A little R&D... Thanks to Matt Olsen!

A mysterious package was waiting for me when I got home today...

From Matt Olsen

Wow!

Radiused!!!!

Now that's a weld!

Stare and compare...

No comparison...

Which one would you trust?

Install has begun...

First, it was a vague text message earlier in the week asking for my mailing address...then a mysterious package waiting for me at home today...in the box was a note and a friggin' sweet Heavy Duty Knucklehead top motor mount!!! 

The text, the note and the mount were from Matt Olsen who wrote; "I saw on your Blog that you broke your top motor mount on your '47. Here is one of our new reproduction ones to R&D."

Damn... faith in Human Kind has been restored! 

I can't Thank You enough Matt and I will put it through it's paces! I know you boarded a plane for Japan this morning so I'm not sure if you'll see this but Thanks Again Matt and have a great time in Yokohama!

First Snow and Full Moon...

Took the "Dirty Nine" out to play a bit in the first snow with a full moon ...28 Degrees...

Crisp baby!

More Parts...it adds up

Parts from Dennis Corso came today...

A hemorrhoid? I popped this out and still don't know what it is...

Installed the oil lines...not too bad...we'll see how the exhaust pipe fits.

Got rid of the chrome clevises and got these new Parkerized ones. I must say I was not too happy with the clevis pins or cotter pins.

I ordered some parts from Dennis Corso out in Ohio on Monday and they arrived this morning. I have never done business with him before but his parts are sold by many dealers. I talked to him on the phone and he seemed like a good guy. There are few things I'm not too happy with right off the bat. The oil lines for the '47 had a few blems in the plating. For me it doesn't matter cause this is a road bike but I would imagine a "restorer" would not have been happy. The lines did fit pretty well, the feed line needed a little more massaging then the rest but it went on OK. I bought three top motor mounts. I needed a couple for other projects. I'm not crazy about the welds. I may end up trying to get one of those Deluxe mounts I posted about earlier. The clevis pins for the brake rod clevises are a bit long and the heads don't look quite right...like I said a road bike not a huge deal to me.
I also ordered some parts for my '39 EL that I've been building for a looong time. I ordered a set of oil lines  and they have the short fitting on both ends of the feed line which is right, but the fittings are wrong for a '39, they should not have the shoulder on them and they also have plating issues. I assumed they would be right. I also ordered a fuel line from the tanks to the carb for the '39. This line is going to need some major bending it's not even close...
To be fair I did not contact Dennis about these issues and it may sound like nit picking but this stuff ain't cheap and it should be right the first time...

Knuckle Motor Mount Question

Has anyone had any experience with these "De-Luxe" top motor mounts? I hear these work and do not break. I see AAOK sells them for $78.00. Does anyone else offer these?

One Step Forward...

Reworking the wiring...

Really sweet original paint headlight...both beams still working!

Nice profile...

Hey...that doesn't look good!

Fuck...more work and more parts to get....

Now I'm over posting...
I finished up the front brake, headlight bracket wiring and headlight install. Man that original paint headlight is nice. I liberated it from an original paint Harley Hummer. Things were looking good and I headed back to finish up the rear section. I was moving toward the rear end and noticed that something didn't look Kosher with the top motor mount...Damn! Cracked. Well better to find it now then after it's on the road. I seem to break these quite often...now I'll have to check my other knuckles just in case...
I've heard that these motor mounts were designed to break as a safety so you didn't brake your frame. If that's the case, they are working properly...the question is... What caused it? Just a bad motor mount? My riding habits? Something else loose? I will have to investigate.

Braking Bad...no more

Off with the wheel and chrome brake set up...

Stripped and painted a "good" backing plate

Ready for assembly...

Assembly complete...

Install just about complete...need a cotter pin and cable hook up...

Right side with black drum and Wagner hub cap...

The Knucklehead manual I bought in 1983 when I first built this bike has been in continuous use ever since.

Well I actually made some real progress on the knuckle again yesterday. There are always snags though, for example the backing plate I was gonna use (and thought was ready to install) ended up having a loose shackle stud which had egged out the hole that it mounts into in the backing plate. I had to start from scratch with another backing plate and strip and paint it...thank god for rattle cans.... this cost me time but WTF I'm not working against a clock anyway.
Today I'll finish up the last touches on the front brake and drop it off the stand. I have a bit of wiring rework to get done due to the change in headlight/horn bracket and terminals...no big deal and I have my trusty manual that I bought in '83 for the first build of this bike.
Let's see... after that I'll mount the headlight and move back to some final assembly and adjustment of  the rear wheel, chain and chain guard. Then the primary and clutch and oh shit I gotta dig up a black outer primary cover...
I also have everything to get the gas tanks done too...let's see how far I get...

If you wanna play you gotta... (seems like a theme lately)

My order from Old Dude arrived Wednesday...

...Pay

Damn...I'm not Parkerizing this brake pedal...

More stuff to Parkerize!

Blasted...

My kitchen Thanksgiving morning...

Oh yeah...nothing like a fresh batch of Toxic Waste on Turkey Day!

Rinse cycle...

Set the table...

And all was right with the world....

In need of more blasting and Parkerizing...

Blasted and ready to dip...

Reinforcement plate...a must.

Working out well...

Well I'm done bitching about the $$$ and I'm back to work on the '47 FL. I got my little $77 bag from Old Dude and wasted no time putting it to use. I guess you pay for the convenience of having the right parts for your 1947 H-D delivered right to your door... ordered them on Monday and they arrived on Wednesday.

The bike is coming together. I worked on the headlight bracket, shock and horn stuff today and then moved to the front brake. I'm waiting for the black paint on the backing plate to dry as I type. It looks like Ill make some good headway this weekend if I don't get side tracked...
My Thanksgiving morning was spent in the kitchen...Parkerizing. I had to refer back to the post I did a while ago on Microwave Parkerizing...It works great for small stuff!