I got bored today waiting for my wife to get home from her trip.  I rode up to Durham yesterday to hang out at Kung Fu Tattoo and I was inspired by Tim’s Panhead’s bars and I hate the stock bars on the Sporty, so I decided I needed to make some new ones for it. I had two sets of old bars laying around in my parts pile so I decided to see what I could come up with.  I think they turned out cool. Total cost $0.00 I decided not to even fight with wordpress on the pictures so I will just link to them. It starts out with a before pic of the bike, then shows the donor bars, then the process of making the new bars, the new bars mounted on the bike and the pile of what was left afterwards. I know the risers are lame, but she wants to keep her speedo and neutral light, so until I can buy another speedo we have to keep the risers because part of the speedo cover is built into the riser. 

Gallery

Yeah, yeah I know it’s been too long, and I am a slacker, but in my defense I have been really busy. Well after I went to all the trouble of making the bottom for the new tank and fitting the fuel pump assembly I discovered a huge line of rust that had been bondoed inside the tank. As I sanded off the Bondo I began to see light through the side of the tank from the rust holes. Long story short the tank I worked so hard for so long on will not be going on this bike. Luckily I had a back up plan-B tank and now I am working on it. I probably should have just used it to begin with, but being the stubborn hard head I am I wanted to make this project as hard as I could just to see if I could do it. (Insert fail whale here). Other than the rust problem the engineering portion of the project would have worked so its not a total failure.
Anywho all I needed to do to the new tank was patch some holes the jack leg who owned the tank before me cut into it, bondo a small dent, paint and make new mounts. I am now ready to prime the tank after the repairs, so it should go smoother and faster. Hopefully I will have this thing finished soon and be able to ride it again. The wife is getting tired of me “borrowing” her bike. Here are some pictures to catch you up on the progress. Thanks for sticking with me even through the lack of updates!!

This is where we left off. laying out the tank bottom.

 

 

 

 After cutting out the bottom and cutting the hole for the fuel pump assembly and welding in the bolts.

 

 

 

 

Looking good so far.

 

 

 

 It will work!

 

 

 

 

 Welcome to my nightmare. I’m still going to use this tank, I just don’t have time to fix it for this bike. Maybe it’ll wind up on the wifes one day.

 

 

 

 

This is one of the holes the previous owner left for me. Can’t complain though only paid $40.00 for the tank with the fuel pump components.

 

 

 

 

Laying out the new mounts.

 

 

 

 

 Doing slotted holes without a mill blows. 

 

 

 

 

 Front mounts made and tacked up.

 

 

 

 

 Mounts welded on and on the bike.

 

 

 

 

Fully mounted. This is the new look with the new tank. I think it flows better than the old Peanut tank.

 

 

 

 

Another view.

 

 

 

 

Sorry again for the crappy pics, I can’t seem to remember to bring a good camera to the shop while I’m working and I always have the iPhone so I use it. Hopefully it won’t be 2 months without an update again.

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I don’t like progress update much better for a title, but I’m tired of thinking about it. Anywho, I found a few minutes to sneak away to the shop and figured I would try to save myself some time and trouble by knocking out these dents and not having to make patch panels. The worst that could have happened is I could have made it worse and still have had to make patch panels so why not try? Sorry for the crappy pictures, but I only had my iPhone with me at the time.

This is where we begin:

 

 

 

I used a hammer to smooth out the crease a little before going to the English Wheel

 

 

 

A few passes with a low crown wheel:

 

 

 

 

It’s good enough for Bondo:

 

 

 

 

Now on to the fun stuff:

 

 

 

 

After a few passes I got all I could get with the planishing hammer:

 

 

 

 

Now it’s back to the way they used to do it, hammer and dolly.

Actually hammer and cylinder cap, but they are made to be dollies.

 

 

 

After a few on dolly and a few off dolly hammer sessions its as close as I’m going to get it.

 

 

 

 

I’m no body man, thats obvious, but it’s close enough for Bondo. Stay tuned for the next installment, Tunnel Fabrication.

I finally got some free time to spend in the shop Monday and started on the tank fab. As I was removing the paint to start cutting the tank up I noticed the all too familiar smell of Bondo. I expected to find some on this tank being that I only paid $10.00 for it but I did not expect the front corner of the tank to look like somebody beat it with a pick hammer. Well as has been the case so far on this project, expect the worst, hope for the best. I should have the tunnel cut out of it and the new one started in the next couple of days. Anyway, here are a couple of semi mock up pics before the paint removal, and a couple during and after.

Got the majority of the wiring done today. Looks much better, and is a lot less complicated. I hooked up the battery, and everything worked. Now on to the fabrication on the new tank. The last pic is most of the unnecessary wire and connectors. I think I have officially voided my warranty.