Sidestand

Right, I've been pretty busy recently so shed time had literally been sneaky hours here and there this week. I made a start on the exhausts last weekend, but as TC wisely pointed out, I should probably make sure everything else is in place that could possibly clash with the pipes.

As I plan on running my pipes under the bike, that isn't much but I needed to consider the sidestand. I'd saved the original mount, and was hoping to just weld that straight on, but obviously it's not that simple. Using the original mount would intrude heavily into where I wanted my pipes to run so after much faffing and swearing I decided to make my own mount that could fit more on the outside of the frame.





I copied the stock mount and tacked it onto the bike





That's as far as I got tonight, I made few delicate attempts to see if it was on in the right place, but obviously couldn't lose the full weight of the bike on it until its welded up. Any fine tuning I will make by modifying the stand itself.

Exhaust headers

Spent pretty much all of the weekend on the lathe. I bought a sold lump of 2" stainless bar to make the bushes that connect the headers to the exhaust ports. Took be bloody ages to machine all that stainless! And the swarf cut my fingers to ribbons!! Anyways they have come out nice and fit really well, I just copied the dimensions of the old stock pipes

I also chopped the ends off the old pipes so I could nick the header clamps. Next comes the glorious task if making the pipes!!

Front brake stay

Been chipping away at the bike this week, I was going to mount the electrics box, but Holme Valley Customs literally sold out of threaded bungs on the night I needed some!! Anyways, got some more on order...

So, I looked at what else needed doing and messed with a few bits. The top engine mount was a tight fit, and the bolts clashed with the tank a bit, making it an awkward fit, so I messed with that and got it fitting better.

Then I decided to make a front brake torque arm similar to the rear one. I turned up a couple of lugs on the lathe and shaped some 15mm bar.

Tacked it together on the bike and welded up

I've been thinking recently more about all the other bits and bobs I need for this bike to function, so I attached the speedo cable and brake cable.

Obviously with no front mudguard there is nothing to fix the cables to and so they looked pretty lose and exposed. As a sort of half arsed fix I twisted a bit of wire and fixed it to the bottom yoke in an attempt to restrain them a bit.

Sold Out!!

Unfortunately we are temporarily out of stock of M8 threaded 'top hat' bungs!! Thanks to everyone who has purchased some so far, I'd love to see some more pics of examples where people have used them on their bikes.

New stock coming soon!!

Fake oil tank

I've been chipping away at making the electrics box over the last few weeks. I wanted to make a bit of a Harley style horse shoe shape fake oil tank. So to begin with I made some rough measurements and bent up a sheet of 1mm steel on the sheet roller.



I kept trimming it down until I had the shape I wanted and then I used it as a template to make the final piece out of 2mm sheet



Once I'd got the curve, I could use it to mark out the top and bottom pieces, which I cut out of 3mm sheet, for a bit of extra rigidity



I needed to make an access hatch, so I cut a door out of the top piece, and then welded a sort of step all of the way round the opening for the door to sit on.



Tacked it all together;



Mocked up on the bike;





It's been a bit of a hassle to make, but I think it's looking we'll so far. Next I need to mount it to the frame, and sort the door on the access hatch. Weather is starting to get better, I need to pull my finger out and pick up the pace!!

Air filters

Got some decent shed time this weekend so decided to get creative and try something new. The warped frame issue was getting me down a bit, and that combined with the weather and a prolonged cold meant that I haven't been feeling much shed love recently. So time to mix it up a bit!

I decided that I wasnt happy with the ram-air filters I had purchased. They are longer than I would like and a bit too modern looking, so inspired by what TC made with his, I thought Id have a go too.



So to start with I needed a tube the right size. I measured the diameter of the filter material and worked out the circumference, and therefore the length of sheet metal I would need to make the tube. TC has lent me this simple but very handy sheet metal roller.





Doesn't quite round the edges of nicely, but its close enough. I cut out some over-large end plates and did lots of tacking to keep everything in place while I chopped it in two.



For the fit onto the carbs, I chopped up a piece of thick tube which was roughly the right size, and turned the bore to fit the carb inlets nice and snug.





Then I welded these onto the end plates and tacked it all together. Followed by welding.





I was running out of gas badly so some of the welding is a bit shit, but I couldnt get any more gas over the bank holiday so carried on regardless!

At this point I realized that I had put a lot of time and effort into what is basically two cans. Then comes the tricky bit, I decided that a nice even hole pattern was in order, so after practicing on a flat bit of sheet, I marked it all out and punched the holes.



This took ages, and drilling each hole also took ages and was quite fiddly. Fortunately my dad was on hand to help out at this point so I cant take all the credit. We agreed that it probably would have been easier to mark out and drill all of the holes on a flat sheet first, then roll it up into a tube. But we had no idea whether or not this would be as successful as rolling a solid sheet. Either way, we persevered and finished up with this;



I trimmed the filter material down to size and stuffed that in, and tried it on the bike;





I'm really chuffed with the result! No doubt someone will point out that it probably wont work, or allow enough air into the carbs, but for now I'm pleased with it. Just need to make a few slits on the collar where it fits onto the carb so the jubilee clip will tighten it up nicely.