one more 40's Colson to add to the fleet.

GoldenMotor.com

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
got it running again today. messed with the carb a bit, changed the mixture settings and the needle clip to lean it out. it accelerates better. it's good enough for now, so i stripped the whole bike down to re-do the paint and the finishing touches. gotta cut down the fender, route the cables better, lose all the zipties, mount the tank...all the little details that make it special.

here's the final mock-up picks:
 

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Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
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36
Indianapolis
I really like where you're going with this, Bairco. The tank is a beauty. The bike looks just right with the motor in it. I can't wait to see the paint job. Nice work, my man.
 

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
got it mostly put back together today.

the frame and fork have been sanded, polished, and repainted and clear coated, and the bars and stem are switched out to the original Colson parts.

the Torrington half-moon bars were worked. almost all the chrome had flaked off after 70 years, so i grinded, sanded and polished off all the rest to get them down to raw steel, then re-painted the darts.

the ends had been bashed up so many times, i spent about 3 hours with some channel locks, a rubber mallet, sandpaper, and whatever else i could think of to make the right side round again so my vintage Tomaselli Super Practic B, 1/4turn throttle would spin free.
 

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bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
made my own aluminum coaster brake and front drum clamps, as well as plug wire and ignition wire keepers hooked to the motor. i'm probably gonna make some kind of CDI bracket out of aluminum, too.

the tank's not mounted yet. i've got a piece of leather belt stuffed in there to hold it on. to be honest, the copper doesn't match, and i'm not really happy with how it looks, so i might make one with alumiweld and some thin aluminum sheets. i'm getting pretty good at that alumiweld stuff. just check out my manifold.
 

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culvercityclassic

Well-Known Member
Sep 27, 2009
3,115
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Culver City, Ca
WOW that turned out really nice. Fenders? No Fenders? Did ya get that carb to work? The head badge is sweet. Whats up with that seat angle...i would not be able to talk or walk for a week. :-||
 

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
i switched to a 28T sprocket, 'cause the motor seemed to have plenty of power to pull it.

as for that set-up, i put the stock head back on. i need to get the carb dialed in and then i'll put the aermacchi head back on.

the carb definitely needs to be re-jetted. i rode around for about 2 hours today, stopping every few blocks to mess with the air/fuel mixture screw and the idle.

i've got it as good as it's gonna get, but it's not even close to perfect. it'll accelerate to mid-throttle no problem, but anything after that and it's drowning in fuel. (speaking of half-throttle, i rode passed a buddy who paced me in his truck at 40mph.:))

i'm gonna try to track down some jets locally so i don't have to wait forever for shipping. i'm not even gonna mess with soldering and guessing. plus, i need an air filter. with a forward facing carb, it's gonna be a vacuum cleaner for every piece of dirt or drop of water on the road.
 

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bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
ccc, i dunno, the seat angle just seems to work for me. all my bikes are like that. i have a really laid-back riding style, so i'm usually leaning back pretty far, and i'm only sitting on the back end of the seat. plus, it's a Brooks.:)
 

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
as for the fenders, they're on the to-do list.

i've got the fenders cut the way i want them, but i need to get some aluminum rod to make the struts. can't do that till the stores re-open. stupid holidays.

the exhaust is from my 24" Colson. i've got another stock pipe (thanks Venice!) but i'm waiting on UPS for the Tomos Bi-turbo expansion chamber set-up, which should be next week (again, stupid holidays...) then i can see if that thing's even gonna work. it looks cool in the pictures.

i'm also working out a "california law" combo package. lights, brakelights, horn, mirror, license plate bracket, etc. I'm hoping to offer the package up for sale, because i predict a lot of people are gonna need it. i heard from, well, let's just say "a little piggy told me," that in certain cities, enforcement is being stepped up to legalize all of us rebel bikers.

and to round out my to-do list, some more surprises. ;)

oh, and one last prediction. this bike is gonna make everyone who spent all that money on a morini motor cry. 9HP? pffft. i'll beat you with 3...:)
 

Goat Herder

Gutter Rider
Apr 28, 2008
6,237
20
38
N.M.
That motor is gonna choke the sea level atmosphere has ya spoiled i think bring it up here to 5500 foot.. I would love to see Easy Rider or Nidyanazo get a piece of this action. Now I will have to instigate. Them being sorta your neighbors in the state of Cali an all at sea level
that's what i was saying. i don't have proof so i quit claiming speeds i've been paced at or whatever. one of these days i will. i don't trust crappy walmart speedos, either.

if you want to see it going fast, lookie here:

this is accelerating up Superior hill in Newport Beach. it's a 6% grade:

YouTube - getting beer is uphill all the way.

these two are riding with traffic on Newport Blvd, which is a 45mph street:

YouTube - me and Happy on Newport Blvd filmed in Belt-cam-o-vision

YouTube - me and happy playing in traffic

getting back on the topic of the law, i'm breaking the 30mph limit in every one of these vids...:)
I put you at 35 miles an hour. Naw just kidding I have seen my buddy get 45 once he should have raced me that day . My best was 42 1/2 China wise :D
I could get up to about 48 on the M that I know of but it was only a couple times that I did with the reed cage new and by car speedo. Never could get a cheesy bike computor to tolerate the motor ignition just gave up. All the taming the clutch bs and the Jshaft stole power on a bike that weighed a ton. I am a 9 + hp single speed chain, top speed about 40 kinda guy now. That is where my next saga will go anyway. I think?

My cohort and I have quit racing for the most part. I watched him destroy to China's and live to tell. lol. Me one from natural causes the other my fault. Severe over revving did them in. We build them better now!

Also I think the China can perhaps run neck and neck with the stock 5.8 on its good day perhaps on the right occasion [this is from my touted J shaft experience] but I never let my buddy think that. When I finally got the clutch right with gears it came off the line wicked fast but top speed seemed diminished as a result. Reenginering that clutch was a bit of a fiasco for me with gears while I made it truly work I will never do it again.
This is a easy 45 mile an hour bike. Don't need a speedo to prove it either. lol. Look how the surroundingss move by the bike. Easy to tell a difference too. Night and day difference God bless Nidyanazo for a nice real proof video:) and living to tell. Notice he is not burying the throttle all the time ether.... No modes to the motor no porting no notta he had not even broke the clutch in yet.

YouTube - * www.motovelo.us *Riding onboard the Morini bike
Comparing a China to a Morini is sacrilege I tells ya:D

from Compression ratio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and Pressure
Don't know how accurate these figures are but it sorta makes my point.

I do like your bikes Bairdco I would be proud to own any of them. Your bikes are always well thought out machines that are built to be totally trust worthy with class and style. Not to ever be found at a Wallmart store lol. True works of art(^) It is well known and proven enough that a properly clean up china will go a very long time! and run sweat.

That Nidy vid is his 50+ mile an hour ride gear up I think?
 
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skjjoe

Member
Mar 9, 2009
393
1
18
Boerne Texas
made my own aluminum coaster brake and front drum clamps, as well as plug wire and ignition wire keepers hooked to the motor. i'm probably gonna make some kind of CDI bracket out of aluminum, too.

the tank's not mounted yet. i've got a piece of leather belt stuffed in there to hold it on. to be honest, the copper doesn't match, and i'm not really happy with how it looks, so i might make one with alumiweld and some thin aluminum sheets. i'm getting pretty good at that alumiweld stuff. just check out my manifold.
Would ya be interested in making another one of those manifolds or sharing a little more on how you did it? It looks so much better than my brass fitting manifold
 

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
Goat, i can run 45+ all day on my 24" with the backwards motor. seriously. like i said before, i have no "official" proof, but i ride it in traffic in 45 zones just like a motorcycle. the videos i have show me on Newport Blvd, in the traffic lane, following cars.

since that video was taken, it's even faster. that was before my Supertrapp mod and now i'm running a 28T again.

when this bike's done and tuned up, my first priority is to get proof of it's speed. that's what i'm building it for, and i've gotta shut down any doubts.

thanks for the compliments, i appreciate it.:)

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skjjoe, it'd be tough to make you a manifold without having the bike here to get all the angles right.

basically what i did was trace out and cut two flanges from 1/4" aluminum plate with a port-a-band saw. i made them both oversized so they'd be easier to work with. the flange to the engine is rectangular and has more "meat" on it, 'cause i hate the way the stock ones are so small around the bolt holes.
also, to make things a lot easier, i drilled the mounting holes and the hole for the pipe before cutting them out. that way you have a nice big area to work with, and drilling is easier than cutting.

i found an aluminum pipe with an 1/8" wall thickness, and 1" O.D. at a metal supply place. it was a coupla feet long, so it's easier to bend. i just stuck it in the vice and heated it with a torch and bent it till i got the angle i needed.

then, doing some very careful eyeball-measuring, i cut it to the size i needed. the holes in the flanges, i drilled with a step-bit, and didn't drill the 1" step all the way through. to explain it better, the engine side of the flange hole is 7/8, and the other side is 1", so the pipe doesn't fit all the way through. same with the other side.

then i spent a lot more time eyeballing the angles again to get the carb level. since i already messed up the first one, i new what i was looking for. when i had all the pieces in place, i marked both the flange and the pipe in 4 places with a sharpee, then scratched them in with a scribe, since heating it up would destroy the pen marks.

the hardest part is the alumiweld. sometimes that stuff works awesome, and other times it doesn't work at all.

every surface it touches needs to be cleaned with a stainless steel brush, and a brush that has never touched anything but aluminum (or better yet, brand new.) any dirt will make it not stick. only brush one side at a time. apparently aluminum starts to corrode immediately, so if you do both ends, once you get to the other flange it'll be dirty already.

the pipe fit snug into the hole, so i put the flange on a brick (bricks are awesome for retaining heat) and stuck the pipe in where it goes, then heated it with a Bernzomatic Mapp gas torch until you can see the aluminum itself start to melt. then you scratch around it with the alumiweld stick till it flows. it's like soldering, but on a larger scale, and it doesn't flow as smooth. if it gets chunky, keep heating it or it won't stick.

after it looked like it was gonna work, i kept heating it some more just to show it who's boss.

then you let it air-cool. NEVER quench alumiweld. it won't stick if you do.

so 20 minutes or so later, when it was cool to the touch, i tried snapping the pieces apart, checked it (visually) for pinholes, then went on to the other flange.

cleaned it again, then repeated the process.

be very careful when directing the heat. if the first flange gets too hot, it'll melt the alumiweld, and the whole thing's ruined. once you've messed up, alumiweld doesn't like to be ground off and tried again. usually you have to start over and remake everything.

still with me?

you got your manifold now, so stick it in the vice and grind the intake side to match the intake port. that's why i used 1/4" plate, so i had enough metal to get from a 7/8" ID hole to a semi-rectangular hole of the engine.

last step was to roll up a piece of rough sandpaper and run it through the intake a few times to rough it up.

blow it all out with carb cleaner or something, polish it up, and hope that it works.

the reason i say "hope," is 'cause alumiweld can be a real (bunch of asterisks) to work with. mine seems ok, and i really hope i'm not rolling down the street one day, hit a bump, and find my carb hanging from the throttle cable, with gas dumping on my shoe.
 
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bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
now that that's out of the way...

my rear fender is done, and i got my Biturbo exhaust. i'm hopefully gonna get the flange cut and welded on tomorrow. then i'll need to sand down the shiney chrome and easy-off the annodized muffler.

(edit) y'know, pictures don't really give this exhaust the credit it deserves. aside from the cheesy rivets holding the silencer on, it's a really well made, fancy-lookin' pipe. just hopes it works as well.

here's what it looks like hanging from some wire:
 

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skjjoe

Member
Mar 9, 2009
393
1
18
Boerne Texas
Thanks great wright up ... I am pretty sure i could turn one out now. that pipe looks great. I think ive said this before but I am starting to think that this is the way these motors where meant to be run. It sure does not hurt performance wise, and simplicity to route just about any pipe. Easy to tune it with just a small extension to git it tuned perfectly ...... . If that bike runs as good as it looks no one will be able too see it at 50 mph brnot
 
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