I've been working on this project through most of the winter and it's finally coming to an end. Very few details are left and I hope to have it running by next week some time.
This is what the bike looked like when I bought it. The kid I bought it from had good intentions, but neither the money, tools, or know-how to get it done, so I bought it cheap. I saw the potential, and he just wanted to get rid of it.
Here is what my apartment looked like as I started tearing into the project. It was already stripped down pretty well, but very dirty. I didn't want to be working on a dirty bike the whole winter, so I tore down to clean up the motor and frame.
I'm going for a bobber look, not a chopper look, so I wanted to slam the front end as much as possible. Makes the 21" front wheel look even bigger.
Little more cleaning on the motor, plus I ordered a SS Engine bolt set to clean it up even more.
I decided that the stock SL350 front forks where way too long to get the look I wanted, so my buddy gave me a setup of forks off of a cb500 or 550. They're a larger diameter, so I ordered a new top and bottom tree from ebay. Since the trees where wider, I had to get a wider front axle, so back to ebay I go. I still need to shave down the front axle spacers to center the wheel.
The newer forks still need to push through the trees to get the front end where I want it, but it's not nearly as bad as it was. Down the road, after riding the bike for a bit, I'll probably get the the fork tubes cut down appropriately.
I spent about 2 hours masking off the entire wheel front wheel so that I could paint the spokes. I'm not a crazy perfectionist, but I wanted it to turn out right, so I took my time. Although I did slack when it came to masking of the inside of the hub, so I decided to just paint that. I still need to do the same on the rear wheel, but need to wait for the tire and broken spoke to be replaced first.
Even though I didn't take my bike this route, I found this picture to be VERY inspiring and would love to do a similar project down the road. One of my favorites
http://www.halffastchicago.com/0245.jpgHere's a look at what a stock SL 350 looks like
After a lot of looking around and talking about the project with my friends, I've decided to redo the rear end. Right now it's hardtail is using the stock swing arm. It's way too short and doesn't have the look that I want. After deciding this, I realized that this was going to turn into a ground up build and would need some extra help.
I took the motor out of the frame and put everything into the back of my car and took it to my buddies Danny and Mike's garage.
Let the welding begin:
Mike and Danny have been a HUGE help, taking this project a few steps above what I was expecting to do.
New Battery Tray
Tank and Seat Mount
We relocated the front tank tabs to bring the tank forward a bit. It was a small adjustment that took too much time, but was worth it in the end, even more a small difference.
Seat Spring Tabs
Quick Mock-Up
I made up a side Mount Lic. Plate / tail light bracket it. Weded directly to the frame.
Redid the front brake pedal to match the offroad look of the pegs. Turned out cool I think.
Had to shave down the cable holder on the rear drum to make clearance for the rod I'm gonna run instead. Need to clean up the hub a bit more.
Mike made up a great Ignition switch holder that tucks right up under the frame. Turned out great.
Seat in place
Danny threw down some crazy speed holes on my front sprocket cover.
Another Mockup
This is about as complete as the bike is at the moment.
Still working out some small details, but hopefully it'll be on the road soon.
Stripped the frame down to nothing, cleaned it up, and rattled canned the crap out of it, plus a few other parts.
Recently I've been tossing up a few ideas about the paint on the tank. I know I want to keep the stock Topaz Orange (or as close as possible). The orange is going to have a deep metal flake paint job. I'm still working on the details of the graphics.
I photoshoped a few options.
Stock:
Photoshop'd
After discussing it with some friends, I think I'm running with this:
This weekend we're gonna reassemble what we can and start running the wires. If that goes well, we may go as far as throwing the spare tank on and seeing if this little sucker will fire up. I really hope she will.
Once the tank, fender, and headlight or back from paint, this little scoots ready for final assembly. I think I've made a lot of good progress over this winter, and did it pretty cheap. I did have a LOT of help from really good friends...for that, I'm very thankful.
If you want to view the whole project build thread, you can check it out here at my forum:
http://www.halffastchicago.com/forum/index.php?topic=173.0 .
Even though this project is almost complete, I'm still completely open to anybody's comments, feedback or suggestions.
Thanks.
