that is an apt description.  Worn cylinders/pistons/rings/valves/guides and pitted valve seats all take away from the performance we originally enjoyed.  Most of the time a fresh top end rebuild would be all it would take to return the old girl to her former [performance]glory.  But with the passing of the years and the oft repeated "freshening" we may wake up one morning (after an evening of thrashing gears with buddies on their Twin Cams) thinking that maybe the old girl never was as quick as we thought we remembered.  Perhaps you've heard of the syndrome: "the older I get, the faster I used to be..."

But wait, ...maybe it's not all due to a faulty memory.  What if your trusty old steed really has lost a step or two over the years despite a fresh top end rebuild?  This could creep up on you slowly (like most everything else that creeps up on you).  Repeated valve jobs can actually decrease performance despite sealing the combustion chambers better than the tired condition it was meant to improve upon.  The reason is compression ratio.  Compression makes power!  That's not a secret, but sometimes we forget that each time we grind our valve seats we are also increasing the combustion chamber size and lowering the compression ratio. 

As a matter of fact, I have previously written on this subject here.

One valve job; no problem.  Another couple valve jobs -still maybe OK, ...depending on how much it takes to clean up the seats each time.  And that is often where things can get quickly out of hand.  Take a cheap, generic valve guide of unknown origin.  Is the bore of the guide concentric with the outer diameter?  If not, then when you install it and start to grind or cut the seat, you will be off center from the last valve job which will force you to cut deeper to get a good seat.

 

This Shovel shows evidence of multiple valve jobs, but it is not uncommon to see seats considerably deeper than these

Just to reiterate, and to give you some examples as to how this works out, I have made a few calculations.  One thing that these calculations take into account  is that the deeper a valve is sunk into the head, the more likely that there will be additional material removed from the head so that the valve is not shrouded by the chamber, which would otherwise disrupt air flow.  The figures given assume that at a depth of .050" deeper than stock, no un-shrouding was done.  Further, they assume that when sunk .100" deeper than stock, the valves will have been un-shrouded.  The additional amount of material removed for un-shrouding purposes was determined from actual measurements using 1-3/4" diameter valves.  Of course your results would vary somewhat unless you used the same tooling and dimensions for the un-shrouding process.

So on a 61" EL model Knuckle which had a 7:1 compression ratio in stock configuration, sinking both valves .050" would lower the ratio to 6.78:1.  Not so bad.  But sinking the valves a total of .100" past stock would result in 6.33:1.   At this point you have a lower compression ratio than the low compression E model's 6.5:1.

What about on a 74" FL Knuck?  .050" lowers the ratio from 7:1 to 6.78:1, but sinking them .100" makes your motor 6.45:1.  (disclaimer: your 74" Knuck is probably not 7:1 anyway, since the pistons available today are unlikely to have the same dome volume as the original Knuckle piston)

Now Panheads are going to be especially prone to this scenario since seat replacement is, shall we say, ...problematic.  The FLH's 8:1 compression ratio drops to 7.7:1 with the valves sunk .050" and to almost exactly the same as the low compression FL model when sunk .100".  If you start out with the low compression FL you will end up with Knucklehead type compression ratios: 7:1 when the valves are .050" deeper and 6.65:1 at .100".

With their larger intake valve, Shovelheads suffer from the effect even more.  A 74" with 8:1 ratio will be reduced to 7.66:1 if both valves are sunk .050".  Make that .100" deeper than stock and your motor is all the way down to 7.18:1.  An 80" Shovel also rated at 8:1 will similarly be reduced to 7.69:1 with a .050" deeper valve job, and down to 7.24:1 at a depth of +.100".

One thing you might take away from all this is that there is very little reason to buy the low compression version of the replacement pistons on the market today.  In fact, it may cause you to select higher than stock compression pistons for many applications, especially if hotter cams are being employed.  Remember, compression makes power, and if you want old reliable to be as fast as she was in her younger days, you need some of that.

Jacob's Mom

The theme of a woman being barren; unable to conceive children is a familiar one in the Bible. We see it with Abraham's wife Sarah, who in God’s timing bore Isaac. Rebekah, Isaac's wife, was likewise afflicted.  A similar circumstance would play out for Jacob’s wife Rachel before she finally bore Joseph. We read another story from ancient Israel about a woman named Hannah, who also prayed for a son, and was answered with the birth of Samuel the prophet. Finally, we read in the New Testament how a woman named Elizabeth was barren, but in her old age bore a son who we know as John the Baptist. 

One common element that we see in all of these situations is how these mothers were instrumental in carrying out Jehovah’s plans for the nation of Israel. With some of them such as Hannah and Elizabeth we hear only of their obedience and faithfulness. In contrast, both Sarah and Rachel, in their impatience, tried to help God out in the area of providing offspring for their respective husbands. Of course God used their interference for his own purpose despite what we might see as their wavering faith. Rebekah's story, on the other hand, played out in a manner that is a little more difficult to label.  In light of the fact that this weekend we celebrate Mother's day, let's consider the motherhood of Rebekah.

Genesis 25:19-26 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac: 20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. 21 And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. 24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.


Now when I alluded to the fact that Rebekah's story seems a bit different, those familiar with the story will rightly guess that I refer to how she was instrumental in Jacob obtaining his father’s blessing.  But to rightly understand all of that, we need to remember a few things about Esau.
　

If we were to read on in scripture we would find that at one point Esau sold his birthright, that is the benefits he would have as the first born, to his brother Jacob. In doing so, the Bible says that he despised his birthright. Later Esau went against the wishes of his grandfather Abraham who specifically commanded his son not to take a wife from among the Canaanites who were known for their idolatry. This admonition seems to have been passed down by Isaac because Genesis 26:35 tells us that Esau’s marriages to two Hittite women were a "grief of mind" to Isaac and Rebekah. It is very likely that Esau joined his wives in their idolatry, since it is clear that he did not worship Jehovah. Those things, along with God’s promise at the time of their birth that the elder would serve the younger, would seem to be enough to clearly make Esau the black sheep of the family.

And yet, when Isaac was old and thought he may die soon, he still loved Esau enough that he attempted to bestow the ceremonial blessing on him, though Jacob had purchased the birthright. This may have been a case of Isaac’s natural affection getting the better of him. After all, what father doesn’t want his son to be a manly man, and Esau certainly was that. As the Bible tells us, Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, or as some translations make it a "simple" or "quiet" man. So, despite all of the strikes against Esau, his father Isaac called him in to bestow the blessing on him. But first, he requested that Esau would bring him a meal of his famous wild game pot roast.

That is where Rebekah stepped in. Knowing God’s words concerning the two boys; that Esau would serve Jacob; knowing the contempt Esau had shown for his birthright in selling it; knowing Esau’s worldliness in marrying idolaters, she decided to make sure her son Jacob received the blessing which Jehovah had declared he would receive.
　

Rebekah, plain and simple, engineered a way for Jacob to obtain the blessing by deceiving his father Isaac. She instructed Jacob to bring her two young goats which she prepared so that they would taste just like the dish that Esau was known for. No surprise there; who else but his mother would have taught Esau how to cook? Then Rebekah helped Jacob to disguise himself as his brother and instructed him to go in to his father pretending to be Esau and receive the blessing. The trickery was successful, and Jacob obtained the blessing, fulfilling the words of Jehovah at the birth of the two boys.

The question then comes up: was Rebekah justified in using deceit in this instance? Some propose that she should have gone in to her husband and reminded him of God’s promise concerning his two sons; reminded him that Esau sold his birthright; reminded him that Esau turned his back on them to marry idolaters. Certainly she should have been able to reason with him to make him understand that the blessing should go to Jacob!

Well, ...maybe that would have been the right approach, but if we are to give Rebekah the benefit of the doubt we might consider that she probably knew her husband’s disposition better than we do. Scholars seem to agree that Isaac was likely 137 years old at the time of the giving of the blessing. Since the Bible tells us that Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, that means they were soon coming up on their 100th wedding anniversary! I think by that time Rebekah probably had a pretty good handle on what she could or could not convince her husband to do!

　
So rather than speculate on whether Rebekah could have, or should have done some things differently, let’s celebrate her faithfulness. Rebekah received Jehovah’s promise that her son Jacob would be blessed. She held on to that promise and did not let natural affection for her other son get in the way of her love for God and respect for his decree. In fact, Rebekah not only respected what God had told her, she did what she could to carry out Jehovah’s decree. 

We each have a mother, and I have no doubt that many of them have also done their best to follow Jehovah’s decrees. Many of them did what they could to fulfill what is written in the book of Ephesians to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Most of our mothers did as the book of  Proverbs teaches and attempted to train up their children in the way they should go, so that when they are old they will not depart from it. Certainly some of our mothers have done what they could to make sure that it could be said of their children what was said of Timothy: that from a child they knew the holy scripture which was able to make them wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. 

All of these are reasons that we honor our mothers.  And all of these are a product of our mothers love for her children , but even more importantly her love for God.

Earth Day 2014

 Here in Minnesnowda we are just wrapping up one of the coldest winters in recent memory. As much of the world commemorates Earth Day, today April 22, 2014, I could not help but think back to less than one week ago to an overnight snowfall here.  Lady, our shop dog, and I were spared the 10" of snow that fell about 1/2 hour north of here, but still had our hopes of spring dashed with a fresh covering of the white stuff as shown in the photos below.

And the (not so) good news?  The weather prognosticators say we may get a repeat next week!

"...but I thought you said spring was here..."

 

 

Lady shivering from the combination of more snow and a recent outing to the beauty parlor for a haircut (she has only herself to blame - I told her she should wait)

 

 

 

All of this leaves us with just one question:

 

GLOBAL WARMING :

WHERE CAN I GET ME SOME OF THAT?

 

Seriously folks.  We had one month this winter that our heating bill was north of $1500 while the thermostats were set so low that it remained long-johns and sweatshirt weather inside both the house and the shop.  My wife's legs were nearly crushed from the weight of extra blankets on our bed all winter.

 

So PLEASE, do your part to promote Global Warming.  Drive more ...and faster; preferably in your pre emissions vehicles.  Do more smokey burnouts! Have a camp fire in your back yard every night, and if you need to use all your trash to get the fire going, so much the better.  Don't worry, those big garbage trucks will still come around burning diesel fuel whether there is anything to pick up or not.  If you have room, you might even consider getting a cow.  It is said that their flatulence is a major cause of Global Warming.  I say a pair of vintage muscle cars idling in every driveway and a cow in every backyard!  With your help maybe we can get enough Global Warming going to save the planet for humanity!

 

Three Stooges and a Disappearing Act

About a week ago my old friend and racing buddy, Uncle Aard, dropped by the shop.  I hadn't seen him for a number of years, and while perusing the many pictures on the walls he mentioned that he no longer had any pictures from his time involved in drag racing.  That thought stayed with me long enough to spend a few minutes later in the week sorting through a stack of old photos that had accumulated in a small box on my desk.  That, in turn, inevitably led to this post.

 

 

 

I like to call this one "The Three Stooges"

 



The photo above caught my eye first.  Obviously taken before we became savvy enough to build stands to hold the drag bikes up off the ground high enough to save on the back.  But then, we were all young then and likely did not notice.  On the left is Uncle Aard hard at work on his Shovelhead.  Yours truly is in the middle attending to the Pro Stock Knucklehead and Neil Ryan on the right is probably chasing down leaks in his Shovelhead's air shifter.  My guess is that the picture is from 1989.  If so, that was the second year for the PMFR chassis with 8-1/2" slick on the dual carb Knuckle.  Neil also ran a PMFR chassis on his Shovel; the first one ever built for a Harley (mine was the second).  Neil's sported a 10" slick which he put to good use behind the 114" Shovel.  This picture may very well have been taken the weekend that Aard first put a 7" slick on his Shovel, promptly breaking the front motor mounts off his crankcases.  Nothing like the tire really hooking up to stress test everything else in the drive train!

Below is a series of photos from the early 1990's.  The dual carb Pro Stock Knuck had been replaced by a 120" Knuckle with a centrifugal supercharger in a lay down Top Gas chassis with 10" slick.   That's Dangerous Dan, our long time crewman (in black with red bandanna) enjoying the view ...well, at least for a moment.  I am pretty sure that is Aard piloting the bike, since he always wore a dark colored helmet and mine was white.  It was probably taken at the Sturgis race.

 

Going ...Going ...Gone!

Do You Noah the Story?

NOAH, the movie

Given that we seem to be undergoing one of the larger movie advertising campaigns in recent memory, a logical question that a Christian might pose is: does this movie provide an evangelism tool (as some claim) or is it one more pagan attack to defend against?

One thing is obvious.  This film was made to appeal to both Christians and to the perennial fans of typical blockbuster special effects type movies.  As a marketing ploy it is probably a sure fire winner.  The "blockbuster" appeal will bring in most of the regular movie goers, and the Christian theme stands a good chance of drawing in many who tend to stay away from most movie fare due to their disgust with the typical sexual content.

So how does the movie measure up for the Christian?  Well, admittedly I have not seen the movie (at this writing it has not opened yet), but that did not stop me from doing a little research.  A number of people have seen early screenings of the film, still subject to further cuts. Some "less than flattering" reaction led to the following disclaimer aimed at smoothing things over (or muddying the waters, depending on your point of view):

"The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis."

It seems that Darren Aronofsky, the director, is a self described atheist who was willing to employ a number of words not commonly used in polite conversation to proclaim his lack of sensitivity about negative audience reaction.  A couple thoughts come to mind.    A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.  Luke 6:45  And I don't just mean Aronofsky's comment.  I believe this verse may apply equally to the whole movie.

So, you may be wondering what I found when researching the movie.  Well, here are some miscellaneous quotes:

Joseph Brean in the National Post said this: "Noah has been re-imagined in a new movie as a virtuous eco-warrior in an age of global calamity, so appalled by humanity’s sins that he accepts, even encourages, their deliberate extinction by a vengeful god."  and  "The sins for which humanity is punished in the film include wanton disregard for the sustainability of their farming and mining, which ravages the Earth. Noah, in the movie, broods over this, comes to think humans deserve it, and even threatens to kill his own grandchild."

Billy Hallowell said this on The Blaze: "...For instance, at one point Noah is preaching to his family and telling the story of creation – one that is presented through an evolutionary lens..."  and  "Noah's character is conflicted about whether or not human beings should survive,” he added. “I think he borders on looking crazy and it’s hard to match that to the Genesis text..."

From Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis:  "In the movie, it seems Noah is a far cry from the Noah of the Bible. He’s angry, even crazy . . . . It makes a mockery of Noah’s righteous nature and is actually anti-biblical. . . . [In the Hollywood version] he’s a delusional, conflicted man, more concerned about the environment, animals, and even killing his own grandchild than he is with his family and his relationship with God."  and here  "Methuselah (Noah’s grandfather) is a type of witch-doctor, whose mental health is questionable." and  "It appears as if every species was crammed in the Ark instead of just the kinds of animals, thus mocking the Ark account the same way secularists do today."

(If you are not familiar with the Biblical term "kinds" as it applies to the animal kingdom, I would suggest that despite the indisputable fact that there is such a thing as a birddog, most of us would have no problem distinguishing between a bird and a dog as different "kinds" of animals.)

Now, armed with mostly negative  feedback from people who have seen early screenings of the Noah movie (or have spoken with those who have), in what areas do I think the film got it right?  Well, there really is a God.  There really is a man named Noah who built an ark (I believe I will get to meet him in heaven one day).  There really was a flood caused by God.  Noah, his family, and animals were saved from the flood by entering the ark.  Other than those points, there very well may be little or nothing recognizable from the Bible in this movie.  It seems to be the 180 degree opposite of the old tag line "the story you are about to see is true; the names were changed to protect the innocent."   The Noah movie tag line should be, "the story you are about to see is false; the names were kept to protect the guilty."

But back to the original question; does this movie provide an evangelism tool or is it one more pagan attack to defend against?  Isn't the answer obvious?  As an evangelism tool the Noah movie is about as useful as "The Last Temptation of Christ (another movie I have never seen) which reviews reveal to be equally anti Christian fiction.

So what about this so called disclaimer that runs with the commercials?  "... we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith ..."   Really?  They wrote that with a straight face?  If so, then surely they will have no problem with everyone who goes to see the movie, but finds that claim to be false, demanding their money back.  Ah, but my guess is that Hollywood is counting on the biblical illiteracy of the American people at large to be such that soon most of what they think they know about Noah will have come from this movie ...and that is a larger condemnation of our country than it is of this film.

As a matter of fact, I admit that when I read of this complete twisting of Biblical truth to line the pockets of Hollywood, my first thought was, "why doesn't God just strike them dead?"  Of course upon further contemplation, I remembered that this movie is just one of the symptoms of a much larger national drift away from Christianity.  Certainly the perpetrators of this movie would love to speed that along in any way possible.  That may be reason enough not to help finance their efforts but rather pray for their repentance.

A Note in Passing

As it so happens, right now I have two sets of Evolution cylinder heads in my shop that I have seen before.  Both of them were previously ported by me.  What make this worth mentioning is the "when" that I last saw them.  One set has a porting job which I performed in 1994; 20 years ago.  It was the 131st set of heads that I had ported.  You may wonder how I can be so sure about work that I completed so long ago, but its simple.  I stamp an ID number into the heads I port and keep records.

Now, I don't know much about the life this particular set of head lived in the intervening years, but it was ready for new valves and guides.  Not totally shot, unusable junk; just out of spec on the valve to guide clearance and stem taper.  The present owner is not the one who I did the work for originally, and since another local shop brought them to me to freshen up, I don't know how many miles or owners they have gone through since '94. 

16 year old porting

 

The second set of heads received my porting work a scant 16 years ago.  They were the 273rd set of heads that I ported.  I have a little more info on this set due to the fact that I count the owner as an old friend, though I suppose that he would point out that it would be more accurate to say that I am his old friend, since I am about 10 years his senior.  This set has gone in excess of 100,000 miles, many with sidecar attached,  since I last saw them.  The rest of the motor is quite worn out, to the point of needing a new crankcase pinion race, oil pump, and even an oversize breather gear due to the amount of debris that has passed through it.  Somewhat surprisingly the guides did not need replacement on this set of heads, which is a testament to the design of the Evolution valve train.

 

guides still good - seats after valve job