Bad Idea (Build Thread)

[dorifto240]

My entry for the econo build (don't worry I'm not judging any of the rides, so it's cool I enter. If it's a problem I can just leave my bikes out of the judging and have them only eligible for the people's choice and builders choice)

The run down:

1968 CL175 Frame

1983 FT500 Motor

CB550 Front End

CB750 Rear

This is the rough idea. The frame I had lying around, the motor came from Fazer1Sniper for $20.00.

The CB550/750 parts came from a parts bike and boxes for about $50.00.

An FT wiring harness cost me $15.00,

and the CDI and other electronics cost me another $15.00

I refurbished a junk XL250 carb from work for $10.00

The gas tank is from a CB350, $10.00

Plus an old school Aprilia headlight with speedo, $49.00 (9 for the headlight, 40 for the speedo)

So I'm looking at $169 so far.

The plan is this:

Clean the frame up.

Reinforce parts of the frame.

Fab engine brackets and weld them in place.

Clean and seal the tank.

Paint.

Handlebars.

Seat.

Lights

Ride the hell out of it.

It's a 40 year old frame, a motor 3 sizes larger than what was stock, completely different running gear, and my goal is to have it done by the 16th of April for the show.

Hence the name "Bad Idea."

Edited March 23, 2011 by dorifto240

[Casper]

I've been thinking about entering this...

[Bkizz]

Got a swing arm for it? I'm interested to see how this turns out. April 16 is gonna come pretty quick! Better get on it!

[ponyjr]

bring it down to the big party at Iron Pony april 15,16 and 17

[dorifto240]

I've been thinking about entering this...

You should! Or at least stop by.

Got a swing arm for it? I'm interested to see how this turns out. April 16 is gonna come pretty quick! Better get on it!

Yes, but.... The frame used a notched swing arm, so I've got some serious planning and cutting to make that happen with the CB750 swingarm.

Thankfully I work at a motorcycle salvage yard, and have plenty of spares.

[Chrome]

What is the econo build? contest? what do you need to enter?

[dorifto240]

What is the econo build? contest? what do you need to enter?

It's an event a few friends and I came up with. It's an open class build off and the only limit is that the total cost of the build can't be more than $500

Here's the thread for it.

And the website is here

If you have any questions you can PM me or email me at somethingcreativecolumbus@gmail.com

Edited March 24, 2011 by dorifto240

[dorifto240]

After a few days of grinding, naval jelly, and more grinding; I've decided to send the frame out to be sand blasted.

Off to an old man by the river. Seriously.

That gives me time to start cleaning and stripping the tank down.

Yeah Saturdays!

Also:

Does anyone have experience with cutting thread? The steering stem fits, but is a little long. I was thinking I could get a few more turns of threading cut into it and it should tighten up nicely.

Edited March 26, 2011 by dorifto240

[20thGix]

Find the right die you can put as much thread as you like on it.

Here's a couple tips.

1.Loosen/open the die up. There should be a screw where the die is split.

2.The side of the die with the chamfer or markings will be the leading edge.

3.Turn a couple threads then check fit with the nut. Adjust the die if necessary.

4.Also use some kind of lube/cutting fluid.

5.Admire a job well done!

[dorifto240]

Find the right die you can put as much thread as you like on it.

Here's a couple tips.

1.Loosen/open the die up. There should be a screw where the die is split.

2.The side of the die with the chamfer or markings will be the leading edge.

3.Turn a couple threads then check fit with the nut. Adjust the die if necessary.

4.Also use some kind of lube/cutting fluid.

5.Admire a job well done!

Thanks, any thoughts on where I could buy/rent one? Google seems to be failing me.

[20thGix]

Locally you could try Sears Hardware or some other type of hardware store. Or possibly Harbor Frieght since you will probaly only use it once. Other than that Updike, MSC or Travers will sell them.

[dorifto240]

These are older but here's the build on the carb.

I pulled this from a junk bin, I wanted a mechanical carburetor instead of the CV that was equipped on the FT500. And $10 versus $50.00 to $125.00 seemed like a good idea.

It took a few days to figure out what bike it was from (early XL250), I ordered a rebuild kit, and then headed over to my friends shop and their bead blaster.

Before I got to work, but after I broke it down. It wasn't in bad overall condition, and thankfully everything worked well.

A few hours of blasting and cleaning.

And finished!

After blasting it, I used one of the ultrasonic cleaners to clear out any media that I may have missed. And then reassembled.

[dorifto240]

Sent the frame out to be sand blasted yesterday, should get it back by the end of the week. $60.00 I thought was a fair price.

Brings my total cost to $219.

[ponyjr]

Will that carb be able to feed a motor twice the size of what i was originally built for? progress is looking good.

[dorifto240]

Will that carb be able to feed a motor twice the size of what i was originally built for? progress is looking good.

I upped the jet size, but I honestly don't know.

I'm going to try it with this setup, and if the engine runs lean, I'll order larger jets. Thankfully, Honda used the same style of carburetor on most of the XR/XL series, and jets aren't difficult to order.

[dorifto240]

Frame came back from the sand blaster today, and looks incredible!

I also noticed that the CB450 nighthawk swing arm looked similar to the original CL175 swingarm.

I was able to get one and sure enough it bolts right up and will only need a few shims to get a solid fit. PLUS it's a few inches longer than the CB750A swingarm, but is still wide enough for the CB750 rear wheel.

I did have to grind the axle slot out some to allow for the larger rear axle, but other than that nothing crazy.

Thin. Thin is good.

I have some fit and finish issues to work out, but nothing that spacers, shims, or washers can't remedy.

Next up is the engine brackets.

[Strictly Street]

Looking good!

[dorifto240]

Owing to the fact I'm installing such a large engine on such a smallish frame, brackets are in order.

I was able to use the one of the original engine mounting points, but that was it. The rear engine bracket will weld onto the lower frame mount and along the rear support tube. It should tie that section of the frame together nicely.

The other two are basically gussets. The smallest being a reinforcement for the neck and the second smallest will reinforce the main backbone.

When the upper engine mount is cut and welded in, it will work inline with the neck and back bone gussets to spread the weight and stresses evenly. I hope.

I did have a dream of this thing disintegrating beneath me at 65mph, but that's probably unrelated.

Made three of the four sets of brackets tonight. Once I dialed in the speed on the jig saw, it cut like butter and wasn't too difficult.

Half way done, one saw blade down. And that work bench is a life saver!

You can see the outline of the initial shape I wanted, and I still might grind that curve out anyways. I want to see how it looks on the frame.

The flat stock was $12.00 at TSC, minus $20 from sandblasting (it only took the guy 40 minutes, so he pro-rated me), brings me to $211.

[dorifto240]

Two days worth of welding at my buddies shop (I had to re-weld everything. The MIG had run out of gas, and didn't give a good weld, so we busted out the Lincoln Electric Stick welder, and they let me smoke up the place.) and a $27.00 trip to Lowes netted me this:

And the various bits and pieces I need to finish this bike.

While I was welding, the heat reacted with the metal, and gave everything a bronze tint. I really liked the look of it, and I wanted something easy to lay on, that would be reasonably tough. Rust-Oleum Hammer Finish it is!

I also painted the tank with a can of "sand" rust-oleum I had lying around. To speed up the drying time, I rigged a heater and a box to form a make shift oven. Worked really well. I did three coats in roughly two hours. I'm going to go back and lay out a white scallop or something, and toss some pinstriping on there for awesomeness sake!

The frame all "bronzed" up and ready. The pitting from it being left outside and half submerged in a river (seriously) gives the frame a really awesome texture. And I'm not embarrassed by my fat, ugly welds, so apart from some fitment issues, I haven't ground anything on the frame. Why would I, this thing has more character and story behind it than a J.R.R Tolkien book.

Authentic Gran Turissmos! Made in Italy. I found those in a $5.00 bin. Seriously! The clip-ons were a gift.

I'm not going to lie, I doubt this will be running by Saturday. And this build is starting to take it's toll. I think I broke my thumb trying to smash the old steering stem races out and I definitely lost my mind for about 10 minutes when the motor mount holes didn't quite line up.

At this point, it's just a matter of finishing it.

Total Cost thus far: $238.00

Edited April 14, 2011 by dorifto240

[dorifto240]

Wrapped up the paint tonight on the tank. I'm cool with the runs, I know I'm going to spill gasoline on it at some point.