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[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

Congratulations Chippy on winning Veterans 50-59 at Victorian Titles, knew you were riding well when you finally conquered Sherco Hill !

Just sharing some progress on your Italjet Scott, when you dropped it off I thought to myself: I'll Take A Look, Just Expect Turmoil ! Knowing you have not heard it run yet and are keen as Conondale draws ever closer. What a beast, where do I start, no spark, no oil pressure, no kickstart, no air cleaner or boot, holes in fuel tank and very rusty inside.

Did not know where to start, so I repaired broken lock stop and exhaust mounts and made a shark fin mounted directly to rear brake stay. All the time thinking this won't make it run.

Decided to pull the rocker cover off and I am very impressed with the job Gerard has done on the rocker shafts and blocks, but there was a distinct lack of lubrication. Topped up oil directly over rocker shafts, put some oil down the plug hole and cranked it over with a drill and no oil was moving. Laid it on it's side and removed the clutch cover to have a look how the pump works, only to find the 3mm roll pin that is driven by the crank is sheared off.

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Found an old TY shock to raid the roll pin and fitted it to the pump and bolted it back together.

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Found the broken bits, primed the pump and cranked it over with the drill again, so now the lubrication is flowing. This simple sheared roll pin is probably what killed the rocker shafts and blocks causing the valves to stop working, but fortunately the bottom end is lubricated by a wet sump.

Next, no spark, so I removed the front engine mounts and sanded all contacts for a good Earth and refitted. Checked the wiring and cleaned electrical contacts, tested and we have Spark!

Looked at the badly worn splines on kickstarter shaft and kickstarter where it had been welded and ground off and decided we can do that again. Not something that I like doing, however the clutch cover can still be removed complete with kickstarter and shaft and we need to know if it will run as Chippy is texting and obviously keen!

Dropped some fuel down the plug hole and snort, wheeze and pop it fired, now we are getting somewhere!

So off with the carby, all looks good except some gum in the bottom, cleaned and refitted. Now air cleaner boot, 43mm same as KT and I had some Falcon radiator hose left and was just enough. Cut out a piece of air filter medium, oiled and fitted it. Refitted tank with some fuel, pulled the Victa choke lever and bang!

First kick! This was late in the afternoon after working on it most of the day, so I had to take a photo, I think you just out monstered Franken KT !

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Now back to the fuel leaks is probably a good idea!

[David Lahey]

Fantastic stuff Greg. Resurrections like this are very inspirational
Is that exhaust flame photoshopped or real?

[chippy]

Hello all,
It was good to see so many Queenslanders take the long drive to Victoria for the Victorian Titles and Australian Titles and especially those from Central Queensland too...
And furthermore, there was many good results that us Queenslanders did achieve..

David, yes it is good to see an inspirational story.

Greg. Thank you so much for the work you have done whilst I was in Victoria. Yes with all those faults on the bike, I did leave you with a tall order in fact:
In Times At Loss Just Expect Transformation

Yes it was good to see how easily it started and to see the oil being pumped through the clear oil lines to the top filer. I am glad you found the sheered off pin on the oil pump also. I have also progressed with the Scott in preparation for Conondale and the Ïtalian theme.

I have just one question I forgot to mention, and that is the flames coming out the rear of the exhaust. Does that mean I might be able to attack that hill climb at Conondale, or is that just trick photography??? I thought you were on a total fire ban in your area!!!!

I will try and get a progress photo up for you shortly Greg..

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

Team Hardwood have just enjoyed riding Ginormous Granite slabs and boulders of all shapes and sizes at Coona's 2 day Trial with shade trees on every section. The new secret venue is even better than their awesome Green Valley Road Trials Heaven! Thankyou Coonabarabran Trials Club and all the Tamworth crew for a top weekend.

David, Yes real flames and No I don't know how to photoshop!

Chippy, I think the Conondale hills will be alive with the sound of 4 SROKE!

Will it run on Gruppa?

I think he means Grappa, which is an alcoholic beverage that contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume, and is 120%proof. Probably been on it when he wrote the post!!

Because there were no bolts sticking out of the sides of the ITALIAN STALLIAN to connect my Lightning Rods to like Franken KT, I was thinking that Grappa would be the Ultimate fuel for the Monster. Turns out it starts and runs really well on BP Ultimate!

Perhaps this is a better way to depict the motor running?

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[manxman]

In case you thought Greg was having a moment, see photos on link https://plus.google.com/photos/11271134 ... qJf32K3KOA I thought at least he would have told you all he won!!!!

[Mark K]

........ Perhaps this is a better way to depict the motor running?

I don't see evidence of the motor running so much as evidence of those anti-gravity boots you're wearing. The right one has even lifted to nearly handlebar height. Your left toe is visible under the bash-plate so I'm assuming you must have hooked your foot under the foot peg to avoid drifting uncontrollably into the upper atmosphere.

Its a good thing Chippy's bike has a bit of weight to it or you could have been lost to us forever.

Keep up the good work.

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

Manxman, Thankyou for the photos, they do a better job of describing how big the rocks are!

Mark K, the gravity defying boots may explain why I go over the bars sometimes! We do like to Play With Gravity, on Saturday Team Hardwood supported the Inaugural Orara Valley Progress Association Billy Kart Derby. The competition was very friendly, but very competitive between Donna and I. We posted identical times on the grass track and only 0.04 of a second separated us on the tarmac, in other words Donna was dawdling along by 1/25ths of a second! Apparently my boofhead made the difference!

[Mark K]

.......... Apparently my boofhead made the difference!

I've never really worried about the size of my head since it probably makes no difference with it being empty.

Gravity on the other hand can either be a friend or an enemy. I'd always assumed that since gravity had such a firm hold on my ample guts, that the little orange beasty would never leap uncontrollably in a skywards direction and unexpectedly dislodge me ...... That was until Conondale the other year when one of the sections went across a little dry gully and sharpishly up a little steep bank with an awkward turn at the top. Now the little beasty is not exactly famous for its explosive power, and so I grabbed a good handfull of throttle only to find the front wheel coming in a generally upwards direction and continuing to come up at such a rate that it spat me clean off the back while it continued to loop backward as it disappeared in a skywards direction with me falling backwards to the bottom of the gully.

I can't blame the beasty since it was only doing what I told it, so I guess I have to blame gravity. At least there was nobody there with a camera at just that time so at least there is no photographic evidence of my embarrassment, but I'm still wary of gravity. I'm not sure that its something to be played with.

[chippy]

Hello all,
Well I have had some progress with the Italjet Scott. In fact I have been very busy with it and David Lahey would say "one of those speedy restorations".

I actually consider the restoration of our bikes as a bit of an art form. In fact I think it is a very unique art form and the way the tank has worked out that I have just picked up, I thought that it might be appropriate to place it on the dining room table for all the family to see.

However my wife had other ideas in relation to its art form and thus the photo below explains it all!!!!!

Chippy

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[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

Chippy, your vase, er tank looks really good! Perhaps there was a miscommunication with your wife with her thinking Hawaiian Theme with a Lei instead of Italian Theme and David Lahey?

Finally the Fantic is all together and I am very impessed, but I have only ridden it around the yard. Tomorrow I will have a better ride to test the 6 gears and drum brakes, perhaps I will be Fast And Not Totally In Control !

Just sharing some Fantic photo's for everyone's perusal:

Sorry about the smoke haze as we have several fires still burning!