Author Topic: The X's Project (Read 27423 times)

andy750 · « **Reply #75 on:** August 30, 2007, 04:27:07 PM »

WOW!! Great tank!!!! I really like what you have done with it!! And thanks for sharing the info - you have given me some ideas as well!!

Looking forward to seeing how it finishes.
cheers
Andy

DME · « **Reply #76 on:** August 31, 2007, 04:41:16 AM »

Hey xtalon, things are looking great

I really like that you are keeping to your original idea with the two tone - mainly because it will look great but also because I find it admirable to draw up a plan and follow it through!
Often the first plan is the best and when one starts to cut corners, well.... one corner turns into two... and three...

Will be an awesome bike when finished!

Cheers
Dan

KB02 · « **Reply #77 on:** August 31, 2007, 05:38:57 AM »

MAN!

If i didn't know it was paint, judging by the pictres, I would swear that was one of the best polishing jobs I have ever seen on a tank.

That is sweet.

silver fox · « **Reply #78 on:** August 31, 2007, 06:38:58 AM »

Awesome looking bike, keep the pics coming in

Are you hiding the battery and electrics under the extended section of the tank??? Is it even possible? And if you have, piccys please

Good work
SF

EVILONE · « **Reply #79 on:** August 31, 2007, 03:26:04 PM »

HAHAHA....you guys can give me a hard time now....its my fault the tank isnt painted yet....but Im gettin close!lol.Im gonna clear it tonight....should have some pics by the first of the week.I guess you will just have to waitHAHAHAHAHA

EVIL

ScottB · « **Reply #80 on:** September 01, 2007, 02:40:01 PM »

Am I the only one who would kill for that tank? Any sort of writeup or tips / tricks would be awesome! Love the project, lot's of inspiration.

xtalon · « **Reply #81 on:** September 02, 2007, 06:52:53 AM »

Quote from: silver fox on August 31, 2007, 06:38:58 AM

Are you hiding the battery and electrics under the extended section of the tank??? Is it even possible? And if you have, piccys please

SF, the electronics will not be hidden in the extended section of the tank, although it is a good idea. There is some room under there, but I don't know if it would be enough. I know members here are using smaller gel batteries and mounting them under their seat hump, but I don't know the dimensions of these batteries to be able to determine whether it would actually fit in the tank.

DME (user above) extended his tank a little longer than mine, so I assume you could always extend longer or even add a section to get the room you would need. I don't know how comfortable I would be having the battery enclosed that close to the fuel. One little pinhole and 'POOF'!

Initially, we were considering putting an oil tank in there, but didn't follow through on the idea.

Quote from: ScottB on September 01, 2007, 02:40:01 PM

Am I the only one who would kill for that tank? Any sort of writeup or tips / tricks would be awesome! Love the project, lot's of inspiration.

Scott, there's a pretty good info about what we did to the tank throughout this thread if you haven't seen it already (starts around Page 2). If you don't see specific info you need, feel free to ask questions here or shoot me or my buddy Jason (username: Evilone) a PM.

To all: Again, thanks for the comments guys. They are much appreciated.

--xTalon

ScottB · « **Reply #82 on:** September 02, 2007, 07:50:17 AM »

Can't believe I missed that one! What did you do with the bottom of the new tank you spliced on?

masonryman · « **Reply #83 on:** September 02, 2007, 09:20:01 AM »

Cool project, the wheels and tank are very nice, and going two up at the same time. Very vintage sport touring of you.

I can't seem to maintain focus on mine.

Mark

xtalon · « **Reply #84 on:** September 03, 2007, 06:10:48 PM »

Quote from: ScottB on September 02, 2007, 07:50:17 AM

Can't believe I missed that one! What did you do with the bottom of the new tank you spliced on?

Scott, I kept the bottom of the 2nd tank; however, I cut the front off the tank first, so it's not the entire bottom in one piece, although technically I have the whole bottom, just in two pieces. I was just going to throw it all away, but I kept it thinking if my buddy Jason (or someone else) decides they want to build a CB750 tank, this could keep them from having to hammer out/build the bottom/tunnel.

Masonryman, hate to hear you're losing focus. Last I remember, your bike was looking pretty sweet.

--xTalon

motomotard · « **Reply #85 on:** September 03, 2007, 10:27:16 PM »

Xtalon,
Bike looks awesome, you move fast.

What did you use to polish the rear hub?

masonryman · « **Reply #86 on:** September 04, 2007, 02:19:20 AM »

I'll do better when the weather starts to turn rainy and the days get shorter, being a bricklayer and having two teenage daughters takes up most of the good weather months. I did choose to go on a ride instead of work on it this weekend

Let us know the latest on the batteries

Mark

dagersh · « **Reply #87 on:** September 04, 2007, 03:09:38 PM »

X,

That bike is looking hot! Keep us informed, and as always lots of pics!

Gersh

xtalon · « **Reply #88 on:** September 04, 2007, 08:53:46 PM »

Quote from: motomotard on September 03, 2007, 10:27:16 PM

Xtalon,
Bike looks awesome, you move fast.

What did you use to polish the rear hub?

Motomotard, rear hub was polished by the guy that built the wheels. I polished the drum brake and the sprocket carrier. I used a 3/4 HP Shaft Buffer I bought from Harbor Freight fairly cheap to polish those and a few other parts.

Thanks Dagersh! As you can see, the Alsa paint worked pretty good.

--xTalon

fuzzybutt · « **Reply #89 on:** September 15, 2007, 07:07:03 PM »

how much of the paint did you need to do the tank? i'm thinking about it for metalheads bike

andy750 · « **Reply #90 on:** October 23, 2007, 08:39:37 AM »

Hey Xtalon how is the project going? Do you have a photo of that amazing tank on the bike yet?

cheers
Andy

bigsherm · « **Reply #91 on:** December 18, 2007, 01:31:35 PM »

Don't keep us waiting!

-Sherm

xtalon · « **Reply #92 on:** December 18, 2007, 04:42:15 PM »

Hey guys!

I apologize for the lack of an update and not being around altogether, but I rejoined the ranks of the employed, so time is limited... again.

Just a quick update... We clear coated the tank and the mirra-chrome turned to #$%*e. It looked like an ugly silver paint job. Obviously, I was majorly disappointed... especially when I had such a beautiful black paint job and then descent results w/ the mirrachrome, but it turned to crap when cleared. Alsa says it will do that if not applied correctly (i.e. overapplied). Shooting this stuff seems to be a science.

I've been tempted just to reshoot it black and call it a day, but we are going to try again. The tank will need to be repainted black and cleared again as the base to the mirrachrome, so we are going to do that and at the same time paint 3-4 samples to practice on. If we can get the mirrachrome to work on a sample, then we will retry the tank, but if not... she'll be black.

It's almost winter, so the motivation isn't there, but hopefully over the next month or two, we'll know and I'll post an update.

You shoot this mirrachrome very light, almost like a mist. I bought a pint of the mirrachrome and I'm unsure exactly how much is left since my buddy is doing the actual painting, but I think there is a lot left.

In consolation, my buddy sanded the tank to prep to repaint and he sanded in a front to back direction and one of his customers thought the tank looked like brushed aluminum, so I suppose if that was the look I was going for, it could be salvaged, but I want the chrome look if we can get it. The Black Bomber tank was my inspiration and I'm still striving for that. Wish us luck!

--xTalon

cafebob · « **Reply #93 on:** December 18, 2007, 07:59:59 PM »

i have a black bomber tank if you want to try building off of it....

bob

xtalon · « **Reply #94 on:** December 19, 2007, 03:46:42 PM »

Quote from: cafebob on December 18, 2007, 07:59:59 PM

i have a black bomber tank if you want to try building off of it....

bob

I appreciate the offer Cafebob, but my tanks virtually done except for the paint.

--xTalon

Geeto67 · « **Reply #95 on:** December 19, 2007, 03:56:35 PM »

what about silver leaf? kind of like gold leaf but silver. Back when I did pinstriping silver leaf was the shiznit for getting a nice metal finish on painted surfaces, plus you can clear over it. after applying it you will have to polish it (most silver and gold leaf gets an engine turned pattern polished into it) but then you can shoot clear over it and it won't loose its luster.

xtalon · « **Reply #96 on:** December 19, 2007, 03:59:58 PM »

Quote from: Geeto67 on December 19, 2007, 03:56:35 PM

what about silver leaf? kind of like gold leaf but silver. Back when I did pinstriping silver leaf was the shiznit for getting a nice metal finish on painted surfaces, plus you can clear over it. after applying it you will have to polish it (most silver and gold leaf gets an engine turned pattern polished into it) but then you can shoot clear over it and it won't loose its luster.

VERY interesting idea Geeto. If the mirrachrome doesn't work. I'll definitely look into it. Thanks!

--xTalon

tortelvis · « **Reply #97 on:** December 20, 2007, 09:16:01 AM »

I ran a Triumph chop back in the 70's with no front fender and it sucked. It might look nice but I ride all the time, rain or shine. I discovered that at city speeds any rain was thrown straight into my face. Not to mention anything else the front tire picks up! Same with bobbed rear fenders, you get a nice pattern up the middle of your back. Just my .02.

xtalon · « **Reply #98 on:** October 25, 2008, 11:48:06 AM »

Well, I'm back working on my project. I finally gave up on the mirrachrome. We couldn't get the results I was looking for and I was tired of wasting my time and more importantly, my buddies.

I also got sidetracked with a little adventure of riding a dirt bike across country off road (Trans America Trail - TAT - 5,000 miles). That took a lot of time and money to prepare and accomplish. If you're interested in this type of thing, here is a link to our ride report:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371948

It's a fairly long read, but you could always just look at the pictures.

After that, I went to Indy for the MotoGP race. Awesome time! Here is a picture I took of John Hopkins getting loooow (note the elbow):

If you want to see some more I took, you can go here:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=573790

HOWEVER, I have started working on the ole CB again. I have finished up the rear end which involved getting the rear wheel trued, since the guy who built it didn't true it correctly. There went another $100 and I installed the new master cylinder, installed fluid, bled the brakes and buttoned down everything on the front end.

Today I took her for two laps around the block... and nothing fell off or exploded, so I am stoked! Here she is after our little trip. I had my old rotting seat foam wrapped in a garbage bag to sit on.

I still have to have the seat done, chop the rear fender and build a tach/speedo bracket, but then I should be about done.

I may still have one more thing to try regarding the chrome on the tank, but I'm going to get her on the road before I attempt it. Today was the first time her wheels have turned in about a year and a half.

--xTalon

Ecosse · « **Reply #99 on:** October 25, 2008, 12:16:36 PM »

Looking good! I saw a You Tube video with Ewan McGregor and some vintage Brit bike (don't recall what) where his builder sort of goes over the steps on how he archived chrome sides to the tank. It involved actually welding chromed sections onto the tank. Do a search there for him and you'll likely find it. Interesting non the less.

Thanks for the update.

News:

Author Topic: The X's Project (Read 27423 times)

EVILONE

ScottB

ScottB

masonryman

masonryman

fuzzybutt