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[SBB]

Or buying a custom bagger already built......HUH

Or take a nice bagger and spend boatloads of money to make it a custom bagger and wind up with,,,,,, .
And then spend even more money trying to put it back stock.

Yup, Dan has the best idea!

                 

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan

It is refreshing to see someone actually build a bike.
Anyone can take a bunch of parts and a wad of cash and say, build me a bike.
What your doing is very cool!
Can't wait to see the end result!
Good luck and keep the pictures coming.


                           

Silver-Black, you can't imagine the wasted time on this thing.  I just sit there giving it an evil stare sometimes for minutes.  Then I look for materials in my scrap bin to use.  Then I scrap the scrap and start all over again, like I did on the shift linkage on moving it from the top to bottom.

I'm having second thoughts on several different aspects of the bike right now.  So some changes may take place in the plan before I'm finished.  I'm still trying to figure out if the wiring block will fit inside the oil tank with the battery or if I have to keep it on top of the frame backbone like in the pictures.  If I can move it inside I have room to hide or countersink two gauges into the center section of the two tanks.

The seat guy will do a leather tank bib to match the seat if I need one, so that's an option to keep in my mind.

Right now I'm concerned about the air cleaner on the Ultima.  If I sit on the seat with my left leg comfortable on the running board, I can touch off on the tank with my left knee.  But on the right side my right leg just below the knee hits the air cleaner and getting comfortable on the running board is hard to do.  I took off the air cleaner and the problem is gone.  This is where I get cheap.  I love some of the air cleaners out there right now, but I'm not going to spend $300 to $400 for one, no matter how cool they are.  So I'll think of something to make that looks different.

Last night I was thinking about making a curved forward tube with two curved up "Y" tubes.  This would be similar to the old Pontiac Trans Am exhaust tips that were single with the double tips.  I would have them both slightly forward, like just above where a Heavy Breather filter would be.  Then I would mount two of the old school Hot Rod single pot round smooth or louvered chrome air cleaners.  This might look cool and the air cleaners with paper filters are just $10 each.  With the addition of K&N elements, the price would go up a little, but still not too high.

Who knows, the thoughts just come and go with me at this age.  The brain just isn't what it used to be.

I'm still thinking of my '08 SERK Annie paint colors.  I'd have copper on the frame with a mix of the black and copper on both the tank and rear fender.  I've checked into the gold leaf locally and it's available, so I'll try to use it like on the SERK for paint separation.  I'm thinking with the antique dyed seat, this might look okay.  I'm looking for a paint scheme to look cool without being too trendy.  I want flash without the gaud.

Next weekend brings the brake pedal install and possibly some work on boxing in the inside of the oil tank.

I bought a couple 1.75” “J” bends with about a 2.5” radius.  Along with them, I bought from Speedway Motors a miscellaneous bunch of 1.75” tubes with all sorts of bends.  There is 18’ of tubing from Speedway plus my two “J” bends to work with.  I looked at header kits for bikes and they wanted around $350 for them, without mufflers.  I have about $125 in all my tubing right now.  I bought all the exhaust flanges, rings and collars from J&P.

I have two ideas for the exhaust.  The first would be a similar design to the Krugger Half Day bike for the S&S anniversary show last year.  They look similar to the ‘60s Yamaha Big Bear scrambler with upswept pipes and mufflers, one on each side.  The other would be to make my muffler and put it under the transmission.  I'd have two inlets on the front of the muffler for the header pipes and then at the rear I would have two chrome outlets that just extend back just a bit and then sweep outward.  I've mocked up a foam board muffler and I'm having a problem with the size under the frame.  I plan to do all my exhaust in black satin ceramic inside and out with the chrome outlet tips for the lower style or all black for the upswept style.

As you all can see, I could have just bought a kit bike and bolted it together, but even with my street rods from 8 years ago, I tend to buy and then do my own thing.  I'm too fussy and that takes way more time than I should spend.

I think back to the "Build or Bust" show Mitchell hosted and how few of the contestants actually finished the bikes in 30 days.  I grant you, some of them made their own tanks and laced their own wheels, but if that's all I had to do for 30 days and had access to all the right tools and able to order parts to my liking, I can't see why a person couldn't get this done.  Some of those people were very ignorant about what they were actually doing.

I know, some people are bolt together people and others can't even do that.  My ex-father in-law was one of the latter.  When he would throw his belt on his lawnmower deck he would invariably get it back on wrong and it would reverse the blades.  When he painted things, he would get more spray paint on the surrounding area than what he was painting.  I know quite a few people like this.  Then there are the people that are not satisfied with what they get and modify it all.  I think I fall into that group of people.

It would have been just more money to buy everything Milwaukee Iron offered for the bike along with some forward controls that would have bolted on.  I could have been done by now going that route.  

So I have no one to blame for the time and troubles this project is presenting, but myself….

       

PS:  Thanks again for the encouragement and the kind comments.

Stay tuned for next weeks update.

       

[mr_magoo]

Looks like a first class job.

[SBB]

Silver-Black, you can't imagine the wasted time on this thing.  I just sit there giving it an evil stare sometimes for minutes.

Dan

Again I am impressed with your efforts.
I truly understand the "Just sit there and stare" position.
I recenly had to do the same in trying to mate the N-line trailer to the 09 SEUC.
I have a little roller seat that I use for pondering.
And the thought process always begins the same.
"How in the hell am I going to make this work?"

Good luck buddy and like I said,
KEEP THOSE PICTURES COMING!

              

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan

Again I am impressed with your efforts.
I truly understand the "Just sit there and stare" position.
I recently had to do the same in trying to mate the N-line trailer to the 09 SEUC.
I have a little roller seat that I use for pondering.
And the thought process always begins the same.
"How in the hell am I going to make this work?"

Good luck buddy and like I said,
KEEP THOSE PICTURES COMING!

              

Ya know, one of the best investments I made was probably about the same hydraulic roller seat.  I've got an old solo saddle I've been thinking about mounting, but there has always been more pressing things to do.

I've seen some of the hitch installs on this forum and some of them are very tricked out, hidden mounts etc.

I do really enjoy doing things and in a previous life in Michigan, our little network of neighbors really teamed up to be very helpful for each other.  When it came to motors, welding and metal type work in general, I was the one they came to.  When it came to wood working, cabinets, countertops, or any other wood type projects, my neighbor Dave was the best.  He was going to do a new Formica countertop for our house for only the material, no labor.  He volunteered to do the full wall backsplash too.  It just happened that while I was out on a startup somewhere he was done with the top.  He and another buddy of mine came to the house and did the entire install of both wall backsplashes and the countertop.  Wow, what a friend.  Dave's dad had a generator that wouldn't run and they worked on it themselves for some time.  I found out about it and they brought it over.  I got it going and set the 3,600 rpm governor for peak voltage and they were thrilled.  Dave's dad tried to give me money for the work and I told him that his son takes care of me, so forget about it.  My other side neighbor was also helpful with little things and lots of moral support.  You've all had projects that you just need moral support, and Mike was a great one to do that.

Sorry for rambling again.      

I think this forum has some pretty talented people on it.  This shows all the time with the way they work with their bikes or other projects they share here with us.

I know that some of you guys have only known each other through the forum, but when the opportunity has come up, many have traveled and met others here.  Some share bikes and their home to other than this forum, perfect strangers.  This is a bond that is hard to get nowadays.

Speaking of bonds and helping one another, I used to belong to the NSRA (National Street Rod Assoc).  They have a registry book with all the member's city and phone number listed.  While I was on my Ego Rama Shoot Out back in '01 with my Willys, I had driven from Michigan and made it as far as Cheyenne WY when I had an alternator let go on me.  I was at the hotel and I had my book with me.  I called one guy's number and got him out of a board meeting, but he answered.  He wasn't able to help, but he gave me another guy's number and I gave him a call.  This guy worked just down the road at an implement dealership.  He was at the hotel in about 15 minutes and drove me all over town finding an alternator for the car.  I got one and installed it while he waited.  After everything was okay, he parted and I thanked him very much. 

Now that's what I mean about groups or organizations with people made of the right stuff.

I'm sure any of us would do the same thing for someone going through our area.  I know the "who's got a trailer" thread listing is for that purpose too.

So the more I get to know everyone, the more comforable I feel here.  You'll all get to know that if I post you better get out the popcorn because it will probably be a while before you finish my post.      

Again if anyone has any suggestions, good or bad, I'm open to listening to them, or in this case reading them.  If anyone wants to call me about anything, PM me and I'll send my phone number.

Later dudes and dudettes...

Damn, I just did my preview and saw that when I was going to stop up near the top, that I ended up typing way too much....... Again.

[Talon]

Dan I agree with the above, it's like that around here too. I had to put my mother in the hospital yesterday, last night it snowed a little, I had to go to see my mom first thing today, when I got home my walks were shoveled.

As for this group, when I go on a long ride I'll be looking for people along the way if not for help, maybe meet for beer, or dinner. I would like to believe most all from this site would help a fellow member out if possible.

Craig

[Dan_Lockwood]

Okay, this is installment four, so to speak...

Here are some more pictures in no particular order, but of course with the normal Dan descriptions that go on and on forever.      


This shows my new left rear running board mounting.  It goes from the board straight back to the bottom of the belt drive inner aluminum support.  I figured if my old FLH could use a cast on lug to the outer primary cover for the running board mount, this should work just a well.

I have a 1/4" plate with the 3/4" mount welded to it.  The plate has two 1/4" bolts on the leading end and then two more 5/16" bolts, one in the middle and one at the end.

I also welded on a 3/16" thick plate for the regulator to bolt to.  I countersunk 1/4" flatheads down from the top and then welded the head side to make them into studs for the regulator mounting.  I have at least a 1/4" gap between the very smooth upper side of the regulator plate and the bottom of my belt.  These belts run quite tight so I think I should be okay with that.  If not, I can space it down another 1/4" if needed.


Another view of the regulator and rear running board mount.  This is with the guard on and without belt.


This shows the modified front lower shift lever.  It used to be straight on the end and I cut and did a bit of welding on it to get it up just a bit closer to the cases.  Now when I shift it the clearance is just over an 1/8", can't get any closer than that.


This is my new brake pedal.  With all the brackets, levers and rods, it looks a lot better.  Before without all the brake stuff in there the running board just looked way out of place with nothing going on around it.


Another angle of the new brake pedal.  The brake pad is off a streetrod and is polished stainless.


This is my master cylinder mount.  I utilize three trans mount bolts so it should be very stout.  I had to make one a flathead to allow the master cylinder to lay flat up against the bracket.  I'll be replacing the other two bolts with chrome button heads when finished.  I'm going to have the bracket as well as the other brake parts chromed after I'm all finished with the pre-build.  I don't have a water jet at home so all the brackets like this I have to cut out on my band saw and then sand on the belt sander to get them contoured the way I want them.


I ended up making all the brackets.  Everything from the frame horn out, I made.  I have a 1/4" rod pressed into the bracket as a pedal return stop.  It will keep the angle of the brake pedal parallel with the cam case cover, just for the correct look.


Another front on picture of the pedal.  I'm so much happier with this pedal look than with the chrome Dyna pedal I bought at a swapmeet.


This kind of gives an idea of what I'm wanting to do for exhaust.  The front cylinder will go around to the left side and the Right side will do just what the picture shows.  They will both go back and I'll twin sided mufflers going upward slightly and just inside the rear downtubes to the rear axle.  This will fill in some of the extra width in the frame that was bothering me.

Time for a second post for this update...

Sorry for the length of this.      

[Dan_Lockwood]

Second installment of part four:



I'm going to be using Dunstall reverse cone shorty mufflers and they are the same length as this piece of tubing, 17".  The tubing is heatriser hot air tubing that used to be used on exhaust manifolds and then up to the air cleaners for cold weather start up on cars and trucks.  I bought 2" so that if it fits, I know that my 1-3/4" tubing will fit.  I don't have the mufflers yet, but I think they get out to 4" at the largest diameter.  So the inside of the muffler will be parallel with the fender and tire with a slight outward angle to the mufflers at the ends.  This is similar to the Krugger Half Day bike from Belgium, only his is stainless and I'm going to black ceramic coat mine including the mufflers.


Right side starting point.


Just a picture of my under slung shift linkage.


This shows my highly modified trans lever.  As I said very early on, the ratios were just way to high and I only needed to move my shifter about an inch and it was fully shifted.  This would have been a nightmare finding neutral.  I've been able to vary the length of the levers to gain length to my shifter.  The modified lever here is a cut down cast iron that I welded a 3/16" plate to.  I had to lengthen it to slow down the shifting.  It also had to curve forward to clear an inner mounting lug of the inner belt drive plate.  This ended up working just great.

So next week I may have some of my exhaust mocked up and I'll be working on the oil tank getting it all boxed back in on the inside around the battery.

Thanks for taking the time to take a look.

Later dudes and dudettes...

    

PS:  While previewing the post, I remembered that I now want to make a new shifter so it will be curvy like the brake pedal.  I'll make it out of 1/2" round cold roll so it will be very similar to the brake pedal.  Gotta keep everything even, ya know...  So I just keep making more work for myself.  This is why I don't get anything done.  For what you see in this post I spent pretty much all weekend building.  Wow, I could have just bought forward controls and bolted them on, NOT...

[naitram]

lookin good, cant wait for next update

[spydglide]

Very cool, Dan.  I love the custom/one-off brackets, etc.  Cool brake ped/lever.  That's going to be a mighty tight bend on that rear exhaust.....will it cause problems?  I'm loving this vicarious build.  har!  spyder

[Dan_Lockwood]

Very cool, Dan.  I love the custom/one-off brackets, etc.  Cool brake ped/lever.  That's going to be a mighty tight bend on that rear exhaust.....will it cause problems?  I'm loving this vicarious build.  har!  spyder

I'm cheating on the exhaust pipes.  I bought two "J" bends with a 2.5" radius.  The short leg is 8" and the long leg is 15".  I'll take a picture tonight of it in place and post it tomorrow.  Like I said in another post, I bought 18' of tubing with bends of all different sorts of curves and angles.  I had some experience before with cutting tubing and then welding it all back together.



This isn't the best picture to show for this.  But from the bottom of the picture just above the first bends up from the collector, I cut all four pipes off.  The headers were for a fenderwell big block Chevy and of course the motor was a 392 Hemi.  I bought flanges and 2" long tubes pre-welded from Headers by Ed.  I bolted up the flanges and then tried to fit the Chevy headers to the flanges.  The one major problem I had was that the rear cylinder on the heads had to curve way forward, so in essence I moved all the pipes forward one hole and rerouted the front to the back.  I had all four pipes on both sides just cut to pieces.  In that case I had tons of mandrel bent 2" tubing and I just kept cutting and splicing until I got what I wanted.  I made all the rear exhaust system out of 3".  I tapped out of the rear of the header collector with the 3" 90 degree elbow and made the rest.

I look forward to getting this all done this weekend.  I'll have the new Dunstall reverse cone shorty mufflers before the weekend so I'll be having some fun then.

This is really a lot of fun to do.  I took me a bit to get into it again, so now I'm on a roll and just can't stop.  I have lots of little obstacles to overcome, but nothing that should be a show stopper.

Thanks again for the comments and I'll keep posting as I get more done.  I'm sure glad I don't do this for a living, I'd starve.  Although if I did, I would have all this stuff setup and I wouldn't have my lathe torn apart and up in my garage attic.  I just don't have room for the stuff like I had in my work shop in Michigan.  I've not been using my TIG welder simply because I don't have it set up all the time.

Later all...

 

[MrFeexit]

OH MAN!!! Dan this is an amazing build!  I see you are from Ofallon, I will be passing somewhat by that way come June 11th? Around there anyway. I'm riding down to Marshall Texas to visit my brother around then. If it's ready I would love to come by and see this machine in person. WOW My skill set is in cabinetry and wood work. You obviously have a metal working gene going on big time.

[Talon]

Dan, really like the bike! the handle bars, brake pedal and floor boards look really good. I'm not being an ass, just my 2 cents, but the air cleaner you describe sounds cool, but not sure it fits the style of the bike. Everything else flows with the board track theme, really like the old ford brake pedal. 

Maybe something like this, $130 on ebay. Knuckle head not included! 

[Dan_Lockwood]

Very cool, Dan.  I love the custom/one-off brackets, etc.  Cool brake ped/lever.  That's going to be a mighty tight bend on that rear exhaust.....will it cause problems?  I'm loving this vicarious build.  har!  spyder

As promised, here is a picture of what I have in my collection of tubing for the exhaust.



You can see that I have about the same bend in both the heat riser tubing and the "J" bend 1-3/4" tubing.

Neither of the two "J" bends that I have are a true 180 degree bend.  I'll have to pull the tube ends together just a bit to get my true 180 on the inlet / outlet.

I think overall it will be a good fit.  Like I said, I'll have my mufflers on Friday so I'll be able to get some work done over the weekend.

    

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan, really like the bike! the handle bars, brake pedal and floor boards look really good. I'm not being an ass, just my 2 cents, but the air cleaner you describe sounds cool, but not sure it fits the style of the bike. Everything else flows with the board track theme, really like the old ford brake pedal. 

Maybe something like this, $130 on ebay. Knuckle head not included! 

Talon, you are so very correct on the air cleaner look.

I can't tell you how many different headlights, tail lights etc I bought for my '33 Dodge street rod project and not of them really hit the mark I was looking for.

As of right now I'm not sure that the old school Stromberg 97 air cleaners are going to "fit" my theme either.  But for about $40 I thought it might be worth a try.  I can return the air cleaners, which is probably what I'll do.

I'll take a look at noon for the air cleaner you have shown.  If I cannot find it, can you post a link to the auction site for this particular item?  Thanks.

You know, when I started I wanted to have a coffin style Harley teens type tank.  They look very cool but to get what I wanted for capacity, it really looked bad.  Then I found these tanks for $100 and thought, why not?  They are great to work with being new and not having any paint to deal with.  They are however very poor quality.  Not that they aren't going to be strong enough, they are, but the quality of the stamping leaves a lot to be desired.  But hey, I'll be doing so much to them it's not a big deal in my mind.

Now with the newer style tank I lost some of the boardtrack flair I was hoping to stay with.  So just as I compromised on my Willys, I now compromize on the bike.  It will still look okay, but not what I had envisioned in my mind's eye.

I'm going to be taking the shifter off, as I mentioned in a previous post, and make a new curved shifter to kind of match the brake pedal.  Albeit 3/4" on the brake pedal and 1/2" on the shifter, but as long as the bend is similar the two will look good together and compliment each other.  I think I'll just drill the curved horizontal upper end of the new shift lever and screw straight in the shifter pad/post, whatever you want to call the thing you hook your toe under....

So thanks a lot for the comments and the interest in keeping me on track.