onsdag 25 juli 2012

Noah's Ark For Planktons

Machine work + wine + Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder sometimes will create a pair of these:


Here are the covers straight form the foundry - before the machine work.


And here they are after machining, I had an original cover to measure everything from, and that made me wonder what Noah measured everything from when he built the Ark?


Noah was known for his excessive drinking, he even was considered to be the first wine drinker ever, the first person to discover the consoling and enlivening effects of wine, now how cool is that! What I'm trying to say here is that getting the top part stepped like the original cover was a semi-scary process, and wine wins over nervousity every time, I bet Noah was the first one to discover that too.

 

As I was starting to remove some wall for the top tree I started to feel a bit like Noah, not only because I was drinking wine but because all that aluminium grit reminded me of planktons resting safely inside this miniature ark.


I should totally start producing these dust covers as miniature Noah's Ark's for planktons, I could make a whole fleet and save a lot of 'em when the next great biblical flood comes around.


Getting the insides perfectly straight against the top tree is crucial, so out came more wine, and the air file.


Looking at the assembled Vard fork you can totally see that they mainly fabricated landing gear components for air planes, and not arks for planktons.


If you're not drinking wine and having a bit of Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder that is.

söndag 22 juli 2012

One Tech Tip You Probably Won’t Find in Palmer’s Book


The original Vard instruction sheets reveals that you could get special order booster springs for your frontend if you were planning on running a front fender and the usual extra garbage like spot lights, windshield, mirrors and stuff like that... Only problem is – the Vard special order booster springs aren’t exactly something you can just get at the local McDonalds, and since I’m running all the extra cheese on the ’47 I was getting a bit anxious since I really hate to shop at other places than McDonalds, and also because I really hate spongy frontends.


That was until I found out that Knucklehead valve springs has got the exact same inner and outer diameter as the Vard booster springs must’ve had!! They also have the perfect squeeze fit inside the bottom retainer washer.


And the Knuckle valve springs even has the perfect 'height' inside the bottom aluminium tube part of the fork, all this almost makes you wonder if someone at Vard had a set of Knuckle valve springs laying around...


I'm also pretty sure the Knucklehead valve springs has pretty much the exact same spring rate and wire diameter as the Vard booster springs since they bottom out at just the right height!

fredag 13 juli 2012

Vard Frontend Installation / Part #1

I have no idea how the Vard employees were planning on mounting these triple trees, I mean I even got the original instructions and all but they only refer to some nuts that came with the fork so I guess I do have an idea about how the Vard employees were planning on mounting these triple trees after all but that’s not the point.


The point is I didn’t get any fork stem nuts with this frontend so the only thing I could do to make this work was of course to listen to The Who on a face melting volume and hope for the best. This little sphere shaped washer is the one that originally goes on the bottom of Springer fork stems if you run the original ball bearings. I had an extra one of these in the garage so I turned it upside down and used it on top so the upper ball bearing can be adjusted properly.


The thread on this fork stem is not the same as an original Springer but the same as the early Big Twin rear drum brake sleeve that the rear axle goes through, and probably even some other forks that I wouldn't know about but anyway, I used these nuts, but as you can see they had to be a bit modified in the lathe to go up into the top tree and center it properly.


For extra strenght and to distribute the tension from the top bolt I cut another washer on the lathe to fit inside the top tree, which is really annoying since you can't hear the stereo any good from the place where the lathe is, no matter what volyme.


Then when I came back out to my bike I had to put on ‘Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand’ on repeat to compensate, I really love that song, I also had to cut one more original rear brake sleeve nut to center the top tree from above, now you can adjust the bearings and still tight the top tree properly. The nuts still have like 1mm between them when they are tightened down like they are supposed to so it turned out really good.


And once mounted there's no way to see the bearing adjuster nut, the top tree fits perfectly over it, it also now works as a dust cover for the bearing, exactly like it says in the original Vard instructions, which is a bit weird because The Who didn’t exist in 1947.


I just can't stop staring at it, that's how much I love it. I'll mount the sliders and fork leg covers next.
  

Well, there you have it - all thanks to The Who.

tisdag 10 juli 2012

VARD Triple Trees


Cast bronze triple trees by Vard, just got to be the most beautiful trees ever made.


These are the Harley type with the flat top tree.


72 101 = top tree.


72 102 = lower tree.


I love everything about the design, the only annoying thing right now is that I'm starting to feel a deep urge to put this frontend on Supertuppen, and that would definitely delay things even more...


And since I'm apparently smart enough to fool myselfe and dumb enough to believe it I guess I'll never be able to know anything for sure anymore.

fredag 6 juli 2012

1540cc Knuckle


Rickard 6 Volt came by my garage today to inspect Supertuppen’s reincarnation as a OHV...


Super Stock single fire ignition and original 6 Volt generator?


Atlas exhaust thanx to my friend Yoshi!


I also managed to mount a Flanders top clamp / risers and handlebars to carry Supertuppen's magical windshield altar, this bike still needs a few minor details but they'll be done in no time...


If I could manage to stay in the garage that is.