Thank you! The seat unit is now in shape, next job is to make the actual seat… Not cut it to the end shape yet, still pondering! I must work on my photoshop skills!
B for me - but with a little more of a swoop on the underside sortov following the curve of the tyre.
Still undecided on the seat shape but that can wait… for now I have also made the seat base. I bonded in some alloy plates for the rivinuts to secure into. It fits rather well!
One thing I have often regretted is not fitting a steering damper… they are difficult to retro fit so I decided to fit one to this bike… This entailed making a lug which I wanted to be a tight fit on the frame…I didn’t have a 30mm cutter, So I used a fly cutter adjusted to size!
Nice - & you don't need to tell me about retro fitting steering dampers - it took me, ooo months, to add one to the V-Raptor because of all it's front end fairing & gubbins. Plus I had nowhere near the technical/engineering skills of yourself.
Nice install though Andy! Two jobs in the last few days… Collect the headlight brackets from the water jet cutter, and make an engine cradle so I can lift the frame off easily. I love going to the water jet place, always an interesting visit! Today they were cutting 100mm titanium plate!
well it didn’t take long to get it all apart! Engine out and on the bench… frame welded and off to the shot blasters… I have to say the frame is exceptionally nice, the welding is superb, and its very light... dare I say a lot better quality than Ducati!... I have always had my frames powder coated at a company I have used for years… Last year they let me down badley, lots of broken promises, and in the end I went and collected an unfinished frame. I decided to have it media blasted and do it myself… That worked out well so I have done the same this time. It was back today from the blasters and it's an excellent job. I will be etch priming it, undercoat, then 2k Clear over base One of the common problems with the sportster engine is leaking cylinder base gaskets, this one had sighs of a slight leak so for the cost of a set of gaskets I decided to replace them… Pistons are very big! its all like new in there as you would expect for 5000 miles. While I looked a the bike, one thing was bugging me… that straight case line on the engine… so I modified the casing slightly…I like it… many won't!
Could I ask who did the frame prepping as I’m fairly local to you and I’m swapping bits from o r frame to the other. TIA
Definitely better with the case mod Like a lot of people, I'm put off by H-D, but Erik Buell has always been a bit of a hero 'cos he pushes the envelope. I'd like one.
Its a company in Wolverhampton called Applied Surface Treatments.... The engine is all back together now… its a BIG old lump! I also finished the frame as the weather looks like it will turn too cold next week to do it under the gazebo. I etch primed it, a coat of 2K primer, them base silver and 2K clear. I don’t think i will go back to powder coat…
the etch primer, or as I prefer to call it "adhesion promoter" is air dry in a couple of hours... the mistake people make with this is they apply it far too thick! you only need the lightest of single coats... I use an aerosol for this, it's very good, and also great on plastic and essential on alloy. the 2K primer is wonderful stuff, but I like to leave this overnight to fully harden. the basecoat again is only there to give colour, so a couple of light coats is enough. once this is touch dry, today it was about 15 mins, you can go straight on with a couple of coats of clear. Another mistake people make is let the basecoat fully dry. this cause intercoat adhesion problems and clear coat peel later on... its almost a wet on wet process... i have a page on my blog on painting... https://jtccc.wordpress.com/projects-2/paint-spraying-at-home/
The seat is back from the trimmer, and as usual it’s a superb job! The weather has turned cold which meant I had to resort to drying the smaller painted parts in the oven… Good job she is OK with it these day, although the line had been drawn on the dishwasher! I debated on taking the parts in to the platers, they did a great job last time BUT they did lose a few items, luckily nothing of importance. Not wanting that to happen this time I decided to do it myself again and got out my plating kit which I have been using for years… still great results! They say the devil is in the detail, I see so many builds spoiled due to dull and rusty plated items…
Going together nicely… I do need to slow down! However I made a big fxxxup the other day when I took the rear shocker apart… I forgot they work opposite to normal so when I undid the adjuster nut, I was actually applying more tension onto the. it came off the threads and I realised I would never be able to get it back on… rookie error. I had to cut the outer shroud off. I hope to rescue it as a new one is mega expensive… will post pictures in a few days! but for now here it is going together.
