Almost on the road.

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motorson

motorson

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Welcome to the forum!

There has been discussion of a "Most Improved 2012" contest, maybe you'll have it done in time to submit if the contests happens...
 
motorson said:
I started this project about 7 years ago when I bought a rusted Combat from a guy in VA. It only had 5000 miles on it and it ran. I figure I'll have it on the road early in 2012. I am putting it together as an Interstate and plan to put the high pipes on the left side with the fastback tail at some point. I'll add pictures when I figure out how to do it. Cheers.
Click to expand...

So something like this? It's David Edward's VR880.

Almost on the road.
 
Get going as times awasting. My first one only took 5 yrs but that mostly because i kept adding speical features too. Hope spring bring crys of newborn IS Commando. My favorite tank for a number of reasons.
 
L R Fastback seat pan id be one of the easiest to Home Make , a flat sheet curved up aft , with two tags welded/riveted on , for the fasteners .Front area to suit Interstae Width .
Not going to wide there helps get a foot down .

Id go for High Pipes left and right , ' S ' style . But probably big bore with the reverse cone mega's , as per http://commando.yolasite.com/performance-mods.php
Recall says pipe Dia. is 1 7/8 o.d. , One should get good ' acoustics ' this way . Threaded sleeves in head ,
Plug in pipes , M X style retainers ( springs :oops: )
 
The picture illf8ed posted is exactly the one! Except the paint. I can't afford to pay guys two thousand dollars for a fancy paint job so I'll have to learn how to do it myself. So far I am keeping the colors down to 5, aluminum, black, red, Chrome (in small quantities) and stainless steel. The Z plates, footpeg mounts, headlight, tripple clamps and guage pods are all powder coat black, The tank and roadster side covers are fire engine red. I spent the big bucks on a few things like stainless oil lines. I'm sure I will end up upgrading the front suspension sooner or later because it feels terrible even though I bought new stanchions.
I was overseas for 4 years so that explains most of the delay. I'm scheaming on ways to get rid of all the chrome but Norton snuck it in in a lot of ways that will make that dificult. I'm thinking of guage rims, headlight rim, wheel rims, and handle bars. Any way, we'll see.
Any help on how to include a picture?
Cheers.
 
Take one of your photos and upload it into a public photo site like photobuket or webshots, then tag that photo in the public site and plug is direct URL in between the image icons that appear after tagging the button above this very text.
Or just paste the URL so we can wait to watch it display. Each public archive has a different way and format to grab the direct URL to paste in here. Being over seas counts a lot on delaying projects.

[url=http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2540317010037141179sVHfKI]http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2540317 ... 1179sVHfKI[/url]

[img]http://inlinethumb17.webshots.com/46288/2540317010037141179S500x500Q85.jpg
 
Oh, man, a Fastback, Interstate 'S', I thought I was going to do the first one.

Maybe the Fastback II 'S'. Who knows.

Dave

69S
 
I put some photo links in my first post. They don't seem to just show up so you have to click on them. Very small photos.
Thanks for all the encouragment.
I think I'll end up fabricating my own pipes and muffler or mufflers. (glass pack of course) No one seems to make what I want in high pipes. I've heard good and bad things about the guy down in NZ that builds pipes but his black chrome 1 5/8 ones look very cool.
Here is a link to a bike I built back in the 90's which I really liked. Cheers,

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6434 ... 528e_m.jpg
 
I like your taste is scrambler rigs. I'm doing one up with 2-1 RH exhaust but lifting ends 2" for more clearance. Will have to consult someone about your photo size as that varies with various formats. If ya tag control and tap + it will expand the image this blurry big.
 
I got the tank and side covers finished. I wanted simple black on red. Brent gave me what I consider to be an awesome quote but I just couldn't do it. Here it is with rattle cans. I used Duplicolor products and did my best.
The first one is with the clearcoat wet sanded and the second is with the clearcoat polished.

Almost on the road.


Almost on the road.
 
If you dare, how about some close ups. I've always been pretty good with the rattle can but am a little scared on something so beloved. If the results pass a litte close up scrutiny (not expecting perfection in anyway) I may give it a go. My current tank and covers have some chips.

How about some details on polishing and the clearcoat used.
 
I decided to re-do my panels and tank after a summer of misuse and some bad happenings. I sanded the panels off, painted with 3 coats of MetalSpecks Blue, enough to hide all the old stuff, and then about 6-8 coats of Duplicolor High performance wheel paint clear. Then polished with 600/1000/2500 and then finished off with either 'Scratch Out' or I have some Ardex 4225 Smart Cut, appears to be about the same thing, but the Scratch out seems easier to work with for some reason. I'm waiting to try some stencils to lay down black for the outline, and then gold metallic for the inside, but am having troubles getting stencils made. I even made up my own artwork for the panels so the outline is a bit larger than the decals so hopefully the outline will show up better. The base coat is looking good. Plan is to finish by taking everything down to the auto finisher and having 2 coats of 2-pack over the whole thing when finished.

Almost on the road.


Haven't attacked the tank yet.

Here's the art, but I have it in 3200dpi and the red will be gold, I just have it red because it's easier than trying to find gold in PhotoShop.

Almost on the road.


Dave
69S
 
I like the paint on those side covers Dave. The art work is great as well! Here is a close up of my side cover. I am also going to open a new thread called "rattle can"

Almost on the road.
 
I started the engine yesterday. It has a Lucas Rita AB5 with the balast resistor. It runs a bit rough but I don't have the tank on it yet. No smoke so it truly is a low milage engine. I was having a hard time starting it so I pulled the timing cover off to check the cam timeing and it was all good. The gasket broke so I had to put on a new one. The oil tank was full so I plugged the hole where it comes out into the timing cover. I got everything ready and went to put it on. Oil was running down the cover but I figured I had to just go for it so I pushed it on as quick as I could. No leaks and 50 Lbs of oil pressure. What are the chances I tore one of those seals that go over the cam and crankshaft ends?

Wont rev over 3000 and runs kind of rough. Timing or carbs? Can I know before I hook up the tank and get proper fuel to the engine?

Dan.
 
Dan, let's start with gas flow and then eliminate that quickly if not a problem

Take off the fuel lines from the petcocks, hold a cup under the petcock and turn on the gas, both pet cocks.

If gas pouring strong out of both?

If not, either the petcocks old screens are plugged and need to be cleaned or your petcock Orings are old and cutting off the flow, time for new petcocks.

Not saying this is the reason your motor will not rev past 3000 rpm, but let's at least find out fast?
 
motorson said:
Wont rev over 3000 and runs kind of rough. Timing or carbs? Can I know before I hook up the tank and get proper fuel to the engine?

Dan.
Click to expand...
You can be sure that it is both. If either one is on right out of block then it surely is a fluke.
Start with the timing. This could get the rpm's up. Then go to carbs.

If the carb are set to a general starting point like 1 1/2 turn on the air jet, neutral needle clip, both slide reacting together, tickling up nicely, then you should get good result with the timing light.

As far as putting the fuel tank on, except the fact that you will be taking it on and off many times before all is set. Just set it up there and hook up the fuel lines to get going. Once you are ready for a spin, nut it up, but be ready to take it off again. Just sayin.
 
Thanks for the help guys.

I kind of want to address the issue of how I put the timing cover on before too much time goes by. Like I said, it was dripping oil out of the hole that feeds the timing cover. I had the gasket stuck onto the timing cover with permatex 2 and then siliconed on the engine side with Ultra Copper. I couldn't stop the oil flow from the full oil tank so I just did it quick and trusted the silicone to push the oil out of the way and make a good seal. Only problem is that there are two oil seals that go over the end of the crank shaft and the cam shaft. As I was putting it on there was no time to make sure that these were perfectly lined up so as soon as if felt good I just pushed it on.

My question is this: do these seals tend to go on well each time guided by the idler shaft and dowel pins or do they easily mess up? Right now it seems fine. It does not leak and oil pressure is 50 lbs. at 2500-3000 rpm. I kind of think that if I had damaged a seal I would not see that kind of oil pressure but how can I be sure?
 
stop the oil flow from the full oil tank so I just did it quick and trusted the silicone to push the oil out of the way and make a good seal. Only problem is that there are two oil seals that go over the end of the crank shaft and the cam shaft.
Click to expand...
Next time you do this clamp the feed line with 'Vice grips' (Molegrips in UK) or a G clamp with spacers to spread the load and seal the pipe.
Oil pressure is good and that crank seal is normally hard to damage. Hopefully, the silicone has not spread too far. You only need a thin smear of it if joint is flat and free of nicks, dings etc. The points seal really needs the correct tapered tool to fit the cover. This is a tapered extension that screws on the cam providing a lead in for the seal. Even after you fitted it without it can be helpful to push a feeler guage (006-010") between cam and seal to ensure its lip still faces in. They can pick up on the end of the cam and reverse. You'll notice the leak into the points cavity anyway.
 
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