Resurrecting Old Yeller

[cyclejunkie]

Just before painting It hit me I better put the cam and valves back in, so the valves were lapped in the cam installed and clearance set.

when I got the cam from Tim Isky I noticed the big difference between the stock one and the new one. I mocked things up with playdough in the head and there was not a lot of clearance there. The clearance on one of the valves had to be increased slightly to give a little more room under higher rpm.

 

[cyclejunkie]

Then we turned her black

 

[cyclejunkie]

Then I thought it was time to get rid of the old cast Irene flywheel and get an aluminum one. I was able to find one at my favorite place to shop , EBAY. Figuring it should perform better with an aluminum flywheel. Then trying to figure out what to run for a clutch was a bit of a challenge as the crank has a one inch shaft as apposed to a three quarter shaft originally. I finally decided on a Hilliard 17 tooth changing the engagement to 18 hundred rpm.

 

[jdogg]

Time well spent!! Engine is looking good!! :thumbsup:

 

[Jibster69]

Very nice! Always great to have your first mini back! Looking great so far!


Sent from my iPhone using OldMiniBikes

 

[cyclejunkie]

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

 

[cyclejunkie]

Had to do a little reworking on the fan cover, one of the studs had been twisted off so we punched out the old one and welded in a new.

 

[ole4]

are you sending your cam to isky to do a hardface overlay? If you are is it a centrifugal release or bump compression release? You want if available the centrifugal release otherwise the regrind will be a bear to pull start with no compression release. I know this from experience LOL.

 

[cyclejunkie]

Thanks for the heads up there Ole I will be bearing that in mind :thumbsup:

 

[cyclejunkie]

After putting the new stud in the fan cover it was time to make it beautiful.

 

[cyclejunkie]

Here are a couple of pics of the engine mostly together Hilliard clutch and all

 

[cyclejunkie]

I was excited to see these come after I ordered them off Ebay

I can't wait to see them on it

 

[cyclejunkie]

This was one of the most time consuming parts of the project, to get these turbine wheels to look descent again. It took a lot of elbow grease, steel wool, brass brushes, etc. and time with the Dremel

 

[cyclejunkie]

Here are some pics as I was taking the main frame apart. The first one of the front wheel gives an idea of the initial condition of it.

It was actually king of fun tearing apart something this old that had not been disassembled before.

There was even mud in the fenders from back in the day

 

[Raskin]

Good progress..wheels look great..:thumbsup:

 

[Havasu Dave]

I'm enjoying watching your build, and I dig the historical reference. Very cool, and why I keep coming back here. :thumbsup:

 

[cyclejunkie]

Another disassembly pic

Here are some pics after sandblasting the main frame

 

[cyclejunkie]

Thanks Raskin Thanks Dave

 

[cyclejunkie]

For the shiny parts I elected to go with the poor man's chrome method. Polish and clear, worked pretty darn well I thought.

Next is a pic of the ole fenders sandblasted, but you should have seen them before I straightened them out, they were a bit narley looking from the action back in the day.

 

[cyclejunkie]

Next is the fuel tank primed.

Then we have a little teaser of me painting the frame.