Front on of the engine now
with newly polished casings, stainless steel bolts, and re-blacked jugs.
All the oil ports where flushed, new rings (they wre fine but had compressed
over the miles). I am afraid this is the last time the casings will take
a polishing as the aluminum has stained over the years.
.
Left side view. There's
still a ding in the jugs from a ditch dive on Hwy 94 some years back. Quite
a few guys back in the day used to put these ugly crhome boxes on their
case for the electrics, but mine are hidden under the seat save for
the rectifier.
.
Right side view. It is sometimes
difficult to convince folks that this very engine easily has over 200,000
miles on it! It's never had an electric start. No need. I can start this
thing with my hand!
.
Other parts now cleaned
up and ready to go. I have most of the molding done on the frame and tank
with a little spot fixing to go yet. The hammered tank is a pain since
the "ripples" in the metal can be seen without a smoothing layer of bondo.
The carbs were horribly gummed up from sitting and had tarnished badly.
They got complete rebuilds and the assembly looks nearly new. I did managed
to get f***ed on a set via eBitch but we'll leave that as a lesson learned.
Not every bro is righteous.
.
The frame, custom oil tank
to fit it, and this Springer front end came out of a local chopper shop
here in Wentzville (The Jammer Joint) but is long gone and just a memory.
There were only about 8 of these front ends built from what I am told,
and the frame I'm told is an Amen.
.
Yippee! The paint is finally
done! It's hard to get a shot of the actual color. It is a little more
of a deep regal purple than what you see here but part of that is due to
the pearl nature of the finish. I chose Dupont's Hot Hues "Purple Rhapsody",
and am quite pleased with the results. It looks a bit on the blue side
here, but that's because nearly all of the light was coming from one source
(the flash). Three coats of color and four clear later this is the end
result. Yeah, I even did the helmets too! :-D
.
I took one shot without
flash so the color would come out a little closer to real life. Sadly,
I shake too damn much to take a clear focused shot with longer exposure
times. It does at least show the different colors depending on light source
and angle. Reflections from direct light such as the sun also produce a
reddish-purple halo. I have a few flaws to fix but they are extremely minor
(small run and a spot on the tank where the air supply decided to "spit"
on the last coat of clear).
.
New seat is on it's way!
The seat in the early pics above was replaced with one identical to this
since it offers better lumbar support for the driver and also gave the
bike a little more of an "old school chopper" look. Fate would have it
one of my beloved dogs (Beaver) decided to eat half of it and I had to
replace it with another used king-queen that was not near as comfortable.
Happy me, I'll once again have a comfy cushion under my butt (mandatory
for a rigid frame).
.
It is beginning to look
like a sled once again. Front end has new custom axle and it worked out
perfect. I kindof like how the 21" front wheel makes the front end look
larger than life compared to the 18" that was on it. It will ride a lot
smoother as well. The seat is mounted and the sissy bar took a little bending
and tweaking to make it fit the new seat, but it is close enough now to
call it done. Next is covering the oil tank with leather since the chrome
had deteriorated badly over the last 16 years. I'm stuck using it since
this frame and the oil tank were made for each other and nothing else available
will fit. Once the oil tank is in, the next step is getting the engine
back in and aligning the rear wheel/rear srpocket up with the engine. As
usual I managed to chip the paint in one place, it never fails. I should
be able to touch it up without too much trouble.
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