Ever do something and think "That was a bad idea"? Today was one of those.
I started by gathering parts and heading to my buddy's shop, since my welder extension cord is powering his shop addition. (Explanation at the end of the post.) Here is the frame section I have.
The neck tube looks big and beefy, which it sorta is, because it has a lot of layers wrapped around it.
Finally...
This is where people say "If I could do it over..."
Had I known better, had I remembered a little trick, I would not have cut the neck off. I thought those chrome pieces on the top and bottom were the bearing cups, or had the cups machined into them, but in fact the bearing cups are separate. I tried to pound them out with a punch, but they didn't budge, and there was no way to get behind the cups. The little trick I forgot about until it was too late was I should have run a weld bead around the bearing cup, let it cool, and it would have shrunk and come out. (Yes that really does work)
I considered leaving part of the tube welded in , figuring it was already straight and square, but then thought that it wouldn't look right for one, and for another it wasn't guaranteed that it was cut straight and even on each side. So, I cut and ground some more. If I could do it over, I would have left the piece of tube that was on the inside. It seems the backbone and the downtubes were welded, then the gussets. I could have kept it straight and out of sight. But I didn't, and here is how it looked.
Looking in the backbone, there is stuff in there?? I got it out and couldn't figure out what it was. Some kind of plant matter it looked like.
Now, going back a pic or two, you can see the tubes I welded on because of the kickstand bracket. I did that trying to figure out how best to ensure the neck would be straight. What I came up with I figured would be the easiest and most accurate I can do. I hope I was right.
I cut off the front tube and set the rear tube on a jack so I could adjust it. I set the digital level at several places on the frame and shimmed it to get to zero degrees left to right. I then clamped the neck to the frame, set the level on, and adjusted the back up and down to get zero degrees.
Now, knowing that my frame is level side to side, and my neck is level front to back, I just check to make sure it is level side to side and presto, it's perfect! (These pictures were set up and taken after I finished with the setup and welding, which is why the level is off) One thing I can't be sure of is that the steering stop is centered.
Now that I've got a bunch of stuff painted flat black, including the swingarm, I decided that the frame and swingarm should be orange, with the engine, tank, fenders, and oil tank flat black. I think I might do some highlights here and there with the orange.
I just want to get this thing together and running, I'm getting antsy.
