Behind the Scenes at the National Museum of the USAF part 1

I took a Behind the Scenes Tour of the restoration area of the National Museum of the USAF. The Restoration Division tour takes you through three hangars on Wright-Patterson AFB. The big attraction going on right now is the restoration of the Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle. This plane was saved from being scrapped after WWII to be displayed in Memphis, but because of deterioration over the years it was decided that it should be moved to and fully restored and displayed at the Air Force Museum.










This is a full inside and out restoration.










A small section of the paint is left for the time being, although this is from a paint job in the 1980's. When it comes time to paint, a photo projection of the original will be used to make sure it is fully accurate.












Many of the sub-assemblies are being worked on in a smaller room in the hangar. To give you an idea of how much work is involved, just the tail gunner section had a four page list of missing parts at the start of the restoration. Many of the parts have to be duplicated on site, using factory drawings, photos, and reference from other B-17s.








Parts of the aircraft have writing etched into the aluminum. During the war bond tours after returning to the states people were encouraged to write on the plane, and also it suffered from vandals when on display in Memphis. Replacing the skin would make the aircraft less original, sanding them out would leave it too thin, and the marks are also part of the history of the Memphis Belle, so these will be left in place.




The ball turret in the blue frame is for the museums B-24, and the other is from the Memphis Belle. They are the same turret, but mount differently since it needs to be retracted on the B-24 for landing. The B-24 is missing it's ball turret, so they acquired one, which after research turned out to be the original from the museum's B-24.














Also in the restoration area is the B-17D The Swoose. Three combat veteran B-17s exist, The Swoose, Memphis Belle, and the museum's B-17G Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby. After the Memphis Belle is completed, Shoo Shoo Shoo baby will be going to the Smithsonian.

XT500 MX project

I got some Progressive 13 series shocks for the XT. These are 15 inches eye-to-eye.


I also got a set of '83 YZ490 43mm forks and a twin leading shoe brake.


Here is how it sits with the new parts.


The longer rear shocks brought the rake down to about 28.5 degrees. It isn't ideal, but might be enough to not have to de-rake the frame. I'm still undecided on that one.


The swingarm has about 16 degrees of droop.


This is the tank and seat just sitting in place. I haven't modded the tank tunnel yet to fit the frame. I think it will just need to go 1.5" lower, so shouldn't be too difficult to do. The seat is a narrowed stock XT500 seat that is fairly close to what I'll need. The rest of the bodywork will be new DC plastics. I still need to fit the Yamaha wheel to the Suzuki swingarm, and need to measure the shock mounts. It looks like the right side mount on the swingarm will need to be moved outward slightly.

2014 Indiana events and places to visit

Grand Prix of Indianapolis - May 8-10 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indy 500 - May 17-25 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indy Rockers Reunion - May 31 - Indianapolis

Moville Groundshakers Father's Day Motorcycle Race - Bunker Hill Dragstrip - June 15

Brickyard 400 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - July 24-27

Kokomo Wings & Wheels - air and car show - Kokomo Municipal Airport - July 26

34th Annual Tippecanoe Steam and Gas Power Show - West Lafayette - July 31-August 2

Indiana British Car Union - Indy British Motor Days car and bike show - August 2 - Zionsville

MotoGP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - August 7-10

Indy Mile - AMA pro flat track - Indianapolis - August 8

Mid-America Speedway - Night after the Indy Mile and Bultaco Astro Cup - August 9 - Indianapolis

AMA Pro Motocross - August 16 - Crawfordsville

NHRA US Nationals - Indianapolis - August 27 through September 1

James Dean Festival & Run - Fairmount - September 25-28

Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb - Newport - October 3-5

AMA Vintage MX series - Podium 1 Motoplex - Charlestown - October 18

Grand National Cross County Ironman - Crawfordsville - October 25-26

Wildcat Creek MX - east of Lafayette

Muncie Dragway - Albany

Putnam Park Road Course - New Meridian

Lawrenceburg Motorcycle Speedway - Lawrenceburg

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum - Indianapolis

The Studebaker National Museum  - South Bend

National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States - Auburn

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum - Auburn

Ropkey Armor Museum - Crawfordsville

Indiana Transportation Museum - Noblesville

Grissom Air Museum - Peru

Kerstings Cycle Center and Museum - North Judson

Elwood Haynes Museum - Kokomo

Kokomo Automotive Museum - Kokomo

DT1 flat track project

There are two different swingarms for the '68-'73 DT series, the shorter '68-'70 square arms and the longer '71-'73 round tube arms. I'd stretched my '68 swingarm to roughly the length of the later round tube swingarms. I got a '71 and up longer brake rod and brake stay. The brake rod fit fine, but the brake stay didn't fit the frame right. The top one in the picture is the '71-'73 part.


Here is the end where it bolts to the frame. It does bolt up next to the frame bracket, but wouldn't have pivoted properly.


I just had to cut, slug, weld, blast and paint. This gave me the right length, with the '68-'70 in the front, and the '71-'73 at the back to fit the SC500 brake drum.


I also knocked out a triangle stand. I needed this since I couldn't use a milk crate once the exhaust went on.


I was stoked to see the exhaust on the bike.