Topic: The Beast transformed into...

[Freaky1]

I get pretty picky with how I do things and I told a buddy with the shape of it that it will either look great or crap, there will be no "ok".

I wish I could just shrink wrap it in leather after it gets it's padding.

[Freaky1]

So I thought I had all the welding done but as I was putting things together for a test fit, tragedy struck! I went to put the filler cap in the oil tank my nephew & I welded up from Bung King & it bound up in the threads. Apparently when we filled in the weld around the neck we got it just hot enough to distort the threads. A few hours later I officially gave up and ordered a new tank kit, oh well there were some other issues with the way I had laid it out anyway.

I moved on and made the piece that goes in the back of the seat for the tail light and it turned out good which got me over the oil tank issue. I still have to mount rubber bumpers on the bottom of the seat so it won't fit quite this tight when done.





Once I got the new tank cut and welded up I went & bolted some stuff up for a test fit.



This is the space where the old coil went, I welded the wire hangers on the lower section of the frame & I need to clean up the starter mount but here it is. I plan to run all the wires on the left side of the bike & there is a good possibility I'll be going with my earlier model carbs (no choke cable) so the throttle cables should have enough room.



The coil now mounts on the front of the new battery box. There is a small hanger that bolts on the frame just ahead of the coil but I didn't get it in for the mock up yet. It looks like the coil hangs down in the pictures but it really is level, just the angle of the picture.



This is the first time I have had all of these pieces together & so far it all fits!





This is the other side & you can see where I plan to mount the ignition switch. The battery box is only temporary, I have another one I'm laying out that will look just a bit different. I put tabs on the top & bottom of the box & have since found out that for a couple of reasons this will not work.


 
   

[Freaky1]

Ok, this hasn't been going quite the way I'd hoped as far as time to get stuff done but that's life isn't it? I have the rear fender cut off and my mods have been repaired and hopefully tomorrow I'll get around to making the mold so I can create the fiberglass piece I plan to use.





I know I'll be spraying everything right up my back side but so what? (Why do I hear a voice in my head that says I'll regret that?)

I know I said I had issues with my seat design but hadn't posted any pics, well here you go.



The seat is designed to drop straight down into place but if the front of the seat is under the tank then it can't drop straight down. 



Solution? Cut off the front of the seat and make it just a tad shorter. It's not like I can sit on that part anyway. I also never posted pics of how all this comes together. It's not painted yet nor are the pieces completely finished either but you get the idea.



I had some metric studs welded to the bottom of my seat pan (these are not cut to length yet in this photo.)



I made the supports in the center from 3/4 inch square tubing. I only had to drill one new hole in the frame and was able to use the three stock holes from the original battery box mounting points.



This is with the first battery box in place. I have a new one made and it is currently getting finished and has a few minor changes to it. There is a tab that fits up over the lip where the original battery box attached, this tab fits under the supports that I made. the front of the box is bolted to the supports and the holes in front of those bolts are for the studs welded to the front of the seat pan.



This is a photo of the mounts I made in the old coil space for the regulator/rectifier, circuit breaker, and plug wire mounts.









Freshly painted engine pieces, all done with VHT Flame Proof paint (A product I'm still not 100% sold on), some baked and some not. I still need to hone the cylinders a bit and clean off some of the gasket surfaces then it all goes back together.

[Greggo]

Nice work!

[Toxic]

Is there anything that you have not moved, mod'ed or changed?

Great work.

[Syscrush]

This is a sexy build.  Watching with interest!

[Freaky1]

Is there anything that you have not moved, mod'ed or changed?

Great work.

Thanks everyone, I'd say...lower tree, wheels, forks, swing arm but wait...I am planning on having Hondaman set up the swing arm like the earlier model ones this winter. 

[brandEn]

Great work!

[Freaky1]

So...last night I picked up the frame from the powder coater and now I have to slug through 8 hrs of work before I can get home and see how much work I can get done in two days. Stay 'tooned as I will be providing a photographic timeline in my next post.

[tweakin]

Anxiously awaiting updates.....  Any progress to report?

[caferacer750]

looking good

[RC51rydr]

Pretty sweet! Nice work.

[lucky]

Well done Freaky!  I like how you axed the controllers but losing that kill switch at the thumb would freak me out.  Too many times in my life I have used it.  Even for just turning it off.

Motorcycles have not always had kill switches. Most people just turn the key off.
I thing that was legislation results for emergency personal to shut a motorcycle off after an accident. LOL

Some people get so dependent on a kill switch that they leave the key on and burn up their points or overheat the coils.

[Freaky1]

I'll start by saying as far as the bike goes, this has not been the most productive summer. There have been some set backs, biggest of which being the mounts I made for the rear sets. As I look at old pics now and think back they never had a chance to work out the way I'd hoped. They are not sturdy enough and the worst part is I did not THOROUGHLY test the concept before powder coating. So at this point I'm in somewhat of a pickle and will be presenting some ideas for getting out of it soon and I'd like everyone's input please. That is all for now, I'll post a proper update in a few days. I have a lot of non bike stuff going on this week but figured I'd at least throw a teaser out.

[Freaky1]

First...a little side journey







These are a few pics of the CB I picked up from my nephew when I was back in Nebraska. The frame is a 1st generation 69-70 750 and is in pretty good shape, and no the motor is not from it. The motor is a 70 model & I'm not 100% sure (99.5% though) that it is not the one with the hot factory cam, damn. Of course the obligatory bucket of parts came with it & I haven't dug into it but I'm sure there are things missing. My dad hooked me up with his engine stand & the plan is, with a few mods, to make a engine stand where I can run & tune my engines.

Getting back to The Beast though...

I'm not sure which motor I'm going to run in it next summer. The one I picked up from my nephew is supposed to be an 836 & I'm 60% sure I trust the guy we got it from. But I know where he lives so... This is one reason I want to make an engine stand where I can test motors because whichever one works out better will go in & the other will be torn down & pushed to the limit.

Now to the part all of you have been waiting for, time for your input!!



If you look at this picture, you can see a faint line running from the top (where the weld it at the top of the mount) diagonally down & back to just in front of the bottom hole. This is where the mount bent when I had the rear sets on & put my weight into it.

While I am not fond of the idea of stripping the entire bike down & chopping this off then building something new, I do not want any thought going through my mind that my foot might wind up in a wheel at high speeds.

I have thought of putting a steel block behind this plate and just bolting it through the mount which is my least fav, because I don't think it will work.

The same sort of steel block idea but drilling through the frame & mount & bolting it that way. This idea is almost as bad because I really don't want to drill through the frame for many reasons.

My personal fav is to use this mount for placement (I did get that part right) & then building something similar to the way Honda did it on earlier models.

Before you ask why do I need to strip the entire frame down I'll tell you. I didn't last time when I added the Gordon kit, amongst other things, my powder coating guy said he'd make it look nice. I will say I don't think I'd win any awards with the work he did but it did turn out pretty damn good for what he had to work with. I'm open to any idea, so let's hear it.

This really was one of those setbacks that just made me not even want to go in the garage for a few weeks but I'm ready to get back on this horse.

[seanbarney41]

I am struggling with how to do my rearsets myself right now...the only advice I have is- don't worry about the damn powdercoating cuz rustoleum gloss black looks good enough and riding a totally functional motorbike is where it's at...thanks for posting that pic cuz I was contemplating a similar set up for my rearsets and it is really hard to find good info on what really works.  My other idea was to use an extra long swingarm bolt and rear motor mount bolt for some sort of bracket

[Syscrush]

You can strip the back side of that plate and weld in 1-2 gussets that will keep it from ever bending.  Mask it off and touch up the back with rattle-can bedliner and nobody will ever notice it.

[maduncle]

I am doing rear set mods myself at the moment and I am using 6mm steel plate for my brackets, I thought that was overkill but when I looked at how much weight we put on our pegs I decided 6mm thick steel would be just about right.

Could you cut a shape to match your existing bracket out of 6mm and include some material to go over the frame and then weld it over the top of the current bracket, then file it back off the frame to clean it up?

Or - could you cut a shape out of some thicker plate with bolt holes that line up to the existing bracket and weld it in behind each bracket and back to the frame?

[Freaky1]

Thanks for the input, this is why I ask. I had thought about making a thicker plate that matches the mount and welding it in along the frame and around the mount also. But to be quite honest I really can't remember why I put that idea aside.

My intial plan was to mount something off the old foot rest bolt & the swing arm bolt but my exhaust kicks up too high to make anything work there that I liked. I'm 6'0", so I'm not giant but with these where they are I was surprised with how comfortable the position is. I can't move them any lower due to my exhaust, & I even looked at moving them forward on the mounts I made. I was not expecting how moving them just a few inches really changed my comfort & position on the bike.

[lucky]

I'll start by saying as far as the bike goes, this has not been the most productive summer. There have been some set backs, biggest of which being the mounts I made for the rear sets. As I look at old pics now and think back they never had a chance to work out the way I'd hoped. They are not sturdy enough and the worst part is I did not THOROUGHLY test the concept before powder coating. So at this point I'm in somewhat of a pickle and will be presenting some ideas for getting out of it soon and I'd like everyone's input please. That is all for now, I'll post a proper update in a few days. I have a lot of non bike stuff going on this week but figured I'd at least throw a teaser out.

I thought those plates were a little thin.
One solution that could help is to screw a thicker aluminum plate to that steel tab to make it much stiffer. You could add a stiffening piece to keep the brake mount movement to a minimum by connecting to the oil tank mount nearby.

[Syscrush]

Here's a terrible sketch of how you could gusset that plate from the back:

[Freaky1]

Lucky - The problem with adding anything to the oil tank mount is the oil tank does not really sit above the mount, it barely sits above the hole. The oil tank mount hole is just below the center line of the rear set bracket, my picture was not taken straight on.

I made up some ideas for where I could drill the bracket to attach a plate behind it. The first one is a more specific version of Syscrush's idea, I'd weld the pieces together and bolt them in place. The yellow line is where the frame is, again my pic is not the best. Also, I'd round the ends of the gusset to match the ends of the bracket already in place.



The next one is if I were to make a plate that would be the same shape and an idea of where I'd drill holes to blot it on.



I know I said I wouldn't mind blowing up the whole thing or jacking up my powder coating and that's still true. But if I can make something work without doing that, well that means more money for something else and that's always the better way to go.

[Freaky1]

I think I'm going to go with the second option above, the full plate behind my mount. I'm thinking about something in the 1/4" thick range, 1/2" might be a bit of overkill. Someday I'll redo that area all together but I made a vow after seeing everyone riding this summer & me looking at a pile of parts. I will never be without a operational motorcycle again as long as I live, no way.

I tried to make a mold of my modified rear fender so I can make a functional one out of fiberglass.



The mold-a-scene set up so quick I added just a bit more water & got it all covered.



I thought it was all good & even kept it inside the house because nights are getting a bit chilly around these parts. I checked it out the following evening after work & found out that I was the proud owner of an oatmeal mold. Apparently my adding a bit more water killed the molding stuff. I let it sit for another two days & it was looking better until I took it off. The underside was mush & my mold came apart in chunks in my hands, oh well back to the drawing board.

[Freaky1]

Ok, I went back to the hobby store and picked up plaster strips, the stuff some people make masks out of and I think we have a winner! I put a few layers on and it is coming out great! I trimmed it up and today will be putting on a few more layers to increase strength, pics soon.

I got the pistons back on & my son & I put the cylinders in place only to find I left out four gaskets. In my defense, the "complete" gasket kit I got was missing these, along with two more for between the cylinders & the head. But they are on order & should be in soon.

I mounted up the new front brake & clutch perches and they look pretty good I think. I'm going to pick up some smaller levers to replace these but that is on the back burner for now. I had to make a custom hanger for the master cylinder reservoir, the stock one would not work.   



I also got my headlight mount on, it still needs a bit of finishing work but I wanted to get all the fitting work done first.





I was thinking about going with a Hella 500 Black Magic light but it is quite a bit bigger and will require completely changing the mounts for the gauges, so that idea has been put away for now.

[Syscrush]

Is it just the angle of the photo, or is that mount crooked?  In the head-on pic it looks like it's leaning to the right of the photo.