Here I thought it was just a trinket

Turns out I didn't just buy any old cement statue. Ended up being St. Windowlynn of the Pane... the patron saint of barn windows.

I had been searching for the last five years for replacement windows for the barn. I have eleven old tilt-in Star-line windows that all had marginal sashes in them. Three had actually fallen apart and been replaced with hunks of particle board to keep the snow out.

I have been meaning to have someone build me some replacements, but my Dutch nature has steered me away from spending 50-75 bucks a copy to have them made.

Well... not three days after bringing the new barn buddy home, I walked into Menards and found windows the exact correct size (I have looked there before and there was nothing close).

I brought eleven brand new ready to install windows home for $15 bucks a copy.

Thanks, St. Windowlynn....

New Garage Companion

Season end sale at the farm market on cement ornaments and a pair of sunglasses Don left in my barn 5 or 6 years ago when we were working on his MG...

Yeah, I'm a spendthrift.

and easily amused...

Earlier in the process

Just a picture from earlier in the Chief build up. Not much progress this week, but I did find a bad plug wire which was causing the rear cylider to barely fire. What's weird is it still idled better than any Harley I've owned on just one cylinder. Oil seems to be flowing well now too. Back after it on Saturday. I have to help Gumby sweat some copper pipe tomorrow night. He's getting his house ready to sell...

Looking for the prime

Well, the manual said it would be there and it didn't lie. The front end check ball had not been removed as recommended by most all contemporary builders. If you look at the diagram, the check ball actually has to be drawn open by the feed pump to allow oil to feed. OK if you never lose your prime, I guess...
Got it out and the pump back on. I'll prime and re-fire tomorrow night.
On a positive note, I can get the distributor in and out blindfolded now...

Fire in the Hole!

Well, we're getting serious now...
The Indian is pretty well back together. I tried to fire it Wednesday and the kicker arm reared back and spanked me like a red-headed stepchild. The timing seemed set right, but things weren't advancing/retarding like they oughta. I pulled the ignition all back apart, found my rookie mistake and reassembled it. Thursday night, after three prime kicks at full choke I found a compression stroke, clicked the key over clicked the choke back a notch and on the second kick I had a garage full of blue smoke ( I had oiled those cylinders down pretty good) and the damnedest clatter and roar I had heard in a while. She immediately settled into a nice cadence and we were on our way. I am not comfortable that the feed side of the pump is fully primed, so I shut it down and will confirm that before running it again, but after two years, I finally got off my lazy backside and got a rattle out of the old girl.
It's all downhill from here!

Parts is parts...

It's all there.... Who could imagine how much without seeing it?

Davenport '09

What a blast. You just can't go anywhere else and see all this stuff in one place...