Topic: Squirrel 2.0

[river]

Ground down the stuff I didn't need and picked up some fasteners today.

F4CB2625-9C43-484F-BB3E-FD0C81AAD73F by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Deez nuts are just there to line things up for welding.

9BAF72D4-6D7C-43B4-AF16-1062C24A2983 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Got the bottom all sanded and should be able to prime it real soon.

04D5AF28-60CB-49C3-B9EA-9B16FEAC191A by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I have all new rubber isolators coming. I was hoping to be able to use the document holder from my other pan but on this pan one of the screws would have to go into the corner of a raised ridge and I don't think it would hold very well or look all that nice so I may not even try.

[river]

Thank you because I will use them to hold the bolts secure.

[Gurp]

If you use the nuts when welding, be sure to coat the threads with antisieze. That will help the nuts release when you’re done.

+1
I welded a nut to something and the bolt broke trying to turn out...

[river]

No problems removing the nuts.

I got the fasteners tacked into place today.

3C4C3C12-B0E6-4E7E-94D2-C76FFD93C1B2 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

930D482B-BEB9-47F2-BD6F-15FCCDC460D4 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I was also able to finish prepping the pan and get it in primer.

4DBCF73D-BE82-47A4-9604-0DAC20D44F74 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Supposed to be almost 70 degrees up here tomorrow so I should be able to get it painted after work. Then another blizzard hits Wednesday so clear coat will probably have to wait.

[river]

Got a little bit more done over the weekend. The tank had a small dent in the left side.

BE15ADA5-2275-4749-B047-BE6DA13AE532 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

It's not perfect but I can live with it. I plan to ride it like this for the season and then get it painted over the winter.

EDB45B23-86FF-457D-841F-202F75907D86 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Also managed to sneak a little time in the shop at school and rework this rear mount tab on the tank. The tacks look much nicer.

C2ACA3F4-F632-429F-99C2-29D9E822FB91 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Got the seat pan painted and cleared and new rubber isolators installed. The pan sits exactly where I wanted it to and the plunger for the lock fits beautifully.

966E0016-A927-4EFF-AC37-A4F9B71C14E7 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

4BB4A2F4-D397-4A2F-A06E-E8D21A11B27A by cneumann2000, on Flickr

793F60F6-E7FC-4FAA-9F7E-3923BF4CB5E8 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Enough foam to do 8 seats should be here on Tuesday. 

[river]

Oh and this is a drawing of what I'm thinking of in my head for the seat shape. Suck it Chip Foose.

24238ADE-D793-4B8A-AB39-828DFE2E7471 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I would opt for vinyl or leather in place of the doo doo brown. 
Great work, Chris!

[Robbo]

Great job on the tank.  How did you get the dent out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[river]

Initially, I was going to try to go in from the filler neck but the area is so far down in that corner that I just didn't think I'd be able to be all that accurate. Then I was going to use the hole where the petcock bung is (it's going to get relocated) but I still wasn't sure it would be large enough. So, on a whim, I tried this Harbor Freight dent repair kit. It worked really well. In the right light, that area is still going to need some attention but there's also one or two very minor dings in other places. Whoever does the paint can tackle all of that since body work is not my favorite and I don't want to rattle can this tank.

https://www.harborfreight.com/crossbar-dent-repair-kit-66957.html

[Robbo]

Thanks.  I have a CB550 tank with two dents.  For the price of that HF kit, there’s really nothing to lose.

Much appreciated


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[river]

I got called to jury duty today but was dismissed. Apparently, they didn't like me talking to myself over in the corner and rocking. When I got home, my foam was sitting on the porch. So I got right to work. I was a little disappointed to hear that some (Cal) didn't care for the shape. I mean...it wasn't centered in this pic and I knew that!!

A35DEAE1-832B-41E0-B389-E3CA0813496C by cneumann2000, on Flickr

[river]

All joking aside...I was concerned about the foam having as much contact with the seat pan as possible. Because of this, I decided to shape the bottom of the foam where it would meet pan. After a lot of measuring, marking, and shaping, this is what I came up with.

5DA38F11-A5D8-49F0-A04E-0C05B80D90BC by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Next, I sprayed the foam and the pan down with some 3M Super 77 adhesive and fit the foam. Then I stacked two 45 pound plates on it and let it sit for a few minutes. This was after a rough cut with an electric knife (which works wonders on this project by the way).

 506BC911-FC51-4079-8553-20A8F07F5A8E by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I left a country mile of foam hanging off the front because I was really worried about where the pan meets the tank. I reinstalled the pan onto the frame (I did this at least a dozen times today). I used a Sharpie to mark the foam and took off bit by bit. I used a combination of the electric knife to take off big chunks, an angle grinder with an 80 grit flap disc, and a Dremel with a 1" disc on it (for the real fine work by the tank).

162A5EC8-0ABA-4E05-8271-0E1400434A27 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

After several hours of shaping, this is where I ended up.

2F30AE03-69D9-4742-B73C-A29085725D0E by cneumann2000, on Flickr

The foam still needs some shaping to match the contour of the pan all the way around.

6AF8606A-615A-470F-B7BA-F6F7A9105F5C by cneumann2000, on Flickr

The front still needs a bit more off. I stopped at this point so I could take a ton of pictures and send them to Ginger at New Church to see if she was going to laugh at me. So far, so good. She says things look tight. So I'll continue with shaping this first 2" layer and then look to add another layer. From the bottom of the pan to the top of the foam, it's 3.5" now and I'd like it to be around 4" or so. I need to talk to Ginger again and see how thick the material will be for the stitching and fine tune. It'll suck to have to add 2" and then cut half of it it off but this needs to look right. And for those interested...this is a bit of a nasty job. Shrapnel and dust gets everywhere. Even with goggles, my eyes hurt. I wore a higher quality filter to make sure I wasn't breathing this stuff in but I'm still coughing. My OCD was out of control as I was cleaning up.

11364460-1E0E-44B2-A104-F4FB81CCF7D3 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

[river]

I was able to work on the seat for a few hours last night. I ended up deciding to pull the cover off the stock seat so I could have a better look at the foam. I made a template of the top of the seat's shape and then transferred that to mine. I used an angle finder in various spots on the stock seat to know how much to contour the foam along the sides as it slants up and in from the pan and then recreated those angles on mine. After a few hours this is where things were.

 98CA6CD3-2595-47B7-A5F7-BCCE5F2413FE by cneumann2000, on Flickr

The stock foam comes down and covers up a lot of the pan but I think that would have been very hard to recreate and this seat should have a bit slimmer look to it which I don't mind. I was a little concerned about the metal where the upholstered grab handle bolts to showing through the upholstery but I think it's going to depend on how thick the material is and I don't know that it will bother me all that much if I can see it a bit.

7DD89162-A953-4ED8-8D2B-96846FFC65C9 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

The seat to tank transition has been very challenging. The 500t tank is about an inch narrower than the 550 tank. I trimmed a bit more than an inch off the length of the pan (from the front) so, overall, the front of the seat is now a bit wider than stock (plus I had to shape the pan and foam to match this tank. Getting this right has been stressful. It's not perfect but it's really close.

6AB60594-E603-477F-9B1C-15DD3145FCAC by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I ended up taking a bit more off the front of the pan last night because I think the material would have made contact with the edge of the tank and, eventually, ripped it. Also spent quite a bit of time shaping the foam here.

105D14F0-8ADD-4F5E-B8C1-DAC4E4FA8588 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

No passenger will ever sit on this bike because my wife is terrified of it but you can see a small bump in the foam. I should have taken a bit more foam out on the underside in this area but there's not much there to take out. I kind of like the thickness of the foam as it is now but this bump will look horrible if it's upholstered over so I'll add another layer of foam and then remove most of it. This will let me have a touch more foam at the front where it hits the tank and more over this bump. Then I'll take the foam down at the bump and get rid of it that way.

633E64BF-96E8-455C-8EE6-7515A18D7B80 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

And just because I love the good side of the bike.

FA58C0AE-E1E0-411A-9E10-35F5AAC51EAE by cneumann2000, on Flickr

 

[river]

Long, messy day yesterday. Before I added another layer of foam I decided to go look at some memory foam at Walmart because I was worried about the rebond being a bit too hard. I bought a $15 pillow that had really nice foam. Once I got home I did some cutting on it and got two pieces that would fit the whole seat and went to work. This is after rough cutting the largest section.

0440EEA4-B006-4EED-85A8-2BBA82ADF1D2 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

After about an hours worth of work.

5507E205-C9E8-4E34-AC4F-DD169217F627 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I added another, thinner layer on the front part of the seat. I was able to get rid of the bump in the back. Here's how things ended up.

B093031E-B114-4B7D-A3FB-2F8BC3BAA3B4 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

E59408EA-5DE1-4B40-9849-C370AC49A244 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I'll take one more look at it today with fresh eyes but if I'm happy with it then I'll box it up and ship it off to Oregon for upholstery and get back to work on the tank.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Chris will now be offering custom upholstery services!

[river]

I haven't updated this in a while so here's where things are now. I added a bit more foam after putting the old tank back on and going for a ride to test things out. Here's the end product.

7E85B517-9A4E-4B2E-8019-E0A0E4FE3BE7 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

The next job was to relocate the petcock bung and weld up the hole where it sits from the factory.

83CC87A6-581F-4FD6-8C5F-C634DFBE6D42 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

And again, the welds are not pretty but nobody is going to see them, this is not a show bike, and I wanted to do it on my own. This was really difficult for me. I kept burning through the metal where I was patching the hole. There's also not a whole lot of room to install the bung where I wanted it and it was tricky for me to get the gun in between the edge of the tank and the bung. I could have moved it to the center and off that ridge but kinda wanted it there. I really wanted it to sit a bit closer to the stock location so it was centered between the head and carbs but that ridge gets too narrow and I wasn't confident I'd be able to get it all welded up.

A9E48801-E670-4CA2-98ED-592F18F95B00 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Here's how it looks from the side. Not perfect but I can live with it.

 79A91913-DE61-41F0-88AC-1090B9C32ACF by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I submerged the tank in the sink and plugged the petcock bung and fuel inlet with rubber stoppers. I drilled a small hole in the one at the bung and put a bit of pressure in the tank and held it. No bubbles. I went back and forth on whether or not to line the tank and decided to skip it. Then I went back in and cleaned the inside of the tank again. I've had really good luck with The Works toilet bowl cleaner and two boxes of drywall screws. I shook it up real well for about 30 minutes and kept checking things. Rinsed the cleaner out with water. Removed all the screws and got as much water out as possible and then dumped in 2 cans of acetone and worked that all around. Blew it out with air and then ran a blow dryer in it and put in fresh gas. Everything's been fine.

I have a feeling it might take a bit to get the upholstery done but that's okay. I'm waiting for Ginger to tell me to ship it to her. For now, I had a spare stock cover and threw it on just to protect the foam so I could ride.

F36F761B-A2F5-46ED-8B10-59E17999F110 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

And that brings us up to where things are right now. I've ridden the bike several times and love it. I got pulled over a few weeks ago by a PO that just wanted to check it out. I have everything I need to swap in the 650 cam but my garage is a mess right now because I'm off for the summer and am taking on a rather large home project where I'm ripping out all the flooring and carpeting and installing new so I have sawdust everywhere and will likely wait until things are less dusty before opening up the motor again.

[river]

I know this isn't Garage Journal but figured I'd put up a few pictures of what's happening around the house since this project is also holding up the cam install on Squirrel. I started in the laundry room downstairs and tore out all the crappy carpet on the steps (cheap laminate faux wood on the floors) and installed retro treads and risers. I painted the skirts and risers and stained the treads. Skirts were a mess and needed a lot of finishing work but I did not want to tear out the steps entirely and start from scratch. This is how three sets of stairs looked in the house before the project.

13716EA4-4A62-4862-B9CB-5CEC91FC2230 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

This is the bottom most set of stairs now. They still have a few areas that need touch up paint. I got the new flooring in the laundry room done and on the landing at the top of these stairs. Second set of stairs are being stained and painted now and then those pieces go in and then I can move into the main room of the house. Trim and baseboards will be all whited. Please don't tell me the colors are not what you would do. I get it if that's the case. Heather's thrilled and that's all that really matters for me.

E09A3028-6D58-401B-8F81-0013093A5A47 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

[Gurp]

Love GJ its also a great forum!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

For those of you in Colorado near Pikes Peak, and in need of new flooring, river is open for business during the summer months. Given his steadfast attention to detail, he'll make up for the lack of a contractor's license.

Okay, enough BS, Chris takes pride in what he does and doesn't do anything half-assed.

[river]

Ginger was able to finish up my seat a few weeks ago. I've been pushing really hard to try to get the renovations done on the house before I go back to work but...I'm not going to make it. So I've taken some time off from that and focused on Squirrel. Ginger and I talked about a lot of different styles for the seat but we settled on something pretty basic and stock looking. Here it is.

230EACA4-6604-4EBD-80F6-E0AFB052F595 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

She was really great to work with and I love the end result. Since the pan I used did not have a document holder (not sure what this pan is from but it's a bit different than mine) and mine would not fit it, Ginger created a pocket that is designed to hold my documents.

I also decided to finally install the 650 camshaft. The job was fairly uneventful other than another set of threads that pulled out in the head before the torque wrench got to 8 foot pounds. A Helicoil made quick work of that though. I definitely can tell a difference at those higher rpm's with this cam. The motor just wants to keep pulling.

I wanted to protect the 500T tank until I get it professionally painted so I decided to clear it. For now I kind of like the patina on the tank so I cleared it in flat.

62162749-B2E4-48F5-95FC-D65378C2A2ED by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I also repainted the side covers in black so they are a bit more subtle. I really liked the 750 that JWebster took to the Handbuilt Show that had black side covers with that white/robin eggish tank and that was my inspiration

D42C3219-1D47-4C73-878B-85D94B59A8DA by cneumann2000, on Flickr

Today I worked on wet sanding the covers but still have more to do. I also installed a new fuel cap from Joker Machine.

B5F086B5-93C0-4655-A286-5256F29C7AF2 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

I have one more thing that is on the way that I'm excited about. Hoping it shows up soon.