aermacchi fix

I know I’ve posted before about this little Aermacchi Harley Davidson Spring that Jill bought for me when we were dating. I restored this bike a long time ago and then not leaving things alone; I decided to later repaint it a different color. Upon reassembly I inserted lower engine mount bolt and the engine slipped and the mounting bolt cracked the lower crankcase internally. From that point on it leaked oil and so I stopped riding it. Then we moved to Milwaukee.

It sat in my basement in Milwaukee at which point I decided to crack the cases open to asses the damage to only learn that a huge chuck of the case boss was cracked off. And there it sat….

I moved the bike in pieces when I moved to NC and now eight years later plus a few more years….

I have finally fixed the case. I TIG welded the motor crankcase boss and now I can put this motorcycle back together. Why oh why has this taken me so long? It only took me a few minutes to fix, and yet I have avoided this… or have I been preoccupied… or did I just not think about it enough…or did I not care that it was lying around in pieces…?

No bother…it is fixed now and it can go back together…

Shop Teacher Bob left a comment on Facebook about welding this up. It wasn't too difficult to weld. I thought high zinc content would make it a pain along with being submerged in oil for the last fifty years, but I cleaned it with brake cleaner and then brushed it good. Heating it up before welding always makes a big difference too. Gives things a chance to burn off and gets things prepped so the welder doesn't have to work so hard to get a puddle started. Anyway, it feels good to have this welded.

Also: a quote from Shop Teacher Bob below that has me thinking of the day when I retire from my job:

I like hanging out in the shop. Nice environment and my co-workers are all straight up folks.

-Shop Teacher Bob

h-d factory shots

These torches are just like the gas/compressed air annealing torches we had when I taught at UWM in Milwaukee.

Austin shared these images from the H-D archive with me last week. I've seen a few of these but other were new to me. The design area photos were really interesting.  I love seeing the production shots too. Austin and I had a great conversation about the history of H-D and the image of the company and how it's changed over the years. The early years are so interesting to me.

 

sons of speed

 

Also check out Sons of Speed.

h-d willie g exhibition

We also attended the Willie G exhibition at the museum. This was really interesting and I enjoyed seeing how things developed in Willie G's life. It's always interesting to see how people connect the dots in their life. I was surprised by the water color paintings that were in the exhibition. I found myself thinking if Eric's Mom many times during the day. The section with many of Willie's personal collection of objects was also interesting; you really get inside someone's head when you see the objects they collect. Overall the entire collection of work spoke to me and I hope Cory and Jordan enjoyed it as much as I did.

Sidenote: first exhibition where I was encouraged to take photographs... interesting... makes me question some things/priorities...