1913 Indian 1000cc V twin

[Chris54]

Hi All

As many veteran / vintage motorcycle enthusiasts own more than one make and model of motorcycle i was wondering if anybody knows the ins and outs of the Headstrom 1000cc v twin, a very good friend of mine has a 1913 model and is having trouble setting it up, we need to find out settings for the timing and carb, First things first, which is cylinder No1, which pick up from the mag should be used for which cylinder, we are not used to V twins, my friend cannot get his head around the fact the sparks occur 402 degrees and then  318 degrees apart

Any help would be a great help

Thanks, Chris

[cardan]

Hi Chris,

Yes the 402-318 degrees firing is interesting, and give rise to the characteristic sound of the V twin.

Get your friend to look at the motor from the timing side. The motor turns the same direction as the wheels. The back cylinder fires, followed by the long gap as the flywheels go past the front cylinder then do a complete revolution before the front fires. This is the long gap. The back cylinder fires again when when the fly wheels rotate to the appropriate spot. This is the short gap.

Usually the back cylinder is No. 1, and usually you would time an engine on the back cylinder.

However to check, notice that the magneto has a long and short interval between the opening of the points. The points open twice for each revolution of the magneto (equals two revolutions of the motor). Make sure you know which way the maggy rotates when the engine is turned forwards. The ramp before the long interval is the ramp for the BACK cylinder, always. The ramp would usually be labelled 1.

Now you have to know which HT lead goes to which cylinder. If the back cylinder ramp is labelled 1, and there is a pickup labelled 1, you're in business. If not, you will have to check. When the points are opening on the back cylinder, the brass part of the slip ring will be under the pickup for the back cylinder. If necessary, you can take of a pickup off and look.

Set the timing on the back cylinder - say 35 degrees before top dead centre, fully advanced.

By the way, it's necessary to understand the above if you want to reset the timing on the side of the raod when you're miles from anywhere!

Cheers

Leon

[Chris54]

Hi Leon

Thanks for your words of wisdom, we had a go at the bike last night, had similar results to before we took the thing apart to cure oil leaks.

After timing it up to your 35 degrees BTDC on No1 (rear cyl) it all looked as it did before we started and it runs.

Front cyl got very hot compared with the rear and would not rev very well, sounded very over fueled, ticked over ok, thought it was only running on the front so took ht lead off, runs better on just the back cylinder, revved much better and ticked over, so we put lead back on front cyl and took ht lead off rear, it ran the same on the front as it did on the back, revved ok ticked over.

So a fuel problem, checked for air leaks, all seems sound so down to carb, now how can it run on 2 and be chocked up, real black and wet  plugs, running on 1 the plug is not, so pulling too much fuel on 2 cyl but ok on 1 cyl, float level ? wonder if someone has messed with the size of the jet, holes in the side not the top.

The carb, Headstrom Improved Carb, Variable venturi, perhaps the venturi has been fitted up the wrong way. The jets dictate the float level, too high and fuel will just run out, too low and the bike would have trouble running without constant use of the tickler.

Going to have a good look at carb tonight, any suggestions would be helpful

Cheers

Chris

[Chris54]

Update

Last night, checked carb, float level, jets, operation, all seemed ok.

Ran engine still seemed chocked up, decided to advance the timing another tooth.

Ran so much better, best yet, still got work to do to get it to tick over correctly but almost there.

Still cant understand the fact that one cyl gets hotter than the other, and its not always the same cyl that gets hot.

Chris

[cardan]

Has the bike ever run really well? If not, check that the magneto is 42 degrees.

Leon

[Chris54]

Hi Leon

we have got it sorted now, all the problems we had with it have been rectified but the answer was the magneto,

we had the mag rebuilt 10 months ago and its only been the last month we have been rebuilding some of the renovation work the previous owner had done, putting things right, the mag being one of them, it stopped sparking all together,

Well having the mag rebuilt and tested you would think it would be "brand new bruv", oops the brushes that had been replaced turn out to be very soft, they have worn down very quicklt and coated the slip ring with carbon deposite, so the first cylinder to fire was getting all the sparks.

stripped the mag, cleaned the slip ring, installed decent brushes and hey presto she runs on two, actually it was quite a shock as when it fired up it sounded like a V twin, first time since it was aquired.

Now all we have to do is make sure the brake is good enough to stop it, but that is another story.

Cheers, Chris

[cardan]

Excellent. The brake should be no problem for the first stop, however with the internal expanding and external contracting bits acting on the same drum, fade can be a problem. Particularly if a sidecar is fitted.

The Indian is a spectacular bike if running well.

Too powerful for me, of course. Last week I acquired another 1903 American bike - a 1903 Columbia - to keep my 1903 California company. Here it is with the widow of the original owner when it was "discovered" in 1964.

If you can figure out how the front rim has been removed, you pass the test on early American bikes!

Leon

[Doug]

Trained termites for rim removal...

Homemade petrol tank, or an uncatalogued variation?

-Doug

[cardan]

Yep, termites - wooden wheel rims.

Many mods, including the magneto (originally coil), belt drive (originally all chain via countershaft), new tank (original above rear wheel), etc. etc.

For better or worse the bike has been mostly restored back to original specs. I have to source rims, build wheels, do something with the transmission and finish general odds and ends. I already had half of one of these bikes, but life is short so an early Norton has gone so that I can have a running bike in my lifetime.

Leon