Saturday 27 October 2012

De-clutter and detail

Tombo popped round to make up some shims on my lathe this morning, so I just pottered about doing little bits and bobs on the relic. Nought much to shout about, but I'm bored, so this is what I got upto....

Removed the big bulky Brit switchgear I had on it and replaced with these micro switches. Much much better, and nice hidden wires.....

Started to tidy up the headlight mount, not finished, but looking a damn sight better than the one I rushed to put on there...

Oh, and I really shouldn't be left alone with letter punches.....

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Carburation for the nation

Ordered a manifold from Riverside Motorcycles the other day, turned up today so I thought I'd fit it to see that it's right. Seems to be fine, just needs a clean up along with all the engine.

I got a mikuni 32mm carb a while back that I will probably use, been reading up that Amal mk1 carbs work well....

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Primary cover

Picked up a panhead cover for 15 quid delivered from eBay. Thought it was a bit of a bargain....

Anyway, it arrived tonight, so I thought I'd offer it up to the 45. With a bit of tinkering it'll fit....

I want it to be an exposed primary, but I may have a guard to stop my leg being eaten by the chain, so this may well work.....

45 bars

Picked up these bars for the 45 project. thought the package was a bit small - hadn't realised that they were half bars attached in the clamp!

I think they are shovelhead bars, with the internal throttle. As cheap as buying the bends to make a set, so these will have the chop treatment to get what i want from them (don't quite know what I'm doing yet mind you!)

Sunday 21 October 2012

Manflu medicine

Feeling like death warmed up this weekend. Instead of feeling sorry for myself I had a little stint in the shed, wrapped up like a mummy!

Tibbs - my Kiwi chop riding buddy - had emailed me asking about the LED's I fitted in the relic light. Although those ones wouldn't quite work with what he wanted, I've loads of different size and colour LED's here to play with, so I got him to send up the light for me to have a look at.

A really cool light, especially with the staggered mount - gonna look sweet on Tibbs bike. The original light had a clear lens to the back and a red to the front. As Tibbs only wanted the front lens I saw a good opportunity to try out my recently acquired ball turning attachment for my lathe...

I drilled out the back of some aluminium to give some space to mount the LED, then made a tight interference fit onto some brass...

Here's the ball turning attachment

First one done...

And both done. They will probably need some glue in there to hold them together, but should look really cool.

Need to work the LED innards out this week and then wire it up....

Monday 15 October 2012

Handlebar Jiggery Pokery

The handlebar clamp I got was .... well ..... a bit shagged!

The casting being the important part which was complete for the purposes of what I needed.

After consultation with Toddy he gave me the solution to how I would remake the parts, and importantly make a jig to align the bars, so i'm not making them on the piss...

Being a bit of a dunce I had to try and draw out what he suggested in words to make sure it was right. Its a lot quicker and easier than making them all and finding out I got it wrong...


Sunday 14 October 2012

Man up with some tank action

Spent most of the weekend being dragged around wedding fairs and craft shops. Hurrah for weddings!!!

Spending time being surrounded by flowers and tea lights and lace bows and other wonderful things it was time to leave the world of all things shabby-chic, vintage and overpriced it was time to get my ass in the shed this evening and have some man time!

Just started with the strips either side of the tank which will hide some of the back bone, and make the tanks look bigger than they are...

I'll let the pictures do the talking tonight...








Still loads to do in them, both in making them match, mounting to the frame and making frame mounts, filling and testing for leaks, but I feel more manly once again...

GRRRRRR! MANSPORTS!

Thursday 11 October 2012

Rear Light

Been a busy week, so no spare time till  last night. Got home with a banging headache, only 1 way to fix that, have a tinker!

I've been thinking for a while what to do for the rear light, all sorts of mad cap schemes have been bubbling round in my brain, but in the end I've opted for something I've seen done before. Celeb from crow customs built a super sweet bike with a weird Art Deco style microphone turned into the tail light. Well I was looking online a couple of weeks back, and I saw one in the states - $77 with shipping, so with the extra 11 quid for wtf taxes, I had a lovely mic in hand for the princely sum of nigh on £60! I know what a tool!



So with the missis out I though that despite feeling shit I should drive that nail!

2 screws removed and it was down to its component parts...




The paint proved a right bugger to shift. A heat gun did nothing, and with nitro mores now being weaker that ants piss that did nothing...

I used the remaining brass brush attachments in my lidl Drexel, and cleaned out the ribs on the back, then I decided as the missis was out I would just wet and dry the rest in the kitchen sink. It was right tough shit, simular the the stuff they use on BSA frames. Anyways, an hour later and they were looking ok (I'll polish them at a later date)



I made a cover for the holes from some black tinted plastic I had laying round using the original paper template (spent no time on this as its all hidden)



Finally I toyed about with some LED's, I got these strips a while back, they are 12v and you can cut them down to multiples of 3 in the chain...





Thought this looked a bit shit, so trimmed it down some...



I lined with some crinkled foil to help it reflect...



And BOOM! Spot on!





Still got to work out the mounting bracket, but its gonna be sweet!

Saturday 6 October 2012

45 comes home

Me and my buddy Tom took a trip over to Toddy's place this morning for the much anticipated pickup of the 45.

With the offset sprocket all done, and the rear wheel laced up it was time to bring it back to my place.


Even with the mockup in his workshop it was evident that it was a bloody special bit of kit.

Got it back to the shed, and mated up with the front end and the front wheel with the worrying (but stock) 9mm front spindle...


This is the pretty side

Just up to me now to finish it off and not fuck it up!!!!!

Thursday 4 October 2012

Elliott's c11 bench run

Great night tonight, Chief and me went over to Elliott's to celebrate the turning on of the lights in his new shed (any excuse). Elliott has been steadily getting his head around building up an old bike, and has done a Stirling job so far.

He got it sparking earlier in the week, so with Cheif holding the improved fuel tank in place, his brother Jake holding the front end and throttle cable, me holding the back end down, and Elliott turning it over by hand we set about it. Probably 20 kicks in after many coughs, splutters, and almost takes- it fired into life leaving us all grinning, laughing and joking!!!


Wednesday 3 October 2012

Knucklehead engine for sale

Its come to that time where the Knucklehead engine needs to go...

And indeed it sold.....

Monday 1 October 2012

45 progress

My shit is really coming together at the moment! Toddy just sent me pics of the 45- he's finishing the last few bits off to get it a roller, then has the pain of a task of making the offset sprocket to go from the 45 motor to the triumph clutch on the BSA box!!!



Two twins

A pair of twin lever drums for the Indian. Front and back sorted.

Gonna be able to have 4 projects on wheels soon, but have I enough space?

NO!