Two days before I pull out of Milwaukee for the trip to Virginia Beach, VA. I’m now officially under the gun. My perfect storm. Even when I was a corporate guy I work best under pressure. So here we go tonight!
So it was a good day. I also rode another 22 miles. Tomorrow is riding more to determine my range. All good. Thanks for following. Later,,
Well well I had some extra time today so decided to continue my packing. Added a spare battery to my “tour pak”. Then went out for a short 33 mile ride.
Bike is running sweet. Drained oil and all good! Proper drain.
Looked the bike over and inspected spark plugs. Running a tad bit lean. I will adjust carb this week.
I want to get another 100 miles on this week. I work best under pressure! 😎
I had a few great conversations with fellow cannonballers today. We are all getting very anxious to get going! This will be a great, I mean EPIC event.
Done now. Later.
Well in six days I will be departing Milwaukee to start the journey eastward. First stop will be at John Bartman’s Skeeter Lounge. I’ll be hitching a ride with Bartman (Rider #60) and his crew Billy Fingers and Casey. We will travel together spending a night in eastern PA after departing Skeeter’s on Sunday Sept 3rd. On the 4th we will roll into Virginia Beach, VA to meet up with the staff and other participants.
More preparation is continuing. The packing os parts and tools is 95% done. The latest work on spares was to prepare a set of extra intake pocket assemblies.
More updates as we get closer. For now, that’s all I have today. Talk soon….
Well well here we go ready it not!
Short and sweet post tonight. More this weekend. Later,,,,
Not a minute of any day now does not consist of thinking about the Cannonball. It’s an all encompassing event. Think about it all day and dream about it at night as the minutes click before the green flag drops.
Getting prepared to be away from home for almost a month is another thing. Pre-paying your bills, alerting the neighbors letting them know you’ll be gone, and making sure there is enough gas in the garage for the lawn mower.
Total of 220 miles so far. Bike is running great! I believe I am almost ready.
Over and out.
One more day closer. A lot of little however important tasks to do. First was to fabricate a carb support for the linkert.
Next was to have a look at the headlight. The bulb is flickering. Upon inspection I could see the bulb is loose in the socket. I’ll disassemble the assembly to see how I can tighten things up a bit.
While working on the bike I am also further organizing the parts I’ll be taking along.
The bike is running great.
And as after each ride I drain the oil to assess how the oil pump is working and if I have it shimmed OK
Done today. Back on it tomorrow. Over and out.
Well as you have read, I am having an over oiling issue. I have sourced some 0.010” shims. I also received great guidance from George Unrugh with Pocket Valve Performance and parts from Competition Distributing.
So ride and measure oil output.
22 miles with 4 oz in and drained 6 oz out. Getting better after adding two 0.010” shims. But still too much oil.
So I removed all washers and went for another 22 mile ride.
4 oz in and 4 oz out. So I need a tad more oil. Tomorrow I’ll add one 0.010” shim and do same 22 mile loop. I’d like to get 4-1/2 oz out. Which would mean at 45 miles 5 oz would drain and at 65 miles I’d get almost 6 oz. That’s the target.
This is so cool to dive into this “pocket valve” category of machines! I love it. Done today. Back at it tomorrow. Later.
Well the anxious nervousness is setting in. I think on the first Cannonball I was not as nervous as I am now. Interesting.
I’m dialing in my oil feed. I’m over-oiling and need to get it rectified.
The oil feed is controlled by washers on the bottom of the oil pump. I have a 0.042” thick washer and need to swap for a thinner one. Easier said than done. Finding these washers proved to be frustrating and interesting. A few folks offered good suggestions. A work in progress at this moment. Over-oiling is as bad as under-oiling.
Also I added another table for my “pile” to better sort and organize. Still breaking the pile down by asking myself this with every item on the tables: (1) do I need to bring this? (2) if yes, do I need to carry on the bike, or have in the trailer? And so it goes.
Once this is sorted and packed I will be doing the same with clothes and riding gear.
I wanted to remove the primary cover and check primary chain and adjustment. I’ll using hitch pins rather than cotter pins for easier servicing.
That’s it for now. Thanks for following along. Over and out.
The clock is ticking. Days are getting shorter. Today we had an AMCA Badger Heritage event. I brought out the bike to do a shakedown run. We ran about 35-40 miles. I met up with another Cannonball rider, John Bartman.
We are both riding 1923 J models.
My bike ran great.
One day closer.
Over and out.
Cannonball, Chase, 1911 Excelsior, 1923 Harley J tales 