My! How time flies!

[ace.cafe]

Almost 3 years ago, we took this very first video of the first Fireball, which was Chumma's military Bullet. Still had the military hard-side bags!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8A5it-R9rA

The Fireball was still in the early stages of us getting the tuning figured out, and it starts on one kick now, and the exhaust note is more crisp, and it's faster now too. But this video is a glimpse into the early roots of the Fireball from when we were just starting out.

At the end is a drag race with Chumma's military Fireball and Chuck D. on his Bullet with some mods like a 34mm Mikuni and a free flow exhaust and maybe a 8.5:1 piston upgrade. I can't remember exactly.

Anyway, after seeing the result, Chuck decided that he wanted to have a Fireball too. And he had Chumma build him a really nice custom Clubman style cafe racer with a full Fireball mod.
Here's what it looks like today:


And today, Chuck's Fireball is probably just a little bit quicker(and lighter) than Chumma's.
And he's fixin' to get our next big upgrade too. In fact, he's got his engine parts in to us for it already.

It's kinda fun to look back at the past and see how far we've come. The bikes are really sorted now. There's about 24 Fireballs out there now, and some more that are variants of it with partial Fireball kits. And some 612 strokers too!

It's a fun video. I hope you enjoy watching

[Chuck D]

I LOVE THIS BIKE!!!

[jdrouin]

Ace, what is this "next big upgrade" you refer to?

[kodai]

The  MUSKET  998

[ace.cafe]

Ace, what is this "next big upgrade" you refer to?

The next big upgrade we are working on is a "no holds barred" kit for the Bullet that is designed to get the most power that we can get out of this engine. It doesn't have nearly as conservative goals as the Fireball. The Fireball was to be a hot street bike that improved all of the things a street bike needs to do. This new kit is directed primarily at producing power, and all other things are lower on the priority scale. Basically, a racing package.
We will have things in this new cylinder head modification that no other Bullet has ever had, as far as we know.
It's not aimed at a budget, and it won't be inexpensive.
We are hoping/expecting that this will produce the performance of a Manx or G50. More than 50 hp at the rear wheel.
This is what Chuck was alluding to.

And Kodai, speaking of the 998 V-Twin, we already have a person who has two of these heads in development, and plans to put them on the 998 V-Twin, which would be expected to produce around 100hp at the rear wheel. This is experimental, because we will have to test the strength of the drive line parts. The clutch will obviously not handle it, but we are in touch with someone who is known for building the best Vincent racing clutches, and he says he'll make one with our spline if we want. So, that part is covered.
From there on back, we have some experimenting to do. It's a lot of power.

[Scottie J]

That is awesome!  What a clean looking bike too!  Nice work!

[boggy]

Yeah that bike is ridiculously awesome and good looking.  You guys should be pretty proud of that one.  Love the gold heads - love how beefy it looks.  Good taste all around.

 

[Chuck D]

That is awesome!  What a clean looking bike too!  Nice work!

Yeah that bike is ridiculously awesome and good looking.  You guys should be pretty proud of that one.  Love the gold heads - love how beefy it looks.  Good taste all around.

 

Thanks for your nice words guys and I wish I could take the credit but that honor goes to Chumma (and Tom "ACE" Lyons). He sweated every last detail both inside and out. In fact it's especially what you can't see (except when you open the throttle ) that really sets a standard. It's just my dumb luck that we happened to meet.
And Boggy, it's funny that you should use that word. That's her name, "Beefy".
Chuck.

[AgentX]

Chuck, Ace, this has always been my favorite fireball...  Personally, I'd throw rearsets on it, though. 

Question, though--your exhaust header.  I dig it. Did you simply cut it and have an exhaust shop give it a slight bend?  Did you bend it yourself?  That very slight upsweep is pretty much exactly where I want to go with mine, although it's going to be a challenge fitting around my rearsets.  (Serving me right, of course.)

[Mike_D]

Looks great even parked above the stinky Gowanus! 

Chuck we should get together sometime.  I actually saw your bike briefly at the show in WB this summer but didn't get to meet you.  I'm up in Williamsburg.  Would love to grab a beer and talk Enfields sometime.

[ace.cafe]

Chuck, Ace, this has always been my favorite fireball...  Personally, I'd throw rearsets on it, though. 

Question, though--your exhaust header.  I dig it. Did you simply cut it and have an exhaust shop give it a slight bend?  Did you bend it yourself?  That very slight upsweep is pretty much exactly where I want to go with mine, although it's going to be a challenge fitting around my rearsets.  (Serving me right, of course.)

The rear sets are already ordered for this bike, along with shouldered alloy rims and a few other goodies, which Chumma will install when the new raised port head with ultra-high lift roller rockers is complete. Chuck's head is already here for the mods.

[Chuck D]

Yup, rearsets on the way from Hitchcock's. Hopefully they'll work with the toolboxes in place as I think they are an essential part of the Bullet "look" as is the casquette.
About the pipe. It's just the standard Indian item cut to a tuned length of 32". The muffler is from Emgo and the mounting bracket is adjustable for different angles.

[Chuck D]

Looks great even parked above the stinky Gowanus! 

Chuck we should get together sometime.  I actually saw your bike briefly at the show in WB this summer but didn't get to meet you.  I'm up in Williamsburg.  Would love to grab a beer and talk Enfields sometime.

Good eye! That's the Union st. bridge.
The show in Williamsburg is always a good time but why they have to have it on the hottest day of the year every year is a mystery.
I'm down in the uncool part of Brooklyn south of Prospect Park. But maybe we could hang anyway.
Chuck.

[boggy]

Ace, few questions:
Do you and Chumma work out of the same shop?  Does he do custom bike work all the time or just the Fireball projects with you?

Was reading the older kneeslider article about Chuck's bike and trying to sort out what work was done.  The finishes to the engine make it look amazing. 

What is going on up top? Is that bronze/copper metal functional? Or just a nice finishing piece?  I love the rough look of the Badger, but Chuck's engine looks like a work of art.

Also, Chumma mentions shaving 90 pounds off the bike!!!  Looking at it... all the parts look there so I'm curious where and how you guys saved.

If this is all in another thread, just point me there and save yourself the typing .

Thanks,
Boggy

[ace.cafe]

Ace, few questions:
Do you and Chumma work out of the same shop?  Does he do custom bike work all the time or just the Fireball projects with you?

Was reading the older kneeslider article about Chuck's bike and trying to sort out what work was done.  The finishes to the engine make it look amazing. 

What is going on up top? Is that bronze/copper metal functional? Or just a nice finishing piece?  I love the rough look of the Badger, but Chuck's engine looks like a work of art.

Also, Chumma mentions shaving 90 pounds off the bike!!!  Looking at it... all the parts look there so I'm curious where and how you guys saved.

If this is all in another thread, just point me there and save yourself the typing .

Thanks,
Boggy

Boggy,
Chumma and I are in different locations. He is in NJ, and I am in TN.
He does mostly Fireball work, but if somebody comes to him with an interesting project, he might do it if he has time. He does entire bike builds, or just engines or whatever. He is part of ACE, and he does a lot of our builds and bottom-ends, and does performance testing for the hot-rod parts that I cook up. If he can't break it, then I know nobody else will.

The gold rocker covers and the gold on the inner parts of the barrel fins are hi-temp paint, and are mainly for style. The copper oil lines are hand made and polished. All the engine case parts are hand-polished. It has that cool vintage style spark plug wire with the cloth covering, which is a nice custom touch too.

Regarding the lightening, I don't know every thing that was done, but there are alloy fenders and the regular Bullet rear fender braces were removed and replaced with the smaller and lighter trials fender brace. Air box removed. All the electric start parts including the "hump" primary case, starter motor, large battery, etc, were removed. That seat is a lighter weight seat than the stock seat. The shorter exhaust with shorty megaphone is a LOT lighter than the stock exhaust system. Single bar-end mirror. Clubman bars.
It all adds up a little at a time.
 

[boggy]

Cool. Thanks for the info.  Such a nice bike. 

[Chuck D]

That's gold engine paint. Here's a link to some build photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/god_of_fireball/5244029942/in/set-72157625555963058

[boggy]

Great photo cataloging.  I read his description of the painting technique.  Considering how casual he approached it (just spraying at an angle to not get the black inside the fins) it came out amazing.  Seems he's got the artistic touch, as well as the technical.  The black and gold is sharp.

And the shot of the engine in the oven warms my heart.  Better than chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks.

[Chuck D]

Great photo cataloging.  I read his description of the painting technique.  Considering how casual he approached it (just spraying at an angle to not get the black inside the fins) it came out amazing.  Seems he's got the artistic touch, as well as the technical.  The black and gold is sharp.

And the shot of the engine in the oven warms my heart.  Better than chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks.

Wait, there's more.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/god_of_fireball
And about that paint. It was a popular engine paint on hot rod Oldsmobiles back in the day and sort of an homage to the late Mr. Mondello himself who's head work made those race engines famous. Chumma called late one night (as he's prone to do) with the inspiration. He was so enthused I couldn't say no. He was right of course and I've learned not to question his instincts.
I don't have a recent photo but the shiny bits aren't nearly as blingy  as they were and have acquired a nice patina as the bike sees everyday hard use. And with the regular mundane care that we all show our Bullets, it's holding up quite nicely.
And as for the midnight-open-all-the-windows-oven-exploits, we've all done stuff like that.
Chuck.

[AgentX]

Chuck, thanks for the info--so the apparent header upsweep is from cocking the front of the pipe downward in the mounting bracket?

Or is the muffler just straight-back and I'm being decived by the photos?

[ace.cafe]

Chuck, thanks for the info--so the apparent header upsweep is from cocking the front of the pipe downward in the mounting bracket?

Or is the muffler just straight-back and I'm being decived by the photos?

There is some leeway there to set the angle because when the header was cut shorter, the bracket below the gearbox was eliminated. So now it is fixed only at the front and the back.

Regarding the header pipe itself, there are two shapes of Indian headers, which are the angular type, and the sweeping curve type which we see here.

[GreenMachine]

Awesome..Just looking through the pics of all the detail involved..Passion, desire and quality intergrated towards a final product...I think u guys are amazing and appreciate your love of this machine..Love the copper lines and what looks like a spin on oil adapter...Gonna look again later in the day..

[Scottie J]

How did you restore your timing and primary covers?  Mine are anything but shiny these days and I was actually considering painting them.

[Chuck D]

How did you restore your timing and primary covers?  Mine are anything but shiny these days and I was actually considering painting them.

Simichrome and elbow grease.

[baird4444]

I'm a fan of Flitz...
http://www.flitz.com/p-16-flitz-polish-paste.aspx
  or MAAS metal polish...
http://www.metalbrite.net/page/1017618
   A soft cotton cloth and a six-pack....
             - Mike

[Chuck D]

I'm a fan of Flitz...
http://www.flitz.com/p-16-flitz-polish-paste.aspx
  or MAAS metal polish...
http://www.metalbrite.net/page/1017618
   A soft cotton cloth and a six-pack....
             - Mike

That'l work.