The Waverley project is coming along well.
This is an engine restoration project. The bike is a 1914 Waverley board racer owned by Lonnie Isam. -One of the most iconic names around when it comes to vintage motorcycles.
This thing runs on alky and nitromethane believe it or not.
That is just too cool.
One of the crank case halves is a total mess. It's riddled with cracks and porosity from folks attempting to fix it over the years.
Were gonna try and give it a face lift. The piece I'm making is a plug that'll be held into the case with screws. 29 of em to be exact. Just waiting on the taps to arrive this morning. (4-40)
We'll then machine the case for it and assemble. Final step will be trimming off the slug and blending to the case line.
Cool stuff. Jobs like this rekindle the spark that drew me to this stuff almost 30 years ago.
Edit. I get asked why we didn't just make an entirely new case halve. The guys that own this stuff are a quirky bunch. Repairing an original part is often considered to be far more acceptable than just replicating it. This opinion has significant impact on the value of the finished piece. This bike ought to fetch somewhere between $125,000 and $150,000 once completed. We've got a pair of old Harley Hill Climb bikes next door that are in the $250,000 range. The price people pay for these things is nothing short of impressive.
In 2010 I worked on a 1909 HD Chicago Police motorcycle owned by John Parham, founder of J/P Cycles. It was 100% original down to the tires and inner tubes. When I got it to backfire the value went from $385,000 to half a million.
CRAZY. lol.
This is an engine restoration project. The bike is a 1914 Waverley board racer owned by Lonnie Isam. -One of the most iconic names around when it comes to vintage motorcycles.
This thing runs on alky and nitromethane believe it or not.
That is just too cool.
One of the crank case halves is a total mess. It's riddled with cracks and porosity from folks attempting to fix it over the years.
Were gonna try and give it a face lift. The piece I'm making is a plug that'll be held into the case with screws. 29 of em to be exact. Just waiting on the taps to arrive this morning. (4-40)
We'll then machine the case for it and assemble. Final step will be trimming off the slug and blending to the case line.
Cool stuff. Jobs like this rekindle the spark that drew me to this stuff almost 30 years ago.
Edit. I get asked why we didn't just make an entirely new case halve. The guys that own this stuff are a quirky bunch. Repairing an original part is often considered to be far more acceptable than just replicating it. This opinion has significant impact on the value of the finished piece. This bike ought to fetch somewhere between $125,000 and $150,000 once completed. We've got a pair of old Harley Hill Climb bikes next door that are in the $250,000 range. The price people pay for these things is nothing short of impressive.
In 2010 I worked on a 1909 HD Chicago Police motorcycle owned by John Parham, founder of J/P Cycles. It was 100% original down to the tires and inner tubes. When I got it to backfire the value went from $385,000 to half a million.
CRAZY. lol.
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