Salt Torpedo Action Update Chapter 16

The last few weeks have been interesting and challenging. We are actually getting close to watching the Salt Torpedo sit on its own three wheels with the help of Yelvington Shocks.

A set of 9.5-inch rear Yelvington shocks could reach us this week, but I made two sets of struts to hold us over. We ran into a couple of issues with the front steering system and needed to order some extra pieces. They should arrive this week.

Last year in at Daytona Bike Week I discussed carb-driven Twin Cam ignition systems. I wanted to keep it simple. I spoke to Bill Dodge of Bling’s Cycles and her recommended Altman Cycle in Germany, for a simple plug and play system.

Micah and I were forced to discuss the carburetion system for this beast and ultimately reached out to Keith Ruxton who was the crew chief on Easyriders Streamliner. He sent us a S&S G carb with the correct intake manifold. Amazing. I spoke to Lee Clemens at Departure Bike Works and he recommended a S&S D, but we were on a path and need to respect our contributors. We traded Keith the G for an E carb and manifold.

Which reminds me, originally, we were going to run a Carl’s Typhoon carb, but we ran into fitment issues. The most supreme rule behind this puppy is to make it as sleek and smooth as possible. Every appendage and bump or hump will slow us down.

Which brings up another challenging topic. We need sponsors to be able to afford to get to the salt. I reached out to Jesse James and ask him to speak on our behalf to John Paul DeJoria, the rider behind Patron Tequila. Of course, Jesse turned me down. He mentioned that his hot rod costs $30,000 in fuel at every race. I told him we are purely blue collar and will spend less than $10 on a tank of gas.

Speaking of tanks, I discussed a 1.7-gallon Sporty tank with Steve from Paughco. Unfortunately, events got in the way and he was delayed, but it should reach us this week. This could be a big week. I reached out to Tyler at LowBrow to order some tank bungs.

This week we could finish the steering system. We could link the steering with the wheels. We could have a gas tank mounted. We are getting damn close to making a battery mount, and then hooking up the drive line for a run around the block. I received the battery dimensions from James Simonelli at Twin Power this week: 6.54 long, 5.12 wide and 6.89 tall. We discovered that this battery is too wide. About 4.5 inches wide will do the trick.

We ran into an issue with foot controls. BDL was kind enough to send me a set, and I spent an entire weekend making a very cool mounting system. I machined the unit pieces to make each control as narrow as possible.

Unfortunately, when Monday rolled around the bros weren’t respectful of my efforts, but I held my mud and helped fab two additional systems to the outside. We are still using the BDL shifter system for the jockey shift system and we designed the mounting and linkage.

We also set up a GMA 5/8-inch bore master cylinder and I machined the linkage. This program adjustment delayed us for a couple of days. When I discussed respecting our sponsors, we lost our tube bending welder, Kevin Kahl. He will be sorely missed.

Speaking of respect, I try to respect all of our contributors and if we don’t use a part, we send it back. We received a high capacity oil pan and an intake manifold from JIMS, which we didn’t use and will return. Hell, I appreciate the time and effort it takes to ship us something.

We ran into an issue with our harness system. It was missing wrist constraints. RJS said they would take it back, update it and send us the additional restraints.

We also ran into an issue with the rear wheel bearings. Our MetalSport, Chip Foose designed Nitrous wheel was ordered with a 1-inch axle, but Paughco doesn’t make 1-inch axles or swingarms. Terry from MetalSport hooked us up with new bearings and they arrived this week with a new spacer. Micah put the wheel back together.

We also printed out the new FIM rule book and discovered trikes must have fenders. We were recommended to reach out to Kent Riches at Air Tech, who makes fiberglass streamlining bodies for all sorts of motorcycles and fenders. Another project on our plate.

Micah is reading through the new FIM book. We are also working with Bob Stroud, or Stroud Safety and decided to roll with a dragster parachute over a tube used by most streamlined motorcycles. Kevin could not visualize the tube concept and fought it constantly. Made him smile when we shifted to a drag chute.

Strouds sent the pricey chute without any mounting instructions other than my conversation with him and he kindly sent me a drawing of how the chute should mount low and near the axle. We will need to make a roll-styled bar off the swingarm for the parachute to anchor. I need to go to the Strouds web site for release cable instructions.

I’ve already reached out to Chris at Barnett regarding cables. We will need a push-pull cable like old internal throttles and distributor cables. I hope to hear from them shortly.

This is getting damn exciting. I need to read about the battery box construction rules, quick. I’m okay on that one.

We ordered a U-joint coupling for our steering column, but when it arrived from Summit Racing, it was too large. I got on the phone with them and was coached on which one to order. I ordered it, but when it arrived, it was too small.

In the meantime, I spoke to Gary Maur of Kustoms, Inc. in Detroit. He sent me another unit, but I was concerned. He’s run hundreds of these on cars he’s built, so we went to work. The Steering and front end is all coming together.

I don’t know much about the car industry. Sure, I’ve worked on and repaired cars, but I’ve never built something like this. It’s interesting. Some of the components seem very cheesy compared to motorcycle parts and especially aftermarket components. But I need to compliment Summit. They have an amazing customer service business model. Their parts are shipped with postage free return info. No sweat, if it doesn’t fit put it back in the box, attach the label and ship it back—amazing.

I also spoke to Gary about the trailing arms. I notice some dragsters without them. “Generally, if you have front suspension you run them,” Gary said and I asked about mounting them, because Micah recommended the rear level with the center of the axle. Gary suggested about the center of the front axle travel. Without the shocks in place we guessed. “But it really isn’t a big deal,” Gary said.

I hoisted the Torpedo into the air and took the bottom belly off it. Micah started to mount the pipes and I think they will do the trick. He slipped the MetalSport wheel back into place with a new Paughco ¾-inch axle. Today I will finish machining the steering wheel quick release piece and start on the battery tray.