Pete and Laz

Pete and Laz
Yeah, Pete it's rough...but it's a runner.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Sac Mile Part 3...sort of, cars and some odds and ends...


Just before you entered the track , there was a mini car show. So I hastily snapped these pics in no particular order...













Some nice cars, I particularly liked the Panel trucks. The Brass era Model T was cool too.I ended with the Model T because I have a basket case T, a few years younger than this one. A Roadster from the early twenties, but not too unlike this earlier car. It will be the subject of a 'sister blog' I'm working on that probably won't get launched until I actually start working on the car. For now I'm busy enough with bikes and work. Next time ...progress reports?  The 350 needs attention to suspension components and wheels. The tank and seat as well. And the carbs need a going over, and an exhaust system needs to be fabricated. The Cub's motor needs final tear down, and a parts list generated. So, till next time.


















Sunday, July 28, 2013

Sacramento Mile 2013 Part 2


A view of bikes coming out of turn 4 and down the stadium side straight. Sound like airplanes when they get up to speed. (about 130 MPH)




A heat race of the big twins




Pro Singles coming out of turn 4, pretty loud too. (About 110 MPH) 




"Dash for Cash" , precursor of things to come.




Wild and crazy flagman...




Shayna Texter winning her heat race.




Start of the main event.

So, there they are, not the best quality...but a little taster of the Sac Mile. You owe it to yourself to get to at least one GNC event. I hope to catch several in the next round. 
I think I said this a year ago...need better video camera.
Don't know why some of the vids are offset, had everything centered...and can't figure out how to 'redo'...oh well, so be it.





The Sacramento Mile 2013....On any Sunday, well...make that a Saturday.


Sammy Halbert , as Sideburn magazine says "...He's living the On Any Sunday-making-a-living-from-prize-money life in the 21st century. A whiskey drinking scrapper too. the man's something special."

Sammy's my favorite Pro flat tracker. At his Facebook page is a pic of Mert Lawill and Bruce Brown with him...he makes Mert look tall. One strong, scrapping dude wrestling that XR around the track. He makes it look easy, but it's not...


Sammy, in the 'paddock' as the announcers have taken to calling the 'pit area', come on y'all we're 'mericans here...sheeesh quit tryin' to be so 'continen-tal'...hehe.. Really like Sammy, he's down to earth, cool, calm collected....but man, on the track...even his bike sounds meaner than everyone elses...I swear...

Sammy came in fifth in the main. It was a real battle between the top 5. Sammy was running second at one point. They were really racing. Sammy made a great save towards the end of the race, hope to see some video of that. He's doing really well for having missed some races due to an injury and recovery time. These guys are tough.  


Sammy's XR


The track looking towards turn one...picture doing about 130 MPH here and thinking about pitching it sideways in a few seconds...


Looking down the straight towards turn 4, the track groomer getting it ready for the main events...








I'm going to get back and add a few more comments...finish off here with a couple blurry shots...and I'll add a few videos later...they are tedious to put on here.


A blurry shot of Shayna Texter, winner of the Pro Singles, taking the checkered flag for a lap...the gal is fast!!


And even blurrier shot of Bryan Smith, three in a roll Sacramento Mile winner taking the flag for a lap.

Yeah, it's looking like I'll be breaking this into a 2 parter...didn't take half as many shots as last year...due to some equipment malfunctions and a not so functioning photographer, but still a lot of pics to sort, decisions to be made...wrestling with uploads/downloads and all the usual computer crap...be back with some more...

















Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Sacramento Mile 2013


...is coming this Saturday...






Sammy Halbert's 2012 rides...

Check back this weekend for race coverage.

Monday, July 22, 2013

The Cub motor reveals it's innards...


When last we left off with the Cub motor we were stymied by this bludgeoned pin that holds the kick lever tight to it's shaft. At some point a previous owner had done this, probably in an attempt to remove the kicker. To get into the motor this needed to come off, sooo....


...with my trusty old stylish mini hacksaw I removed the offending mushroom head...


And after a refreshing brew, introduced the Cub Mag mug, to my Cub motor, for good luck...


Fired up the trusty Mapp gas fueled torch (preliminary beating with a punch and 20 ounch Ball Pein seemed to have little effect...) After a quick heat up and a shot of PB blaster and some hefty blows with the punch/hammer combo, I could see the pin lose it's grip and slip out of the kicker.


The offending pin...


The well used kick lever, with evidence of past welding repairs, I tried to get a pic of the area that the pin was stuck in, with out luck. Wanted to show where it looked like someone had left some drilling scars in there, probably from when they removed another stuck pin by drilling it out. Might pick up another kicker. Or I might just try to use this one again with a fresh pin, not too concerned by looks, since the bike will be an off-roader. We will see. 


After the outer cover is off, there is an inner cover...that come off to reveal...


The innards, of a Triumph Cub motor. I was quite relieved to see it was all there and except for a little rust...looked to be in really good shape. When I had removed the oil feed and return lines the last time I'd worked on it, a little water had come out of the cases. Not much and it was clear, not rusty. As it turns out probably an accumulation from condensation over the years it had sat.


Took this pic, with rod at TDC...to reference timing marks for later reassembly.


This is the point I left off, for this session of wrenchin'. Didn't have a puller at hand for the crank pinion or the correct British socket for the nut on the clutch hub on the other side of the motor. Somewhere in the garage is where I left all my British tools years ago. So far on this tear down I've gotten by with a mix of metric and standard. I had a worn out seven sixteenths wrench that got the head nuts loose. Truthfully most of the fasteners were pretty loose which made this possible with out damaging anything, but for the rest of the job, and reassembly I should get the right tools together...

Summing up, I'm well pleased with the condition of things in there. The crankshaft and rod look good, transmission gears are good . All the bushings looked little worn. The cam and followers in real good shape. One shift fork might get replaced, maybe. Finding .080 rings might be tough, then again something might work out there. The shameless plug for the Cub Mag, is also to remind me to re-up my subscription...which will entitle me to discounts from some of the suppliers that advertise in the mag. Greystones has a good web page, and will probably have most everything that I'll need.


Abandon hope, all ye who enter here....

Funny, I've had pretty good luck with Lucas stuff. We will we see how I get along with this little distributor...Next time, Honda SL 350 project progress...











Friday, July 19, 2013

Out of the way Copper! Hondas coming through!


This is a grainy blow-up of a grainy pic below.


A few posts back I had a snap of this bike at this years CJMC show in Auburn. I believe this is at a CJMC show up at Tahoe, about a dozen years or so ago.

Click here for a link to that post------------->125 twin racer

Found some print outs on regular paper in a drawer, of some shots from that earlier show, maybe 2000-2001? My scanners down so went out and 'copied' them with my phone camera on the hood of my Ford Ranger...


Nicely done Honda.


This strange looking CB 550 was billed as a "European Block" bike, the owner said with 'tongue in cheek'.


Here a nice CB 350 engine in an SL 350 frame Flattracker. Going to tack this one on the wall to inspire me to get going on my Flattrackers... 


A GB 500 and a Guzzi out in the parking area, next to our transport for the day...the even more faded looking purple dune buggy belonging to one of my friends...it lost it's muffler on the way home, and sounded like a race car...OK, enough early enhanced digital graininess...


Had to go snap this pic of a cool Falcon around the corner from me, so I could compare it to an Australian model Mr.Williams of the WLP blog posted of cars and bikes at a show down his way...Interestingly the one he pictured was quite a bit different, check out his blogpost if Falcon minutiae is interesting to ya---------------------->Australian Falcon<-------click here


Earlier this week, took a couple day mini-vacation down the coast to my mother's . 75 degree weather, it even rained a little Monday night, so nice in the Monterey area...As I was filling up the old gas tank, this beautiful '54 Hudson Hornet pulled into the station...





Two carbs...

And just for fun, probably have posted a pic of this before....at the Casa Da Fruta pit stop on the way to Monterey....


And on to the weekend, and getting some bike work accomplished...