S
Skateguy50
Guest
Looks good, its outside and has nearly everything in place. Keep avoiding helping friends till you get this project on the road.
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M
Macguyver
Guest
Thanks for the encouragement, and that's the plan, but when I can, I will try and russel up some computer/body work when time permits to help me get the insurance extortion money saved up.
I am still waiting on some misc. stuff to show up in the mail, and I have a few fabricated parts left to put on, and electrical work to finish to fill in the time.
Ideally, I would like to have it plated and insured by the end of this month at the latest, but I will see what side work I can pick up to speed that along.
M
Macguyver
Guest
Brake and Turn signal Internal Reflectors
Brake and Turn signal Internal Reflectors
So in an effort to make my bike as visible as possible, I decided to remake the LED brake and turn signals on the rear cowl of my 650.
Don't get me wrong, the custom ones I made were quite bright, but not that "Give the people behind me a sunburn" kind of bright I am looking for. Since my bike is green, and statistically dark green is the most overlooked color on the road, I wanted my lights to be crazy bright!
First thing I did was order some 3W Superbright LEDs and drivers for them, which showed up in the mail on Wednesday. The plan is to have one in each lighting "pod" for running lights, and one in each "pod" for brake lights.
In order to do this and not have the incredible amount of light they produce be wasted, I needed some sort of reflector behind the lenses.
This is what I came up with:
Simply a couple pieces of metal shaped in the same shape as the internal lenses of my setup, with about 20% added to their length to allow for the folding of the metal to create a mounting surface for the LEDs. Hmm, I think I have sufficient penetration on my welds.
I had everything set up to weld and it started raining, not much, just lightly, but enough to make me nervous!
Next, the reflectors had a date with my new bench grinder.
Once smoothed, I cleaned the surface of them with a clean rag and some acetone, then primed them with some self-etch primer.
While the reflectors were curing, I masked off the internal lenses for the reflectors, and gave the outside of them a nice heavy coat of rubberized gravelguard to create a gasket of sorts so they will seal against the reflectors.
After the primer was dry, I coated the inside of the reflectors with Dupli-Color Chrome paint, and the outside with engine enamel clear which I had previously tinted with Delfleet Evolution toners to match the body color of my bike. I think they turned out pretty well indeed.
This is as far as I could go last night, and the next step is to secure the LEDs onto the short side in the reflectors so that their wide dispersal beam will "light up" the long face of the reflector, and in turn, light up the internal lenses.
Since my battery will be mounted directly in front of them, I figured metal was the best choice of material for them from a durability standpoint, and they can also double as heatsinks for the 3W LEDs, and pull triple duty as the back rest for the battery once I adhere some rubber onto the backside of the reflectors.
I know I am doing an insane amount of work on something that no one is likely to ever see, but hey, I will know they are there, and they are well protected, and look snazzy!
I will be finishing them up tonight, and will post completed and installed pics as soon as I am able.
Brake and Turn signal Internal Reflectors
So in an effort to make my bike as visible as possible, I decided to remake the LED brake and turn signals on the rear cowl of my 650.
Don't get me wrong, the custom ones I made were quite bright, but not that "Give the people behind me a sunburn" kind of bright I am looking for. Since my bike is green, and statistically dark green is the most overlooked color on the road, I wanted my lights to be crazy bright!
First thing I did was order some 3W Superbright LEDs and drivers for them, which showed up in the mail on Wednesday. The plan is to have one in each lighting "pod" for running lights, and one in each "pod" for brake lights.
In order to do this and not have the incredible amount of light they produce be wasted, I needed some sort of reflector behind the lenses.
This is what I came up with:
Simply a couple pieces of metal shaped in the same shape as the internal lenses of my setup, with about 20% added to their length to allow for the folding of the metal to create a mounting surface for the LEDs. Hmm, I think I have sufficient penetration on my welds.
I had everything set up to weld and it started raining, not much, just lightly, but enough to make me nervous!
Next, the reflectors had a date with my new bench grinder.
Once smoothed, I cleaned the surface of them with a clean rag and some acetone, then primed them with some self-etch primer.
While the reflectors were curing, I masked off the internal lenses for the reflectors, and gave the outside of them a nice heavy coat of rubberized gravelguard to create a gasket of sorts so they will seal against the reflectors.
After the primer was dry, I coated the inside of the reflectors with Dupli-Color Chrome paint, and the outside with engine enamel clear which I had previously tinted with Delfleet Evolution toners to match the body color of my bike. I think they turned out pretty well indeed.
This is as far as I could go last night, and the next step is to secure the LEDs onto the short side in the reflectors so that their wide dispersal beam will "light up" the long face of the reflector, and in turn, light up the internal lenses.
Since my battery will be mounted directly in front of them, I figured metal was the best choice of material for them from a durability standpoint, and they can also double as heatsinks for the 3W LEDs, and pull triple duty as the back rest for the battery once I adhere some rubber onto the backside of the reflectors.
I know I am doing an insane amount of work on something that no one is likely to ever see, but hey, I will know they are there, and they are well protected, and look snazzy!
I will be finishing them up tonight, and will post completed and installed pics as soon as I am able.
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G
Guest
Guest
That looks like a damn good idea to me Mac!
Making tail/brake lights as visible as possible may just save you from that unexpected rearender...
Making tail/brake lights as visible as possible may just save you from that unexpected rearender...
A
AF_Bill
Guest
Mac, WOW!!!! Looking good. Like the new headlight configuration. I've been thinkin about the dual headlight mod for a bit now. Those lights fit the bike so good. Keep up the good work and get that thing on the road!!
M
Macguyver
Guest
Thanks!
I just need to grab a couple things from work today and then the taillights are done. :clap:
Then I need to shift my focus onto making a licence plate bracket with light and/or rear fender, plug all of the electrical back together, and I should be good to get her safety inspected.
Thanks Bill,
I am getting quite close to being done, well, done enough to be safetied, then look out! I figure once she is on the road I can do up the rest of the small stuff needed to finish her off one weekend at a time.
M
Macguyver
Guest
Oil Catch Can
Oil Catch Can
Since I plan to run a custom air box, I decided to go with a custom oil catch can from the breather tube on the valve cover. Not being one to do this the easy way, I of course built one.
Here is the bracket for the new catch can installed on the rear of the transmission case.
With the catch can:
It was quite the endeavor building the can and bracket, I have more pics somewhere, I just can't find them at the moment. I would hate to think I deleted them!
The filter in the top of the can is a standard FRAM 1000 fuel filter I cut one connector off of, and it fits into a machined recess in the grey plastic body of the can assembly. It is held in with a stainless wire retainer I bent up out of some stainless MiG wire.
The plastic body was then threaded by heating a glass mini-jam jar, and threading into the pre-heated plastic piece. Then there is a hose running from a barb coupler threaded into the side of the plastic body up to the breather.
Before anyone asks, yes, it has LED's in it, but it started raining before I could get pics of it lit up.
That's all for the moment, I will update with more soon.
Oil Catch Can
Since I plan to run a custom air box, I decided to go with a custom oil catch can from the breather tube on the valve cover. Not being one to do this the easy way, I of course built one.
Here is the bracket for the new catch can installed on the rear of the transmission case.
With the catch can:
It was quite the endeavor building the can and bracket, I have more pics somewhere, I just can't find them at the moment. I would hate to think I deleted them!
The filter in the top of the can is a standard FRAM 1000 fuel filter I cut one connector off of, and it fits into a machined recess in the grey plastic body of the can assembly. It is held in with a stainless wire retainer I bent up out of some stainless MiG wire.
The plastic body was then threaded by heating a glass mini-jam jar, and threading into the pre-heated plastic piece. Then there is a hose running from a barb coupler threaded into the side of the plastic body up to the breather.
Before anyone asks, yes, it has LED's in it, but it started raining before I could get pics of it lit up.
That's all for the moment, I will update with more soon.
T
Tim Tom
Guest
I love this build. Every time I look at it I am astounded by the attention to detail and all the neat gadgets you come up with. Keep up the great work!
M
Macguyver
Guest
Thanks Tim Tom!
I do the best I can with what I have, nothing more, nothing less.
Just wait until I have her on the road and then the really neat gadgets will start showing up on her!
G
Guest
Guest
Another nice touch Mac, impressive 
M
Macguyver
Guest
Another nice touch Mac, impressive
Thanks Pete!
I will hopefully find some time this weekend to get the new electrickery tray in, and get some pics of it all lit up, provided the small body job I have booked after work on Saturday goes quickly.
F
Flaming Chainsaws
Guest
WOW! Such attention to detail. I love those little add ons and gadgets. Just like what Macguyver would do... Are you THE Macguyver LOL?
Great job with the build.
Great job with the build.
M
Macguyver
Guest
Sorry, not THE Macguyver...no mullet.
Thanks for the praise, I really do appreciate it. As far as the little add-ons and gadgets go, just wait till she's on the road, then the good stuff goes on. :-$
I just wish the weather would cooperate a little more. I finished a small body job this weekend, and it rained the rest of the weekend. This is 4 or 5 weekends in a row my bike related efforts have been cut short, or rained out. Mother nature needs to cut me some slack here!
I did manage to get the electrical tray bolted in, but could not get the electronics mounted due to the sudden appearance of water in the atmosphere, and in my driveway! I am going to try and get things mounted tonight as long as the weather cooperates.
I will update when I have more to report.
S
Skateguy50
Guest
Im not sure what that latest piece does but it looks cool.
M
Macguyver
Guest
Hehe, Thanks.
It's the new catch can to collect any oil which may come out of the breather tube from the top of the valve cover. From the factory, the breather tube is connected to the airbox, but since mine is no longer there, I need something there. It's not good to run with nothing on the breather tube since the engine will not run 100% correct without a filter on there at the least. It's not likely to ever get any oil in it, but it will let me easily see if there is any oil being pushed out.
S
Skateguy50
Guest
Ahh, yea that tube just connects to my airbox. I did wonder what folks with pods did with the tube.
You fire yours up yet to see if your adjustable setting pods work well enough to avoid rejetting?
You fire yours up yet to see if your adjustable setting pods work well enough to avoid rejetting?
M
Macguyver
Guest
Side Cover Beautification???
Side Cover Beautification???
I haven't been able to fire her up yet since I need to finish wiring in my new battery, but I have finished the new electrical tray, so I am very close.
I have changed my mind about the adjustable pods, and instead I am going with 2 mini-airbox-esque pieces tailor made to mimic the free flow rate of the stock airbox. I have to yet to finish making the internal cage in them, but once I source the wire I need, it won't take long to finish them up.
I have however made significant progress on some other stuff, like doing some cosmetic stuff with the side covers. I etch-primed and painted some expanded aluminum mesh, and used some steel weld epoxy to secure it to the side covers after roughing up the mating surface.
I have also done some other stuff this past week-end, such as my new choke setup. More to come soon, like, in the next post!
Side Cover Beautification???
I haven't been able to fire her up yet since I need to finish wiring in my new battery, but I have finished the new electrical tray, so I am very close.
I have changed my mind about the adjustable pods, and instead I am going with 2 mini-airbox-esque pieces tailor made to mimic the free flow rate of the stock airbox. I have to yet to finish making the internal cage in them, but once I source the wire I need, it won't take long to finish them up.
I have however made significant progress on some other stuff, like doing some cosmetic stuff with the side covers. I etch-primed and painted some expanded aluminum mesh, and used some steel weld epoxy to secure it to the side covers after roughing up the mating surface.
I have also done some other stuff this past week-end, such as my new choke setup. More to come soon, like, in the next post!
M
Macguyver
Guest
Choke Relocation
Choke Relocation
Since I am going to use the choke mounting area for my starter switch, I needed to relocate the choke control somewhere. So I decided to mount the choke control directly onto the carburetors.
Materials:
1 - metal ring cut from some 1/8" steel, with a 3/4" tab coming off on a 90 degree tangent
1 - throttle mounting plate from a spare set of carbs
1 - M6 Nut, with a small piece of sheet steel rolled into a tube, welded together to create a stop to hold the cable end of the control assembly
1 - choke cable mount, cut down by 3/4" and welded back together
1 - frayed end stock choke assembly cut down in length, with a new cable end soldered into place
After welding together the nut and sheet metal-turned-tube, I welded it in place on the throttle mounting plate, making sure to check the spacing so the completed assembly would firmly hold the control with no slack once tightened down.
I then welded the ring and tab piece to the end of the throttle mounting plate, and welded in an additional piece of metal to make sure the ring was well supported since it will be subjected to considerable lateral load when operating the choke slide.
Once everything was welded together, I passed it over the bench grinder to clean up the final shape, then etch primed the piece, and painted it to match the body color.
All in all, I am very pleased with the way this piece came together. It operates smoothly, and retains it's set position perfectly. While this is no great feat of engineering, I am quite proud of the end result.
Here's a little video of the completed assembly mounted on the bike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLGplRdoCDU
Next project in the next post.
Choke Relocation
Since I am going to use the choke mounting area for my starter switch, I needed to relocate the choke control somewhere. So I decided to mount the choke control directly onto the carburetors.
Materials:
1 - metal ring cut from some 1/8" steel, with a 3/4" tab coming off on a 90 degree tangent
1 - throttle mounting plate from a spare set of carbs
1 - M6 Nut, with a small piece of sheet steel rolled into a tube, welded together to create a stop to hold the cable end of the control assembly
1 - choke cable mount, cut down by 3/4" and welded back together
1 - frayed end stock choke assembly cut down in length, with a new cable end soldered into place
After welding together the nut and sheet metal-turned-tube, I welded it in place on the throttle mounting plate, making sure to check the spacing so the completed assembly would firmly hold the control with no slack once tightened down.
I then welded the ring and tab piece to the end of the throttle mounting plate, and welded in an additional piece of metal to make sure the ring was well supported since it will be subjected to considerable lateral load when operating the choke slide.
Once everything was welded together, I passed it over the bench grinder to clean up the final shape, then etch primed the piece, and painted it to match the body color.
All in all, I am very pleased with the way this piece came together. It operates smoothly, and retains it's set position perfectly. While this is no great feat of engineering, I am quite proud of the end result.
Here's a little video of the completed assembly mounted on the bike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLGplRdoCDU
Next project in the next post.
R
ratdude
Guest
M
Macguyver
Guest
New Seat Foam
New Seat Foam
29 year old seat foam is a little less comfortable than I would like, so I decided while it was raining out, to redo my seat foam.
I stripped off the cover I made last year, and removed the old foam. Since I was planning on reshaping the seat, the cover and the foam are destined for the trash.
I started out on the new foam by adhering a layer of some thin, yet resilient camping pad foam onto the seat pan, then added some 1/2" thick carpet underpad. I followed that up with some 3" high density upholsterer's foam.
Everything is adhered together in a sandwich using foam specific spray adhesive.
Here is the rough sandwich.
I then did a quick trim to take down the big hump at the back where the passenger grab rail would normally go.
I then went over to a buddy's place and borrowed the use of his air tools, and smoothed the contours of the new foam to my liking using some 80 grit sandpaper, which resulted in this:
Once I was happy with the new shape, I stitched together an under-cover of speaker cloth, and adhered it to the foam.
As you can see in the pics, the new foam more closely follows the contours of the bike, and I will be leaving the grab rail off of the bike to keep that nice line uninterupted.
I will be picking up some seat material tonight on the way home to make a new cover, and will hopefully have it completed and back on the bike tonight, provided nothing comes up.
I think I will use a drawstring to keep the cover on the seat, so I can easily remove the cover later and get some interesting embroidery done on it.
Well, that's it for now. I hope you have been adequately entertained, and thanks for looking.
New Seat Foam
29 year old seat foam is a little less comfortable than I would like, so I decided while it was raining out, to redo my seat foam.
I stripped off the cover I made last year, and removed the old foam. Since I was planning on reshaping the seat, the cover and the foam are destined for the trash.
I started out on the new foam by adhering a layer of some thin, yet resilient camping pad foam onto the seat pan, then added some 1/2" thick carpet underpad. I followed that up with some 3" high density upholsterer's foam.
Everything is adhered together in a sandwich using foam specific spray adhesive.
Here is the rough sandwich.
I then did a quick trim to take down the big hump at the back where the passenger grab rail would normally go.
I then went over to a buddy's place and borrowed the use of his air tools, and smoothed the contours of the new foam to my liking using some 80 grit sandpaper, which resulted in this:
Once I was happy with the new shape, I stitched together an under-cover of speaker cloth, and adhered it to the foam.
As you can see in the pics, the new foam more closely follows the contours of the bike, and I will be leaving the grab rail off of the bike to keep that nice line uninterupted.
I will be picking up some seat material tonight on the way home to make a new cover, and will hopefully have it completed and back on the bike tonight, provided nothing comes up.
I think I will use a drawstring to keep the cover on the seat, so I can easily remove the cover later and get some interesting embroidery done on it.
Well, that's it for now. I hope you have been adequately entertained, and thanks for looking.
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