July 2005
Website launched
The first cast iron part, the 1924 inlet cage, was poured. These will
be delivered to the machine shop for final machining. After machining,
half the batch will be nickel plated, and the rest will be plain
uncoated. These uncoated parts will be ready for those who prefer to
paint it original black, or powdercoat their choice of color.
Parts related to the inlet cage (inlet valves, valve guides, springs,
spring retainer, rocker holder, rockers, pins) should be available very
shortly.
Engine cylinders are being poured, and should be available in September.
Patterns for the inlet manifold is being completed.
Patterns for the piston & connecting rod will be made soon. The
Piston pin and endcaps engineering drawings are being revised
Introduce the AcePoints Exchange Program.
August 2005
The inlet cage castings are being CNC-machined to exacting standards. Here are computer snap-shots. The nickel plating process, in addition to
aesthetic enhancement, will also increase hardness especially in the
valve seat areas. Furthermore, the nickel plating will readily
accept both conventional and powder-coating paint, if needed. We may
consider nickel plating the whole batch, instead of just half the batch.
We received a small sample of valves, guides, springs, etc. for dimensional verification. Can you identify each part?
The engine cylinders, rocker holders, and rockers will be made in the foundry at the same time.
Patterns for the inlet manifold is progressing slowly, but surely.
On the subject of pistons, we were unable to secure an original
article. The ones that came out of our "intact" 1924 motor were
actually aftermarket Jahn's piston. However, based on old photos and literature, we have come out with our interpretation of an original 1924 piston. What do you think? We welcome and covet your feedback.
September 2005
Fresh from the machine shop, the first pair of inlet cages
are being prepared for nickel plating. This part was delayed because an
earlier machine shop who accepted the job, but bailed out at the eleventh
hour.
The first cylinder casting samples are ready for inspection. It need some fine tuning, but we'll get there.
We have decided to release parts for sale after we completed putting together kits in logical order. Click here
to see sample price list. At this point, all parts shown on that price
list are being manufactured, with the exception of the inlet rocket
housing. I'm having a hard time locating an authentic part. We will
award $200 for a pair of useable 1920-1924 Ace rocker housing, with
functional flap.
Studs and Nuts will be made of plain steel with nickel plating, just
like the good old days. Nuts will be made taller than what is available
commercially today. The cylinder base nuts are specially machined to be
1/2" tall, like the originals. We made a bunch of these vintage nuts,
hoping to sell to other antique motorcycle restorers as well.
Gaskets will be made with modern materials. We will be using rubber
bonded aramid/kevlar gaskets for the cylinder base and the rocker
housing. For those who are not familiar, these types of gaskets
are used in premium quality engines such as those on exotic custom
cars and V-twin motorcycles.
Next on the project list are the inlet manifold, possibly the Schebler carburetor, piston, connecting rod, and bearings.
December 2005
We apologize for not updating during the last two months. There's so
much to accomplish, and not enough time in the day to do it all!
At this point, we have in stock and for sale, most of the items in the
"cylinders" group. Please look up the PARTS link. The inlet cages are
fully machined, and the price shown are with nickel plating. We are
currently not set-up to directly accept credit cards, but we will accept
PayPay. You can also pay by personal check or money order
(payable CSI), although it will take several days for personal
checks to clear. Please contact us with any questions.
The Ace engine cylinder casting will go through a third round of fine
tuning. We hope this will be the last round of modifications! The final
product shall be fully machined, nickel plated all over except the
fine-honed inner cylinder walls. In addition, the rockers and rocker holders should also be available at about the same time.
We are very grateful to come in contact with several Ace Four
enthusiasts who were very generous in loaning us parts for engineering
purposes. We were able to finally design the Ace rocker housing.
Tooling for this part is being designed/machined, and production
parts should be available by early March 2006. However, for those who
need to rebuild their inlet housing, the little torsion spring and the
hinge wire will be available much sooner.
We hope that by early April 2006, the Pistons group of parts will be
available for sale. This group consists of the old style iron piston,
rings, wrist pin/brass plugs, wrist pin bushing, forged conrod, babbitt
bearings, and rod bolt/castle nut/shim. Click here to see computer rendition.
January 2006
The engine cylinder casting needs further modifications, and we decided
to start over from clean sheet. Further delay is unavoidable,
unfortunately.
In addition to the Piston group of parts, the Tappets group of parts
are also being manufactured. This group consists of Tappet
guides, clamps, tappets, adjusting screws, bonnets, lift rods, springs & collars.
We are currently looking for an exhaust manifold assembly for
engineering purposes. This is the later cast iron lever-type cutout
manifold. Generous credits will be offered in exchange for loaning
parts for reproduction. Use these monetary credits to buy new Ace parts
from this website, including those parts that will be developed in the
future.
During the Ace motorcycle production period from 1920 to 1924, several
models of Schebler HX carburetors have been used. We believe the latest
model, the HX183, was used before the company was sold after 1924. The
later owners of the Ace Motorcycle Company attempted to continue
production of the Ace motorcycle, and upgraded the carburetor to
the Schebler DLX models. We decided to settle on the HX183, as it
represents the model used before the original company was split up and
sold. Check out the computer rendition of the cam block.