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Jack Gifford

I finally got the lakester to a landspeed event the first week of September at the former Loring AFB (12,600' x 300' runway). Plans for a crew fell through, but other racers were very helpful. It was a long trip- 1,720 miles towing with the '59 GMC- but neither the truck or race car suffered any dam...

Jack Gifford

Wishing you a good recovery.

Jack Gifford

Who says my little mill can't deal with an 11'9" long workpiece?

Jack Gifford

Nice machine!
I'm old-fashioned... Does a modern "geared lathe" use gears to relate spindle rotation to tool travel? Or is it done via computer?

Jack Gifford

I'm glad you guys didn't hurt yourselves. Bikes can be repaired...

Jack Gifford

Tom- I suppose you heard that the Loring spring meet is cancelled?

Jack Gifford

... Looks like the front axle may be out in front of the steering axis... Sorry I didn't express my comment correctly. I just wanted to point out that trail is measured (from steering axis) to wheel/ground contact, not to the axle. Thus, given reasonable rake, it's quite common for the axle to be f...

Jack Gifford

koncretekid wrote: ↑
Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:38 pm
... Looks like the front axle may be out in front of the steering axis...

Wouldn't that be positive trail?

Jack Gifford

Tom- is that a virtual needle on the GPS speedometer?
The GPS speedometer in my lakester has only a digital readout. I like the look of yours.

Jack Gifford

Typical "stir crazy" tasks. Example- cleaned out trash under the workbench for the first time since building this house 45 years ago. I discovered stuff I didn't even remember having.
Picture of "found" tools to give to grandsons. And they are all functional!

Jack Gifford

A somewhat strange realization- looking at the list of bikes in my signature, and trying to honestly say "which one was comfortable ?"- it would surprisingly be the 1940 H-D 45 c.i. flathead! :werd I don't know about long-distance (first bike, only rode it one summer), but I still fondly remember (s...

Jack Gifford

skippy wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 28, 2020 12:38 am
... comfortable long distance riding...

That's an oxymoron- at least for every 2-wheeler I've had.

Jack Gifford

This would be an off-topic question, except that PowerGlide was mentioned. I recently read somewhere(?) about a H*nda (race bike?) that used epicyclic (planetary) gearing. I can't picture such a thing, since it was a multi-speed box, 5 or 6 speed. Anybody here know of such an animal? Or did the auth...

Jack Gifford

"Naughty but nice"?

Jack Gifford

Barry- off topic- '82 V50III

Jack Gifford

I'm envious.

Almost no bike stuff on my wishlist... except nicer weather (had icy roads two days ago). I just need to replace an oozing petcock on the Guzzi fuel tank.

Jack Gifford

Nice work! For clear coating bright metal I like Eastwood's Diamond Clear. It lasts okay on engine parts, but I don't know about on your silencer.

Jack Gifford

kommando wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:38 am
... the big end bearing is a needle roller bearing there is no back pressure...

No pressure? Don't side clearances of the rod's big end determine the pressure?

Jack Gifford

Momus wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 06, 2020 7:17 pm
... Jack, pretty much most of my reasons...

Go for it! Make the [deeper] sump from light alloy with plenty of fins- which will get more air contact than a tank hidden out of the air stream. Thermally insulating it from the engine cases would be desirable- but challenging.

Jack Gifford

Having had lots of experience with dry-sump oiling (competition V8 & 4-cyl), I can tell you one reason I would prefer wet-sump, although it would probably be less of a concern for a bike engine. Since a dry-sump system must be designed with the scavenge rate sized greater than the pressure-side rate...

Jack Gifford

minetymenace wrote: ↑
Sat Feb 15, 2020 4:37 pm
... Irony is so wasted on our American cousins...

The sarcasm emoticon was so wasted on minety...

Jack Gifford

Minety- are you joking? Or don't you read your own forums?

Jack Gifford

beat wrote: ↑
Sat Feb 01, 2020 8:30 pm
... the barrel has to be cut at the bottom by 1.7mm ...

And... custom shorter pushrods?
... "Bigger ports"... Different head? Or did you "carve out" the ports?

Jack Gifford

Nice work!
Is the engine's displacement increased in the same proportion as the exhaust ID area?

Jack Gifford

Congratulations!

I had a victor 441 (not the 'Roadster' in my signature) that was way too fast in first gear for trail/woods riding (stock I think?). Do you run slower gearing than stock?

Jack Gifford

In your quite-recent thread about this (Nov 19th?), someone posted a link to "The everlasting lozenge". I found it a very informative- did you read it? It seemed to me that it provided enough info for someone to build their own muffler.

Jack Gifford

If the starting rollers had some texture, rather than being smooth...???

Jack Gifford

I can already visualize Beat concocting motorized starting rollers...

Jack Gifford

Thanks Beat! I'll be watching for some podium finishes with your 3-wheeler.

Jack Gifford

Got in two more tenth-mile runs with no damage. Had to abort the first run- about two seconds out the rear tires broke traction and tried to pass me! Gearing was only increased about 12% and I didn't expect wheelspin. On the second run I stayed away from full throttle for a couple of seconds, so I d...

Jack Gifford

I'm amazed how inexpensive miniature electronics are. A BMS for $5? Wow!

Jack Gifford

The race car treated me good once more- no issues. :thumb 85.3 MPH at the end of the tenth-of-a-mile was 7,100 RPM, which is getting closer to the engine speed I want to see. I need to improve some things in the cramped cockpit. For example, the required helmet and HANS device prevent me from tippin...

Jack Gifford

Tomorrow I'll be at the tenth-mile drag event again... This time with gearing that's more appropriate...

Jack Gifford

Another test-run with no breakage, this time on a quarter-mile track. Didn't learn much, due to a bad choice of gearing- too "tall" to get the engine into its intended rev range.

Jack Gifford

What style oil ring is it? It doesn't look like any style that I'm familiar with.

Jack Gifford

I think we set a new record- 3 full days with no new posts...

Jack Gifford

Once more... no new posts in the last 24 hours. Must be great riding weather, eh? :smile: Actually, the weather here would make for good riding- I'm just too busy with the lakester right now. Shooting for doing some testing on the quarter-mile dragstrip at Norwalk Ohio- first August weekend is the A...

Jack Gifford

Well, yes, it's intended to look like part of an airplane. The body is a fiberglas replica of a P-38 drop tank. Starting in 1947 hot rodders used surplus aluminum drop tanks for the original landspeed racing "lakesters".

Jack Gifford

Inaugural outing went amazingly well. No problems, no liquids on trailer deck afterward. The only disappointment was my failure to observe ANY of the gauges, not even the tach, during those quick few seconds. Unfortunately the track's timing system failed to get an ET or MPH number. It definitely wa...

Jack Gifford

I don't expect to actually run 120 MPH in a tenth-mile! Loring would be great, but I can't be ready. Many things are out-of-date (tires, harness, etc.) and I don't yet have a HANS device or latest-Snell helmet, nor a -15 firesuit. I know there are also some rules changes in the last decade- arm rest...

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