Let out the clutch! Things are turning green!.

Nice weather is teasing us here in the Fingerlakes. Temps keep flirting in the 60s, and I've seen more of that mystical yellow orb in the sky recently  than I have all winter. All that means that I'm itching to get things going outside.  I started collecting wood this week for the workshop expansion to the garage.  I plan to build what is essentially two 7.5 foot by 10 foot sheds onto the back of the garage, all linked together to make a 7.5 foot by 20 foot workshop. All the materials are being scavenged from old shipping crates and pallets. also A friend at work has offered several sheets of OSB board that need several hundred staples removed (Anybody volunteer?). Seeing as how this is being built from nearly 100% "Obtainium" The name "The vulture workshop" seems to fit. Offer up any other ideas if you have 'em.

Contents of the shed overflowith

This weekend saw the beginnings of the project. I started by moving the BMW outside for a bit to gain room to empty out the shed that was right where I want to build the workshop. Then I had to empty the shed, move it, and neatly put all the lawn and garden stuff back in it at the new location. Following that I knocked apart the rotting floor that had been under the shed, and cleaned out the area for the workshop. That pretty much took up 2 days, and now the garage is trashed until I get the workshop built and can put stuff away.

Right where I want the shop to be!

The shed's new home.

The next step is to bring home the lumber I'm planning to use on the floor, get the rest of the 2x4s for the walls, the OSB board, and rafter boards, shingles...... the list goes on.  I hope to have this done by May, but scavenging building materials makes for an unpredictable build schedule. We shall see.

The skeletal remains of the old floor.

the side of the new workshop. Yuk!

After all that work, I went over to visit my buddy Jim. We've been scheming about a project for Stray Cat for over a year. Jim has a sweet old 53 Studebaker Champion in dry storage that he wants to do something with. For that matter, so do I. We went over to the warehouse and paid it a visit. We rummaged through the parts, looked it over inside and out, and did a lot of dreaming about what it could be. The most logical answer right now is a low-buck Rat-rod. We could have it running and driving on the cheap, and have loads of fun.  What do you think?

The ghost of hot-rodder future......... Ok, it's me.

Today was Easter, so, of course, it was a day for family. We went to church, had a great dinner , and hung out at my parents house for the remainder of the afternoon. I also got to do some pickin' with my Dad and brother on the ol' guitars. That's always fun.  It's also my dad's birthday today, so I want to wish him a happy birthday, and hope he enjoyed it.

A life celebration

In about an hour I'm heading out to go to the funeral of a lady that has been a staple of the small town where I grew up for decades. She lived to be 92, and still lived at home. She died last week, at home, surrounded by family, content.
When I was little, all the kids in town could go over to Gram Comfort's house, where she had a pool table and a ping pong table in the basement. It was basically the town community center. She was also the Sunday school teacher at the little Methodist church, and made sure we all attended every Sunday, or at least made sure we knew we were invited, welcome, and wanted. Not to mention all the community activities she stayed involved in.
Calling hours were last night. The hall was packed! We expect that the little church she spent her life teaching at will be filled to the rafters today to send her off.
It's sad to have to say goodbye, but I've not seen a more beautiful tribute to a wonderful person. I can't ever say how thankful I am to have had her in my life.
If any of you are familiar with the Ray Boltz song "Thank You" I believe it was written about her.
Godspeed Gram Comfort, and thank you.

Cabin Fever

Hope is all I have... Hope that spring will get here. It seems winter won't let go this year. Or it's just that I have so many things I want to do, and they all hinge on the wether getting better. I think one of the improvements  the the shop this summer should be insulation and a heat source of some kind.  My friend Brian  put a wood stove in his shop this last fall, and has been out there all winter  tinkering. I'm jealous. 
What's driving me crazy is the overabundance of crap packed in to the shop. I'm overwhelmed at times. I go out there and just stare at the shop and think about what I need to do. I'd love to get some salvage wood from pallets at work and build a carport off the side, and maybe a narrow storage room off the back. I wonder about closing off one of the overhead doors, and making one bay a work area. That, of course, would make at least one car homeless. Maybe the carport could get closed in and be a smaller workshop.
 I still need to get rid of a large quantity of usless crap. I think a dumpster is in order soon. and a craigslist binge.  Clean out, and make a few bucks. Hopefully I can get a few small restoration projects going, and start getting things to sell.  I gotta pay for my projects somehow.
The only actual thing going on right now it trying to track down a no-start issue on Jimmys "Dirty 30". We gotta find the cause of no spark through the Motronic engine control system. It's stuck on the street in front of his place right now. We may wind up towing it over here to get a better look. Updates to follow.
This last week, I downloaded a program called Creo. It's a 3D modeling program like AutoCAD. I haven't had much time to play with it yet, but I think if I can get the hang of it, it will help me plan a lot of my builds. I hope to be able to draw up the frame of the bike before I start hacking so I have a plan. I'll share my progress soon.
Also, straight from the rumor mill, word has it Uncle Jake, aka "Old Man", is coming North sometime late spring, early summer with a major project for Stray Cat! a 1947 Harley Davidson Knuckle-head engine that needs to be built so it can go in an old-school bobber that Jake and his friends are building.  I'm excited to be part of a bike build, and can't wait to get started. I guess that's some extra motivation to get the shop in order!

Music, Maps and Machines

It's been a Busy weekend here at Stray Cat. Friday night Gabrielle and I headed down to Pennsylvania Ave. United Methodist Church's food bank fund raiser. There was music, laughter, and some really great desserts.  I was glad to see people getting up in front and sharing their gifts and talents of music. It seems that we think the only good music has to come from professionals on TV or Radio anymore. NOT TRUE! There's got to be an outlet near you for live music. Go there! Get inspired. Dig in the closet, pull out that dusty guitar, oboe, flute, accordion or whatever. Get the piano tuned! It doesn't matter how long it's been. You'll feel good about making music. If you don't play, then turn up the radio and sing along!

There were a lot of good acts there, and I want to commend everyone for a great job.One act that really caught my attention was a 10 year old girl who got up and sang with another girl accompanying on guitar. The best part was that she had written the song herself! I know it took a lot of guts to get up and do what she did , but she did it, and did it well!
After a nice breakfast on Saturday morning, I headed up to my cousin's house to mark out the property line on a piece of land he recently purchased.

My cousin, his dad, my uncle  and I hiked out through the woods to survey the line.  We spent about 4 hours taking compass readings, cutting brush and marking trees. I had a good time. I love being out in the woods, and it meant I didn't have to go to the gym instead.
Back home at the shop, my gear had arrived from Kwik Way to repair the brake rotor lathe, Yay! so I went out and installed the new part and test rant the lathe. It works 100%. Now I need to find a set of adapters and start fixing some brakes. Hopefully that will be some income for Stray Cat this summer.

Off for more adventure today, then back to work for the week. The weather is still holding back a lot of projects, but that will be coming soon. Until then keep dreaming, and take every opportunity you get to go out and do something interesting.       Cheers! Banjo

Exhaust pipe dream

As predicted, the weather has  turned back cold, so  here I am inside making plans, and doing research to be ready when Spring has finally sprung. It's still to be seen what will become the first project of the season, but, for now it's looking like the Maytag-engine motorized bicycle will be on the top of the list.   This project began  when I was trying to find something to do with a couple of small engines that are hanging around, and I came across the motorized bicycle forum. Specifically, I gravitated to the Boardtrackers forum, where there is a great community  of creative guys who love early motorcycles, and build some great replicas of iconic racers. Not to mention great original creations that pay homage to the early manufacturers that have been lost to the mists of time.
Out back, at Stray Cat, I have a Maytag Model 72, 2-cylinder, 2-stroke engine  originally built by the Maytag company to power thier washing machines in the 1930s, when electricity was still confined to urban areas. Also in the parts pile is a  pre-WWII Western Flyer  boys bike I picked up at a local rummage sale.

The Maytag, and the Flyer

Plans are still in flux as to the final design, but the current idea is to pay tribute to a 1921 ABC "Sopwith Machine" that used a flat- twin  motor similar to what the ABC company's  Sopwith Camel Bi-plane used in WWI.  The biggest variation from that design is that I want to use a shaft drive system. Similar to what BMW used in the 30s. The problem with that is finding a suitable system to use on my build. I believe I have found my solution in a late 70s Yamaha moped. They were lightweight, compact, shaft drive, and I have a line on one for cheap.

1921 ABC "Spowith Machine"

The next step will be to start drawing up some designs to make the engine and driveline fit the frame. Then it will be time to start fabricating modified parts to make everything else fit.
This post is just to give you an idea of what I want to build. posts to come will keep you updated on progress and all the stuff I have to do to make this work.
I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never built a motorcycle before, nor have I designed custom components to this degree. What I have found is that if you want to do something, the information is out there if you dig. All you need is the desire to try, and a few contacts with folks to help out. Don't let anyone tell you that you need expensive equipment, or a degree in engineering. This stuff was originally done with manual  machines, in garages, by lantern light, by guys that just had a desire to do it.
My hope is to come up with something cool, and at the same time inspire you to try your own project. May a new adventure begin here.

Carpe Diem! An abnormally warm day in March.

With temperatures climbing into the 60s this Sunday it was time to wake the sleeping beasties from their long winter hibernation. Abby, the VW Type 3, and Gabrielle's E30 BMW have been hiding all winter, stuffed in the shop along with all our lawn furniture, and anything else that I didn't want to leave out in the snow. It was like an archaeological excavation to get down to the cars. I had to pull out bags of returnable bottles, roll the battery charger out of the way, move the brake drum lathe out, jack, jack-stands, air hose, baby stroller, cans of used oil, stack of LP records all had to find new homes. Now came the moment of truth. Was anything going to start? NO battery tenders, no sta-bil in the ethanol-laced fuel, and no air in the right rear tire of the BMW! But when I got in both cars they cranked and came to life, just as if I had parked them yesterday! Ahhhhhhh...
All tires pumped up, fluids checked, it was time to get the gears  moving. First  up was Abby. We took a tour around town with the window down (It's little things like that that makes us New Yorkers happy this time of year) and stopped off to say "hi" to my buddy, Jim. Jim is an old school body guy who is an excellent pin-striper and airbrush artist. I'll be doing a post on him sometime soon. After I got home, I took the BMW out for a blast up the highway and back.

Driveway full of Germans

Good, all toys exercised. Now some cleanup. I was sweeping out the shop when Jim pulled in  the drive with the "dirty 30", his 86 BMW E30. He was missing a few lights, so we got out the necessary tools: shop manual, logic probe, and some Genesee Bock, and traced out the problem to a corroded fuse. Soon it was all functional again and we were well on the way to solving all the world's problems.

tools of the trade

After Jimmy headed out, I figured I wasn't going to get any more cleaning done, so I took Abby for one more spin  before everything had to go back in the garage.(Winter ain't over yet!) During my drive, I  stopped by some weird fly-by-night- parking-lot-auto-sale that was going on across the highway, because I had seen a Fiat 600 in the front row earlier in the day. Of course, it was out on a test  drive when I got there. Right on cue, a well-dressed salesman spots me, hurried over, and askd if I wanted to wait until it got back so I could see it. "Nah," I said,  through the window of my rattling, rusty, leaky, bomber of a VW, " I just wanted to check it out. I don't need a new car." The salesman didn't skip a beat. He scanned my junker from front to back and replied, "Yes, you do."
We both cracked up. 
I never did get to see the Fiat, but I've been laughing about that encounter ever since....

Of men and motorcycles

January 24, 1907. Glen Curtiss climbed aboard this motorcycle on the sand at Ormond Beach Florida and drove this 40 HP, V-8 monster of his own design to an astounding 137 miles per hour, covering a measured mile in twenty six and two fifths seconds after a 2 mile running start. He wore no goggles or safety gear, just bending down as much as he could to reduce drag.  

This was the climax of 7 years of motorcycle building and racing that Curtiss started with a set of rough castings he learned to build into a working engine, using a soup can for a carburetor.

After this he started his career building aeroplanes.

Is there any wonder I see Glen Curtiss as an ispiration? 

I took this picture last weekend while at the Glen Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport  N.Y. attending the Mid-Winter Cycle Therapy event. There were over 100 vintage motorcycles there, along with the museums regular displays. It was a great day. My favorite was an original  barn-find1911 Indian that the owner was allowed to fire up every now and then to huge applause.

This all fueled my interest  to work on the motorized bicycle project. I have a pre-WWII Western Flyer bicycle that I plan to modify into something that looks a lot like the above  Indian. For an engine I have a 1932 Maytag model 72 2-cylinder (Stay tuned), and I'm working on the drive system. I plan this to be "practice" for following in Curtiss' footsteps and building a motorcycle engine and all.

I plan to get the help of some friends who have more experience in machining than I do. You'll meet them soon enough. They do some pretty interesting things too. I also plan to stumble my way, maybe dragging my friends along, through the learning process of casting parts for the engine I hope to build.

 

Around the area. Bits of history from nearby

Yesterday My wife and I had some free time, and we stopped off with some friends at a quaint little cafe in the nearby town of Montour Falls. Montour used to be known as Havana, and it sprang up on the banks of the Chemung Canal that was opened in 1833 to connect Seneca Lake with the Chemung river (more on that later). The building that the cafe is in is called  the Montour House, and was built by Charles Cook, pretty much the father of Schuyler County, as a hostelry for travellers along the canal. It also housed his bank, and his personal residence for a time. It took 4 years to build at a cost of $30,000! it was comlpeted in 1854.  Follow the link in the text for a great article about the house.
The cafe is very nice, as is the owner who accommodated us  warmly with local cheese, salsa, snacks and tasty coffee and tea. not to mention the grand view of Chequaga Falls  from outside the front door. Thanks to the photographer who posted that nice pic of the falls on flikr I was able to use.

Today's project

Today it's just durn cold outside, so I'm busy in the basement shop cleaning up the cutting head for the Snap-On brake rotor lathe I got from Mike Grover at MD Automotive. It has not been used for years because of a stripped gear. It took a week of searching, and the folks at Kwik-Way (the company that actually produced the lathe) came through on getting ma a part number! I gotta wait to get paid before I order the part, so I'm making sure the rest of the machine is ready to go. It was pretty gummed up, but a good cleaning in the old parts washer, some fine tuning of the adjustable parts, and some fresh oil has it ready for service. Here's a before shot and an after shot. Not much to look at, but the two plates slide nice and smooth now

Hello and welcome!

Greetings all.
I'm Banjo, and I'll be your host for this journey through long forgotten paths of mechanized history.
Stray Cat Vintage and Custom  is the name I gave my shop in the back yard. As of right now it is not a commercial business. All the work I do is personal or for my friends.if things develop in the future I may look into becoming a business, but for now we're just having fun.
Here's how it all began. Right out of high school  I got a degree in auto mechanics/ auto body, and for 15 years I worked as a professional auto technician at both independant shops, restoration shops and dealerships. I am an ASE certified Master Technician and Advanced level specialist. I was also a Toyota Master Diagnostic Tecnician. For the last two years I have been working for a company that builds custom industrial automation, or to put it simply, Robots!
Working at my current job, I have access to many fabrication tools, and this had really got me interested  in trying some very ambitious projects at Stray Cat.
Up till now I have done restorations on cars, and many other antique mechanical pieces. Including lawnmowers, garden tractors, old engines, and I'm working on a 1930s washing machine.

 The current shop buggy is a 1970 VW type 3 fastback named "Abby Normal"
I love anything old and mechanized. it doesn't have to be fast or powerful, it just has to be cool. The older the better, the more obscure, the better. and this has brought me to the current planned projects here at the shop.
First off is turning a pre-war western flyer boys bike into a "tribute" to an early motorcycle. It won't be strictly following any original design, as I have some ideas to make it unique, but it will be practice for an even more ambitious project to build a motorcycle that will involve casting engine parts from aluminum,and possibly iron.
So I've started this blog to cronicle the going-ons of my backyard shop, and maybe inspire others to get out and try something new. I hope to keep you interested with all the different things going on here. It will be a bit scattered, I'm sure, but all related to what's up at Stray cat Vintage and Custom.
Thanks!