The Bean Bandits at El Mirage

This was the last meet of the season, a 2 day event, we camp on the lake bed and hang out, this is my racing family. It is a honor to be a part of this team.
There are several cars on our team, the San Diego Bean Bandits have been finishing off this belly tank that runs a flat motor.
Our car did well, there are so many aspects of lake racing and the weather is one of them, the wind especially can either be your friend or enemy we dealt with cross wind and head wind, any time there was a tail wind we were in the middle of the line, The track condition is the next obstacle it gets ripped up and can have soft spots that can spin your tires, no traction no speed. It takes experience to run a car successfully out here. Our best time of the weekend was 178.94 mph the record is 192.00, we will get it and bump it next season, the game plan is in effect, and yes that is a chain steering wheel on our car.

304 stailess Exhaust

The Bike has been on hold for a while, I made a new bench for it so I can get to both sides instead of the frame jig I had it on. The exhaust on the A10 presses into the head so it will have to have extra mounts to hold them into place at the frame. "U" bends are cheap, and are easy to get the shapes needed for the pipes. The stock exhaust is kinda ugly and does not flow with the frame, strait back drag pipes look the best to me. A little jig set up makes the routing go fast. I tack them together in case I need to move them later, exhaust tips will be made from brass to finish them off.

Pre Unit Install

Well I finalized the front end and made new Rockers, they were easy to make and fit awesome. Since nobody seams to make a 1"-14nf
acorn nut I made one from some half round steel ball stock and welded it to my nut, then cut them down to make jamb nuts out of them. My trans mount plates came from England, I'm glad I never tried to make them because they offset the trans a bit and we would be in trouble trying to line up the primary chain. The motor needs much attention, the pistons were stuck in the jugs when I got it, so I soaked them in trans fluid for about 6mos, I broke them loose with a impact hammer and had very little damage. Machine work will be necessary anyway, I mocked the motor up and started in a new list of things to make.

More Springer

I stopped buy Fred's Frames and picked up my new springs. Freddie Hernandez is a legend that never sold out and is the sweetest dude ever. Mock up is almost done as I wait for parts to trickle in. Now that my bearings I ordered finally came I can now set ride height and start welding the tubes up. I took a break from the springer to make the taillight and license plate mount. I had a mirror housing from a Sunbeam Tiger, a park light lens from a 57 Chevy, made a socket can that removes like a cartridge, a plate of scrap aluminum and a red l.e.d. bulb. Cheaper than Ebay.

Clip on bars

Next thing on the list was to fab the clip on handle bars and to test fit the front spring perch. I mocked up the throttle and clutch just to see more of a final look. I think it looks pissed. Now I'm waiting for more parts.

More front end

After the main trees were fitted, the front spring perch was made and 12" bolts were welded to the base. For cheap insurance 3/4" slugs pressed in to the base to give the tubes strength. Then the tubes are drilled on the sides for rosette welds, pressed on the slugs and welded to the base. Fitment checks are done as we go to insure nothing has moved during the welding process. More later.

Building a Springer

Now I'm working on the Springer front end. Taking measurements from the other bike, I made templates and stated cutting out the trees for the stem. After much grinding we have nice parts ready for assembly. The top plate is made from 2 pieces so it can index on the 1" tube and act as a cap. Finally a fixture is made so we know all the pieces will fit before we weld them. More later.

The Bean Bandits hanging out at the Fathers day
Roadster show in Pomona. Some body else took the pictures and posted them on the H.A.M.B. We were just chillin and having a good time. The Roadster belongs to Tom Branch The Sedan belongs to his wife Diana and the 50 Chevy belongs to Fabian Valdez. My bike got a lot of attention, Road that thing there and back, like your supposed to. I don't have a trailer.

BSA update #4

The oil bag was next on the list of stuff to do, I found some old baby moon hub caps and reversed them to give the dished look, welded in some scrap tube for the filler spout and stainless lines for the vent, notice the vent to the frame for a cleaner look. Then the seat pan was made, beat it over my radius dolly real quick, it's got a realy good look to it and the hinge mounts from under the frame, low and flat, it also holds the mount for the fuel tank. I will use hair pin style springs on this one. It's comming together.

New BSA Update

The hard tail is finally finished, only the small brackets need to be fabricated to mount parts.

The front down tubes were removed and remade, I added gussets to give the hard tail strength and they look like the factory made them. We made a trip to the Long Beach Swap Meet and found a random fender, welded up the holes, planished out the dents, and made the lower fender mount. Now it's starting to look like a bike. More later.