The "Denton Servi" Update 8

I’m all over the place on this project. Jumping from major components to other little stuff just trying to keep moving along while waiting on parts or waiting to figure something out. Most of my figuring out comes in the form of a phone call with Dorsey. Dorsey has been an invaluable source of information and a voice of reason to keep me on track. Below are photos of some of the things I have been doing.

Here’s my setup for test fire!

Some cleanup work on OE clutch and brake pedals. I replaced the pivot studs on both straps as well.

One of my biggest challenges is to save these roached fenders. I still have a way to go on them but they are coming along. Its definitely a challenge since there really is not much metal left to work with and I am not going to be covering them with any filler or paint. I will have to back up the panels on the back side for sure.

Linkert M16 posed a few challenges but I have it all worked out now.

I’m not a painter and wanted to go with all parts in the condition I got them but this primary cover was just too ugly in it’s primer red condition.

My handlebars are little tweaked. (to be addressed later)

Horn rebuild. Someone had been inside here before and had the points way out of adjustment. After getting everything where it should be and adjusted I now have a working horn.

New bushings were a must have on the box frame.

Test fitting the box. The box is in really good shape but there are issues. I have a dozen random holes to fill in and have already straightened out several wavy sections. I also have a dozen or so holes in the lid to eliminate but it now fits onto the box nicely.

Here’s a pic of my Deluxe seat on original pan before Wayne at Heather’s Leathers applies the antique black dye. Can’t wait to see how it comes out!

The "Denton Servi" Update 7

FIRST FIRE!!!!

Well it finally happened. The first fire of the Denton Servi. It was truly the first fire and the first attempt. I was not expecting her to start so quickly. I knew on the first half assed kick after priming she was going to fire. And she did!

I hope everyone enjoys watching the video and I cannot wait to see all my SMC Brothers and Sisters soon.

The "Denton Servi" Update 6

While the world is frantically searching for toilet paper and bottled water I decided to work on my Servi Car. I have been very busy since the last update. Work has kept me out of the garage quite a bit. Also the weather has been awful here in Central Alabama. Mostly rain 4 to 5 days per week. The temps have been very mild and that is greatly appreciated. The pond on my property is about to overflow its banks!

Eva and I also celebrated our 28th anniversary with a weekend trip to Homewood, AL. It’s only 45 minutes away from home but I really enjoyed getting away for a couple of days. We stayed in the SOHO district and were able to walk to restaurants, antique shops and the local brewery. It was a great weekend for the two of us.

On to the Servi. I’ve wired the bike for the most part. Everything except the tail lights, and so far everything checks out. I need to give the cut out relay some attention to make sure it is in adjustment, but that can wait for now. I found that for 1947 the speedometer had an upgrade from previous years to focus the speedo light more to the left side where the rider needed it. I was also told that the lamp socket for 1947 is really hard to find. After looking online I found Mr. Perry Ruiter in Canada. Perry had also been down the 1947 route and decided to make a batch of lamps. He duplicated an original from a friend and made a limited supply. Perry dropped one in the mail to me the following week. The images below belong to Mr. Perry Ruiter.

Here are some pics during wiring.

I’ve also been working on my exhaust system. I will say that so far this has been one of the more time and beer consuming aspects of the project so far. I had gotten a set of head pipes and an older re-pop muffler from Steve Lemay while visiting him at his shop last year. Steve had told me to get ready to spend some time on getting it all mounted. Well he was correct. I made numerous calls to SMC member Dorsey Uptain. Dorsey has sent me several photos of what he has found and what he had to do. I’ve learned that re-pop mufflers have always been short and everyone has to fabricate a bracket to make up the difference. So I did.

Oh, and the crash bar. Thats it in the picture, under my truck and tractor.

The "Denton Servi" Update 5

I’ve been jumping from one part of the bike to another. I’ll run into a problem or an unknown and then move to something else. It gives me time to process the issue instead of doing something dumb. It also gives me time to touch base with SMC member Dorsey Uptain for any solution or encouragement. I recently received my rivets in the mail so I started to reassemble my junky / bobbed front fender. The fender had broken brackets and numerous dents.

These are the rivets I used on the brackets

Of course the fender would not fit. For some reason it was too tall and hitting the bottom of my steering damper. I called Dorsey and we compared measurements to his Servi-car. We measured everything twice and determined that my front brace was almost an inch longer than his. If this brace was homemade someone did a pretty good job with it. Maybe it was on a longer than stock aftermarket springer front end. Who knows!

The top of the fender is hitting the bottom of the steering damper

I disassembled everything again and cut the brace to match Dorsey’s and then reassembled. I mounted the fender again and this time it finally fits.

Finally a mounted fender!

Also mounted the coil and assembled the clutch

Another example of something to think about. Straightening this crash bar!!!

The "Denton Servi" Update 4

Progress has been slow lately. I’ve had big changes with my job over the Fall, so I’m just now getting back to the Servi. No worries with work, I was moved across town and have new job responsibilities. Other than different hours and a little longer commute, all is fine.

Now on to the Servi.

I have mounted the front springer, rear end and all brake components. No issues with the rear end but a couple popped up on the front. I have never owned a springer front end so I leaned on SMC member Dorsey Uptain for all of my left field questions. I ran into an issue with the steering damper. I had several parts and with no real knowledge of how to assemble it. I had to rely on Dorsey to get me through. I then noticed my front wheel was off center inside the forks. After reviewing with Dorsey we decided I had all the right components in all the right places our attention turned to the hub offset on the wheel. Again I had no real knowledge on how to correct the offset issue but was encouraged by Dorsey to give it a try. After my 5th attempt at centering the hub I was successful. The wheel is now centered in the forks. I also got some great help from Eva!

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Next it was time to tackle the transmission. All I can say about it is that all the parts were there. I had watched Tatro build a 45 trans on his you tube channel so I decided to go for it. After ordering a complete rebuild kit from 45 Restorations I jumped in. This was another slow process for me, only getting to work on it during the weekends and trying to remember where I left off. I had to order a new shifter dog for 2nd and 3rd gear and that proved to be very frustrating. The new dog fitment was too snug on the mainshaft. I ran it through my vibrating tumbler and a couple of hours of deburring the edges with emery cloth before I could get smooth action between gears. I then setup my shifter forks and buttoned up the trans.

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My next step will be to get a wiring harness and try and source a base plate for my console. I will probably jump around between electrical, frame, and body components over the next month or so. So here’s a pic of where I stand for now.

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The "Denton Servi" Update 3

Finally the weather is cooling down and I can get in the garage and make some progress. I’ve been sorting through all of the parts I got from Rob. I made numerous calls and texts to SMC members Mike, Dorsey and Erik while trying to identify some of the parts that I could not. The guys were on top of their game and even identified the parts that did not belong with my ‘47. After sorting through everything I began cleaning up all the bolts and nuts and hope to get the springer and rear end mounted next weekend.

The "Denton Servi" Update 2

Parts..Parts.. and more Parts…..

What a summer 2019 has been! After a few thousand miles, burned vacation days and visits to Wauseon and Davenport I found myself in Boonton, NJ. Thanks to Rob Nussbaum of Retrocycle, I was able gather enough parts to really make some progress on the Servi. Rob and I had been in contact for several months about a fairly complete ‘47 basket case with a finished motor that he had in his shop. Rob had brought the project to Wauseon and I was able to rummage through it while at the meet. I left Wauseon knowing that I had liked what I had seen, but Davenport was coming up and I had never been there but always heard great things about it. So I decided to wait and see what would happen there.

Well Davenport was great, and I looked at numerous Servi parts, projects and so on. I even got to look closely at an Indian Dispatch Tow which was a real treat since I’ve only seen one before in person earlier this year in Denton. It was a running and riding bike. The owner was using it to get around and do his shopping at the meet. It was coming time for me to head back to Alabama and I still had not seen anything that I liked better than Rob’s project so I called him from the road and we agreed on the terms. One of my terms required that he would hold it for me until October, which he very kindly did.

I left home early on a Sunday morning on my way to Winchester VA, where I had rented a cabin for $55.00 per night. I reserved it for 2 nights. My plan was to spend Sunday night there, get up early and drive to Boonton NJ, about 4 hours, pickup the parts and drive back for another night at the cabin. Everything went as planned! I got to Retrocycle around midday and Rob was there waiting for me. He helped me load everything up and I got a tour of the shop. This place was impressive with several projects underway, multiple workstations and completely organized. It’s unlike my shop where I can misplace anything at any given time.

It was time to leave Retrocycle and get back to the cabin. I left a different way so I could see some of Boonton. I did not spend much time in town but what I saw was charming and would have enjoyed stopping and walking around a bit. Not what I was expecting, being so close to the city.

The project was missing an exhaust system, so I decided to call Steve Lemay at Resurrection cycles. He is outside Roanoke, which just so happens to be on my way home. I left the cabin Tuesday morning and drove down to Roanoke. Steve’s shop is in Moneta about an hour off the interstate. I drove through the beautiful hills and countryside of Virginia. I could see exactly why someone would setup shop here. Steve was in the shop working and welcomed me right in. By the way, Steve doesn’t really know me at all. I immediately got another great shop tour and again I was reminded of how primitive my setup back home is. I had asked Steve about an exhaust for my project and he said he would see what he could find. He found the correct muffler, hanger bracket, and bumper in his stash of Servi parts. I asked about head pipes, which apparently is a sore subject for 45 motors, he explained about the poor fitment of all that are available and the amount of work it takes to make them fit properly. So did he have a set? No. So, he took a set that he had been working on to make fit for several hours on a different 45 project and let me have them. It was a definitely worth while to stop by and see Steve.

I got home later that night with enough time to spare to unload the truck!

The "Denton Servi" Update 1

With a little luck and some cash, I managed to come up with the best front and rear wheels I could find. Thanks to AJ Thomas (a new friend from VA). Having the rear wheels is a big sigh of relief for me.

I brought all three wheels to the SMC Campout this past weekend and SMC member Dorsey Uptain and I put them on the truing stand and found that they are all in really good shape. I need to blast the rust off the inside of the rims so the tubes won’t be damaged, but other than that, I’m going to run them as is.

Going over the frame and chasing the few threaded areas.

I’m getting ready for Wauseon in a few weeks. Hoping to find a 45 springer next. I feel pretty sure there will be some there. Just hoping they are in good enough shape and not out of my price range. Getting the springer will hopefully get me to the roller stage by end of summer, which is my goal.

SMC Member

Cecil Frost

The "Denton Servi"

New Project!!

Pre 1951 Servi-car

MAY 17, 2019

Southern National Meet    Denton, NC

It was a picturesque weekend in North Carolina and a great opportunity to hang out, tell stories, learn from each other and dig through boxes of old motorcycle treasures.

My goal was to find a pre ’51 Servi. I had gotten the bug to find or build one years ago and that bug was awakened on a recent trip to the Dixie Speedway, where SMC member Dorsey Uptain brought his Servi for our display at the track. It has been a couple of months since Atlanta and I had been searching on line and in my forums for a good basket case to no avail. So I began thinking about starting from scratch. While considering my options a partially complete pre ’51 rear end came to me out of the blue from Mississippi. I went over to MS and got the rear end and found a NOS WLA air cleaner to boot! At this point I knew which way the project was going to go. Ground UP!

We arrived in Denton on Thursday and setup camp and had a great time with the SMC gang at the campsite. Dinner was served and consumed. A big thank you goes to SMC members Danny and Beth Eubanks for making sure everyone got something to eat and a comfortable spot around the fire.

We crawl out of our tents on Friday to a gorgeous NC spring morning, grab a cup of coffee and off to the swap meet. The Denton swap meet was smaller than I had expected but the quality of items, in my opinion, was top notch. I get my plan together and my list is small, an early Servi frame. I go down the first aisle and make halfway through the second aisle and there it was in the back of a pickup truck with 4 other frames. It was what I wanted, and to add to it the matching complete rear end!!

by SMC member,

Cecil Frost (Big C)