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My 1974 AMF Harley Davidson Aermacchi SS350 I bought at the 2012 Mid America Vintage Motorcycle Auction in January. All original runs great. Almost a shame to turn it into a cafe racer. All the work will be bolt on so it can be turned back to stock.
Mounted up some Clubman bars and 7" headlight I mocked up the fairing to see how it fit and what I would need to mount it.
End mount mirrors for the bars.
I found some mounts that clamp to the forks and bent up some tabs the go from the fairing to the mounts
I used some plastic covers for license plate frames to cover the screws on the fairing
I found a tank at the salvage yard that was similar to Rickman, Dunstahl or Norton Manx tank but didn't cost $400. I will need to shorten it 2.5" and narrow the rear ro fit the race seat better. This is from a mid 80's Yamaha Seca.
Here's the seat I got for it.
I cut about 2.5" out the tank and just bent the flap down to make a flatter end on the tank. I also cut slits on the bottom ao I can push the side in and make it narrower.
The tank is just sitting on the frame right now so I can see what else I need to cut out and then I need to make front and rear mounting tabs on the tank. I need to move the sides in about 2" on each side remove the curve at the back
Welded on some mounting tabs to the tank. Tapped the tube that weld the original tank on so I can bolt the tank on.
Finished welding up the tank and ground the welds down.
Slapped on some filler and body putty. Ready to finish sanding and spray.
Finished the tank and started to prime it last week. Too cold this weekend to finish it. No it's not going to be flat black. Gloss Black and Orange.
Removed the front and rear foot pegs, shifter, starter and brake. I will install rear sets for the shifter and rear brake. Mocked up the rear pegs. They will need to go back a few more inches.
New seat came in today. The one I had didn't fit quite right.
Started on mounting the seat. I wanted to make it open and latch using the factory mounting hinges and latch.
Made some hinges.
Made the front cross brace for the seat. I still meed to attach it.
Finished up the seat frame and latch and got it mounted to the seat pan.
I'm going to mount the rear set where the rear foot pegs were. They seem to be OK in that position. I still need to get a brake cable made for the rear or flip the crank on the drum and run a rod.
I also need to modify the shifter into a crank and flip it upside down and make a rod for that.
What else, wire up the headlights, front turn signals, remove the rear fender and new tail light.
Got the shifter hooked up. I had to make a shift arm for it out of another shift lever and shift arm. I just cut the splined mounting piece of the lever and the arm off the shift arm and welded them together.
Did a quicky paint job on the frame and added some stickers.
Got a couple of coats of orange on the seat pan. I'll wet sand this and add one more coat before I paint a black stripe down the center. Tank will match this.
Worked on the rear brake cable. I had to make a bracket to hold the end of the cable.
Just need to get something to crimp the cable to hold the clevis.
Mocked up the muffler. I need to legthen the pipe a couple of inches to clear the brake pedal.
Sealed the fuel tank using the Eastwood motorcycle tank sealer kit.
Finished painting the seat pan. A friend of mine does vinyl graphics so I'll have him make some stripes for me instead of painting it and screwing it up.
Put on some flush fairing turn signals. I like them cause they don't stick out.
Going for the Aermacchi racer look. Aermacchi's have a very successful racing history. Walter Villa won three 250cc and one 350cc World Championships for Harley in the '70s, and Aermacchis are credited with 16 wins on the Isle of Man (BSA has 13). A 350 Sprint took the IOM GP Classic 350cc race in 2010, at a race average of 101 MPH.
This is a sweet build! I've seen quite a few Sprints for sale the last couple of years. I thought about buying one to cafe but figured that parts were scarce (at least way more so than small displacement Hondas). It looks like you've got a good base and plenty of skills to do your own fabricating, though. Kudos and keep the pictures coming
Thanks everyone for the compliments and encouragement.
This project was going to be one wham bam thank you mam quickies. But I've been working on this since January. The real challange is to make every thing bolt on to existing mounts or holes. If I want to it can be returned to stock by just removing everything I've added and put the stock stuff back on. I don't know why but that's just what I wanted to do.
At least I have the HD Dyna and Yamaha R5 to ride until this is done.
If I want to it can be returned to stock by just removing everything I've added and put the stock stuff back on. I don't know why but that's just what I wanted to do.
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