Hood Repair

Well lets just say not every one is cut out for metal work, at least in the case of the guy that ruined the hood by Mig welding a sheet metal fin to the peak and then filling it with lead. Another hood was found with bent corners but had a good nose, since the pancake work on the hood was really nice I decided to use our hood and replace the nose, Cleco pins are used to hold the replacement nose into place, hammer welding with a Tig makes it easy to keep the shape from going out of control. More later.

1949 Cadillac Custom

I'm changing things up here a bit and getting away from the BSA project, this car has been my on and off project at work for three years. The customer has taken it home now due to lack of funds to finish the project. This car has undergone extensive reconstruction due to previous lack of talent in prior shops that had little or no experience with sheet metal work. I had to fab about 70% of the sheet metal on this car, that is not counting the inner structures and floor. the intire front group of this car was handmade by me, the nose of the hood, the 39 ford headlight openings, the grille, The front and rear valances, the drip rails, the deck lid, even the front and rear bumpers are all handmade by yours truly. I will show details of this work in upcoming blogs, I am bummed that this car has left the shop but life goes on and so do other projects.

BSA Going Home

With most of the fab work done I am taking the bike home, the mechanical work can be done in the garage and I will have more time with family that way, I won this Dynamo on Ebay, (Did I mention how much I hate Ebay) I must have bid on 10 of these only to be outbid, just have a buy it now dude, I will pay more, I just need the part. It is just a core so I will take it apart to see if it is rebuild-able and go from there, then changing it from 6volt to 12 volt will come into play, more on the rebuild next time.

Fuel Lines

Fuel lines are my favorite thing to make, stainless line and aluminum aircraft fittings with a extruded heat sink fuel filter, I had to make the banjo fitting at the carb, since I cannot find one. Looks good.

We don't fake it we just make it

Made this oil bag cap from fence post material, I think that dome piece cost .50, then I cut grooves in the DOM using my drill and a die grinder, (we don't have a lathe) weld it together with silicon bronze, cut off the mandrel after finishing, install "o" rings...Done

Making everything on the bike has been the best part of the build, more of you is into the bike, very little catalog parts makes it unique. The brake now functions, next I will have to Make a brake switch trigger, I will use a micro switch like on the last bike.

Brake Pedal Fab

Because of the Length of the bike, the stock brake pedal will not fit and the pivot point has been removed with the swing arm anyway. It will be the only brake so it has to be comfortable in placement. This is 3/4" wall DOM tubing heated and bent to shape, the pedal pad was left over scrap from the bin. Next is the brake rod and cantilever.

Oil lines

Making the oil lines was the next thing to do on the list, these are -5 oil lines and fittings, not a normal size, the only way to get them is at a aircraft supplier. The BSA just like the Triumph gravity feeds oil to the motor the is pressurized back to the tank and then scavenges oil to the rocker box. This thing starting to look good, can't wait to ride it. More later.

Oil filter intall

After a ridged search I found an old Stilko Oil filter, this filter comes apart and you use a roll of toilet paper as the filter element. I made the bracket to fit in place of the trans mount spacer, hard lines are next. More to come...

Foot rest

Sometimes saying your a "Fabricator" in a world of Technicians and crappy Cable bolt it together T.V. shows, the word looses its luster. I am a Blacksmith, we make things out of nothing, we see the part in the stock metal, bending and shaping it to our will. We make the part because it is more personal and because it has style. This is the foot rest I made, the stock ones were hard to find and expensive when you do find them. These will fit around the exhaust better. The bike is getting closer and closer to being done. Not looking forward to the machine work or the bill that comes with it. More later.