How to ruin a perfectly good stock frame

[Guest]

If I had a spare one and the skills and tools I'd think about it, but with only the one and my lack of skills/tools... I'll pass

Should certainly have some stick once it's done!

 

[mlc216]

It's just hard to hide a turbo on a chopper ya know

 

[Guest]

Hahaha... why hide it though?

 

[cody3935]

petes right man that **** would be sick with a big ass polished turbo chillin in front of the motor

 

[Guest]

Any progress MLC? And any word from your HEI man on the ignition?

 

[mlc216]

Been busy with other aspects of life... but I did find a little time to disassemble it completely down to the frame and I cleaned off all the surface rust, slag, and checked all my welds for porosity, etc. Found a nice little gouge on the bottom of one of the stock frame rails... go figure the 18 inches or so of original frame I use has a hole in it haha. Looks like something punched it pretty good at some point in it's life. Still entertaining different ideas on how to fix it.

As far as the HEI conversion, I've got all the info on how to do it... I just haven't done it yet. It is super simple and I'll send you the info if you'd like to try it...

 

[Guest]

Mate that's O'Reilly's law right there... typical

As to the HEI stuff, yeah post it up for sure! I can't do much in the way of testing at the moment (bike's down at Tranzac for the exhaust), but in a few weeks I should be ready to test so I wouldn't mind having a peek to see what's involved.

 

[mlc216]

Been working on the fleetline a bunch lately, but since the ignition on the flat tracker thing is going out I decided that it's a perfect time to get the chopper on the road. Finish welded the frame, built motor mounts, made brake stay mount, made rear brake lever pivot, took the neck out of an extra set of gs450 triple trees and pressed it into the springer trees so that I can use gs450 bearings and hardware on the neck... Still a lot to do, but getting a lot closer:

Anyone got an extra set of top springs for a springer laying around?

 

[Guest]

So you decided to use the springer after all .

 

[Leigh]

MLC, I haven't read all this thread..
I got to the hissy fits and poo flinging then skipped through to here.

I love it.
A mate had an old Trumpy chopper years ago.
Evil, wobbly, flexy bastard of a thing.
But it was great fun to ride.

Yours looks very similar in the way it's sitting.
I reckon you'll giggle like a schoolgirl each time you head out on it.

 

[mlc216]

I giggle a little bit every time I sit on it now haha

 

[oohsam]

Oh man. That looks the part...
I always wondered how on choppers, the seat is pretty much on the rear fender, and the rear fender is always like 10mm off the tire. Most guys who ride the choppers are (sorry chopper guys)...fat. So how do you weld it in in such a way that it will withstand the weight.
....just curious. I seen how american chopper do it but they seem to mount their seats on the frame and not the rear fender...

 

[mlc216]

Well none of that is mounted just yet, just mocked up. Typically I mount the fender in 3 spots... One mount down low off a crossmember between the frame rails, one behind the seat on a crossmember there, and one on top using the sissy bar (yet to make) as support. With those three mounts the fender becomes quite stiff. Sometimes a little bracing is needed inside the fender to spread the load of a couple bolts.

Also, I try to forget everything I've ever seen on American chopper. Haha

 

[Erki]

Just read through the whole thread and I love the custom work you've done. Good on ya. keep it up.

 

[oohsam]

yes I see.
you must forgive me, Im not an experienced welder, but I am learning alot (and all my welds seem to be fairly strong, no matter how ugly they are

PS. I love the old school "Mr Miawgi" cars in the background of all ur pics

 

[twotimeGSr]

Just read this thread... entertaining! Love your work.. Hope to see the finished product photos.

 

[drivera84]

Cool build man!!!! thumbs up!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Aaah you're back on it finally MLC! Good stuff

You certainly have been spending time on the Fleetline... there weren't wheels on it last pic I saw... cool!

As to the chopper, definitely taking some good shape there, my only concern is do you think you have the engine canted forward enough? Or do you reckon a bit of extra oil will be enough to look after it? I'm sure you've thought of this earlier in the thread though...

That springer front end is very cool actually...

 

[mlc216]

So you decided to use the springer after all .

Yep, I had a 4 over xs650 front end that I was going to adapt to fit... but when the gs450 stem fit perfectly on the springer I felt that it was just meant to be.

Just read through the whole thread and I love the custom work you've done. Good on ya. keep it up.

Thanks, it's still got a ways to go...but I'm planning to ride it 2.5 hours to birmingham October 7th for the Barber Vintage Festival... great weekend of vintage bike racing, swap meet, etc.

yes I see.
you must forgive me, Im not an experienced welder, but I am learning alot (and all my welds seem to be fairly strong, no matter how ugly they are

PS. I love the old school "Mr Miawgi" cars in the background of all ur pics

I'm no certified welder, but I have learned a lot about the design and process of welding and what the finished product should look like. Fitment is very important, and I have learned to take more time to make pieces fit together without gaps and preheat the section with my torch. All of these things make my MIG perform much much better for me

As far as the old school cars... well I just have the fleetline right now... and I have been working pretty hard on it lately, but it's time for a break...so I'm back on this chopper until it hits the road for good.

Just read this thread... entertaining! Love your work.. Hope to see the finished product photos.

Thanks, and I hope to see a finished product soon!

Cool build man!!!! thumbs up!!!!!

Thanks!

Aaah you're back on it finally MLC! Good stuff

You certainly have been spending time on the Fleetline... there weren't wheels on it last pic I saw... cool!

As to the chopper, definitely taking some good shape there, my only concern is do you think you have the engine canted forward enough? Or do you reckon a bit of extra oil will be enough to look after it? I'm sure you've thought of this earlier in the thread though...

That springer front end is very cool actually...

Pete,
I've been spending a lot of time rebuilding/reworking the suspension on the fleetline. Still have a ways to go, but I needed a break from all the 60 year old crud cleaning for a while haha.

The engine will be leaning a few degrees more forward once the weight of the bike preloads the front end. Right now it's propped up so that the springer doesn't have any load. The oil pump is located on the back side of the motor, so it should have no issues pumping oil. A lot of people have done the same thing to a lot of different motors with no starvation issues... will the gs450 engine be ok? I think so, but we will see. If it grenades, I have another engine that I'll be going to a bigger bore on anyways and I'll make adjustments as needed to keep it going.

 

[Guest]

Pete,
I've been spending a lot of time rebuilding/reworking the suspension on the fleetline. Still have a ways to go, but I needed a break from all the 60 year old crud cleaning for a while haha.

The engine will be leaning a few degrees more forward once the weight of the bike preloads the front end. Right now it's propped up so that the springer doesn't have any load. The oil pump is located on the back side of the motor, so it should have no issues pumping oil. A lot of people have done the same thing to a lot of different motors with no starvation issues... will the gs450 engine be ok? I think so, but we will see. If it grenades, I have another engine that I'll be going to a bigger bore on anyways and I'll make adjustments as needed to keep it going.

Cool, I wanna see what she looks like when you're done. I do have a thing for old American cars, especially the real curvy ones like that. I'll probably never get a chance to own one, so admiring others does me just fine

I figured you'd have the oil situation sorted, and that makes sense given the pump's location.

And I'd forgotten the other engine too... that'll be fun