Panther Progress and Sucess

Mission Confidence Is High For The Ride On Sunday!

This was the bike at the last stage of reassembly, before it decided to be a complete pain and backfire every time you tried to start it. (Click on the link below)

Panther Probs

After a lot of head scratching and conflicting opinions, Jimmy and I decided to give the Panther the old college try today.

The gas tank and seat were re-installed.

A gallon of new gas was added along with a new spark plug with just 2 degrees more heat than the one installed when I bought the bike. It is the exact plug specified by Phelon and Moore for the majority of bikes they produced in the Cleckheaton Works.

My brother Jimmy came over after his stint at a local hospital where he writes marketing scripts for the edification of knee replacement recipients. 

We had quite a crowd to observe our efforts.

Leon and Barb are in from Arizona, Linda was here to work with Anne on the Uke lessons.

(Progressing very well)

After some research and cogitation, we decided that we would try kicking the bike.

We had the same result that discouraged us the last time, violent kickback.

More cogitation, we retarded the ignition slightly, still kicked back, retarded even more, no sign of life, advance just a hair "VOILA" it starts.

We then added a mark on the A/R lever showing the correct position for correct starting.

Leon was there right with us giving moral support.

Then the cheer leaders came out to see what all the smoke was about.

Speaking of smoke, the bike looked like it was running real rich, and with  gas at 2 bucks a gallon, we didn't want that.

So we took the carburetor off and dropped the needle by one notch.

We'll see how that goes.

Jimmy the kicker is to be congratulated for his Stirling efforts and for bringing his kicking boots.

Both stands are still proving to be a bit of a challenge.

The center stand has been all bent out of whack some how.

However the side stand is so far wrong that it is not even funny. If you tried to set the bike on the side stand it would be almost horizontal.

After some review, I decided that the easiest fix was to machine the mounting face for the side stand.

Machining the side stand.

The stand has been attached to the bike and will be tested on Saturday. (Tomorrow)

Ciao Bella

Norm

More after the bike meet on Sunday showing the Panther (We hope)

Panther Update

More on the Panther

Hey, talking about Panthers, how about the Carolina Panthers making it to Superbowl 50?

I know who madame will be rooting for, I mean a Panther and a Leopard are pretty similar creatures, right?

Any way, back to the plot.

Earlier this week, I went to the California DMV to register the Panther.

DMV 1 Norm 0

On to round two, I needed a vehicle inspection, so instead of loading, unloading, reloading, unloading the bike on my truck, I paid $75 to a licensed contractor to come and inspect the Panther at home.

Once done, I headed to the DMV for the second round.

"No your appointment from earlier does not count you have to wait in line"

I got ticket B340, they were serving B290. I timed the progress, about 1.5 minutes per number.

About 75 minutes, at the DMV!!!!

Well they picked up the pace and it was only about 50 minutes.

I now have the registration docs and the license plate

with tags. The pink will come in the mail.

Much to my chagrin,  Jerry Brown, AKA Moonbeam, Governor of this great state of ours can sleep easy tonight knowing that I have made a significant donation to the state coffers.
It also helps keep the guys in Folsom gainfully employed.

Even though I registered the bike in February it got January tags as that is when I bought it.

In the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "Stiffed Again Moriarty"

Well he would have said it if Sherlock had to deal with the DMV.

Oh well, you can't fight city hall or the DMV.

The tech stuff is progressing and a further blog will give updates on that real soon.

Ciao Bella 

Norm

Panther Progress

Progress at the end of January

Significant progress has been made in the two weeks that the bike has been home,

Not the least of which is that it starts and runs.

After bragging recently about the winter being over, I had to move the work bench into the shed today because of rain.

In support of the goal to ride the Panther to the OC Vintage bike meet on 2/14/2016, I have been pressing ahead with the tasks required to ride the bike over there.

The rear fender was unbolted and the license plate frame removed. The new tail light assembly was installed on the license plate frame.

A new wiring harness complete with ground wire was made for the rear end of the bike.

The fender and license plate frame have been installed.

The next job is to rewire the headlamp bucket and make a new harness for the front end,

We will start on Monday with the installation of the seat and gas tank once the wiring harness is in place.

My present plan is to ride the bike one time (DMV willing, I go to do battle with them on Wednesday) and then start the restoration process.

Those of you who know my bike preferences realize that I'm neither a fan of over restoration nor trailer queens.

However I believe that this is an honest bike that deserves a bit of cosmetic attention.

No not lipstick on the pig!

Just make it look better.

More soon on the project.

Ciao Bella 

Norm

New Blog About Bikes

A test of the new blog for my gear head friends.

What it may look like one day.