Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

A friend sent this Facebook post which I edited. I found it quite interesting what needed to be done when parts aren't available.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Bailing wire was also a common farmer fix, many a T’s and A’s and flatheads are still working that way.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Necessity, the mother of invention.

I have to say that is quite innovative.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

At Bonneville back in the day, Barney Navarro had an issue with an engine getting too lean (burned a hole in the piston crown). He welded up the crown and they went back to racing. Those were the true days of innovation when it came to grass roots racing!

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

That repair is Mart approved.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

I dropped a valve in the 331 Chrysler in my dirt car, which messed up the top of the piston pretty well. This was a set of JE 12.5:1 pistons, and they wanted $400 for one replacement piston. (331 pistons were about twice the price of 392 pistons.) My engine builder "knew a guy" that he said was a wizard. He had the piston welded up and put the engine back together and we ran it 5 more years with no problem, so I believe the Barney story.

That looks like a righteous repair.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Nothing to do with Flatheads so forgive me but here is what I did in desperation. In the days when money was tight as we just had bought our big house and the kids wanted a dirtbike I bought a non-running twostroke. After lifting the barrel we found a very worn piston that was seized-up heavily and probably several times as the seller told me: "it will only start when you pull it with a car". The thing had almost no compression so the kids had to clean out the aluminum from the bore before I cleaned it up with sandpaper on a wooden dowel in my lathe. The piston was welded up on all important faces, I welded up the broken ring lands as well. After measuring the cylinder bore I turned the piston to 4 thou less diameter on the lathe and as no rings were available in my shelfs, I cut them from steel tube and cut the ring grooves on the piston. Drilled the piston for the neccessary ring location pins, mounted the rings and put the whole thing together again. Kids were grinning ear to ear when the engine responded to the kickstart for the first time. Finally they had a proper dirtbike to spend the holidays on my local track - those were the days when we had no money but a lot of enthusiasm and nothing could stop us.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Great story, Vincent. And, thank you Sheldon for posting. Lots of those Barney Navarro stories around. I think Burt Monroe (fastest Indian) used similar methods. I'm with Mart... an approved fix. I've heard similar stories from early nascar folks. I'll betcha someone like Pete could chime in with a story or two.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

It's got cord rings as well, just the thing for very worn bores. I haven't seen any of those for a longtime.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Burt Munro cast his own pistons in a home made mold and turned them to the specs he needed for that old Indian scout he had. He also made his own cylinders and crankshaft among many other things he made in his little home shop.

Use it up and wear it out. Make it do or do without.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

The Worlds Fastest Indian film recreates Burt's work! Newc

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Just a minor detail, perhaps, but farmers used "baling" wire, not "bailing" wire. Hay bales were commonly held together with 2 strands of wire around each bale. After the bale was fed to the cows, the wire was saved and used for repairs. "Bailing" is what you do with a bucket in a leaky boat.

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Burt was my first wife's grandfather...and he died before I had the pleasure of meeting him...bugger!! I always admired him and followed his exploits as I owned an Indian at the time. As much as I like Indians [cool], I now own a flathead Harley, and, as I've owned both marques, I honestly believe the Harley to be the better machine.
Sorry about getting off topic

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

Hey Brian - hopefully you have a Harley KR . . . in my opinion, the most advanced, well breathing and best flathead ever built! But I might be biased . . .

Re: Aussie Flathead Piston Repair
 

I used to go to the 1/4 mile bike races at Belmont stadium south of San Francisco in the 50's. When walking up to the entrance and before being able to see the track during practice one could always tell the Tom Sifton Harleys by their sound. You can do a search on Tom Sifton, some interesting stuff.