Rusty Shackleford

[Agreen]

Slow progress. That's the only way to describe it now. Between my Rx7 project, multiple house projects, and rusty, everything is going slow.

So I finally got my pillow blocks in. I mocked them up, but I need to space them down a little, so I need to make another trip to the hardware store.

A friend was over the other day helping me with my car and we got talking about the bike. I fired it up for him, but forgot that I had only started the governor removal process. I had only gotten as far as taking the linkage and lever off. That meant the actuating rod inside had free reign to go wherever it wanted. And it did. It turned into a pretzel inside the engine. Luckily it didn't damage anything, so I was able to finish the removal tonight. Everything came out great, and it runs a heck of a lot better without it, for sure!

Hopefully the jackshaft goes smoothly and I'll be able to ride it soon. Slowly. I haven't finished lacing in the disc hub. I need some 250mm spokes still. I have 260mm spokes and they poke out through the rim. There seem to be a lot of choices out there. I just want some simple 12ga 250mm spokes. Too much to ask?

-Terrence

 

[Agreen]

Still chugging along slowly.

Today I realized that the cvt needs to be repositioned to allow the pillow blocks to be mounted above the plate, and not below. So now the driven member sits right above the cylinder. Tight fit. Unfortunately, i still have more figuring out to do. Somehow the rear sprocket chain now aligns with a pillow block.

I'm at least making some progress.

 

[ZipTie]

Agreen, I hate to butt in, however I will today... in my opinion you should paint your bike a nice military grey, it will compliment the Enfield military theme yet be different. Id use a grey primer with a semi gloss clear coat over that. Whatever color... it needs paint to tie it all together and bring out the way cool build it is for sure, its your battleship bike that will need a few rust accents here and there is all. As for as the mechanics you just need more of that special "Pondering Time..." carry on Agreen.

 

[Agreen]

Funny enough, I do have access to the exact color. I'm in the Navy, and there's limitless supply of "machinery grey" at work.

I love it! You win.

 

[ZipTie]

Funny enough, I do have access to the exact color. I'm in the Navy, and there's limitless supply of "machinery grey" at work.

I love it! You win.

Oh yea...I win,,,Ok then I guess I a psychic and I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket then tonight. It will be cool as heck in grey Agreen with "Shackleford" graphics on the side in white on the tank, so don't forget to splash some grey on the tank also. Looking good so far.

 

[Agreen]

Well, I think the name Rusty Shackleford is dead. I'm probably going to make it battleship South Carolina BB-26. The shackleford thing wouldn't fit well since it was a "King of the Hill" reference. I have some ideas about what to do now!

I made some good progress finally. Still slow, but I don't have much time now that I'm working 15-16 hours a day, 6 days a week. It's only for a few more weeks, though.

I worked through a lot of little stupid issues, so a lot of the tinkering is done. I still need to make a tensioner. I would like to be able to not have one, but the way the foundation plate is, it would be near impossible. So I plan on using one of the seat/chain stay span adjusters. But not buy one, no. I'm going to build it. I also need to weld on another rear clamp bracket. It needs to go underneath the foundation plate. Otherwise, i I'll end up grinding it away with the chain.

I also will be welding the outer sprocket to the shaft. Not sure if the nuts on either side of the driven (inner) sprocket will be enough to hold the power, but if not I'll see about keying it on.







Pretty wide...

 

[msrfan]

Today was pretty awesome for Rusty! I got a 50t hub adapter sprocket from mzmiami (very good quality, BTW, and only $40)

I got the engine mounted in the frame. The last photo was it just sitting in there. I still want to make an upper mount for it too.

I also would like to find 1-1/8" clamps of better quality. If anyone knows where I can get one, please let me know!!!

It ran today in the frame. My exhaust is currently the 1" stub that I cut off the stock muffler, so it shoots blue flames.

I still need to:
-remove the governor
-fab an upper mount
-fab up a gas tank
-make a jackshaft (can't align it without one. Period)
-lace in my disc hub and add a caliper
-figure out how to control throttle (i.e. buy a twist grip)

Cool build. I thought one of the main features of a Torque-A-Verter was to eliminate the need for a jack shaft. If the sprocket was on the inside of the plate, it may align. Extend the driven pulley shaft and put the sprocket inboard. Just a thought.

 

[Agreen]

The thought crossed my mind several times. I found a couple issues with that, but it's definitely doable. First off, the bearings are metric, but the sprockets are 5/8". So the bearings have to get replaced. Then the shaft has to get custom made. I don't have a thread die for 5/8" shaft. There are ways around it, but the jackshaft was a simple solution. The main reason I wanted a TAV was for gearing. I didn't want to be limited to a single speed, and no shift kit in the world can handle the torque I would put through it.

 

[msrfan]

That's cool, can always use another sprocket set for fine ratio tuning and I'm sure it will work nicely. I love pillow blocks in industrial applications but don't care for the look on our bikes. Plus, sometimes the simpler, the better. I did see one builder a while back take a longer keyed shaft and welded a nub on the outer end where the nut goes and then slipped it from the outside in with the appropriate spacers. He left it long enough to get his alignment and then cut off the excess. Anyway, keep plugging. It's looking really good.

 

[ZipTie]

Agreen, If your going to call it "South Carolina BB-26" you better add the words "Shore Patrol" in small letters under the name. As cool as your bike is... it wont float.
Carry on

 

[Agreen]

 

[ZipTie]

Looks good, I like the very clever chain tensioner bar, I think you have created something good there!

 

[Lightning Boy]

I like it! Recycled and repurposed parts, shoestring (or no) budget, and a whole lot of creativity. Right up my alley. Nice work! I could tell by the title that this one would be interesting.

 

[Agreen]

Thank you, thank you!

The tensioner is just a piece of 3/16" flat stock welded between the stays, 2 holes drilled about 2" apart and I cut the middle out to allow the tensioner to slide up or down. Seems to work well, and I won't worry about it jamming in my spokes.

So it's almost ready. I still have to figure out the exhaust. Otherwise my crotch will catch fire since the 1" stub is pointed right to my boys. I also need to make a gas tank, which is currently being processed. I bought a large can of cheap coffee for work, and they're all complaining about it... as they drink the free coffee. Once it's empty I'll be brazing it together. Also, I'm not using the stock carburetor. It's really more of an off/on switch since it was a pressure washer, after all. So I have a PZ19 leftover from another build that I'll have to make another custom manifold for. The front brake is still in the works too. I haven't found the spokes I want yet. If huffy bikes can have 12ga spokes, then why is it that 12ga spokes (for only one wheel) cost half of a huffy? $40 for spokes and nipples seems a bit much. There's got to be a supplier out there that just sells plain jane spokes at the size I need. I just haven't found it yet. I think that this one's going to have a thumb throttle too, since I have a thumb shifter from an old bike that has been sitting around. I'm thinking if I remove the clicker from it, the return spring in the PZ19 should be strong enough to make it return.

Anyway, progress is still slow, and probably will be for a few more weeks.

 

[Agreen]

No pics, but I fabbed up a new intake and exhaust. I bolted the PZ19 on, but didn't have a throttle for it. I have a cable, but no twist grip, and couldn't find the thumb shifter I thought I had. No gas tank either, but some zip ties and a cleaned out mountain dew bottle made a good makeshift one.

So I had the jetting off by a good bit, and had to zip tie the choke shut. I had to pull on the throttle cable by hand, and the 20oz soda bottle wasn't really spill-proof. But sandpaper couldn't take the smile off my face after riding around the block on my completely free, completely custom sack of crap! It was an experience! I love it!

Now to fix a couple things, give it some legitimate parts (throttle, gas tank, brakes) and make it actually look like something I would be proud to ride.

 

[Agreen]

I ordered a twist grip from Amazon, but the cable is a little too short... continue reading for a hilarious story.

I installed said twist grip, but I had to flip the stem backwards so the handlebars are closer to the rear. Not a huge deal, since the frame is stretched anyway. I have plenty of room, don't worry!

So I back the bike out of the garage and had to make some tight turns to maneuver it to the sidewalk. In the process of making the turns, the throttle cable got stretched when I turned the handlebars to the left. Unfortunately, the collar on the end got snagged on the tube that the cable feeds in to on the carb. So now the cable is (unbeknownst to me) pulling the carb slide about half throttle.

Eager for a ride, I rip the cord... right off in to my hand. Fast forward half an hour and that's now fixed! Cue the music, drumroll please! I rip start ol' Rusty and she springs to LIFE! Straight in to an uncontrollable burnout on the sidewalk, pops a wheelie, and proceeds to ride that wheelie across my yard, and into a tree. Mind you, the gas tank is still that stupid mountain dew bottle, so gas is pouring out everywhere and the rear wheel is haulin' ass (upside down) until the bowl ran out of fuel and the engine shut itself off. All this happened while I stood there watching it. I had 2 thoughts cross my mind.
1) cool
2)look at all that torque!!

Nothing damaged, so I put more "mountain dew" in it and rip starting it again (with the cable properly seated, this time)

The first real ride was a pleasure!! So smooth. Such torque! That cvt is wonderful!

That is, until I gave it more than 1/4 throttle. It did not like that! I flipped the choke on, and it really responded. When I finally got home I drilled the main jet out to as big as I could. A size 61. I think that's still too lean. I need some numbered bits now (60-100), to complement my micro bit set.

Anyway, I'm happy. I'm very impressed with it!

Still looks the same, so no pictures. I need to iron out some kinks, then strip it for paint.

-green