Things have
been painfully slow the past 6 weeks including progression on the bike.
However, I did manage to pick up a 1954 Ducati 98 TL for a lowly sum of
$250!
New garage art!
As of a few weekends past, the weather has been
getting
warmer, progression on the bike has begun again!
A couple of weeks ago I got a little stir crazy,
grabbed the sawzall and hacked off the rear end. This was the beginning
stages of building my own seat loop and changing the shape of the rear
end. Since the bike is a mixture of old school
and new school, I've opted for a clean superbike style tail with a
smaller support bracket with less angle unlike the rest of the café
racers you see. A bit of geometry and load calculating, I've figured out
the support for the tail will be under the solo seat.
The bike before was designed to accommodate ~350-400 lbs of passenger,
and now less than 200…
After spending hours deliberating what seat I wanted
on the bike and contacting several vendors on eBay, I decided to make
my own. This is my first go at fiberglass, so I hope I don't screw it up
too badly! The key to success is not making
zero mistakes, but how you react, learn and fix the ones you have made.
I started with some ordinary pink housing insulation
foam glued together with 3M Super 77. The 3M spray adhesive was the
only one at Home Depot I could find that wouldn't melt foam. If you
ever decide to make your own, keep this in mind!
And let it set for at least 12-24hrs, if not the foam will move and
you'll have glue all over your hands and cutting tools (Ask me how I
know…) Thankfully with foam you can recover from mistakes, and if not,
just make a new one! My biggest decision was deciding
how long the seat and hump were going to be. This required a tape
measure and some imagination infront of the bike. Once I figured, "Ok
this is the shape and length that I want" I headed into the basement
and built the seat. A pen, a few blades and some
sand paper can go a long way.
Symmetry to the tank was what I was after. Go figure I
could actually get almost all of the angles to be pretty much bang on
just from memory! Another go at it to add some more angle to the hump
where it meets the seat and voila!
The foam needs some work filling in the holes and
divots that I made from, you guessed it, my mistakes. Live and learn!
Speaking with a friend he told me about the old school method of making
surfboards was to put a skim coat of drywall
compound over the foam to stop the fiberglass process from eating the
foam. Genius! I needed to fill the hills and valleys in anyways, so
away I went!
While waiting for the drywall mud to dry, I tackled
the front end installing new Galfer stainless steel braided lines and
new EBC HH pads on the front. New brake fluid will be going in soon.
I also managed to score a tank off of eBay for a
good price. When I got it, I discovered it was in better shape than I
could have anticipated! No need to do a tank cleaning or sealing, Score!
I've become the type to pay attention to the small details when it comes to building bikes. I'm not a concours builder yet, nor do I think I have the patience to be, but the small things do matter. For instance, the coil pack. It'll never be seen tucked up and under the gas tank, however I felt that refurbishing the units to make them presentable was required. Also, someone hacked away at half the wiring harness on the bike, so something needed to be done.
I started with some brake clean to clean off the dust, dirt, grease and grime and ended with these:
The coils were done in the interim of waiting for my first fiberglass attempt to dry. It turned out much better than I had thought it would. I have a few bubbles to fix up but for the most part I'm happy with the results.
Next step is to sand down the rough spots, fix the bubbles, another layer of resin and then gel coat, sand and paint!
Since I started the project I knew I wanted expansion chambers on the bike. No doubt in my mind. Unfortunately for me, they rarely come up for sale. I've found a few companies who do build them still, but at a $600 price tag I've decided Oh hell no!
The next best alternative was to find ones from another bike with similar size etc. I've hunted eBay for weeks on end searching for pipes. I bid of 3 different sets for a Kawasaki H1 500, and always outbid at the last possible second. Bastards!
But I did manage to find some on Kijiji, for an H1, and the same Wirges brand that were being sold on eBay. Only difference, HALF the price! Awesome! Another tick off the list of things to get. When I got them, they came with the exhaust manifolds. I only discovered them when I was cutting up the box. I was happier than ever. I had already gotten some steel plate and had planned on making some. This just made my life easier.
To top it off, the exhaust manifold diameter is exactly right for the GT380, AND the stud holes were almost bang on. A bit of filing and BAM! They fit! Of course I had to do a test fit. I think they'll be awesome!
I have done my research and know that I may have some troubles with the pipes being that the stroke of the H1's are almost 6mm longer than the GT380, but right now that's not really a concern.
I've finally gotten around the installing the suspension on the bike and I must say, I'm quite pleased! It's not done yet, two more brackets to weld on in order for the suspension cushion to take the weight, but I'd say it's getting there. Don't mind my welds, they aren't the prettiest, but I clean them up nicely!
That's it for now. In the next few days I'll have the seat loop made and mounted, the suspenon all attached, seat hump fixed up and then on to mounting the exhaust and the rear sets!
Until next time, keep the rubber side down!
