1982 Nighthawk 450 ( aka:the turd in the punch bowl) tracker/brat build

Little Heat

Little Heat

New Member
Alright well i've had it for several months now been riding it all summer completely stock and now i think its time for a little change up to something a little less ugly and a little more aggresive. Im trying to keep it somewhat cheap so Im probably going to modify alot of the existing parts.

started tearing the back end off it



and the front headlight and gauges

 
bought some cheap bars today from a local shop kind of the tracker look im going for, ill probably replace them and the grips too eventually, thought i would start sanding the handlebar clamp tooand see how it turns out as im also planning on sanding down the tank and leaving it steel with a clearcoat.


before with the old bar clamps



and the sanded clamp with the new bars and grips


look a little crooked to me but theyll be replaced eventually
 
Here's a link to check out http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=26184.0 They're not nighthawks, but they're pretty much the same frames.
 
yeah! i was actually gunna use that skateboard as the seat pan, and i cut it up too but that frame shape is just not conducive for a bench seat,



i sanded up my speedo and tach too, i like the looks of the brushed steel, i think i might just leave them too to match the tank when its stripped and just shoot a clearcoat on it


 
Still just been working away, havent really posted anything in a while but ive been taking pictures every so ofte, so i stripped the tank, got some new handlebars and cut out my "seat pan" , it plywood with a cutout for the frame to stick through





 
Then i completely tore into it so i could rattle can alot of the parts and heavily considering replacing the airbox with the replacement pods, I also replaced the fork seals which wasnt too bad, heres some pictures of the torn down frame and the painting process









heard about this card trick from a couple of forums




before


after


the paint looked alright when it was wet but when dried it was more of a copper and I didnt really like it, so i stripped it again and re coated it, im playing around with the colour but i really havent decided anything permenent yet, i still really like the bare steel look







repainted the gauges as well

and exhaust covers too, coated it with high heat engine enamel i guess ill find out how it holds up angainst the exhaust heat it looks better than the spotty chrome that was on there though

 
Now for my seat I had planned do have it look something like the triumph scrambler, so i was going to use plywood :eek: and see how that works out i guess, its pretty flexible with how I have it cut out to accommodate the frame but im either gonna try and reinforce it with some steel sheeting or redo the seat pan with a thin steel sheet? i dunno what kind of seat other people have done without cutting or modifying the existing frame?

anyways heres my materials and process for the seat





Idea i had for the tank paint, a little honda tribute


the template mocked up with the tank and some paint ideas



and on the bike






and then on making the seat, i got some foam from walmart and some of those foam floor tiles as well and glued them on to the wooden seat pan


trying to weigh it down to make the glue stick




i cut out the floor tile layers but left the top foam layer to keep a little but of protection over the metal frame, the plan is for it to slip on top of the frame and line up so its barely noticeable

it lined up really nice and feels good, although im still looking for ways to fasten it to the frame itself and maybe how to reinforce it at all if anyone has any suggestions?





And then the seat with some weatherproof leather stretched overtop, its a real frankenstein upholstery job haha I did it myself with a carpet knife and about a thousand staples, she aint pretty but it gets the job done, at least i think...



And now that the Forks, Front wheel, and headlight casing is painted i decided to reassemble the front end, I picked up some after market blinkers to look a little more sleek, its starting to come together now with everything and having the forks lowered, tank is repainted again back to a dark cherry red colour although I AM NEVER SATISFIED!!!! :eek: i had planned to do some black designs over top but we'll see how far i get before deciding to strip it down again









Of course gotta have the black tape for no apparent reason :p its purpose is limited now but maybe when its back on the road it'll do more than hold the headlight in place, new headlight brackets from ebay, stille want to puit some fork bnoots on it to really make it look mean, but as it stands now here it is

 
Cool! I love the way you made your seat. I've been thinking about different foam types. I am going to have to try that. Have you tried sitting on the seat for any length of time? How well does that foam handle your weight? Any pressure points on the edges at all?
 
animalrobot said:
Cool! I love the way you made your seat. I've been thinking about different foam types. I am going to have to try that. Have you tried sitting on the seat for any length of time? How well does that foam handle your weight? Any pressure points on the edges at all?
Click to expand...

Hey thanks man, I haven't actually got to road test it yet, its more of a mock-up at this point, being plywood its fairly flexible but I only weigh a whopping 140lbs so it seems to be able to hold my weight alright although I could see it cracking on a big bump if you were to just let your weight sink into it. I'm going to put a steel plate across it to reinforce it and put some screws from the frame to give it some added support, ill definitely put some pictures of now it turns out
 
also I picked up a new tank today, i found it on Kijiji for $15 !!!!! if anybody can identify it thatd be awesome as im not sure what it is but its definitely gunna need a new coat of paint, but as ugly as it is on the outside it is literally flawless on the inside which is really nice, its also going to need some modificationt to fit on the frame if anyone has any suggestions, heres a pic i snapped today

 
Finished painting the back wheel and mounting it back up, its all coming back together now its nice to be able to start putting it back together again, still waiting on number plates to cover the airbox, but for now i have a few mock ups of how it could potentially end up
heres a quick spray up of one of the two tanks i might go with


and mounted up:
OPTION A


heres with the original seat pan than ibuilt and had planned to go with, its looks alright i gues im not 100% sold on it though


OPTION B


heres the other seat pan i have ready, excuse the aqua blue duct tape its my makeshift waterproofing, id probably throw some black "leather" over it to make it match


OPTION C


Heres with the new tank i picked up recently, i like this one the most although its really not the prettiest and the tank stlll needs to be painted up i feel like this is the most practical set up , seems like more of a dirty brat tracker :eek: (how many terms can i combine) haha i dunno let me know what you guys think!!
 
I think that tank is pretty cool with the original stripe. I'd leave it as is.

Little Heat said:
also I picked up a new tank today, i found it on Kijiji for $15 !!!!! if anybody can identify it thatd be awesome as im not sure what it is but its definitely gunna need a new coat of paint, but as ugly as it is on the outside it is literally flawless on the inside which is really nice, its also going to need some modificationt to fit on the frame if anyone has any suggestions, heres a pic i snapped today

Click to expand...
 
i love the tank! on my bike when swapping on a CB360 tank i cut the pegs and rubbers in half, then had to pound the left side of the tank in to clear the frame where it curves out, comes out more on the left then it does on the right
 
crackerman said:
I think that tank is pretty cool with the original stripe. I'd leave it as is.
Click to expand...

yeah I agree, i started sanding it down today and made sure to tape of the stripes to save them ;) although the tanks previous owner did a pretty terrible job when he taped them off to be painted so theres already some black paint on them
 
leucadiasycledesigns said:
Looks like fun! I like that tank a lot did you figure out what it is from?
Click to expand...

Im not 100% sure , the only pictures ive seen come up on google images when I search 1978 Honda cb400t theres a boxier version with a stripe across the top, then only one or two pictures of bikes with this tank, i dunno if maybe its a canadian manufacturer difference or something? not sure
 
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