Noot

NOS, New Old Stock

I keep seeing parts listed as NOS, which, to me - means new, vintage, unused parts of oem, original equipment manufacturer's origin. Made by the original companies like Harley-Davidson, Yamaha, etc. I feel that "NOS" can also be from Performance Machine, old Gary Bang, Crazy Frank, etc. But, now you got these bozos listing "NOS" and it's a Chinese part ! It's new, yes . . . but, it's Taiwan, India . . . come on ! If you are advertising a part as NOS for a vintage Harley . . . it should be USA. (If I'm restoring my Chinese bicycle from 1973, that's different.) The shaft above is the ultimate meaning of "NOS, New Old Stock." When I opened the UPS shipping box, and pulled back the bubble wrap, I was like - freakin' aye dude !

Gene(son) and Joe Smith

Smith set many 1/4 mile ET records.

Shovelheads have the potential to be incredibly fast.

. . . with a little help from my friends . . .

The countershaft (closed end) bearing boss of my KHK cases was cracked and oval. The bearing just falls out. Someone had tried to peen it in - it's just freaked up. McFarland spun out an inner aluminum sleeve for the ID - and he made an aluminum "donut" for the outside. Pat will weld all this up - creating a strong boss for the bearing. With both case 1/2s together, with the trans door installed - McFarland will locate off the door bearing ID - and then remove the left case 1/2 - and using this dimension, line bore the closed bearing ID - to leave about a .0025 press fit for my new closed-end bearing. Understand? I do, but I've been running this through my head for about 10 days now . . . brain strain !

The "New Way . . .

I just love my Newway Seat Cutter. The carbide cutters are adjustable, they give you the 46 and the 30 (just flip it over) and you can get a 60 degree too - and then you can achieve the seat width you want, and with some practice, you get a nice smooth seat finish by gradually decreasing the pressure on the spring-loaded handle. It makes cutting seats fun, and it's not so messy. I lap the valves in carefully with a low-speed drill (forward & reverse) and then hand-lap the final finish. This is my KHK racer cylinders with big, honkin' valves. They almost touch each other. She's factory-ported and I just dig these K Models !

Retro Rewind Dubuque - "Yes, it was a blast !"

I'd have to rate it as one of the best indoor events in the Midwest - Great to see everybody again and make some plans for Vintage Torque (also in Dubuque) 1st weekend of May . . . See ya'll soon.

Retro Rewind - 2015 - In case you missed it . . . ?

You really got to hand it to John Wells and his crew. If it wasn't for his psychotic mind and love of all things retro - we'd have less fun. This event is really super cool. Top quality rods and bikes. Top quality art, talent, music . . . everything is real spot-on and a professionally done deal. Mark your calender for next year - (time flies when yer havin' fun) and get on over to this "river town" venue and check it out !