Go to page: 1 - The Beginning 2 - Oil tank, seat & gas tank 3 - Coils & fender 4 - Electric box & frame 5 - Welded frame & battery 6 - Oil tank, seat & taillight 7 - Painted parts & covered seat 8 - Painting and final assembly 9 - Last minute changes & starting 10 - Final bike photos Credits: Me: guy that owns the bike and comes up with "great" ideas that usually don't work. I can't weld Dad: does most of the tack welding and brings home lots of scrap metal from the weld shop where he works. (when I say "I welded" I mean "Dad welded") Brother-in-law Rich: mechanical engineer that comes up with great ideas that do work. Also has the mig welder that my Dad and I borrow when we work on the bike. Last updated Tuesday, August 02, 2005		Now, to figure out the electrical area. There is plenty of room to stuff everything in under the seat. It will also make it easy to run wire up through the frame tube, and back to the taillight. I'm going to make steel sidecovers to fill in the triangular area in the frame. They will be mounted on with bolts and rubber washers. My ignition switch and horn will mount right onto the panel. In this photo, there is a carboard template covering the top of the electic box area. An electrex regulator/rectifier unit will bolt underneath of this plate. The plate will be on a hinge, so I can easily service the battery or change fuses.		Click for a larger view
			I cut some steel to act as gussets for the frame and to hold on the sidecover plates. Dad tacked them on.		Click for a larger view
			Well, now that I decided to put a plate over the top of the box, I can't access my oil tank fill spout. So, I cut it off and moved it to the outside of the frame. Being out in the open like that kind of adds to the mechanicalness of the bike... makes it look a little more like a machine.		Click for a larger view
			After cutting those stock frame rails out, It left a pointy shape that sticks out past the fender. It looks ugly. The question is... what can really be done about them? If I contour them, will I lose strength?. That part of the frame will recieve some of the most stress. I bought a tubing bender, and practiced making new frame pieces that were curved to match the fender, but decided it was going to be a lot of work to make all new shock mounts, and re-gusset the frame under the new frame piece. So....		Click for a larger view
			I went ahead and cut the existing tubes.		Click for a larger view
			To add strength, I used the tubing bender to bend some 1/2" solid steel rod and then pounded it into the holes. It worked pretty well.		Click for a larger view
			Dad tacked the rods into place. Now It's time to get the frame TIG welded. I stripped everything off the frame, cleaned it up and took it to a professional welder. He will be welding everything in place on the frame and welding the oil tank.		Click for a larger view