Engine cases pounded out and rough sanded

While the rest of my 66 T120 is in various places getting various stuff done to various parts... I decided it was time to start prepping all the big cast-aluminum for polishing. This really just involved heating and pounding out a few dents, and a lot of persistence with the oscillating air-sander (and tons of replacement sanding discs). I got all the deep pits, scratches and gouges smoothed over and I'm ready to move up to 400 then 600 all the way up to 1200 before going to the polishing wheel to get that smooth shiny flawless finish!

Dents circled in black magic marker.

heating up the dents with propane torch.

Hammering out the dents (hammer into a sand bag for better results)

dent pretty much flush. Sanding with erase the evidence.

sanding with 80, then 180 grit discs.

Everything is prepped and ready for many more hours of work! I nice looking restoration is all in the details.

Velocity: 8th annual New York Vintage Motorcycle Show

Greenpoint, located in the north west corner of Brooklyn, is a thriving community with a rich mixture of cultures, backgrounds, old neighborhoods with a new revitalization. Within the last 10 years, Greenpoint has become a hotbed for block parties, free concerts, art shows and rallys. Combine all of these elements and inject a healthy fix of vintage motorcycles and you have the 8th annual NYVM show aka Velocity, hosted by Works Engineering on N 14th street.

We arrived early to shoot some video for an upcoming project that John Lawless of My Classic Motorcycles is working on.  I don't want to blow up his spot, so check his blog for details.

The show is really a block party for vintage bike enthusiasts. Free music, free beer, friendly vibes and lots of bikes!

*I gotta run to work, so for now here are some pictures I snapped on my iPhone. More coming shortly so check back for updates.

Welcome to Greenpoint, New York.

The film crew regrouping for a "ride through Greenpoint" shoot.

The Badger, from Cycle Icons L.L.C. in Trenton NJ

Irish Jack soaks in the badger while Leon from Cycle Icons chats with John Lawless in the background

A well put together cafe'd CB550

Not a norton, a Honda GB500, very collectible in it's own right.

Owner Matt Welsh explains how he's furthered Hondas vision of a Production Cafe Bike

The bike was a barn find so many hours of labor went into making the bike roadworthy.

Live music from NY native bands provided the right aural atmosphere.

Very cool MV Agusta

Nice Patina

More "Eye"-talians

tank decals of categories raced.

(for Justin) A nicely done Benelli 250 single.

This CL360 Honda is a real racer. The privateer world of vintage racing thrives!

The weather  remained nice and the crowd quickly grew.

The faded "Works" sign adds to the charm of Greenpoints finest shops.

Tex, from Rev'it race-wear talks to a few friends

Wheel building part 1

Got the rear wheel laced up and ready for the truing stand, I'll let you know how that goes. Being stainless steel, which has a lower tensile strength than regular steel, the nipples and spokes must be greased for proper seating and preloaded with a much higher torque to allow for stretching. The end result is a nice clean wheel that won't rust. The 66 Bonnie is slowly coming together though!



Finding the drive side of the wheel involves measuring the nipples in place. The largest gap between the nipples (measured two on the inside, side by side, and two on the outside, also side by side) indicates the drive side. I found that they were very close in distance so I put a set of spokes on each set of nipples (which exagerates the angle difference) and the gap was about a half inch wider between the two nipples on one side - this is now marked with a sharpie as the drive side). Lacing the wheel backwards will result in a wheel thats misaligned and probably bent spokes since they wont line up right. I used John Healy's article from Vintage Bike Magazine to get this info. Join the TIOC for a subscription if you haven't already, the info in the magazine invaluable for wrenchers and tuners.



Greasing the spokes so that they don't bind up.




First set of outer spokes go anti-clockwise. (drive side down)




Next set goes in clockwise (when the drive side's down), but at this point I flipped everything over so I could drop the spokes into place). I found that placing the rim on a couple of 1x2 boards to prop up the wheel helped line up the hub, since its is wider than the rim and needs to be somewhat centered to get the spokes in place correctly.

Using the air nozzle hole as a refference, I counted to the 8th spoke hole on the right (drive side up) for the first of the outside spoke holes, and 7 holes to the left for the  first of the inside spokes. Just go every forth hole from there. Easy right? I still messed up a couple of times and ended up starting from scratch. NEVER BEND YOUR SPOKE TO MAKE IT REACH A NIPPLE!!!! If you have to bend it, something is wrong!!!





Drive side done, next is the right side (shift side). This side is pretty easy as the spokes just hook into the hub. Finding the right nipple becomes seld evident.




All laced and ready to true! More to come as I fumble my way through this. Thank you Jon Melniczuck for providing me with all the materials and literature to get this started. This is one of those things that you just have to dive into in order to learn.

ps
sorry for the blurry images, I did this entire post from my iphone and it obviously came up low res.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S High St,West Chester,United States

Classic Motorcycles at the Simeone Museum: Preview!

This evening (Saturday, August 13th, 2011) is the opening of this years Classic Motorcycle exhibit at the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia - the featured marquee being Ducati vintage to modern, as well as other unique Italian street bikes a production racers. (Tickets are almost gone so if you want to attend, get on the horn asap!) I had a chance to preview the collection of bikes last night and wanted to give you a little sneak peak at what you can expect. This is just a small sampling and I didn't include the modern stuff, which is stunning but doesn't fit in with a "vintage bike blog." Here you go, hope to see you tonight.

54 Austin Healy is just one of 100's on permanent display

Busy summer, heres the latest project 66 T120 restoration.

Sludge trap up restoration on a UK spec 1966 Triumph Bonnie. I picked up the bike out in South Hampton, where it sat in a mocked up state. The frame had been sand blasted and the original tank and front fender were missing. The rest of the Bonnie was correct for UK spec. I took the bike straight to J and M Enterprises where the frame is going to be powder coated. John Melniczuck is an expert Triumph restorer, after a brief conversation it was decided that everything on this bike was going to be done correct, down to the motor, having all hardware replated and built to be a show quality - daily rider. I have been going down to Johns South Jersey shop and doing as much of the work myself as possible. I guess you could say I'm interning at J and M - which is pretty damn cool. Right now we're going through everything I currently have. The engine has been disassembled and cleaned, the head and jugs are getting machined, the frame is getting powder, a new tank has been sourced and all the hardware has been sent out to be plated. LOTS more on this, coming in the next few weeks!

Before, mocked up with incorrect tank.

Ask me how I unloaded this bike by myself with no front end!

Engine stripped and ready for machining.

Sanding all the gouges out of the aluminum parts,

ready for powder!

John makes his case that the engine should be rebuilt despite being a "runner"

This is the oven that bakes the powder!

Parts from the first batch of powder coating!

What the bike should look like!