How to ruin a perfectly good stock frame

[mlc216]

I giggle a little bit every time I sit on it now haha

[oohsam]

Oh man. That looks the part...
I always wondered how on choppers, the seat is pretty much on the rear fender, and the rear fender is always like 10mm off the tire. Most guys who ride the choppers are (sorry chopper guys)...fat. So how do you weld it in in such a way that it will withstand the weight.
....just curious. I seen how american chopper do it but they seem to mount their seats on the frame and not the rear fender...

[mlc216]

Well none of that is mounted just yet, just mocked up. Typically I mount the fender in 3 spots... One mount down low off a crossmember between the frame rails, one behind the seat on a crossmember there, and one on top using the sissy bar (yet to make) as support. With those three mounts the fender becomes quite stiff. Sometimes a little bracing is needed inside the fender to spread the load of a couple bolts.

Also, I try to forget everything I've ever seen on American chopper. Haha

[Erki]

Just read through the whole thread and I love the custom work you've done. Good on ya. keep it up.

[oohsam]

yes I see.
you must forgive me, Im not an experienced welder, but I am learning alot (and all my welds seem to be fairly strong, no matter how ugly they are

PS. I love the old school "Mr Miawgi" cars in the background of all ur pics

[twotimeGSr]

Just read this thread... entertaining! Love your work.. Hope to see the finished product photos.

[drivera84]

Cool build man!!!! thumbs up!!!!!

[pete]

Aaah you're back on it finally MLC! Good stuff

You certainly have been spending time on the Fleetline... there weren't wheels on it last pic I saw... cool!

As to the chopper, definitely taking some good shape there, my only concern is do you think you have the engine canted forward enough? Or do you reckon a bit of extra oil will be enough to look after it? I'm sure you've thought of this earlier in the thread though...

That springer front end is very cool actually...

[mlc216]

So you decided to use the springer after all .

Yep, I had a 4 over xs650 front end that I was going to adapt to fit... but when the gs450 stem fit perfectly on the springer I felt that it was just meant to be.

Just read through the whole thread and I love the custom work you've done. Good on ya. keep it up.

Thanks, it's still got a ways to go...but I'm planning to ride it 2.5 hours to birmingham October 7th for the Barber Vintage Festival... great weekend of vintage bike racing, swap meet, etc.

yes I see.
you must forgive me, Im not an experienced welder, but I am learning alot (and all my welds seem to be fairly strong, no matter how ugly they are

PS. I love the old school "Mr Miawgi" cars in the background of all ur pics

I'm no certified welder, but I have learned a lot about the design and process of welding and what the finished product should look like. Fitment is very important, and I have learned to take more time to make pieces fit together without gaps and preheat the section with my torch. All of these things make my MIG perform much much better for me

As far as the old school cars... well I just have the fleetline right now... and I have been working pretty hard on it lately, but it's time for a break...so I'm back on this chopper until it hits the road for good.

Just read this thread... entertaining! Love your work.. Hope to see the finished product photos.

Thanks, and I hope to see a finished product soon!

Cool build man!!!! thumbs up!!!!!

Thanks!

Aaah you're back on it finally MLC! Good stuff

You certainly have been spending time on the Fleetline... there weren't wheels on it last pic I saw... cool!

As to the chopper, definitely taking some good shape there, my only concern is do you think you have the engine canted forward enough? Or do you reckon a bit of extra oil will be enough to look after it? I'm sure you've thought of this earlier in the thread though...

That springer front end is very cool actually...

Pete,
I've been spending a lot of time rebuilding/reworking the suspension on the fleetline. Still have a ways to go, but I needed a break from all the 60 year old crud cleaning for a while haha.

The engine will be leaning a few degrees more forward once the weight of the bike preloads the front end. Right now it's propped up so that the springer doesn't have any load. The oil pump is located on the back side of the motor, so it should have no issues pumping oil. A lot of people have done the same thing to a lot of different motors with no starvation issues... will the gs450 engine be ok? I think so, but we will see. If it grenades, I have another engine that I'll be going to a bigger bore on anyways and I'll make adjustments as needed to keep it going.

[pete]

Pete,
I've been spending a lot of time rebuilding/reworking the suspension on the fleetline. Still have a ways to go, but I needed a break from all the 60 year old crud cleaning for a while haha.

The engine will be leaning a few degrees more forward once the weight of the bike preloads the front end. Right now it's propped up so that the springer doesn't have any load. The oil pump is located on the back side of the motor, so it should have no issues pumping oil. A lot of people have done the same thing to a lot of different motors with no starvation issues... will the gs450 engine be ok? I think so, but we will see. If it grenades, I have another engine that I'll be going to a bigger bore on anyways and I'll make adjustments as needed to keep it going.

Cool, I wanna see what she looks like when you're done. I do have a thing for old American cars, especially the real curvy ones like that. I'll probably never get a chance to own one, so admiring others does me just fine

I figured you'd have the oil situation sorted, and that makes sense given the pump's location.

And I'd forgotten the other engine too... that'll be fun

[mlc216]

Yeah I'm still not thrilled about the gs450's not having a kickstart when they come stock with a perm. magnet alternator. It would be nice to be able to lose the battery and run kick only with a capacitor. So for the other motor I may track down a gs400/425 bottom end since they came stock with a kickstand and then run the gs500 jugs bored to whatever I feel adequate and the gs450 head...

As for the car, here's a better pic of how it sits mocked up right now:

[Erki]

Car looks great. Have to get motivated to work on my ol truck again.

[mlc216]

Made some simple bars and got some more mockup pics:




I will probably make some pull backs after I get it on the road. Still trying to decide if it would be better with no sissy, short sissy, or ridiculously tall just barely fits in the garage sissy bar... What do you guys think?

[pete]

Well, seeing as it's definitely getting a bit of Peter Fonda goes to Japan happening, I think you have to do the big sissy

I don't know how you can ride with those 'bars, but that's obviously just my personal preference. I sat on some sort of HD once that had really narrow 'bars like that and it just felt wrong... however if it works for you and you like 'em, then go to it!

Lovin' the car by the way, and I noticed you have the rear wheel of the other 450 in the background too... problems?

[mlc216]

Well, seeing as it's definitely getting a bit of Peter Fonda goes to Japan happening, I think you have to do the big sissy

I don't know how you can ride with those 'bars, but that's obviously just my personal preference. I sat on some sort of HD once that had really narrow 'bars like that and it just felt wrong... however if it works for you and you like 'em, then go to it!

Lovin' the car by the way, and I noticed you have the rear wheel of the other 450 in the background too... problems?

Peter Fonda goes to Japan

The bars are narrow, but I'm used to it and they are actually really comfortable.

The ignition finally crapped out on the other 450...which is the reason I'm back working on the chopper. Just figured I'd take that as a sign that I need to get back on a chopper haha. I'll be running the wheels and carbs from the other bike to start with so I'll only have one running bike here in the next week or so when this one hits the road...