1940 Serviglide

[kartjockey]

I decided to sleeve the original rotary valve for this motor.  I did it for my '48 and still had enough material to do another one. The early engines had a unique rotary valve unlike the H engines.  I have been told it was an effort by Simplex to help with low end power.  I also learned that this engine will run with an H rotary valve.  None the less I went forward with restoring the old one. 

Fortunately, the block measured quite well and by sleeving the valve I will have a running clearance of .0035 per side.

I have two of the valves so that helped with set up and location of the slot and hole.  I made a shaft to mount the part for machining.  And instead of just using an endmill cutter near the slot size I used a quick program to actually mill the shape of the slot out.  This allowed me to sneak up on the size and not take just one bite at it.

Last picture is a page from the early manual.  Shows this style rotary valve.

[Ricks]

Great work Tom! Not that I expected anything less from you.

[Jason Smith]

Impressive! Love the detail!

[pd]

Ha . I'm still jealous .
Some guys have all the great toys .
Nicely done , Tom .

Pete  .

[Scooter4]

That is a great idea!  I wish I had thought of that instead of making a whole new rotor valve when I did the K model.

[kartjockey]

A few weeks ago Bob Filip(son of original owner) messaged me out of the blue to tell me he had found the original registrations for the Serviglide.  A temporary registration and the permanent registration.  He mailed them out right away.

 I was ecstatic!

Pics show front and back of each.

[Ricks]

That is some great documentation!  Amazing someone saved it all these years.

[pd]

Excellent . Proof positive history .

Pete .

[Bob53]

Those need to be framed and put on display with the scooter. I know your were surprised to open that package knowing how you love documentation. How awesome they found it and sent them to you.

[Scooter4]

What a Score!!  Always great to have provenance.

[kartjockey]

After two years of great perseverance, I finally own the correct Miller generator for the Serviglide!  After a few fallen attempts through that time, I managed to locate a guy in Argentina who had one. Whereas he did not sell internationally he had a friend who did on Ebay. This guy (Raul) gave me a heads up right at the time he posted it so I could swoop in immediately and buy it.  Then it was just 13 days of waiting until it arrived.   It was a Kodak moment for sure!

I have it restored back to service ready condition.  Many people say that they were black.  There wasn't any black paint on this one or the one that came with the Glide.  However, I have quite a few of the other models that have the red side light molded in them and there are some of those that are black.

Over time collecting Miller generators I managed to get the wheel guard and an array of parts.  I had a wheel and the guard parkerized as that seemed the nearest to original.

[Ricks]

You are a persistent man! Well done.

[pd]

Once again , patience pays .
Nice work , Tom .

Pete .

[Bob53]

Way to go Tom. That just gives you that warm fuzzy feeling when you are finally able to get that one allusive part. But now, will it make it to Portland? Bob

[Ricks]

Way to go Tom. That just gives you that warm fuzzy feeling when you are finally able to get that one allusive part. But now, will it make it to Portland? Bob

Bob, are you and Mike going to bring a ride to Portland?