Every year Carolyn, Ross and myself stop by Ed Kretz Sr's grave at Rose Hills in Whittier CA. to pay our tributes and drop off some Pointsetter flowers or minature xmas trees to both Ed Kretz Sr and his wife Irene. Unfortunately we were not able to attend his funeral as we were in New Zealand but ever since this is our yearly ritual. 

The engraving of him on his #38 Scout is awesome. A truly remarkable individual. I am glad I got to know him before his passing.

Mike "Kiwi" Tomas

See also the Team 3K Racing feature in this issue of the VI. One of the "K"s is Ed Kretz Jr.
 

Jeff Hiatt will have his (fabulous looking!) new website up and running January 15, 2001. Jeff rebuilds Four engines and has some pretty interesting parts and services for these (we're planning a Dealer Page for the next VI). You can contact Jeff at jhiatt@csoengineers.com.

Some may have seen the article in a recent issue of "Ride" (or in the Indian Motorcycle Club International newsletter) on Jeff and his 1938 Four. The Four is Jeff's only bike, and he really rides it.

Jeff also rebuilds gas tanks to very high standards, by the way, and there will be full details of this on his new site as well. Stay tuned.
 

Vintagemotorcyclejackets.com is a new site with old leather jackets (1930s-50s) for sale, as well as much info on "Indian contemporary" jackets and other motorcycle clothing. Jacket history, books, links, chat, price guide, photos and more. If you're looking for a leather jacket to match your Indian, this seems to be a good place to start. There's some great looking jackets here, but they ain't cheap. Prices from around $300 to $1200 for the real fancy stuff.
 

There's two ongoing projects for new parts for these pumps. Fritz in Arizona is just now finishing a batch of gears and has made the first prototype pump body with some subtle improvements. Production bodies will be in cast iron for wear resistance and should be ready fairly soon after testing of the prototype is completed. The gears (and possible the pump bodies as well) will be available through Kiwi Indian Parts. More here soon.

In Denmark there's also a project group working on both pump bodies and gears. Prototype pump body is undergoing testing, and if all goes well production should start in February. Stay tuned.

Since these projects only leave the outer cover before complete bolt-on oil pumps can be assembled, Lyle Landstrom has decided to make patterns for this and run off as many castings as needed. This is a winter project for Lyle, snowed-in in Minnesota, so please don't bug him about it. As soon as there's news you can read all about it here.

In any case this means that we will soon have complete bolt-on pumps for both the Warpaths (see Warpath Update), Kiwi Chief engines and new engines built with Roger Glodowski's '48 style crankcases. The pumps also bolt onto '48-'53 Chiefs and earlier models via the proper cam shaft and a simple adapter plate. There was an article on this in the Fall 2000 AMCA magazine.
 

Scavenge side

More neat stuff from Fritz in the VI soon, but there's already a selection here

It seems we will finally get new Power Flows! Those on the VI mailing list already know about this, but to keep the projecteers from being avalanched with mail, let's just say that the compensator sprockets are being tackled as a winter project. More in future issues of the VI.

The Power Flow was an aftermarket compensator sprocket (transmission shock absorber) for Indian Chiefs and HDs. The neat thing about it is that it fits the regular tapered sprocket shafts and that it fits inside the regular primary cover.

The PF got a reputation for unreliability as the original springs broke, but this has long since been fixed by Kevin Flanagan making new beefed-up springs, and by all accounts the PF is now as reliable as anything else. The PFs turn up at swap meets regularly, but there's far from enough to go around (every Indian V-twin needs one!), and we can only hope the new PFs will prove popular enough to make in large batches at reasonable prices (and that eventually a SS/741 version will be produced...).
 

In addition to the German 101 stroker shafts (for HD WL 45" flywheels in 101 cases), there will be pinion and drive shafts available for HD Sportster flywheels in Sport Scout and 741 cases. These shafts are being made by a Danish Indian Club member and should be ready in January. More next time...
 

Er, don't ask me, as usual I'm just reporting.... But here's a Christmas card from Peter Beckert in Germany!

A fabulous 2001 for everybody is also wished from the VI editorial offices!