Gas, tires, oil.

I made a little progress on the trike last weekend. I got the oil lines hooked up and the tank bolted back down.

I also installed the chain and tensioner. I hooked up the battery, that spool of primary wire is for the lead up to the switch.

Next I need to put some oil in the tank, then I can try cranking the engine.

Last weekend I pulled the exhaust off my ‘89 Sportster (to get to the sprocket cover, but that’s another story) and noticed that there was a crack around where the crossover pipe is welded on. The fact is, chroming can make steel brittle (this is why you shouldn’t chrome steering components).

I decided to weld it up with my acetylene torch. Now, I could have mig welded or brazed it or even arc welded it, but gas welding works great for stuff like this. No spatter like arc or mig and once you braze something you can never go back and weld it.

You can fill holes easily by gas welding, you don’t have to worry about starting and stop an arc and you can regulate the heat by just pulling away (sure, a tig welder with a pedal would do better, but not for the price of my torch and no sunburn). I am actually using tig rods and brazing flux, but it works.

Next time I’ll put a shade 5 lens in front of the camera so the actual welding can be seen better.

In 1970 when this issue of Hot Rod came out, Big Daddy Ed Roth’s Choppers magazine had only been out for a couple years, but already people were fondly recalling the bobber:

Hopefully the Discovery channel won’t start having specials on bobbers and ruin them too.

While I’ve got the tanks off to do the wiring, I thought I’d snap a pic of the lower mount for the Fat Bobs. When I bought the bike, the mount was a piece of 3/4″x2″ bar stock welded between the front frame tubes, with the light weight stock mount tack welded to it. It looked pretty crude, so I decided to make a new one. I bent a piece of 1″ tube (same as the frame) then notched it with a 1″ holesaw so it fit the frame tube nicely. On the mount side filled the open tube by welding a plate of 1/8″ over the end. I marked the where the ears of the tanks lined up and welded a 1/4″ coupling nut in.

I’m normally a big fan of symmetry, but this works out nicely.

Here’s a pic with the tank bolted on with a polished stainless steel button head screw.

Sorry for the terrible flash pics, I need to get some lights.

I had some Doss turn signals that came on my ‘89 sportster daily driver, but they didn’t work with saddle bags or the windshield so I put the stock ones back on. I decided to use them instead on the trike, here are they are mounted on the rear.

These are actually the fronts, on a 2 wheeler the fronts are running lights and turn signals (so either 2 filament bulb or 2 bulbs) and the rears are just turn signals. But on the trike, I want tail lights on either side, not just in the middle (so someone passing at night doesn’t run into my fenders). I just traded the amber lenses for the red ones. Now I need a stop light/license plate light. And to finish the wiring.

I finally got the fenders mounted, as you can see, they need to be buffed out, but the wet sanding with 1500 grit took care of the orange peel and dirt in the clear coat. As you can see from the multimeter sitting on the seat I’ve started on the wiring.

I stripped back the insulation, hooked up the meter and started flipping switches on the handle bar controls (I know, I could have just taken them apart looked at where the wires lead). Next I mapped out the key switch the same way.

I am trying to get the trike running within the next 2 weeks, so of course I started working on something that has nothing to do with it running. But any progress is good. I unpacked the fender supports (they have been wrapped in a wool blanket for the last 2 years). I set them in place and polished some 5/16 stainless carriage bolts to mount them to the rear frame.

The supports are made from some 3/4″ x 1 1/2″ x 16ga. tubing made for railings. I figured that the half-round edges would make them look streamlined. I formed the tapered ends by cutting out a wedge with a sawsall and bending the edge around, tacking with the mig as I bent it.
The fenders had also been packed up since the move.

When unpacked they looked just as craptactular as I remembered. When I put the final clear coat on, the temperature wasn’t right, it was a very cold Montana night, and I had a propane heater going full blast so one side was too hot and the other side was too cold. So the finish was a little dry. To top it off, the clothes dryer must have come on or something, because I suddenly got a ton of lint stuck to the surface.

Rather than repaint, I decided to see if I could buff them out. First I wet sanded them with 1500 grit paper. Then I buffed them out and waxed them. They don’t look too bad. I’ll show them buffed and mounted next.

One of the next steps on my trike will be to hook up the oil lines. I snapped a pic while I was disassembling it so I could see how they hook up.

I’ve got the tank remounted, now I just need to hook up the lines.

When I bought my trike, the rear uprights that supported the bed were welded to the frame. Unfortunatly, this trapped the rear axle in the frame. I wanted the new supports to be removable. What I did was find some 3/8″-16 coupling nuts that barely fit inside the 1″ tubing that made up the frame. I tapped them in place with a hammer and then welded around them. This allowed me to bolt on the uprights.

In the front I welded the cross piece to the frame, but did the same trick with coupling nuts. The cross piece is 1″ square (the rear fender brackets will bolt to it), so I needed a bigger coupling nut (1/2″).

So here’s a shot of the whole bed frame:

I’ll probably just make a flat bed with some boards, maybe redwood.

Lets finish up on this fender. Last time I showed the wet sanding, now I need to mount it so I can paint it. I like to screw this sort of thing down, below you can see how I made a jig out of some scrap wood. I’ve had bad luck hanging stuff from wires.

I’ve already shown the black base coat and marblizing on another piece, so let me talk about the clear coat. I’m using a ureathane clear, in this case UFC-35 from House of Kolor. Its a flow clear, really made for a final flow coat after a high build clear (UC-35). But I’m not going to be color sanding and buffing, so I’m just using it as a single top coat. I put on 4 coats, you need to wait between coats til the paint is just tacky. You can test a taped spot (or the jig in my case) with your finger. Below, you may be able to see tiny strings stretching from my finger tip. It’s ready for the next coat when it stops stringing.

Here’s a closeup after the last coat: