Author Topic: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners  (Read 1438064 times)

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Offline Stan Back

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #750 on: April 03, 2012, 05:39:45 PM »
We found an easy and inexpensive way -- we sent them to Gene Adams.
Past (Only) Member of the San Berdoo Roadsters -- "California's Most-Exclusive Roadster Club" -- 19 Years of Bonneville and/or El Mirage Street Roadster Records

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #751 on: April 04, 2012, 10:09:10 PM »
Thanks for the info about the jets, Stan and Freud.  This is something I will consider doing next year.

The windshield mold went up to Kent Plastics this morning.  They are doing a lot of race windows and windshields lately.  The mold was sanded very smooth.  The surface was wood in some places and grey primer in others.  "The hot plastic might raise the grain" they said.  It would have been better if the entire mold surface was sanded primer.  Raised grain will make more work for me when I sand the molding defects out of the inside surface.

Plastic was discussed.  This is what I learned.  Polycatbonate (PC) and PETG ate relatively shatterproof.  Unfortunately, the plastics are softer and easily melted when they are polished by buffing wheels.  Both scratch easily.  This makes it hard to attain and maintain optical clarity.  Acrylic is a harder material and easier to polish and keep in a good optical condition.

This windshield is tilted towards me and I will be looking through it at an angle.  Optical clarity is important for safety and the finish should be easy to maintain.  I chose an impact resistant acrylic as my first choice and I mentioned aircraft quality plastic or similar.  Second choice would be PC or PETG.  Kent Plastics will talk this over with their suppliers and call me with their recommendations.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #752 on: April 10, 2012, 12:03:21 AM »
The Bonnie went on a test loop last Saturday.  It was the monthly shopping trip to Portland.  Aerodynamics is pretty bad, brick like, with Gretchen as passenger, a windshield, saddlebags, me, and a wooden crate on the luggage rack.  The trip is fast freeway riding at 70+ mph with stop and go driving around the city.  It is hard to get good fuel economy.

The things I were testing was the longer baffles in the photo.  Previously, the bike ran bad at about 3,500 to 4,000 rpm.  This I attributed to "camminess."  The bike runs good in that rpm range now.  Gas consumption was 45 mpg.  This is good for gasahol and as good or better than the standard 790 cc engine did.

The way to do this modification is to set the carb jetting as best as possible with open pipes.  Then, put in the shortest baffles possible.  Try them, and then try ones 1.5 inches longer.  Try longer ones in 1.5 inch increments until one set works the best.  Use them.  Reset the jetting if needed.

Although I did not do comparison tests, theory says the bell shape is important.  The 1-inch wide constricted pipe has 44% of the flow area of the 1.5-inch open pipe.  This is one thing I thought would not work.  In practice the baffled mufflers make the bike run better. 

A lot of us run straight pipes of some type.  The glass pack mufflers I use are like straight pipes in many ways.  I sure recommend trying this modification.  It is something I wish I had figured out years ago. 

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #753 on: April 10, 2012, 11:34:15 PM »
A fellow I worked with retired and he builds fly rods for a living.  His lathe is a bit large for the work he does with it.  He bought a smaller one and he is selling the bigger one.  This is a big purchase.  I talked to Rose to make sure it was OK.  She had somethings to say.  "Are you nuts?  Since when do you need round things so bad?  You got along without one for almost sixty years.  What makes you need one now?  Where are we going to put it?  We are out of money."  This sounds like spousal approval to me.  I drove out to Aumsville to look at it this evening.  Aumsville was hit by the tornado.  It looks OK now except most of the big shade trees are gone from the town center and there are a lot of vacant lots in a big strip through the middle of town.  lt is sad.  These little towns do not recover from something like that.

The lathe is a 1947 or 48 Logan sold by Monkey Wards.  All the normal accessories are there including the owner's manual.  Collets and adjustable reamers, too.  It will handle stuff up to 10 inches around and 24 inches long.  It is back geared and set up to cut American threads.  The fellow told me it would not be a restoration project.  There is no need for that.  Everything is in good condition and it works.

Some money has been squirreled away for cams and valve springs.  It exchanged hands and the lathe is mine.  The big project is getting it home.  I tried to pick up one end of the lathe to see how heavy it is.  It would not come up.  I asked the fellow if the lathe was bolted to the floor.  He said "No, that thing is heavy."  They built solid machines in those days.         

Offline Peter Jack

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #754 on: April 11, 2012, 12:39:05 AM »
An engine crane can be your friend Bo. Sling it from under the bed in at least two places and get it around the gearbox or at least the chuck to stabilize it so it can't flip when it's in the air. Be careful not to exert much pressure on the horizontal shafts. Lathes are definitely top heavy if they don't have an integral base.

If it works as good as it looks you'll spend many hours of fun with it.

Pete
« Last Edit: April 11, 2012, 12:41:43 AM by Peter Jack »

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #755 on: April 15, 2012, 01:41:48 AM »
Logging in to www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html  will show what our midwestern forum members are experiencing.  Crazy.  118 tornadoes in one day was what the count was the last time I checked.  One was about half a mile wide.  I sure hope everyone is OK.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #756 on: April 16, 2012, 01:11:57 AM »
Rose and I drove out to get the lathe today.  We took it apart to make it small enough to be able to move it.  A tooth brush, some solvent, and lots of scrubbing were used to clean up the bed.  I was planning to repaint it.  This machine is totally original and this made me change my mind.  It is a good example of what one looked like when it came from the factory.  This has a lot of value in itself.  My plans are to clean it up and keep it as original as possible while I am its custodian.

Offline Freud

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #757 on: April 16, 2012, 06:35:33 PM »
Easier to see.

FREUD
Since '63

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #758 on: April 17, 2012, 09:58:53 PM »
Thanks, Freud.  That altered photo is much better.  That is the lathe before I bought it.  It was in a fishing rod making shop.  The fellow used it to spin the fishing poles so he could sand the correct contours onto the cork handles.

The speed vs mph chart for the last dyno session was provided by Cascade Moto Classics.  It clearly shows the clutch slipping when the engine produced maximum torque.  The clutch grabbed when the engine torque dropped at higher rpm.

The cure for this is some stronger clutch springs and replacing any worn plates.  Standard Triumph plates with "green" springs are OK for an 865 cc Triumph engine according to Triumph Performance.  I will need to put in Kevlar plates for the big motor, they say.  My plans are to replace the standard plates with Kevlar ones if any are worn.  This way, I will not need to replace anything when I build the 996 cc engine.

Kent Plastics called today.  The first windshield will be polycarbonate.  We will see how it works, if major sanding and polishing is needed, and how easy that is to do.  Plan B will be to make another one out of impact resistant acrylic.

The reasoning to go with the vacuum molded poly is the "lesser of the evils" principle.  I know all sanctioning bodies will accept polycarbonate without argument.  This is important based on my recent experience with something else on the Triumph.  It is very important to smoothly pass tech inspection.  There are very few people who make drop formed windshields.  The one example I know about did not fit as well as desired.  Fit is a problem I would have a very hard time coping with.  It is harder to reshape a metal fairing to fit a windshield than a fiberglass one.  Sanding and polishing are inherent difficulties associated with the vacuum forming process on wood molds.  They are simple problems and I can deal with them.   

Offline Kiwi Paul

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #759 on: April 18, 2012, 12:19:46 AM »
BO--Reshaping Metal is my stock-in-trade. If you end up with a mismatch and need some adjustment, keep me in mind. I`d be up for adjusting something if needed..... :cheers:

Offline desperate

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #760 on: April 19, 2012, 01:27:41 PM »
Rose and I drove out to get the lathe today.  We took it apart to make it small enough to be able to move it.  A tooth brush, some solvent, and lots of scrubbing were used to clean up the bed.  I was planning to repaint it.  This machine is totally original and this made me change my mind.  It is a good example of what one looked like when it came from the factory.  This has a lot of value in itself.  My plans are to clean it up and keep it as original as possible while I am its custodian.
I love the story of your lathe, I had a similar experiance here in the UK, but I found mine on the back of a lorry ready to be weighed in as scrap. It was rusty & had no motor, but my eyes told me it was worth having, and definately better than not having one at all, so I bought it for "scrap metal" price, £60.
I stripped it down to small enough parts for three strong men to lift, & got it home in the back of my car. Like you, it was out with the toothbrush, wire brush & emery cloth. As I rubbed the rusty (only light surface rust) bed down, I found the maker's name...."Colchester".....possibly the best lathe manufacturers in the UK. There was no serious wear to be found, so I sploshed some blue Hammerite paint on it. It looked like new, but I had no motor until I put the word around. A couple of days later my mate dropped off an industrial potato peeling machine, also destined for scrap. It had the exact motor I needed.
A half-day's work later, using old pulleys & belts that were never thrown away because they might come in handy one day, I had a working lathe. No back-gears & no auto-feed, but for £60 who cares? It's fully tooled now with 3 & 4 jaw chucks & a faceplate & I use it virtually every day. Every time I switch it on, it's like working with an old mate!
The picture shows it on the back of the lorry the day I found it.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2012, 01:44:53 PM by desperate »
Don't push me, I'm close to the edge.

Offline desperate

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #761 on: April 19, 2012, 01:42:38 PM »
Here it is, two years on & the best buy I've made for years. The work this old girl turns out is phenominal, I even re-machined my Indian flywheels on it.
Don't push me, I'm close to the edge.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #762 on: April 21, 2012, 12:36:58 PM »
Desperate, you were fortunate to find the machine and the lathe was lucky that you found it.

Paul, thanks for the offer to reshape the fairing.  The advantage of the vacuum forming method is its ability to suck the plastic down tight onto the mold.  The fit will be correct if the mold is proper.  This mold was shaped while it was on the bike.  No problems with fit are anticipated.  Polishing might be an issue.  Polycarbonate can be difficult in that respect.

The next few posts will be on setting up the lathe.  This is not directly related to LSR.  It is useful, though.

Vague memories from my apprentice days tell me I must be careful to "avoid springing the bed" as they called it.  This lathe was taken apart for transport.  There were two reasons.  First, the lathe parts could be picked up and moved and the complete machine could not.  Second, the assembled machine must be placed on a level and flat surface.  I do not have one.  One photo shows the lathe where it will be in the cellar.  The second picture shows some coins under one of the stand feet.  The money is there to keep the lathe stand from rocking back and forth.

Let's assume the coins are not there and I assembled the lathe on this uneven surface.  The weight of everything would push the feet down until all four were on the floor.  This would twist the bed.  The ways upon which the carriage travels would not be parallel to each other or to the center of rotation.  It would be difficult to do accurate work.  Another more serious problem would be the consequences of setting the lathe down on a very uneven surface.  The bed could twist far enough to be permanently bent.  It would not be an accurate tool after that, and it would be unsuitable for metal work.  It would not be a total loss.  A woodworker could make good use of it.   

   

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #763 on: April 23, 2012, 10:44:51 PM »
The floor is cracked where the lathe will sit.  The soils under this house have some clay in them.  They swell a little bit in the winter when they are damp and the water table is high.  The floor rises.  The soils shrink in the summer when they dry out.  The floor settles.  The cracks make the floor rising and falling uneven.  Some parts rise more than others.  This floor shifting has caused me all sorts of alignment problems with the woodworking machinery.

A reinforced concrete pad under the lathe will not shift and the lathe will stay in alignment.  The lathe is short and at just the right height for Gidget the Midget.  The pad will s raise it up and it will be easier for me to use.

The first step is to elevate the lathe and install bolts and nuts on all four feet.  The feet are greased so concrete will not stick to them.  The feet rest on the bolts and those rest on concrete brick chunks.  Altogether, the lathe is raised 3-1/2 inches.  The bolts and washers must be grease free.  The concrete should stick to them.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #764 on: April 25, 2012, 12:33:59 AM »
The lathe is leveled in this step.  The highest corner of the bed is determined with a level and the other corners are raised to the same height.  I used quarters, dimes, and nickels as shims between the brick chunks and the bolt heads.  The picture shows the lathe bed during the leveling.  The boards attached to the chip pan position the lathe at the desired distance from the wall.  The lathe is leveled as best as it can with a carpenter's level in this step.  A more accurate machinist level will be used during the final leveling.

The form is built around the lathe feet.  Something like this should always be reinforced.  The mounting bolts attached to the lathe feet and all nuts and washers are stainless steel.  The reinforcing bars are mild steel.  Care is taken to make sure they do not touch each other.