Red: New Breather Valve!

Made up a new breather valve for Red so I wouldn't have to keep swapping Roxy's back and forth.

Drilled a pilot hole, then went in with the step bit.

Was kind of winging the whole thing given how I wasn't quite sure how the whole thing was even going to play out with the nozzle.  But after drilling the hole out to the step bit's maximum diameter, I found that the threads of the nozzle were perfectly snug in the hole.

With some force, was able to get the nozzle to bite into the valve and then just secured it with a few turns.  

Only thing was that the nozzle ended up being a bit skewed (not perfectly straight up and down).  But good result for being almost an accidental success.

 

 

Red: I'm a Real Fabricator!

First official piece of motorcycle fabrication.  They're ugly, crooked, and held together with tack and autogenous welds, but darn it, I made them!

Red: Rearset Mounts Patterns

Cutting some cardboard patterns to start mocking up the mounts.

Red: Brat Seat

Red: Seat

Trying to get a mock up of a seat.  I first cut a couple cardboard pieces just to give a suggestion of foam, and then wrapped it all with the black faux leather.  That was a good learning exercise in wrapping.  But it didn't look all that great once it was on the bike.  It sort of just looked like, well... a seat pan wrapped in faux black leather.  Just didn't have any hint of cafe racer to it.

Decided I couldn't wrap the entire pan anymore, so instead I just wrapped some cardboard and put that "pad" onto the seat pan, which I painted in Cast Coat Aluminum.

This is closer to the minimal "padded pan" that I'm aiming for, except the pan is still too wide and busy.  So I think the plan is to just cut, bend, and shape a narrow length of aluminum, topped with foam wrapped in leather.

I'll continue to use the mocked up version for now, just need to find a way to securely glue the pad down to the pan.

Roxy: DIY 5mm JIS Screws Continued

Ok, the second attempt to cut these 5mm JIS screws.  This time using #12-28 socket cap screws.  Amazingly, the #12-28 pitch is almost exactly 0.9 to begin with.  The problem is just that the screw is much bigger than 5mm, so you have to remove a lot of material.

Turning it through the die was definitely work, and you can feel the metal cutting.  Was worried how well the die itself would hold up cutting the alloy.


The screw before cutting.  It's already 0.9 to start.

About halfway through and you can see how much material has to be removed.

The finished screw.

Compared to the original.

Checking the pitch on the gauge.

Now I just have to TEST IT...

Fabrication: Pencil Caddy

So not technically a motorcycle-related project, however all this welding practice and metal forming skills will eventually (hopefully) be used in creating seat pans, rear sets, light mounts, and who knows... maybe a gas tank one day?

It all starts with the first fumbling steps...


Drew the pattern on this 22ga steel sheet the night before.

Getting my cart set up at the shop.

Did the big cuts on the hydraulic shear.

Turret punch the relief holes and handle screw holes.

Corner notch the small square cuts, followed by an out-of-focus shot of the Beverly shear, used to cut the little triangle next to the relief hole.

And finally, finger brake for the bends.

Normally, you'd then weld the sides together, but I learned that you can't weld 22ga at 50amps with a 1/16 electrode (it just melts the metal).  The calculators don't go lower than 1/16" for some reason, though obviously it can be done.  Figured I'd read up a little more before attempting that.

So I left the sides unwelded for now.  Added some 6mm bolts, washers, wingnuts and orange paint. Dimensions are 9" long x 4" wide x 1 1/2" tall.

Roxy: Free at Last!

Finally got around to freeing up the stuck float pins in both Roxy's first carb as well as the spare that came from the PO.

To brace the posts, I used a small piece of the scrap 22ga steel from the alternator cover project and cut two notches with the cutting wheel, taking only a little material off at a time so as not to overcut.

Then used a C-clamp to start the pin moving, one end braced on the steel and the other one pushing the end of the pin.  Once I got one end flush with the post, I used a wooden punch to knock it out further.  Finally pulled it free with some needle nosed pliers.  Started with the S90B carb.  For reference this carb has 85/35 jets in it at the moment.

Able to get to the 1.7 float pin for the very first time.

Then went on to the S90K1 carb (Roxy's first carb) and found the pin had notching that matched notches inside one of the posts.

Also discovered, and this was somewhat expected, that the needle jet is unmarked.  Not only that but even though it's "close" to 8mm, an 8mm socket does NOT fit it!  Luckily the socket fit just enough to get it loose. For reference, this carb has the 85/38 jets that came out of the CS90C carb that's in Roxy now.

The tool itself was remarkably simple but completely effective.