Build #2 - '82 shovel

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And now on to my current ponder... could use some help in research...

Rocker box oil feed lines - I want to bend my own.

I'm currently thinking about making a set of feed lines that are similar to the Oldstf split lines in which the feed coming out of the case is split into 2 lines... and each line feeds one rocker box. No connector from rocker box to rocker box.

But with the top end rotation, my goal is to keep the pushrod side super clean. And now on the carb side I have these pushrod tube valleys that are not being used... and a former rocker box top mount that also isn't being used. Why not run a custom set of lines to the left side of the bike and up to the boxes?

Let me illustrate:



I'd then use custom clamps to secure the lines at certain points:



I bent up a piece of wire this morning just to get an idea of the length. It's actually not that bad. I'd tweak the bends and pathway a bit but the idea would be to come out of the case... wrap around the back of the rear cylinder base. At that spot, I'd hit a 'Y' splitter and then have two feed lines from there on up. I'm still waiting on my primary drive, but I'm thinking I'd have that flat segment at the bottom angled to align with the primary chain. If not, maybe angle up at the 22.5 to like up with the rear cylinder base flange. Not sure yet. We'll see.





I'm going to do some reshaping of the head fins around this area but generally should be good to go. Not going to add fin material, just reshape what's already there.

I'm about to dive head first into research on this topic and will be hunting for tips, threads, videos, etc on bending up tubes and making the flared fittings. Fun stuff ahead (I think). I also have a set of the brass Oldstf split lines so I'll be able to measure those to discover the tube size, wall thickness, etc. More to come I guess. If you have any wisdom tho... I'm all ears. Thanks in advance!

Cheers fellas!

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Did some more shaping on the head fins. In consideration of the oil feed line routing, that aspect fills up one of the former pushrod tube valleys. The other valley was still there though and I didn't like that. Plus, the head fins are SUPER close to the new straight shot manifold. So let's kill 2 birds with one grinder...









Just gotta do the front one to match and then we'll be good. Maybe then I can get to the finer detail grinding. The next step is to get in with the dremel and round off all of the newly cut back fins. I don't want them to be blunt squared off like they are now. So it will be a lot of fine tuning and shaping by eye.

Then... maybe... finally... I can schedule a trip up to Ocala...

[TriNortchopz]

...wrap around the back of the rear cylinder base. At that spot, I'd hit a 'Y' splitter and then have two feed lines from there on up...Not sure yet. We'll see.

I understand your idea to keep the pushrod side super clean, but I don't think that rocker feed line wrapping around the front plug, across and around the head is that clean.
I think I would wrap a single tube tight around the base of the rear cylinder to the middle of the cylinders, split it, run one up along each cylinder in the middle of them, behind the intake manifold, then do the final short wrap to connection...could be cleaner...not worrying about using the former pushrod tube valleys. Just an idea.

[Dragstews]

Just an idea.

Perhaps a better idea would be not to have any outside oil lines at all with oiling up the pushrods like the Evo's have ... ??

[bpeak]

Perhaps a better idea would be not to have any outside oil lines at all with oiling up the pushrods like the Evo's have ... ??

I saw that in the other thread that a fella had been asking about running those. But the idea was a day late. Already dropped the coin on stainless tube and all the fancy schmancy fittings for both the 1/4 rocker feeds and the 3/8 main feeds. Maybe I'll run the pushrod oilers on the next one...

[bpeak]

I understand your idea to keep the pushrod side super clean, but I don't think that rocker feed line wrapping around the front plug, across and around the head is that clean.
I think I would wrap a single tube tight around the base of the rear cylinder to the middle of the cylinders, split it, run one up along each cylinder in the middle of them, behind the intake manifold, then do the final short wrap to connection...could be cleaner...not worrying about using the former pushrod tube valleys. Just an idea.

Good idea for sure. I'm not sold on the oil lines routing yet either. Just trying to get close enough to an idea to know what fins I want to hack and what fins I need to save. Ultimately, after this baby is rebuilt, powdercoated, and assembled, I'll take a crack at the lines for real. I'm a fan of the mechanical industrial nature of the lines wrapping line that, especially since they'd be polished stainless over the funky top end paint I'm planning... I just don't know how far is too far. We'll see. Not looking forward to polishing these tubes, regardless of their path...

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More time in the garage last night. Got the front head fins ground down at the carb... now I'll just focus the rest of the time with the dremel and sander bits to round off all the cut fins so that they aren't so blunt. I'm also going to sand off all the casting seams and might round off some of the other stock fins just slightly. But the bulk fin removal is now done. Rest is cosmetic.

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Also then was able to finish removing the center mount boss on one of the good rocker boxes. Got it cleaned up nice.

Order a set of spark plugs as per recommendation for this carb setup. Had to make sure that the tops were removable because I needed to run the LowBrow screw on spark plug terminals to get everything to fit under the rocker boxes for install.







In this last pic, you can see the final look of the inside of the rocker box "U" where the center mount boss has now been removed. Was a good pit of careful bandsaw cuts to start, then carbide burr grinding, then dremel drum sander bits. Took longer than I thought it would (story of this bike for real) but I'm super pleased.

[bpeak]

Also got my order from McMaster Carr. DIY oil lines kit. This order is WAY premature. Not ready to bend lines yet. But I was drawing up the system in CAD and using McMAster Carr's content (did you know they have CAD files of all their hardware for free download?). One thing led to another... and... here we are. Also picked up the two specialty bolts I'm going to need for the top motor mount. More on that later.

Got some stainless tube (1/4" OD x 0.035 wall for the rocker feed lines... and 3/8" OD x 0.035 wall for the main oil lines) and the fittings to go with it. After a bunch of research, chose not to mess with flared ends. These "yor-lok" seemed a lot more user friendly. I'm sure they go by other trade names too but they are essentially a high pressure compression fitting with two pieces inside to form the seal around the steel tube. I saw some formal tech vids for creating harley hard lines using similar fittings and so... hope I did the right thing. I get that flared would probably be stronger. But that is IF the flare is done right and sealed right. Therein lies my concern with my abilities. With these, no flare. It's all about the torque put on the nut and NOT over-tightening. We'll see.

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More grinding.

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So that wrapped up the cylinders/heads. I'll get em blasted to get all the black off. Then take one last look at the shapes and smooth any last bits before the new powdercoat goes on.

Then got busy on the manifold. The new manifold was pretty rough. Just from age. Had some pretty big digs and the metal surface was the rough sand cast.



After palm sanding the big areas, hand sanding in 2 grit stages, then 3 stages of abrasive wheels on the dremel... it's getting closer.





Still gotta do one more abrasive wheel stage, then a first pass polish. Just to get it to the light polish style that the carb body has. Then... engraving. More to come. Gotta finish that other rockerbox and this manifold. Then engrave the rocker boxes. Then polish the rotor guard cover and the trans lid cover... and engrave both of those... then could get the whole motor mocked up. Sheesh. Too much to do. Not enough time.

[bpeak]

More garage time. Finished shaping the center mount on the other rocker box. Made some plug wires. Mocked up the engine with the new tappet blocks and pushrod tubes just to get a look. Installed the carb on the straight shot manifold for the first time. Slapped together a drive sprocket to determine how many chain links i'll need. 103 plus the master. And of course... got some pics.

[bpeak]

So after a good afternoon yesterday... I still felt a little deflated. All this work on the engine and the end result isn't really new. It's cool, I love it, but it wasn't new stuff to look at other than the carb now straight out. I dunno. So after a shower and a cool drink... I decided to back out and tinker with the oil tank sheet metal shapes.

I like the creative process. And I keep all of our cereal boxes. The single ply cardboard works great for making shapes. Got to work with some base profiles to get my idea out. I had a thought about the oil tank, but wasn't sure how it would pan out.



Then a side panel guess...



Trimmed a little more, and with a newer larger side panel to catch that front area that dips down...



View from above. On the inside, the left side will be enclosed as the oil tank. The right side will be open, and house the capacitor, oil feed lines, switches, and fuses. All hidden under the seat.



I know the general shape is a little 90's. But the plan is to have this welded into the frame, and molded. So the sides will blend into the frame rail all smooth-like. Then, on the face, I'll do some raised molding. First contour with round bar, then mold in. On this side of the bike, it will look kinda like this...



On the right side of the bike, I will have the entrance of the (3) oil lines, the key switch, etc. to contend with. So the molding shape may take a different swoop. We'll see. Going to make the other cardboard side tonight maybe and start template-making the rest of the body work and such. That way I can order the sheet metal and get that whole ball rolling.

For the wall within this area that separates the oil tank and the electronics area... I'm going to do the uncooked rice method to confirm volume. Stay tuned for pics. Goal is to get a usable 3 quarts in the bag itself below the filler neck (which will also be under the seat). Hope it all fits! Cheers!

[bpeak]

More work. This time on the oil tank. Needing to confirm capacity. As I said in the last post... doing the uncooked rice method. 3 quarts worth.





This confirmed I had plenty of head space to take part of the enclosure to dedicate to electronics. Got to work on templating that up...





Then removed the rice, knowing all was well, and made a template for the tank top plate.

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Then on to the neck. Making cardboard templates for infill. But still want to leave some of the lines of the frame tubes and the original casting. But then blending into the backbone and gas tank. Super pleased with how it came out.