5-Ball Racing 2012: Chapter 3

What is it about this motorcycle, or maybe it was 2010, a year from hell? No, it had to be the motorcycle. There was nothing wrong with the calendar year. We actually started building the Bonne Belle 45-inch flathead in 2006, after I made a snowbound run to Salt lake to buy this basket case. We started to work with Lee Clemens, the boss of Departure Bike Works, on the engine rebuild, while I refurbished the rolling chassis with Rick Krost of U.S. Choppers.

The last time I owned a 45 was about 1970, when I bought a 45-trike basket case. I built it, traded it for a Honda 750 and sold that bastard quick. Now Wayne Ballard would love to get his hands on it. I couldn’t sell the 45-trike because folks were looking for more speed.

Those flatties were the most abundantly produced H-D engine in history. Harley started building them in 1929, the first 45-inch side valve configuration during the VL era. They were designated D and DL for high compression. In 1930 they sported VL I-beam front ends. By ’33 the name changed to R, RS (sidecar), RL, and RLD. Then in 1935, the Servicar was introduced (45-trike). The 45 side valve flathead was the mainstay of the war effort as the WLA model. Around 1952 the 45 motorcycle configuration was cut from the squad, and in ’53 the K-model arrived, but the servi-car continued into the ’70s, mostly as a police parking patrol vehicle.

“I believe they killed them in 1972,” Dr. Willie said as I was trying to confirm the departure date.

It just hit me again. We originally started to work on this bike in 2006, good god. Well, 2012 is a good year to introduce this puppy to the Salt. I apologize to every sponsor who has supported this effort. I’m just learning how a project slips off the desk, and years pass, before it jumps back onto the lift. I know there are brothers all over the country, who start bikes and never complete them. When I went to work for Hot Bike, the staff had five project bikes in various shops. None of them were completed. In the short time I was there, we made every effort to wrap up projects, mostly for the readers. So, I feel like shit about this, but there is a minor excuse. Any time you’re dealing with modified vintage iron, it takes time.

But wait, maybe the vintage aspect is not a factor. Maybe the Bonne Belle is certifiably evil. Just after the power plant landed at Departure Bike Works, the IRS attacked Lee’s shop. Then the economy tanked. Maybe the flathead was a bad omen.

Here’s a link to one of the articles from the 2006 Bonneville Effort.

http://www.bikernet.com/pages/Bikernet_Bonneville_Effort_Part_12_The_45_Brakes.aspx

As of a few months ago, the flywheels were in the cases. Duncan Keller, of Yankee Engineuity was much help coaching Lee’s team on how to modify the wheels and cases to capture the Timken bearings and be able to close the cases.

“We had to machine .080-inch off each flywheel,” Lee said. “The image of the case with the cam cover shows one case .053 away from the cover.”

In the other image shows the Timken race sticking .175 out of case. “Also we took a like skim off the inside of the cam chest case,” Lee said.

We were curious about the oil pump and asked Duncan. Lee’s team altered the breather gear for additional scavenging.

“I suggest using Sportster gears (same diameter but thicker) on the stock 45 scavenge pump,” said Duncan. “Breather gear rework is good and will work well with increased sump scavenging. Lee will have to make a spacer plate for the scavenge pump.”

Here are some links to previous tech articles regarding the engine:

http://www.bikernet.com/pages/story_detail.aspx?id=554 FRAME AND ENGINE

http://www.bikernet.com/pages/story_detail.aspx?id=558 PM BRAKES

http://www.bikernet.com/pages/story_detail.aspx?id=555 ENGINE MODS

Okay, so Lee and the Departure Bike Works team faced serious tough times, like much of the rest of the country. I considered a project shift for the sake of the Bonne Belle. Plus, it would take some pressure off Lee. I asked him to ship the rolling chassis portion of the project back to this side of the country.

Over the holidays, a piece at a time stumbled into the shop until my Mudflap Girl FXR was pulled off of my lift, and we could start the Bonne Belle build process around the new Paughco frame. Then we were introduced to Paul Wideman from Bare Knuckle Choppers. He started spinning fenders and we ordered a set for the Bonne Belle.

I stole my son’s Spitfire tank off of his Mudflap Girl FXR, cut the tabs off it, and mounted the slender tank to the Paughco frame. It was a natural. Ray ground the tabs carefully off the frame, so Frank wouldn’t notice we stole it.

Then we needed to align the rear fender, the wheel, the used 5-speed Softail transmission, the BDL belt drive system, and the 45 flathead engine, but we didn’t have an engine, and none of the tranny plates I had lying around, fit.

First I reached out to Jason Rickman, the Paughco frame and front end specialist. He informed me that the new Paughco 45 frames were configured to allow 4-speed transmission fitment. Okay, so at least our 5-Ball Racing crew wasn’t nuts. Then we needed a set of 45 crankcases so we could try to line up our 5-speed with the engine.

Ray C. Wheeler and I jumped into his new Ford Ranger pickup and peeled across Long Beach, where we stumbled into a Di Vinci bicycle replica, and it ended up in the back of his truck. Then we drove over to Bennett’s Performance to ask about the cases, and the crew at Bennett’s was flying around the shop helping customers. We ask Bob, Eric’s dad, if he knew of any 45 cases, and he looked at me as if I was asking for a pound of crank. We just raised our hands in the surrender mode and backed out of the shop.

Since we were on the edge of Signal Hill, once the home of the Long Beach oil industry, we drove around looking for Pacific Coast Cycles, which was located just a couple of blocks from Royal Machine shop. I broke my first milling machine tools at Royal Machine when I worked there, part time, in High School.

We knocked on a couple of doors, and drove around a few of blocks before we found Pacific Coast Cycles. Mike’s shop is always busy, but he never hesitates to step away from a project to shoot the shit. I asked abound the cases.

“I’m going in for open heart surgery tomorrow,” Mike said and lifted his shirt to reveal previous scars. He’s been through hell and back, physically.

“I don’t believe I have a set of cases,” Mike said, but I do have this and he pointed at a completely rebuilt 45 flathead mounted to an engine stand. “Take it. I won’t be messing with it for awhile.”

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We were caught completely off guard, but the next thing we knew, we were loading a milk crate housing the 1942 45 flathead engine, set to be reinstalled in a military 45 restoration, into the back of the Performance Editor’s truck. We finally had all the elements and hauled ass back to the shop.

Wait, I needed one more measurement. I needed to know how far the Sportster sprocket shaft would extend from the left case. Lee Clemens sent me the information and a photo or two. It’s tough to guesstimate without the real deal, but with some help from Jeremiah Soto and Ray, we were able to align and modify the 5-speed transmission plate, and modify the Paughco right-side tranny bracket.

We installed a JIMS ¼-inch offset 23-tooth sprocket, spaced out the wheel sprocket, and we lined up the entire driveline.

[photo 27923

In the meantime, we’ve had a new shop helper, my grandson, Frankie. He helped me draw up an oil tank fitment map for Jules and Gary Maurer at Kustoms Ink. They make custom oval oil tanks to almost any configuration, we hope.

Then we started working with the Bare Knuckle Chopper’s fenders. I was going to install Custom Cycle Engineering 5/8-inch narrower trees for the 39 mm Sportster front end, but they would have eliminated the PM front brake. That’s not a major problem at Bonneville, but shorter courses might pose an obstacle. Rick Whitehead tried to talk me out of them, but I was focused on aerodynamics and limited 45-cubic-inch power–the narrower the better.

Plus the CCE narrow trees come with a steering damper, eliminating another project from the mix. One the other side of the coin, I might need to find another wheel with a narrower hub to replace the PM job I had. I ultimately stayed with the existing stock trees, and may use a standard Storz steering damper. We mounted the front fender without much trouble.

The rear fender was a chore, as we wanted to cover most of it, but ran into problems. We decided to install a chain tensioning system to deal with chain adjustment, so the fender could be locked into place. Frankie helped me to install additional axle adjusters.

Lee sent me more shots of the engine head porting, the Ross piston with .150 added to the top for shaping, and the K-model cylinders. He pointed out how the spark plug resides directly over the slightly larger intake valve (235 Chevy valve). “The combustion chamber does not explode when fired,” Lee explained. “It’s like lighting a fire at the corner of a wheat field. The flame propagates across the field building pressure.”

I was beginning to understand the awkward aspects of the side valve engine and how it pushes the piston awkwardly down the cylinder. Lee is currently on a hunt for low tension rings for these Ross pistons. The compression won’t push beyond 7:1. The rings are 1/16 for the top two, and the oil ring is 3/16-inch, while the piston size is 2.280-2.285. Maybe Hastings rings will do the trick.

His team also coated the inside of the case with glyptal, because the early cast cases were extremely porous sand castings. This coating prevents leaks and makes ’em slick. The top of the cylinder and the head mating surfaces have been machined so no gasket will be necessary.

“We will have the engine fired by May,” Lee said and we celebrated.

Here’s my list for this coming weekend: We will create a mount from the back of the BDL inner primary to the engine and frame. We will install a Low Brow chain tensioner from MasterCraftsman, or a stock adjustable primary Teflon shoe. We will make a chain guard, mount the rear fender to the rear of the frame, adjust the Berry Wardlaw slippery seat, and modify the bars to be narrower. If we are motivated, we will mount the fairing from Terry at Street Walker exhaust, and find a way to install the Wire Plus speedo. Hang on for the next installment to the evil haunted flathead, Bonne Belle. We will also look into ceramic wheel bearings.