Pilgrimage to Kerrville

[jleewebb]

I’ve been on his waiting list for at least six months (or a year and a half if you count our first contact), so on a beautiful late October day I loaded up my cruddy ol’ engine and a bunch of “show and ask” items and an eight page list of questions and parts needed and headed out to Kerrville to visit my new friend and hero Ed Moore. Stopped in Blanco to pick up my friend Charlie, who rides a ’74 Moto Guzzi café racer. (Ed said he wouldn’t hold that against him, but if he ever showed up on it he’d have to park it where it couldn’t be seen from the house or the street.) At any rate, we got in about mid-afternoon, and after helping move a little furniture we got down to business.

I thought I was just delivering the engine to get in line for rebuild, but once we got it on the bench, Ed tore right into it. After about fifteen minutes he already had the top and side covers off and it occurred to me to go get the camera. First pic below (assuming I remember to load them in first pic last) was taken at 3:41 p.m. Last pic in series was at 4:57, with engine and transmission basically dismantled. Ed just worked along steadily, inspecting parts as he went, separating good from possibly good from bad with a running stream of explanation and commentary. Trying to absorb all he was telling us was like getting a drink out of fire hose, but I think I got the general idea and I’m trusting Ed to keep track of the details.

Bike had a major shifting problem when it went into the shed in ’75, and Ed found the problem right away, and uncovered a mystery. The shifter drum was in the worst shape he’d ever seen one, he said, but the gears and most other transmission parts were in great shape. “No way these gears have 20,000 miles on them, somebody’s been in here working but they didn’t replace the right parts.” I gotta believe it, but I sure don’t remember having any work done on the transmission. What I do remember is trying and failing to free up stuck clutch by speed shifting and otherwise abusing things. I finally pulled cover and freed up clutch by prying plates apart with a screwdriver, but it never shifted right after that, finally wouldn’t go to second at all. Ed says it needs a new shifter drum and a shifter fork, which he has. He’s also “x-ing the gears” which finally makes sense to me now that I understand “x-ing” means “crossing.” Sounds like a good idea to me.

We also checked out my carbs. Turns out I had one oval one and one square one, another mystery. It’ll have two oval ones when done.

It was getting dark by then so we went to house for a wonderful dinner prepared by Ed’s wonderful spouse Lori. Thick steaks, baked potatoes, asparagus, salad, the works. Best meal I’ve had in years. Ed fascinated us with his stories of testing and repairing wiring on the early B-1 bombers. (That’s an airplane, not a motorcycle.) Us old folks like to go to bed early, so we bedded down in their guest house a little after 10.

We got back at it mid-morning after a sumptuous breakfast of waffles, bacon, cantaloupe, peaches, and I can’t remember what else.

Ed pulled the camshaft and valves in nothing flat and after sandblasting and turning valves and other parts pronounced most of it good. Let me try and get this story straight: As Ed’s loosening up the cam locking nut that holds shafts together he says, “you know, (noted repair guide author) will tell you that this nut is always left hand thread, but here this one’s right hand thread. Only the second one I’ve seen like that.” Very interesting, little details like that

That afternoon we toured the barn and checked out Ed’s collection of running and fixable scramblers and superhawks, very impressive. Also his dad’s ’64 Mercury, a beautiful big boat that Ed has restored to showroom condition. Checking out his store of takeoff body parts I found a good right air cleaner cover to replace one I never could find. Also a serviceable headlight bucket. Mine turned out to be too bent when I tried to install speedo with “new” (barely serviceable but cheap) gasket Ed came up with.
Also a very nice transmission top cover. I know I had the air cleaner and transmission covers but after three months of searching I still can’t find them. If they ever do turn up maybe I’ll sell ‘em on ebay.

The afternoon featured racing stories, lots of them, as we worked on my list. Desert racing, arena racing, Kart (sp?) cars, I don’t know what all else. Is there anything Ed hasn’t raced? Monster trucks and Greyhound busses? Turns out Ed used to race bikes at the Orange County Stadium, in San Bernardino, where my dad and I used to watch "midget" races in the mid-50’s. I got free passes for being in the Soap Box Derby, my only organized racing experience.

We got bogged down toward end of the day with my forks, which are apparently somewhat unique. I’m posting that story in my restoration thread since my last post there left the fork issue unresolved.

It got late, still had a way to go on my list. We’d have liked to stay another night but Charlie only brought one day’s dose of blood pressure medicine and we both needed to get back to the real world anyway. So we went back the next week for more. I really didn’t mind, this is the most fun I’ve had in a while. I’ll write about that next trip soon, this is getting too long. Thanks so much, Ed.

[jleewebb]

On my first trip to Kerrville, Ed showed us his sandblasting room, with three booths, while blasting a few engine/transmission parts he needed to inspect more closely. He said “if you’ve got any other parts you want to clean up, bring ‘em with you next time and I’ll show you how.” I asked him again before I left, and he repeated the offer. When I got home I called him and said “Are you serious Ed, if I bring all my painted parts you’ll let me sandblast them?” He said “sure, you just need to strip ‘em first so we don’t get dead paint in the medium.” What a generous offer!

So I spent a few days learning to strip paint and hauled an assortment of pieces to Kerrville on my next trip. After a rudimentary lesson, “keep moving, don’t spray the gloves or the window or down into the bottom of the box,” Ed turned me loose to learn. Sandblasting is a lot more fun than stripping and power washing. I could only spare a day, so I left home around dawn and got into Ed’s with plenty of morning left. I don’t know where the day went, but it did. Ed worked on putting my transmission back together, found a few more funky parts, but had it working smoothly by end of day. I never knew how transmission worked, but now I sortta do. I sandblasted away and kept coming back to pester him with more stuff from my list.

I’d brought my brakes for Ed’s evaluation and he pronounced back shoes good, fronts worn out. He said “you didn’t use your rear brakes much, did you?” I said “hey, rear brake’s for slowing down and controlling, front brake’s for stopping, no?” Doesn’t everybody ride that way?

I needed to get back home that night, but wasn’t in too big a hurry to stay for dinner, and I’m glad I did. Empanadas with mole sauce. I like Mexican food, and this was some seriously world-class comida. Whenever we’re hailing Loud Mouse we should remember to also cheer the lady mouse who puts up with him and keeps him well fed and healthy. Thanks again Lori!

I’ll be going back again later this week, hopefully budgeting enough time to finish. Still need to sandblast tank, rear fender, and headlight bucket, and strip and blast lower fork tubes which I foolishly left down there, new (to me) chain guard and a few other parts, like the swing arm. Ed’s making me a new bracket for chain guard. Old one got busted off at some point, probably when bike was stolen and “ratted” in ’65. (I got most of it back in ’66, a miracle, but that’s another story). It’ll cost, but I really want a chain guard. Might get opportunity to take a girl in white pants for a ride. A remote possibility, I know, but hope springs.

Engine’s almost done, cylinders are in San Antonio being bored. It’ll most likely be ready before I am.

I was too busy to take more photos but I’ll throw in a few leftovers from first trip here. I’ve got plenty more pix and will probably take more, so if y’all are enjoying seeing them, let me know.
Thanks, Lee

[kustommusic]

jleeweb, Wow! how cool that you went to Ed's. I would love to make that trip but northern Indiana is a bit farther away. Still it's somthing to consider. The pictures turned out good, I thought mabey Ed would look older,but he is still in his prime! Go Ed ! Thanks for posting all of this,it's the most interesting thing iv'e seen here this year. Kustommusic

[Michael Stoic]

EMO, it's wonderful to see you in your natural habitat! Lee, thank you for posing the photos!

Michael Stoic
honda305.com

[e3steve]

I always reckoned that you guys in the US are spoiled for choice when it comes to 305s, but living close enough to TX for A Grand Day Out at EMO's is just mind-blowing! Nice one! Thanks for taking the time & trouble to share, Lee. I'll bet there are many envious forumers here now....

[Gun]

Posting in a Legendary Thread.


Keep the updates coming. I dream of the day that ed will tell me i can bring my engines down :p

[rgtaylor2]

Well I was all happy to see this post till I saw the "boneyard" and realized LM's junk is better than some of the daily riders I've seen pictured on this forum. LOL