What did you do to your Vmax today? Part 2

[Fire-medic]

I was just FN with you, I believe an know you more about any motorcycle then I could ever know. Everyone F's up trying to help every once in awhile.

No, you did what we need to do, cull-out the incorrect info. I didn't just make a 'scrivener's error,' dropping a zero.

I sold last year a 327 4-bbl which was from deciphering the casting and stamped numbers, a 1968. It had a single hump, and was a Tonawanda NY casting by GM. Tonawanda is where they cast the L88 aluminum engine blocks used in Can-Am racing. They also did aluminum SBC blocks there. The guy who bought the block was looking for a period-correct 327 SBC block to install in a McLaren Can-Am car which had been converted into a street-licensed car. Imagine that.

Here are pics of what the SBC 327 is going to be used for:



Dig that Hewland gearbox! Probably worth more than most of my vehicles.

I'll see your Honda Civic conversion to 'Lamborghini doors,' and raise you an entire hinged front-cap, including integral 'doors.' See that rubber latch at the bottom of the door's rear? Surely not-compliant with the NHTSA-mandated door safety latches!

The prevailing thought for many years in 'Champ Cars' (AAA-sponsored Indy Cars were called that before USAC took-over the racing operation for those cars in the mid-1950's) was drivers preferred to not wear seatbelts or harnesses, and certainly nothing like HALO devices yet existed, because drivers preferred to be 'tossed clear' in the event of an accident, while they raced in polo shirts and slacks instead of Nomex suits, hoods shoes, and gloves like today. To see evidence of this, watch the movie out now, Ferrari, starring Adam Driver as Il Commendatore and my favorite Penelope Cruz as his long-suffering wife. It's a scene during testing, early in the movie, and then another scene close to the end, when the Mille Miglia race is being run.

here is an interesting report on safety changes mandated by the Federal government, and involving door hinges, door latches, and rollover risks, often resulting in passenger ejections from the vehicle. Of interest is that Chrysler latches did a better job then Ford or GM, going back to 1956, because of better engineering. From then until 1968, incremental changes by GM and Ford had the effect of making the GM and Ford designs equivalent to Chrysler accident performance, at the later date.

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/807489 See page 27 to start

This pic has so-much detail! look to the left of the car, and you can see the induction system: aluminum manifold and a quartet of 2-bbl downdraft carburetors, which I suppose are Webers. The big aluminum canister blocking the view of the intake manifold & carbs looks to be the fill point for the coolant. Note how the engine block and the transaxle are part of the load-carrying design of the rear suspension. Those beefy half-shafts and U-joints stand-out. They look like sizing which would be on a truck. The rear anti-sway bar w/its heim joints feeds its load to the right hub carrier, at the top of it. Coil-over shocks also attach to the rear hub carriers at thje top and the bottom, with multiple locating links using more heim joints control the fore and aft forces and the side forces. Looks like the disc brakes are single-pair calipers. The lower A-arms are tubular, while the points of attachment for them go to what looks like a saddle fastened to the L & R sides of the transaxle. That saddle also has stout locating members going forward to attach to the adapter plate for the transaxle attaching to the rear of the engine. Note that at the right-top of the front of the transaxle, there is another sturdy point of attachment for the Hewland gearbox to attach to the engine-transaxle carrier plate bolted to the rear of the engine. I suspect the black pipe coming through a tunnel in the right suspension carrier where the top of the coil-over shock attaches, is a return-feed for oil to the transaxle. Plenty of interesting geometry in the layout of the suspension.

Finally, the reason he was searching the web for a replacement 327 SBC of a specific year, to keep the car period-correct.



When the guy who bought the 327 was showing me pics of the shop, where the McLaren Can-Am car was, there were a couple of other cars of interest, a mid-engined Lamborghini and a mid-engined Ferrari. To quote Oscar Wilde: "I have the simplest of taste, I am always satisfied by the very-best."

 

[MadMark]

No, you did what we need to do, cull-out the incorrect info. I didn't just make a 'scrivener's error,' dropping a zero.

I sold last year a 327 4-bbl which was from deciphering the casting and stamped numbers, a 1968. It had a single hump, and was a Tonawanda NY casting by GM. Tonawanda is where they cast the L88 aluminum engine blocks used in Can-Am racing. They also did aluminum SBC blocks there. The guy who bought the block was looking for a period-correct 327 SBC block to install in a McLaren Can-Am car which had been converted into a street-licensed car. Imagine that.

Here are pics of what the SBC 327 is going to be used for:

View attachment 92829View attachment 92830

Dig that Hewland gearbox! Probably worth more than most of my vehicles.

Finally, the reason he was searching the web for a replacement 327 SBC of a specific year, to keep the car period-correct.

View attachment 92831

When the guy who bought the 327 was showing me pics of the shop, where the McLaren Can-Am car was, there were a couple of other cars of interest, a mid-engined Lamborghini and a mid-engined Ferrari. To quote Oscar Wilde: "I have the simplest of taste, I am always satisfied by the very-best."

I grew up an live in Muncie Indiana guess where the GM muncie 4spd was built. I seen/rode in just about anything that GM offered in a 4spd. It did help my dad worked for GM from the late 60's to the early 90's.

 

[Fire-medic]

Ever go to Winchester Speedway? Winchester Speedway :: The Action Track I know Muncie is just west of it.

Here is a picture of my classmate's father (tall guy on the left, hat in-hand) Lee Elkins with his driver 'Iron Mike' Nazaruk after winning a feature race at Winchester Speedway in 1953. Driver: Mike Nazaruk and mechanic, 'Mutt' Anderson. The fellow wearing glasses and a suit is Wilbur Shaw, the first driver to win the Indy 500 twice in a row; he won three times overall. And if that isn't enough, he also came-in second, three times! All of these guys were friends, and they all had distinguished and colorful careers. Nazaruk was a Ukranian and one tough son-of-a-gun. He was a Marine during WW II, and he once revealed to a friend as a Marine in WW II, he saw action at Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima, and told a friend he was the only survivor out of the guys in his outfit.

Nazaruk's rookie year at the Indy 500, he finished second. Five-time World Formula One Driver's Champion Juan Fangio, in his one attempt to race at Indianapolis, in 1958 tried to get up-to speed in two different cars, but he withdrew when he couldn't make the speed he needed to be a contender. That year, the tall guy on the left, in the first picture (below) Lee Elkins, had his driver Dick Rathmann on the pole position for the start of the 1958 Indy 500, in a Watson/Offenhauser. Sadly, at the start of the 500 mile race, another front-row (they began with a rolling start, three-abreast) car driven by Ed Elysian whose bravado was deeper than the well of his driving expertise, lost control of his car on the last turn of the race's first lap. He slid up the track and into Rathmann, putting both of them into the wall, and tearing the front wheels off Rathmann's car. Pat O'Connor, a crowd favorite, and past Indy 500 winner, was killed when his car flipped upside-down before landing upright. Fourteen cars were involved in the wreckage. The field starts with 33 cars. Elysian tried to win a 500 mile race on the first lap, and it cost fan favorite Pat O'Connor his life.

Shaw after WW II convinced the Hulman family to purchase the run-down (and closed) Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). They did, and invested much $$$ to bring it back to life. Shaw worked for the Hulmans and was President of IMS and its General Manager until he died in a private plane crash in 1954. The picture below was taken the year before he died. Sadly the following year, "Iron Mike" Nazaruk would die in a sprint car race at Langhorne in PA. In a sad finish, like in my prior post about what happened to drivers before protective clothing and restraints, he was ejected and died.

A quick story about Nazaruk:
At a race at Winchester Speedway IN, while on the starting grid, Nazaruk waved at one of his friends, Kenny Woods, to come-over to the car. Nazaruk said, "I want to show you something."

"I looked in the car, and 'Iron Mike's' knees were shaking. I couldn't believe 'Iron Mike' had the shakes."

"Kenny, any S.O.B. who says he ain't scared to drive these high-banks is ready to die!"

https://imsmuseum.org/fame_inductee/wilbur-shaw/
'
http://www.midwestracingarchives.com/2021/09/1953-nazaruk-cops-feature-at-winchester.html
'Iron Mike' Nazaruk at Terre Haute IN in 1953:

 

[one2dmax]

Nothing like a BBC Head with Valves so big they basically touch each other lol. And runners big enough to drive through. I need to get this stuff back out and finish up the 540! Or take it on out to the max 632!




Here's a Jay Leno's Garage on the McLaren M1 and the first car to bear that name, which makes it a McLaren M1A.

 

[MrMAX1985]

Got the clutch plates replaced, reinstalled the carbs after going thru them this winter, went to install vent hoses on carbs and found tubes pointing forward-Damn! Took them back off and disassembled them , switched bowl covers around, reassembled and reinstalled them. put battery in and primed up fuel system. fired right up. Took for a short spin-No clutch slippage in v-boost any more!! Yay!

 

[wilks]

Took the muffler cinder block off…..waiting on Delkevic slip ons to arrive.

 

[georgioskanakis13]

I ride my 1700 today!!!

Hello my friend,im George from Athens.where are you from;

 

[CaptainKyle]

Life story working on another transmission

 

[CaptainKyle]

I was waiting on parts for my customers bikes so I done a little painting this is house of Kolors organic candy green over a silver base.

 

[wilks]

I was waiting on parts for my customers bikes so I done a little painting this is house of Kolors organic candy green over a silver base.

Looks great…..I’ve always believed shooting candy over silver was nicer than shooting it over gold….gives it a more vibrant tone.

 

[Parminio]

I was waiting on parts for my customers bikes so I done a little painting this is house of Kolors organic candy green over a silver base.

I've never been a huge fan of green, but that looks really, really good.

I finally did a little work on my Vmax to get it back into shape. New tires, fluids all the way around, new end bar mirrors I've wanted since forever, rebuilt the cluctch slave and put on the 6 piston Sumitomo calipers by @one2dmax.

 

[CaptainKyle]

Looks great…..I’ve always believed shooting candy over silver was nicer than shooting it over gold….gives it a more vibrant tone.

All depends on what color I'm doing. I just done this Brandywine. I sprayed it over a black base. I am fixing to do a Burple set and am doing it over gold.

 

[VMAXXIMUM]

Pictures didn’t do that paint job justice. Even in the sunlight it has to be seen to really appreciate it.

 

[Fire-medic]

Kyle's job looks like the 1992 Red-e-Sparkle O.E.M. color, I have 2 like that.

Of O.E.M colors the 1992 is my favorite.

 

[CaptainKyle]

Worked on my 94 a bit today

 

[Curve]

I've had the bike apart for a little over a week. I had to send the ECU off to Tim Nash for a flash. They just moved shops, so there was a bit of confusion so it's taken a bit longer than expected, but I'm really not sweating it. Been riding my wife's Bolt to cure the itch when I get it.

But while I have it taken down, I decided to get rid of the rear turn signals and that huge fender. I didn't like the Corbin one, and especially didn't want to have to have a chrome frame on my license plate, so I bought an eBay one and man I was pleasantly surprised. Very good quality material. It mounted up with OEM screws that were already there though I added a washer on either side of the the bracket mount to fill a tiny gap left behind above the bracket. All in all very pleased, and I'm still legal with a light on my plate. The integrated tail light was also from J&P Cycles and was pretty much the same as OEM except it's smoked a bit darker and doesn't have the red tinted lens on the inside. All in all I'm very pleased with the look.

Fender eliminator: https://www.ebay.com/itm/332442167902
Integrated LED taillight: https://www.jpcycles.com/product/bi...ht-yamaha-vmax-1700-2009-2016?sku_id=10220421

 

[Fire-medic]

It looks decent, what is the light output vs the OEM? Dimmer, about the same, noticeably brighter?

 

[Curve]

It looks decent, what is the light output vs the OEM? Dimmer, about the same, noticeably brighter?

The light output is about the same as OEM.

 

[MarioRRR]

Here to show off my headlight from Doctor Light in Poland.

View attachment 89209View attachment 89210View attachment 89211

Looks very good. What was the cost? Did you send your lamp to modify or they sell new modified already?

 

[Curve]

Looks very good. What was the cost? Did you send your lamp to modify or they sell new modified already?

They sell the modified light already. I linked the taillight and the bracket in the post. Price for the integrated LED was $136 and change. The bracket was around $35. So all-in-all less than $200.