dedicated to grandpa Leo

Leonardo

New Member
Local time
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Joined
Sep 21, 2008
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5
Location
Proctor Place, Independence Missouri
have been observing this forum for about a year now, please forgive me for not coming forward before now.

i chuckle every time i hear a reference to "beer can tech"
as i work for a Miller-Coors distributorship.

it may not be a very unique story.
One spring; after two failed marriages, and a massive amount of 10yr old bourbon, i was clearing up the backyard for mowing, and found my ex-wifes barely used bicycle.

"fix it or scrap it" THATS HOW IT STARTED !

went on the inernet, looking for parts....what is that?
wow....an engine on a bicycle!!?

i should state at this point that i have owned very few cars that i didn't remove the engines from for power upgrades.
('74 chevy half ton straight six manual tran)
('72 lincoln continental 460ci)
('76 mercedes 300D)
('66 coronet: replaced slant six w/ late model EFI 318 "look,... it's batman")
('89 GMC S15, my favorite, had the vortec 4.3 from a '97 4x4, converted to TBI,ported, and bolted to a diesel transmission. 0 to 60 @ 4 seconds w/Dunlop tyres)(also installed squre tube rear bumper w/250lbs sand to correct the light rear axel effect.)
(a half dozen '86 to '89 bronco II's)
most that know me have said i had a gift for cars and animals.
(i grew up with a pair of Herfort bulls and pair of Tennessee walker mares.)
infact, when in high school i was working on Cummin's Diesels during the week,{anyone know what a torque spliter is.?...} and fuel injected 1000hp outlaw sprintcars on the week ends.

somone here may even find it curious to know that i did evade the wolves, mountainlions and bears while attending grade school living at Anchorage, Choogiak, and Eagle River.
it seems my father: Donat' Phillip, was just like his father: Leonardo DeLorice;
enjoyed being the master seargent too much to become an officer.?!
(grandpa did his time on a PT boat as a gunner..? any wonder we live in the middle of a continent...this far from the ocean? he also retired from General Motors... ironic, they made his PT boat.) (another irony is that they were both "college boys" and "only sons" there fore had to enlist.)

i've worked as a mechanic for years, have a wealth of experiences and humorous stories, amazed when i learned my best friend in high school just happened to be Bob Chandlers nephew; was always getting into trouble running around in his black '78 Trans Am. (once found myself...sitting alone in the dark...on the side of the highway....on top of a keg...with tap in my mouth...as the cars taillights dissapeared in the distance, doing thier quartermile run....{what if a patrol car should happen along?}
"you see ossifer... i'm just the mechanic... i dooooooon't drive..!"

the greatest thing i've seen, is the eveloution of the shifter kit.
i had been dreaming of this sort of thing and believe you have it, spot on.

the reason i dedicate these bikes to grandpa leo, i remember this very serious professional man (imagine the dad on that '70's show), whose only flight to fancy was zipping around the neighborhood on his (then new) little honda 50.

i have pictures but need to convert from .TIF

in closing i will add before and after pics of a sweet little board track racer known as Bad Mojo...1976 Emory Mohave...in the first pic you might see the Schwinn Frontier in the background
 

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hey large, here is the other side, and a few questions.

who made this motor, what size (c.c.) do you think it is.
(if you cant see the plate, it reads: TIGER MOTOR - Grade A - Fuel Oil Mix)

when i bought it, it was a basket case.

motor had a piece of wood stuck between it and frame.
after repairing that, took it for a test run and nearly crashed at high speed when i ran over the ejected portion of the two piece muffler.

i have launched this (briggs&strat) muffler three times now when the screw came loose. I finally recalled my sprint car experience and "safety wired" it.
we used to eject the magnetos ocasionally, but never knew until the end because the motor continued due to the extreamly high compression.

CAUTION:do not safety wire parts near other moving parts (like your rear wheel) WIRE THE FASTENERS ONLY (safety wire fits nicely in the slot of a sheet metal screw)

ANOTHER TIP: i used the poor mans pipe bending technique,
simply filled it with sand,
plugged the ends with my thumbs,
and drew it across the large portion of my leg
until desired shape achieved,
then cut to fit.

(that aluminum tube, began life as a ladder on back of a large sail boat)
(yes....my neighbor replaced it with new, BEFORE i took it)

sorry for rambling on before i realized i don't belong here.
C.U. in tech section
 

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