If you have been following this blog, you may have noticed that I stated that I had yet to post a message on the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that I intended to do so. In my post entitled First, the Bad News I told you that I believe that in order to have any kind of understanding and appreciation of the good news of the gospel, that we first needs to see that we are guilty of breaking God's laws. In my second post on the subject, Just a Little More Bad News , I attempted to explain that being found guilty, we are under condemnation, and in realty should serve out our sentence in hell. Once a person is fully convinced that they are indeed guilty and deserving punishment, it is then proper to introduce them to the good news.
What wonderful, glorious good news it is! That God would lower himself to such an extent as to take on human flesh, live a sinless life, and then be sacrificed in our place! Once we understand the terrible condemnation that we have heaped upon ourselves through our sinfulness, then Christ's payment is so much more precious!
We can find the "gospel" spelled out very precisely in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. This is probably the clearest, most "compact" presentation of the good news in the bible. 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4 says "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"
CHRIST died for our sins! Christ DIED for our sins! Christ died FOR our sins. Christ died for OUR sins! No matter which word we emphasize, there are many, many sermons that could (and no doubt have) been written on each aspect,
CHRIST died for our sins. Implicit in these 5 words are the fact of who Christ is. He is a man, and he lived a perfect, sinless life. He completely fulfilled God's law in every aspect; something no man before or since has even come close to doing. If he had not done this he could not have paid the price for anyone's sin, because he would have had to pay for his own. It is also necessary that he came and did this as a man, else he would not have been a suitable substitute for any other man. Just as we learn in Hebrews 10 that "... it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins",, neither could any other creature be a substitute to pay for a man's sins. Not a lamb; not an angel; only another man. (That Christ is God incarnate is also clearly taught in scriptures, so don't get the idea that I would in any way deny Christ's deity). This explains why the bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin, that there could be no shadow of doubt cast on the fact that God was his father. But that Mary herself was a sinful human is shown in Luke 1: 46-47: " And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." A sinless person has no need of a saviour. But just as important is Mary's humanity. If she were indeed part of the godhead as some would suggest, then Jesus, being born of God the Father and Mary the Queen of Heaven, would not be a man. We would all be undone, because if Jesus was not a man he would not be a proper substitute to die for us.
Christ DIED for our sins. He suffered and died a cruel death on the cross. Worst of all he suffered the wrath of God, culminating in the declaration of Jesus just before his death "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27: 46) Jehovah is a God of justice and judgement as Isaiah 53: 11 says: " He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
Christ died FOR our sins. As previously mentioned, Christ lived a sinless life. He had perfectly kept all of God's laws, so that he could be the spotless lamb of God, a blood sacrifice to atone for our sins. Christ died as a substitute for us. A perfect justice demands that a payment be made for offences. God is perfect in every way, including his justice. In order to fulfil perfect justice, Christ took the punishment that we earned by our breaking of God's law. Just as Jesus lived a sinless life in our place, he died to pay for sins in our place.
Christ died for OUR sins. Christ died because of our sins. It was the only way to satisfy God's justice without sending each of us to the hell we deserve. As I tried to emphasize in First, the Bad News we need to see our sins as personal, and just between ourselves and a Holy God. We need to see our sin as exceeding sinful! Our sins demand punishment. Jesus Christ took that punishment upon himself, that we might escape the judgement we deserve.
Christ died for our SINS. We are all sinners deserving punishment. I attempted to cover that in the two previous posts on bad news. Christ died not only to save us from the penalty for our sins, but as Matthew 1:21 says; "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." This also is part of the good news. Not only are we saved from the judgement that our sinfulness demands, but we also are made free from the slavery to sin that we are under. Romans 6:14 tells us that sin no longer has dominion over us. That too is very good news!
Going a little farther in 1 Corinthians 15, we find the fact that Christ died for our sins is all according to the scriptures. When this letter to the church at Corinth was written, we did not yet have the New Testament. When Paul says "according to the scriptures", he is referring to the Old Testament. Jesus sinless life and substitutionary death was foretold in prophecy and foreshadowed in ceremonies throughout the Old Testament. The fact that Christ died on the cross for sinners is amazing. The fact that God revealed it beforehand through his word reinforces the truth of both the prophecy and of the act itself.
Continuing in 1 Corinthians 15; "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" Christ's burial and resurrection too were revealed in Old Testament. Jesus himself tells us in Matthew 12:39-40: "But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
This resurrection from the dead of our Lord and Saviour is not only a glorious event, but it is our proof that God the Father found Jesus' sacrifice for sins to be acceptable. Acts 17:31 says : "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
Included in the good news is the fact that because Christ died for our sins, on the last day God will raise us up also. 1 Corinthians 6:14 says: "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." We will be resurrected to live with and worship God throughout eternity!
Now perhaps all of this elaboration that I have attempted on the gospel as it is stated in 1 Corinthians 15 has only served to confuse the issue. The simplicity of the gospel is this: We are all sinners who deserve punishment, but Jesus Christ took that punishment upon himself, that we might escape judgement and instead have eternal life. God the Father laid all of this out in the Old Testament, and showed his acceptance of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice by raising him from the dead.
THAT is wonderful, amazing, glorious GOOD NEWS!
Since the title of this blog is Knucklehead Theology, you are probably wondering why so little has been said about Knuckleheads so far. Not to worry, having owned and ridden Knuckleheads for over 25 years, and drag raced them for about 15, there is plenty to come.
Today I would like to talk a little bit about Knucklehead cylinders. We have all heard the horror stories of broken Knuck cylinders. And it is my guess that there are nearly as many theories as to why they break, as there are those stories. I am not going to claim to have the definitive answer, only theories of my own. This is one that I would love to have comments from others with their own thoughts.
The first time I saw a knuckle cylinder break, was while attending Motor Cycle Mechanics school at Hutchinson Area Vocational Technical Institute in about 1979. One of the other students (a Triumph guy) had brought in a Knuck chopper to work on for a friend of his. The engine that he had was a 61", but it had cylinders that were bored out to 74" plus. I don't recall exactly how much plus they were, but it would not surprise me if they were +.060 or +.070.
That is not unusual to find, but it does leave you with very low compression. There are no 74" bore pistons that are made for a 61" stroke (at least not that I have ever found), which leaves you stuck running normal 74" pistons. The only problem with that is due to the difference in wrist pin location and stroke between them, the 74" piston will be nearly a 1/4" lower at TDC than a 61" piston. (61" is 3 1/2" stroke/ 74" is 3 31/32")
Don't know if it was the owner's idea, the student's idea, or the instructor's idea, but someone's solution was to shave material off the base gasket surface to get the pistons closer to the top. I winch just thinking about it now. One wrinkle was that before the engine was assembled, another student bought the bike! The results were predictable. After the new owner finished assembling the engine, during initial start up, one backfire while kicking broke the cylinder off at the base! As a side note, the new owner bought a set of used 61" cylinders which were also at a 74" bore. He rode the bike for one season, and then sold me the knuckle engine when he bought a new "crate" Shovelhead motor. I ran that engine for many years and many, many miles with that ultra low compression.
The next time I had occasion to see an "exploded" knuckle cylinder, was a case of being in the right place at the right time. I happened to pull up to a stoplight behind another knucklehead. As the rider attempted to pull away in a quite normal manner, his front cylinder lifted. Of course I pulled over to see if I could lend a hand. This was in about the mid 1980s, so my memory is less than clear, but I do believe that the part of the piston which unfortunately was now in full view, was badly scored.
Fast forward about 10 years. While not a knuckle, the next broken cylinder that I remember seeing shares some similarities. This was on an old Pan/Shovel stroker belonging to one of the owners of the shop I worked for at the time. It had a set of +.070 stock cylinders. This one I took personally, because I had recently bored the cylinders. This one too had a badly scored piston skirt. (I believe that the scoring was due to the cylinders being powder coated after boring them which may have distorted them)
Soon after this, another acquaintance on his knucklehead had a cylinder explode while accelerating from a stop sign. As best as I can recall, this also had a badly scored piston. (I do not believe that I had anything to do with building that motor)
It should be obvious by now that all but the first incident that I related had one thing in common (at least if my memory serves me). That, of course is that in each case the broken cylinder was accompanied by a scored piston. As far as I know, they all shared one other thing in common; a large overbore on the cylinders.
Somewhere along the line a customer brought me a set of +.060 Knuckle cylinders to check for him. Looking at the bore I found something quite interesting. The bore had actually turned blue between the fins. Honestly, you could see where the fins were from the inside because the spaces between them was blue! For years after this I avoided boring Knuckle cylinders more than +.050. I just knew that if the cylinders were thin enough to turn blue like that, they had to be on the verge of exploding.
I am not so sure anymore. Over the years I have had the pistons score badly on my wife's 61" Knuckle numerous times, for numerous reasons. At least one set can be chalked up to the manufacturer. I saved the little instruction sheet that came with the pistons which called for .001 clearance. A couple more sets of identical pistons gave similar results. Then another set of identical pistons came with a similar little instruction sheet which called for .003 clearance. Oops! Another set went because we went for a weekend trip with a group of friends when the engine was fresh, the weather hot, and the speeds excessive. Another I attribute to a burned out head gasket sucking air. Well, you get the idea. But no matter how many pistons we scored with that 61", the thick cylinders held up fine.
Maybe I should point something out here. When I speak of a "scored" piston in a Harley, it is in reality a piston that has seized. The reason that in most cases the engine does not stop, is because of the extreme weight of the Harley flywheels. If pistons "scored" like this in any other motorcycle engine the motor would be stuck tight. Understanding that this piston scoring phenomena is actually a piston seizing phenomena should really shed some light on the broken knuckle cylinder issue.
Add to this, some anecdotal evidence from my 74" Knucklehead. I have run it for many years at +.050. I never was willing to bore to +.060 for the above mentioned reasons. Each time I have had it apart, I have honed it to bring it back to straight and round. I think that the last time I put it together it was with about .008 clearance on a set of high compression cast pistons. Never a bit of problem, and I run it very hard!
So here is the big question. Are the stock Knucklehead cylinders just too weak to be safe when bored much oversize? Or is the real culprit the mechanic that set them up too tight, causing it to seize? Well, before you go blaming your local mechanic, keep in mind that he probably sized your cylinders to specifications. Its not really his fault if factory specs give bad results, particularly if he does not do many Knuckleheads. Furthermore, too tight set up specs is only one possible reason for your pistons seizing. Anything that adds too much heat, or removes too much oil can give the same results. (think timing, idling in traffic, oil breakdown, etc.)
Are the "cheap" reproduction cylinders prone to breaking too? I really don't know. Some would say that they are. Part of the problem is that most of the information we have will be anecdotal (I can't believe that I am actually going to use that word twice in one day). Since a failure like this tends to be catastrophic, most who experience it once will be leery of taking any chances of it happening again. My guess is that if you had a +.070 break on you once, you would be sure to replace it with one as close to standard as possible rather than making some adjustment and using another +.070.
Today I would like to talk a little bit about Knucklehead cylinders. We have all heard the horror stories of broken Knuck cylinders. And it is my guess that there are nearly as many theories as to why they break, as there are those stories. I am not going to claim to have the definitive answer, only theories of my own. This is one that I would love to have comments from others with their own thoughts.
The first time I saw a knuckle cylinder break, was while attending Motor Cycle Mechanics school at Hutchinson Area Vocational Technical Institute in about 1979. One of the other students (a Triumph guy) had brought in a Knuck chopper to work on for a friend of his. The engine that he had was a 61", but it had cylinders that were bored out to 74" plus. I don't recall exactly how much plus they were, but it would not surprise me if they were +.060 or +.070.
That is not unusual to find, but it does leave you with very low compression. There are no 74" bore pistons that are made for a 61" stroke (at least not that I have ever found), which leaves you stuck running normal 74" pistons. The only problem with that is due to the difference in wrist pin location and stroke between them, the 74" piston will be nearly a 1/4" lower at TDC than a 61" piston. (61" is 3 1/2" stroke/ 74" is 3 31/32")
Don't know if it was the owner's idea, the student's idea, or the instructor's idea, but someone's solution was to shave material off the base gasket surface to get the pistons closer to the top. I winch just thinking about it now. One wrinkle was that before the engine was assembled, another student bought the bike! The results were predictable. After the new owner finished assembling the engine, during initial start up, one backfire while kicking broke the cylinder off at the base! As a side note, the new owner bought a set of used 61" cylinders which were also at a 74" bore. He rode the bike for one season, and then sold me the knuckle engine when he bought a new "crate" Shovelhead motor. I ran that engine for many years and many, many miles with that ultra low compression.
The next time I had occasion to see an "exploded" knuckle cylinder, was a case of being in the right place at the right time. I happened to pull up to a stoplight behind another knucklehead. As the rider attempted to pull away in a quite normal manner, his front cylinder lifted. Of course I pulled over to see if I could lend a hand. This was in about the mid 1980s, so my memory is less than clear, but I do believe that the part of the piston which unfortunately was now in full view, was badly scored.
Fast forward about 10 years. While not a knuckle, the next broken cylinder that I remember seeing shares some similarities. This was on an old Pan/Shovel stroker belonging to one of the owners of the shop I worked for at the time. It had a set of +.070 stock cylinders. This one I took personally, because I had recently bored the cylinders. This one too had a badly scored piston skirt. (I believe that the scoring was due to the cylinders being powder coated after boring them which may have distorted them)
Soon after this, another acquaintance on his knucklehead had a cylinder explode while accelerating from a stop sign. As best as I can recall, this also had a badly scored piston. (I do not believe that I had anything to do with building that motor)
It should be obvious by now that all but the first incident that I related had one thing in common (at least if my memory serves me). That, of course is that in each case the broken cylinder was accompanied by a scored piston. As far as I know, they all shared one other thing in common; a large overbore on the cylinders.
Somewhere along the line a customer brought me a set of +.060 Knuckle cylinders to check for him. Looking at the bore I found something quite interesting. The bore had actually turned blue between the fins. Honestly, you could see where the fins were from the inside because the spaces between them was blue! For years after this I avoided boring Knuckle cylinders more than +.050. I just knew that if the cylinders were thin enough to turn blue like that, they had to be on the verge of exploding.
I am not so sure anymore. Over the years I have had the pistons score badly on my wife's 61" Knuckle numerous times, for numerous reasons. At least one set can be chalked up to the manufacturer. I saved the little instruction sheet that came with the pistons which called for .001 clearance. A couple more sets of identical pistons gave similar results. Then another set of identical pistons came with a similar little instruction sheet which called for .003 clearance. Oops! Another set went because we went for a weekend trip with a group of friends when the engine was fresh, the weather hot, and the speeds excessive. Another I attribute to a burned out head gasket sucking air. Well, you get the idea. But no matter how many pistons we scored with that 61", the thick cylinders held up fine.
Maybe I should point something out here. When I speak of a "scored" piston in a Harley, it is in reality a piston that has seized. The reason that in most cases the engine does not stop, is because of the extreme weight of the Harley flywheels. If pistons "scored" like this in any other motorcycle engine the motor would be stuck tight. Understanding that this piston scoring phenomena is actually a piston seizing phenomena should really shed some light on the broken knuckle cylinder issue.
Add to this, some anecdotal evidence from my 74" Knucklehead. I have run it for many years at +.050. I never was willing to bore to +.060 for the above mentioned reasons. Each time I have had it apart, I have honed it to bring it back to straight and round. I think that the last time I put it together it was with about .008 clearance on a set of high compression cast pistons. Never a bit of problem, and I run it very hard!
So here is the big question. Are the stock Knucklehead cylinders just too weak to be safe when bored much oversize? Or is the real culprit the mechanic that set them up too tight, causing it to seize? Well, before you go blaming your local mechanic, keep in mind that he probably sized your cylinders to specifications. Its not really his fault if factory specs give bad results, particularly if he does not do many Knuckleheads. Furthermore, too tight set up specs is only one possible reason for your pistons seizing. Anything that adds too much heat, or removes too much oil can give the same results. (think timing, idling in traffic, oil breakdown, etc.)
Are the "cheap" reproduction cylinders prone to breaking too? I really don't know. Some would say that they are. Part of the problem is that most of the information we have will be anecdotal (I can't believe that I am actually going to use that word twice in one day). Since a failure like this tends to be catastrophic, most who experience it once will be leery of taking any chances of it happening again. My guess is that if you had a +.070 break on you once, you would be sure to replace it with one as close to standard as possible rather than making some adjustment and using another +.070.
Well, it looks as though I am going to have to make this into two posts. In the second half I will offer my thoughts and attempt to offer some solutions. In the mean time, I would love to hear from any of you who have had Knuck cylinders break, and the circumstances.
In my last post under the label Theology , I wrote a piece called First, the Bad News , concerning the necessity of understanding the bad news of scripture, before you will be able to appreciate the good news (gospel). Unfortunately, just a realization of the bad news, that you are a dirty rotten sinner (just like me) is not the whole story.
The "little more bad news" is, of course neither little in the amount that it is news or in the amount that it is bad. It is both big news, and very bad news. The "little more bad news" is that there is a penalty for breaking the Law of God. Just as our earthly governments set forth penalties for wrongdoing, so the Almighty God also has set forth penalties for breaking his commandments. A big difference is that here in this world we often "get away with" breaking laws. Often we can break the law without anyone ever knowing. Often we are not caught "red handed" and so are given the benefit of the doubt. Often the full penalty of the law is not brought to bear on us, because we are deemed to be a first time offender, or because there are extenuating circumstances.
Not so when it comes to Jehovah's laws though. He sees all of our sins, and knows all of our sins. You are not able to slip anything past God. Even your sins that no other person on earth know about. Psalm 139:1-4 says "O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether." Each of us has been caught red handed by God!
And God, being a totally righteous judge will hand down a perfect judgement. Every sin, every transgression of his law will be punished as it deserves. And there is a judgement coming! 2 Peter 2:9 proclaims "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:"
What is this day of judgement all about? The book of Revelation gives us a pretty good description of what will happen. Revelation 20:11-15 says: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Does God "grade on the curve"? Can a man's good deeds outweigh his bad, thus allowing him to escape paying the penalty for his sins? Not according to James 2: 10 "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." Guilty of all! A just judge will not allow the guilty to go free. Just as we speak of paying a "debt to society", so must the sinner pay a debt to God.
No, this is the "little more bad news"; All of our sins must be payed for in full. Every last one of them. Bad news and more bad news! But if all of this bad news is causing you to despair, then maybe you really are ready for the good news. I know that I am anxious to get to the good news, and will in my next post on this subject.
The "little more bad news" is, of course neither little in the amount that it is news or in the amount that it is bad. It is both big news, and very bad news. The "little more bad news" is that there is a penalty for breaking the Law of God. Just as our earthly governments set forth penalties for wrongdoing, so the Almighty God also has set forth penalties for breaking his commandments. A big difference is that here in this world we often "get away with" breaking laws. Often we can break the law without anyone ever knowing. Often we are not caught "red handed" and so are given the benefit of the doubt. Often the full penalty of the law is not brought to bear on us, because we are deemed to be a first time offender, or because there are extenuating circumstances.
Not so when it comes to Jehovah's laws though. He sees all of our sins, and knows all of our sins. You are not able to slip anything past God. Even your sins that no other person on earth know about. Psalm 139:1-4 says "O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether." Each of us has been caught red handed by God!
And God, being a totally righteous judge will hand down a perfect judgement. Every sin, every transgression of his law will be punished as it deserves. And there is a judgement coming! 2 Peter 2:9 proclaims "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:"
What is this day of judgement all about? The book of Revelation gives us a pretty good description of what will happen. Revelation 20:11-15 says: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Does God "grade on the curve"? Can a man's good deeds outweigh his bad, thus allowing him to escape paying the penalty for his sins? Not according to James 2: 10 "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." Guilty of all! A just judge will not allow the guilty to go free. Just as we speak of paying a "debt to society", so must the sinner pay a debt to God.
No, this is the "little more bad news"; All of our sins must be payed for in full. Every last one of them. Bad news and more bad news! But if all of this bad news is causing you to despair, then maybe you really are ready for the good news. I know that I am anxious to get to the good news, and will in my next post on this subject.
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