INDIAN 741 Supercharged...See you in 2011

[Mobile Welder]

This is my 1st post on this site. I have read every word of the 39 pages here and am truly amazed at your skills and fortitude. I live about 25 miles from ElMirage ca. and go to the speed trials there at least a couple times a year.Never been to Bonniville yet but will be next year.Not to compete. Not yet. I would love to. I like the cars but have been on two wheels ever since i was a kid.50 yrs young now. Maybe I will see you there. Keep up your amazing dream. Gary.

[Nortonist 592]

Welcome Gary.  Lars is some puppy alright.  I wish I had his fortitude and persistence.  Build a bike and come on out to El Mirage and race.  The SCTA lets the red headed step children race.

[Mobile Welder]

Thats the plan Nortonist.I may try getting my feet wet in the production class 1st.

[octane]

Thank you Hugh/"Hughlysses" and others for your advise.
I'll try to 'condense' it and decide how to proceed.

Lars,
Thanks for the update.
I'm glad you are doing OK and hope to see you at Bonneville in 2011.

Don and Gus

Thanks...you will. Looking forward to see you there !

Welcome to the club of ancient motor-home owners!!!  Mine is a $3000 '80 model and has made three trips to Bonneville without any problems.  They made them good then.  You'll have fun.

I intend to
.-)
Mine was slightly more 'expensive' , but still as I see it, it was ridiculously cheap.

Nice looking rig. Where do you tie the aircraft carrier up at? Salt lake City., Chicago? Sweat Lodge?

Rocky ! Dunno yet . Probably at Neils place in Montana or perhaps in SLC

And I thought your absence was due to you had to double take a ignition setting course at IPE
Glad things got resolved and I wish you Glædelig jul og e Godt Nytår !

LOL.
Godt nytår og glædelig jul til dig !

How fun - to see your happiness through the screen.  Best wishes to you, the bike, the motor home, and so on.  I hope your decision works out well -- and that you have a chance to mosey through Michigan's Upper Peninsula some day as you're traveling around the US.  Feel free to call -- we've got plenty of room for you to park and visit.

Thank you very much Jon !!!

That's great Lars. Ya gonna put a blower on the MH too?   

Mmmmmmmmmm: now there's an idea.
Wonder what class to put it in to set a record
.-)

Hello Lars,
Though this is not at all directly regarding your bike; I thought you may still get a thrill about the following information.
I just received this from a friend in New Zealand. He is the Jawa Speedway Dealer, and avid fan of Burt Munro.
Hope you enjoy.

I certainly did !

Happy Holidays
Drew Gatewood 

Thanks and
Happy Holidays to you Drew

:cheers:Way to go Lars!  Its alot fancier than my Grumman Olsen '78 Ford Holsum Bread truck that I am converting, but already alot of fun!  If ya make to Arizona at any time, Mi Casa, es tu Casa!    Enjoy life!!!!!

I'm doing my best....and thanks so much !!!

seems that there was another indian owner
who lived in a workshop/ living area combo.
don't know if he ever had a cool looking motor home like yours.

stop and park your wheels in cleveland some time.

franey

Thank you Franey !

The hospitality expressed by you guys never seize to amaze me !
You are the best!

This is my 1st post on this site. I have read every word of the 39 pages here and am truly amazed at your skills and fortitude. I live about 25 miles from ElMirage ca. and go to the speed trials there at least a couple times a year.Never been to Bonniville yet but will be next year.Not to compete. Not yet. I would love to. I like the cars but have been on two wheels ever since i was a kid.50 yrs young now. Maybe I will see you there. Keep up your amazing dream. Gary.

Thanks Gary for your kind words.
Dunno about "skills and fortitude"...more like 'nut-job with a lot of patience'.
Hope to see you at Bonneville next year.

Welcome Gary.  Lars is some puppy alright.

Puppy ? Huh ?


 

I wish I had his fortitude and persistence.

You do. You do Bill, indeed !

[octane]

......
Things has been done to the cylinder head.
A friend machined out a chunk around the damaged area
and welded it up.
I didn't dare doing it myself as it is extremely 'soft' and I was afraid I'd damage
it beyond repair.
He said it was 'like welding steel-wool'



..then took it to the local machinist who made a tool to hold it
so he could use the lathe ( yep; the lathe ) to make it absolutely evenly 'flat' again



..and then ran it over a flat surface with a rather coarse abrasive attached.
He always does this and then use a copper gasket + a sort of liquid gasket.

This is probably a somewhat 'controversial' way of doing this,
but I trust the guy.
He does all the machining on all my friends flat-heads and
absolutely no-one has ever complained about any thing he has done.

Now I need to go over on the top with my 'Dremel'-type tool to
shape the 'inside' of the welding and bore up the hole.
then: copper-gaskets....and dyno testing.

Now the motor-home: ( it's a small world )
..the MH just happens to be stored in New Mexico an hour drive from
my friend David, who I met this year at BUB and who was a great help there
..and in Santa Fe where David lives , he told me there just happens to
live a guy who just happens to know a LOT about old Indians,
and this guy just happens to be Jim Mosher who I just happened
to run into a BUB, where he kindly offered his help
and when I checked his web-side it turn out he just happens to owns
an old motor-home that just happens to be the same as mine
..and the only 'serious' problem with my new MH
is that the Onan generator doesn't function properly,
but my friend George in Washington St. who kindly 'hosted' me at SpeedWeek,
just happens to have a few Onans , Onan spare-parts and manuals in his workshop

Indeed ; a small world, all connected by great land-racing guys !

SO what better excuse for a trip across the pond to check the MH,
so I'm certain it will be in good shape for my trip next year, and to fix
insurance and registration.
Yes Sir !....flying over to New Mexico, for a few days, on Wednesday where David
kindly has offered his help to pick up the MH, get it registered etc.

BIG kudos and gratitude to David !!!
and to Neil, who I met at BUB in 2008
and who came down from Montana to visit me this year.
This whole idea was sort of coming together over a few beers with him
one night sitting outside the motel in Wendover.
Neil kindly offered any help I needed, like storing the MH at his place
and lending me any tools needed when going to Bonneville.
None of them are members here, but certainly they are part of the great land-racing community.
Thanks guys !

Neil on the left...Dave in the middle:

[ironwigwam]

Lars, OK on Montana, although there is room at Forest lake, Minnesota as well next to the Dream Catcher.  While you are at Neal's. maybe, Please maybe? Can you suggest to Neal how to install the turbo on the Rock salt Scout while you are there?
  
   Rocky

[octane]

Hello !
Been a while, but I'm still here
and so is da' Saltbiscuit, and she's in good company:



Working om the head and doing od small stuff to get it ready for the dyno-test.
Two observations:
..salt gets in E V E R Y W H E R E
..I'm impressed with the MOTY batteries
I'm running.
Checked the voltage: it's right up there where it was many moons ago at Bonneville.


BTW:
Had a great trip to New Mexico just before Christmas.
WHAT a nice place, and what nice people.
And I got myself a cowboy hat, didn't I ..yeehaaaw

Lars, OK on Montana, although there is room at Forest lake, Minnesota as well next to the Dream Catcher.  While you are at Neal's. maybe, Please maybe? Can you suggest to Neal how to install the turbo on the Rock salt Scout while you are there?
   
   Rocky

Rocky: I'd be more than happy to help out Neil,
but I'm sure he knows how to do things.

[ironwigwam]

Yep

[Mobile Welder]

I saw the Indian in a magazine article somewhere.Cant remember where though. It was in a different language.? It was your bike for certain though.

[vintage racer]

Hey Lars...We're hoping the motorhome will make a visit to us in San Diego....perhaps you could come along as well!  Think about a trip to San Diego, you're welcome anytime. If you make it around El Mirage dates we could even go racing!
We need to get started prepping/changing/modifying our bikes for May..you put us to shame!
Jill

[ol38y]

Agreed Lars. If you're going to be tooling around the states for a while you better make a stop by El Mirage...   

[octane]

I saw the Indian in a magazine article somewhere.Cant remember where though. It was in a different language.? It was your bike for certain though.

Could it be this one: MCM  ?

Hey Lars...We're hoping the motorhome will make a visit to us in San Diego....perhaps you could come along as well!  Think about a trip to San Diego, you're welcome anytime. If you make it around El Mirage dates we could even go racing!

Thank you so much for your kind offer !
I am in fact planning to come over in that direction, as I'm going to visit and old Danish friend in L.A.

We need to get started prepping/changing/modifying our bikes for May..you put us to shame!

No way ! I've seen the pictures of your and Dave's brilliant bikes.
Compared to them, mine looks like a traffic accident

Agreed Lars. If you're going to be tooling around the states for a while you better make a stop by El Mirage...  

I will indeed check out the dates etc.

[octane]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !

This has turned out a bit more complicated than expected,
but HEY!...no one promised it would be uncomplicated.

Checked the blower.
First problem: oil-residue on the blower-lobes and inside the 'plenum' ( leading to the cylinders ).
Quite a lot, in fact:



There's only one place it can come from:
the oil in the cog-wheel housing.
I noticed that when I opened it, to drain the oil



...there was a quiet sound like: "Psssssssssssssssssssssss".
Obviously pressurized air escaping.
OK, so the pressure from the blower-'chamber' will pass the oil-seals
which are mounted in this 'direction' (lip towards the cog-wheel housing)
(pic is from the first blower that I discharged)



..and I guess the pressure in there will force some of the oil into the blower-'chamber'
when the blower-'chamber' is not under pressure ( not rotating )
Maybe I put too much oil in there.
Maybe it's because I used ATF which is VERY 'thin'.
Maybe both.
Donno.

Now there's another problem. A bad one:
at every 'half' rotation the 'lobes' lock up into each other
making a wholelotta' resistance (!!!)

Checking the surface of the lobes



..I found traces of what must have been some foreign object passing through
making a scratch/bump on the (PTFE/Teflon covered) surface ( + inside the housing )



The raised surface would explain the 'lock-up'
BUT
after carefully removing the raised part there was no change in the lock-up.
Strange.

Checked to see if I could find the actual spot where the lobes touch each other ( which they should NOT )
by covering one 'side' at the time with a thin paint-like white agent.....rotated the lobes.....checked for
trace of color being transfered from lobe --> to 'opposite' lobe.

'Paint' on LOBE 2




...transfered to LOBE 1



The transfer was found on a large area on the opposite lobe...not at/around the damaged area.

I can't come up with any explanation, except that the ATF has somehow
affected the surface/coating and made it swell up.
Some oil will do that to certain stuff. For example will WD40 make certain types of rubber swell.

All I know is that engine oil won't affect this surface.
I've have seen the inside of 4 different of these blowers.
All had a coating of oil. All worked just fine.
In the original set-up when the blower sat in the Subaru engine
the oil-mist from the crank-house vent was led into the blower via
a tube directing the mist into the intake just 'before' the blower.


Fortunately I cloned the blower when it was still in its original shape
and after a few days the in the blower-incubator the clone has now reached
the proper size:



..so I guess I'll just mount it, and then rip the other apart
to see if I can find an explanation.

Tonight I'm making the necessary modifications to the new one, so it will fit






Never a boring moment !

[bak189]

Maybe salt got in there???.....If you have a blower a VERY good aircleaner is required......A Turbo is a little more forgiving if salt gets in the works...............................................................................

[ironwigwam]

Was that a standard vinyl oil seal in the housing?
   Rocky