Re: A way to waste money: The evolution of a confused '74 360
I know it's been a while, but I'm still working!!! I promise!
I had a fender bender hit and run not too long ago, and my old truck got an unwanted nose job from it. I've been trying to haul parts in the spare Honda Civic hatch, and well, the motorcycle frame doesn't very well like to fit in said car, so as the parts came in for the truck, I had to get her back together! And now that she's up and running, I got a full day in yesterday.
I finally broke down and did it. I chopped the rear end of the frame. I wanted the bike to be completely open in the rear where the monoshock suspension was going to be hanging out to give a good view of its workings and what not. So I cut the rear stays and the seat tube accordingly. In the pictures, I haven't yet fabbed up the rest of the seat frame or the new stays that I plan on creating for the seat. The new ones will be much more streamlined and sexy when they are done. I have just about decided that a custom seat pan is the only way I'll ever get what I want, so fiberglass, here we come again. :
The rear suspension is done except for the grade 8 hardware that I need for mounting the shock. That will come today. I cut out a portion of the stock tank mount plate and welded in a new piece of 3/8 plate between the frame rails. I wanted beefy, and beefy is what I got. It's triple welded on all four sides for strength. On the swingarm, to get the correct geometry I built a shock stay out of another piece of tube with a support to hold the bottom shock bracket. This of course was all fully welded and gussetted accordingly.
And then finally, I fabbed up the new rear forks out of the 3/8 plate and welded them to the rear of the swingarm.
This all took a while because I am having to vut all of my parts by hand, and I want them to look right, so I took my time with the grinder and what not. But all in all I think it turned out well.
I also finished cleaning the head of all of the carbon build up, and I re-polished the valves. They're ready for install as soon as I get a coat of POR-15 and engine paint on it.
I'll be back in the shop again today, so hopefully more updates this evening. Let me know what you think!
Top shock mount:
Bottom shock mount and new tube work:
Overall finished product. Today I hope to finish the seat frame and supports and finish the tank mounts. I can't put the wheels back on yet as I am waiting for my bronze bushings to come in. It's got temporary wooden bushings in the swingarm right now to allow mockup, but that'll never work for holding its own weight! So I'll just be patient. Hope you guys have a good one....more to come soon!
And the cleaned head with re-cut valve seats and polished valves:
Have a good one fellas!