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As I said, I loved my job! But I also have to add that I really love retirement... The work was fantastic, the due dates, not so much.



I ended up working for the son of Pete Wilkins, who was brought into the US from Australia by Dan Gurney in the late '60's to help build his Formula 1 cars. He passed his company to his sons after retiring. My bosses father hand formed the titanium headers on Dan Gurney's Westlake Eagle that won the Spa Francorchamps Grand Prix in 1967. A huge amount of racing history behind my employer.

Here is a TIG weld in stainless steel by my head welder when I was working.


Let me add some perspective to the shot...

That sounds like that was a great place to work!!!!! You can't beat a job where you look forward to going to work everyday of the week!!!!

Dan Gurney has been my hero since I was a young boy going to the races back in the 60's. That is the reason I always had a "48" in my racing number al the years I raced. All American Racers is an amazing place when it comes to cutting edge technology. The race cars that came out of the shop were truly way ahead of their times. The '72/'73 Indy Eagle and the IMSA Toyota Eagle were world beaters. The Titanium pipes on the Eagle Weslake V12 are works of art. I love the sound they make when you thump them with your finger!!!!! The AAR McLeagle CanAm car also had a set of Titanium headers on it!!!!

I had a big smile on my face when I heard that AAR made the major parts of Space X Falcon 9 landing gear.

The Spa winning Eagle Weslake V12 exhaust.


Falcon 9 landing gear.

On one of my many visits to AAR we got the pleasure of seeing the GT40 that Gurney and Foyt drove to victory at Le Mans. This is the real car, boys... gave me chills to stand next to it! The guy in the blue T shirt is Jimmy Gurney, one of Dan's sons. This was only one or two days before the car was shipped to the Henry Ford Museum after a functional restoration by the AAR shop. They were instructed to leave all of the cosmetics alone during the restoration.

I wish this pic wasn't blurry, but I didn't take it - that is me in the AAR showroom.

I'm jealous!!!! Get to go into the inner sanctums of AAR!!!!! The GT-40 Mark IV was the ONLY American car with American drivers EVER to win the 24 hours of LeMans!!!!

In your trips to AAR, did you get to meet Phil Remington? That man was amazing what he could do with a bare sheet of metal!!!!!! I love how Gurney made sure they left his work bench as a memorial to Phil Remington.

That number 6 Olsonite Eagle was a clone to the car that Bobby Unser raised the pole winning speed at Indy by over 17 MPH back in 1972. That was the biggest increase in pole winning speeds in the history of the Indy 500!!!!!

Unfortunately I never got to meet Phil. I did see his workbench in AAR's shop, though. Everything was left where it was after his passing. Nothing has been moved. A fitting tribute for the man. My boss grew up around him. Some of the stories I heard are priceless! Testing race cars on the streets in Santa Ana, CA... and not getting caught! AAR doesn't build race cars anymore, they turned their carbon fiber knowledge into aerospace work (primarily for Space-X).

On that Westlake V12 titanium exhaust - Pete Wilkins hand formed each tube by packing it with sand, and vibrating the tube with an air chisel against the side to pack down the sand. He would then cap the ends off and heat with a torch until cherry red before bending. This would keep the inside diameter from reducing or collapsing in the bend. Once there was too much moisture in the sand, and the steam pressure burst the tube, burning his arm. Each tube of those headers is 3/16" away from any adjacent tube, and they are all equal lengths. Pure artwork in manufacturing!

Veered way off topic here, so time for some small updates. Just got the email that the clutch friction plates are arriving by the end of the day today. I still need to contact my TIG welder and get the clutch hub welded up. Then everything with be ready to go to button up the clutch. I also have everything I need to proceed with the top end assembly - short of the cams and valve adjustment. Once I get the head installed, I will be able to check the valve clearances and determine if I need any new shim sizes. I was actually thinking about bolting the cams in on the bench for the clearance checks. Other than turning the cams, anyone see a problem with doing this step on the bench?

According to the FSM, the service limits on the clutch friction plates is 3.5 mm. What they don't mention is what thickness the plates are when new. After finding the hub dampers needing replacement, I decided to order new friction plates just to be safe. They were measuring inside the service limit, but not knowing how thick they are new it was difficult to ascertain the amount of wear they had on them. The used plates are measuring out at 3.81 - 3.83 mm. Now that I received the new plates, they are measuring 3.82 - 3.85 mm (dry). They may swell some once oil soaked. The original owner of the bike is a good friend, and I know he was a cruiser, not someone to race around or hard launch his bike, Based on all this I have come to the conclusion that it was not a wise purchase for the new friction plates. It sure would have been nice to know how thick the friction plates come new to help make an informed decision...

Shim it on the bench. I place the head up on two 2X4's so the valves won't get bent. Put one cam in at a time. This way you don't have to worry about cam timing like if you had the head on the motor. I oil the hell out of everything before I bolt the cam in too!!! I start off with 200~210 shims. Measure the clearance and then put in the correct size shim. Bolt the cam back in and check clearance again to make sure you have what you want. I use a pair of channel locks with duct tape on them and use the cam sprocket teeth to turn the cam.

After you bolt head to block check the valve clearance one more time. I end up changing #2 or #3 intake or exhaust sometimes because the clearance changed by a .001 or so.

The clutch hub is all cleaned and prepped for welding. Having it TIG welded using silicone bronze filler rod. Headed over to my welder's shop in an hour. The numbering is for the welding sequence. I will have him do partial welds at each rivet to keep the heat from affecting the new rubber dampers. Thanks again for the advice, Nessism!