Another afternoon on the ice...

Matt and I spent another afternoon trying to dial in the jetting yesterday. Actually, we both made changes at home in the relative comfort of our garages, and tried them out, and the changes seemed to be spot on for both of us. I pulled my plug after several runs and it just looked better each time. So for what it's worth, it seems a 460 main and 65 pilot jet, with the needle clip set in the center (#3) position, is just what the doctor ordered.

Matt's bike has a Lectron carb, which is a different beast altogether. Semi-Flat slide, clear float bowl and the only jets you change are the pilot jets...


I also tried to make my rear tire grip a little better by repositioning the left side screws. Didn't work, the thing is still a bitch to ride. You have to hang off the seat and keep the bike straight up to get any traction. I'm getting too old to mess with that kind of compromise. I just want tires that work.

This is just a quick look at the ugliness.



We ran the oval "backwards" for a session and my rear tire actually worked better turning right. Didn't get any video of that though.

Top Secret Project Revealled

Spy photos of the "Top Secret Project" have surfaced on the internet...right here!
The images of this unfinished OLAC entry were captured this morning, in an unguarded moment.





This appears to be a scale replica of the "Destination Moon" rocket from the famous "The Adventures Of Tintin" book series.

It's looking more like a rocket...

Making more progress on the Top Secret Project.

Body secured to motor mount. Shock cord attached.


Fins on.




Landing gear.

Carburation day

Thursday was carb day at Lake Arrowhead. Matt and I tried out some jetting on our respective freshly rebuilt top ends. We both wound up chasing the right settings, and I don't know that I got much closer to them. But at least we have an oval plowed, so we'll be able to continue the task tomorrow.

Motor Mount

The next phase of the Top Secret project got underway last night. I have a special knack for turning a fifteen minute job into an hour job, and still getting something wrong, but in the end, it's going to work just fine.

Lower body section, motor mount, centering rings, epoxy, instructions, lubricant.


I was supposed to tie the steel cable to the upper centering ring before I glued the centering ring in place....


Because it's hard to tie a knot down there.

Top Secret Project

Yeah, well, it's top secret except for the internet savvy, but you'll still have to guess what I'm building, unless you know already in which case, don't tell anybody.

I spent a few minutes wondering how I was going to round off the bottoms of these ogive nose cones.


I came up with a solution. A bench vice, a drill and some masking tape.


I was even going to cut out a form to use as a guide, but that would've been even more work. In the end I settled on the venerable TLAR method.


The next step was proving to be a little more of a challenge. I was working with a blueprint, but I had to scale it up, and I wasn't sure how to do that. Lot's of scribbling and fuzzy math ensued.


Then I asked Sandy if we had any graph paper...


Once again utilizing the TLAR method, I've made some progress.


Stay tuned for more OLAC build reports.

Progress

Well, I milked a good part of the day just getting the bodywork back on the bike. Cleaning this and that etc., but I did get it done, got it off the work table and started it up. Sounds good as ever. I'll do a couple more heat cycles and have it ready for next weekend.

YZ134

Today was a productive day. Got some domestic items done early in the day, ran some errands, blah blah blah.
Got home and spent some quality time in the shop. After all, the YZ cylinder wasn't going to walk over to the bike and bolt itself down, I'd have to get involved. And it is ice season!

Here's the top end as it came out of the box from Forward Motion. They treat their customers right!


I should have taken a 'before" picture, but I was too embarrassed. The center of the port had a lot of metal missing. I'm going to be a lot more careful with jetting this time around.


The patient..


Looking good so far.


Looking better.


I had to take a break for dinner and more domestic chores, so I went back out later and got the cooling system installed. Carb, bodywork, ice fenders to follow. Should be on the ice on Sunday.

More Military...

After looking at tanks and cannons, we drove over to the airport to visit the static display at the Air Guard. The Vermont Air National Guard has flown these planes, as well as some not pictured here.

T33 trainer


F94 Starfire


F89 Scorpion


F16A "Fighting Falcon", but no pilot calls it that. They call it the Viper. This thing looks like a model when it's parked next to the Cold War jets.


This is the famous Vulcan "gattling gun", built and tested right here in Vermont by our good friends at GE.


On the other side of the drive, some nice "reciprocating mass" powered machines. We tried to look this one up when we got home, and couldn't find it in any of my reference books. Looks to be a Douglas, but I could be way off...


This is a Beech 18 unless I'm very much mistaken.


Ever wonder what the firing order on a Pratt and Whitney Wasp Junior is...


Here's the answer, 1,3,5,7,9,2,4,6,8, as well as valve lash and timing info.


The best for last, 'cause this is my favorite jet. Even if they didn't design it with machine guns from the start.


McDonnell F4 Phantom II


Every jet should have a tailhook. And down swept elevators. And two big ass engines.

Military Displays

I just took a week off from work to do a little kitchen renovation with the help of my brother, Mark. We had a very productive week, so after the hard work, and sometimes harder celebrations, we took a day off to drive around and see what we could see.
I drive past Camp Johnson every day, and I've wanted to stop and look at their tank display, so this was a good day for it. Mark did a stint in the Army Guard and he's an avid war buff, so it's always great to tour these things with him.

Here, he's standing in front of an M1A1 Abrams Tank


This is the rifled barrel of the Abrams 120mm cannon


Standing in front of the M60 tank, which was replaced by the M1A1. Note how much taller this tank is than the Abrams.


155mm Mobile Howitzer


M46 Pershing


M7 Priest, a 105mm Howitzer mounted on a Sherman tank chassis. Called the Priest because of the "pulpit" right of the cannon.


There were several interesting vehicles that were not on display, just tucked away in a corner behind a building. We poked around these too.

This low green vehicle is a Soviet troop carrier.


This troop is about to gain ingress.


Ingress achieved!


This is a Quad 23mm Russian Anti Aircraft unit, captured in Iraq.


We couldn't figure out why the tire would say it in English, maybe it was made for export to a 3rd world country?