The value of the past

I've learned a lot in the past couple of years, one of the big things I've learned is that good things aren't cheap, and cheap things aren't good.

Now that is a subjective statement. How do you perceive something as being cheap?

Well, without getting too deep - we live in a throwaway society, there is always a bigger, better, more efficient model lurking around the corner for us to spend our money on...

Well this Christmas, and with my wedding pending, I decided to buy something to keep, to hold, and to pass down through the generations of the family I hope to have...

A pocket watch is something that has always fascinated me. I remember going to sandown park racecourse with my day to a craft and tool fair, and being fascinated with the watchmakers. To make something that accurately that it adheres to our laws of time.... Now that is truly an art...

I've been on the hunt for a good few months, but came up trumps with the above watch. I've dated it to 1902-1903, making it 110 years old! This watch is still accurate to what seems to be actually 10 seconds a day (I thought 20 at first, but it's actually better than I thought!).

It asks only one thing of its duty, wind it on every morning...

So far so good!

And it's value? Thats hard to say, and it grows every day its with me. But for under 200 pounds- I think it's the steal of the century!

Stripped

Been looking forward to getting the bike stripped down ready for powdercoating.

Sneaked an hour today while the weather wasn't too wet...

Got the frame in the shed, and made a start on cleaning up the frame and tending to a couple of welds that weren't finished off...

Have a Vintique Christmas!

Had a surprise delivery in the post today, Sean over at Vintique Cycles sent me a free Tshirt in the post. They say that Christmas is the time for giving and all that, well top man, thanks so much!

I've ordered bits from Sean, and it's always great service and delivery. He's building a great business, with some great parts. No compromise on quality, it's all good stuff and worth paying for!

Cheers mate, see you in 2013!

Get over to Vintique Cycles and spend the rest of your brass on cool as fuck chopper parts!!!

Oil tank #2

Had a buddy round to weld up a crudely migged hardtail this morning. Should have had a killer hangover with all the JD I hammered last night, but I was up and ready to crack on.

Only thing I got done for myself was to mess about with this old oil tank possibly for the 45...

Chopped a couple of inches out the middle...

Didn't get chance to try it on the bike, but should be cool...

Rework that space

My tiny little shed was a bit of a laughing stock, full of high class shit, but a total shambles!

Time to empty it and re-work the space, it's amazing the shit I had tucked away...

That's just the bits that I forgot about!

My old woodworking bench had to make way...

This was after day 1. I then realised I could put the late on the wall to the right...

This was about midday today. Well happy. Gained so much bench space it's unreal! Still loads of shit to put away, but so much better!

Decided to crack own with Elliott's BMW tank...
These are the plates to tack in the bottom of the tank....

Then with plenty of welding and fucking about...

Evening shift

Went on a road trip to Ipswich on Saturday to pick up a myford ml7 my mate Elliott bought, then down to Hackney to drop an sr500 engine to a buddy.

The lathe is a Beuty, but didn't have any tooling. As there was no chuck key I decided to make one tonight as a little project.

Elliott seemed happy with it anyway...

Oil Tank

I got a new toy - A bead roller!!! had it a couple of weeks, so thought i'd spend my afternoon off making an oil bag for the 45....

















The bottom line goes a bit gimpy on this side, but I think I'll be having some sort of a panel in there anyway, so my shoddy work will be suitably hidden!

too cold and dark out there now, in with a seaming mug of coffee and my slippers on......

Mounted!

Sneaked a cheeky hour in tonight, wanted to get the front mount sorted.

It's a pain not having my welder in the same shed as the bike, but alas- we persevere with such things.

I marked up the position, and then used little magnets to hold the tab in place while I tacked it in place....

It worked a treat, and the left side was quickly welded up.....

Drilled the frame through, and did the same on the other side.

Worked really well, and my stress levels went down quite a lot once it was all bolted in place....

I took a bit of time with the old hammer matching the tanks where I welded the lip on. I think the right tank is around 2mm lower than the left, so will need to sort out that before more beating and then filling...

Get on a diet fat boy

Ahh, a nice afternoon spent a-fettling!

Had a general tidy up, made a shelf for my new bead blasting cabinet, chopped up an old autocycle, and picked up some gas for my welder...

Decided that I needed to have a look at the rear muddy for the 45. This is the muddy I decided to use. The ribbed and the plain one just didn't work with the bike, soo skinny, and not right....

Even though this was the muddy to use, it wasn't right, far too wide for the tyre, and the "depth" of it hid far too much of that lovely Firestone.....

I measured up, and decided that an inch makes the difference... The myth is that extra inches count, well old housewives, in this case, it's an inch too big!!!

Pinstripe tape used after plenty of measuring....

Next up- get the grinder out on a perfectly good muddy......

You never have enough hands for these things, so it's magnets and clamps ahoy!!!!

Really starting to feel comfortable with my welder now. Something seems to have clicked with me and my welder and I'm whacking up the amps, and getting stuck in...

Also decided to sort out the depth issues, and trim the muddy down to just below the rib.... This is it on the bike....

Much much better!

The kick is too much, so that will need sorting, but I'm well pleased with it!

Tank mounting - Sunday fettle

Busy times at the moment, far too much work and not enough play!

Sneaked a couple of hours in today on the 45.

Started cleaning up the tanks....



After Indi asking about the integrity of tanks that have been chopped I had a run over the welds to make doubly sure...



I've been putting off doing anything to the frame, the fear of buggering up Toddy's hard work, but thought it best to man up and take my time to get the tanks mounted. Turned up some stainless bungs to weld into the frame, then set a string line up to ensure the bike was vertical. Plenty of marking and measuring, then time to drill....



Happy with that effort, I used some laser cut tabs (well worth buying in IMO) for the base tab...





That allowed me to have just one tank mounted, so I could check clearances.... The tank was sitting too high, and there was plenty of room for me to drop it, so I trimmed the front of the lip....





I had a little play with bars for 5 mins, and these bars were shovel bars until mr grinder had his way... Contemplating some of cro's handlebar clamps if I go down this route....



Matched the second tank to the first, and they are beginning to look how I want! Still the front mounts to figure out, which will also even the spacing out between the 2. The plan is for a 5mm gap down the middle of the 2, a bit of metal beating, and I'm afraid some filler before that looks right though...







Oh, and the seat came with an xs650 project I bought to sell on. It's comfy as hell!

Sunday fettle...

Started to do a bit of poking about on the 45 motor on Sunday  I've had an old ropey looking mag on the shelf for a while, so decided it would be better placed on the bike. I don't know why, but it felt massive on the shelf, but now its on the engine it seems fine.

I'm really pleased, looks like the internals have all been re-built recently! maybe someone just ratted up the case with a grinder on purpose?!?

Took the timing case off for a good look inside, all looks in great condition, no visible wear on any of the timing gears, just needs a good clean from sitting in dust grime and grinder shrapnel infested workshops for a while...

 

I fired up the parts cleaner to give the timing case a good scrub - its come up a treat. I don't want the engine to look new - just nice and clean, so it shows off its age...

Had a little look at the tanks - Gonna take them down to London on Thursday - James from the Kingdom of Kicks wants to see what they look like on a triumph T140 - a tad big maybe - but worth a try...