12/30/11 Carbon Tail

Another quick one today. I prepped the front crossmember for POR-15. I also sanded and cleared the carbon tail section and put it on the bike. This one is gonna look mean.

K.Y. and I also did a bit of work on the benz, but for some reason now it's burning coolant out the tailpipe. I don't think it's a headgasket, but likely a intake manifold gasket issue. We'll troubleshoot it soon.

W.W. SBSS

12/29/11 Paint and Carbon

Just a quick update today. I painted the floor today and it looks great. It also looks great on my face...where it splashed...and won't come off. I guess this means itll stick to the floor pretty well.

I also put another coat of resin on the tail of my SV, and trimmed the excess. It's gonna look great when finished.

My suspension bushings arrived today as well. Once the struts come in, I can finally build my suspension.

Soon I'll be ordering sound deadening, carpet padding and carpet so I can complete the interior. It's all coming together.

-W.W. SBSS

12/28/11 Frame Rails Pt.3

Today I did a bit of work on the frame rails. I cleaned up some of the welds and sprayed the newly installed rails with rubberized undercoating. It's looking pretty good now.

I then spent a good few hours prepping the floor for paint. This involved alot of wire-wheeling, some Marine Clean, and some Prep and Ready. This process isn't very photogenic so you'll have to trust me.

I tried out the silver POR-15 on some suspension components. 

Then I did the necessary dremel massaging to get my top triple to fit on the new forks. 

Having done this, I was feeling inspired with the bike, and decided to carbon fiber my tail. 

All in all a very productive day.

-W.W. SBSS

12/27/11 Frame Rails Pt.2

Because I had the whole week off, I decided to spend the entire day in the shop and knock out the frame rails. After a little of fiddling, I got the front rails on and ready to weld.

Once they were all lined up, I wheeled in the welder and tacked the front rails into place.

Then I trimmed the rear rails to fit, and tacked those in. 

Repeat on the other side and everything was all tacked and ready to go. 

Then it was weld weld weld and weld some more. My welds started out a bit ugly, for some reason the welder I was using wasn't very good on thin metal. After switching to the trusty Lincoln 135 the welds got a bit nicer. All in all it's not the prettiest weld job, but it's definitely strong.

Also, it turns out cotton gloves and blue shop rags are flammable...

W.W. SBSS

12/21/11 Plugging Along

I'm still working on the frame rails. I want to do this right, so it's taking me a long time. That said, with the time I'll have over christmas break, I should be able to finish them up. Last time I prepped the inside of the rails for paint with POR-15, this weekend I painted them. 

As you can see, I left the tab that welds to the floor bare. This is because I don't want to contaminate the weld with the POR-15. To protect this area, I sprayed the tabs with a Weld-through primer, which has a high zinc content and will not adversely affect the weld. 

I am currently waiting for the paint to dry and will be welding them on soon. 

I also listed my new, free, mikuni triple carb manifold on ebay. It was unlikely that I was gonna find a third carb to complete the set, and I am not really willing to pay for a full set of carbs. 

In other news, last saturday I saw my buddy G.S.'s band Ibex play at the Orchard house cafe. They were awesome as always. Here's a terrible video I took.

That is all.

-W.W. SBSS

12/15/11 Overdue Update (again)

I know it has been a while, but the holiday season is tough. I've been to 5 parties, including santacon shown below, in about as many days, and it doesn't look like the pace will be slowing down until after new years. #firstworldpains  In any case, here's whats been going on.

A very nice member on the HybridZ forums decided to clean house. Instead of selling his extra stuff, he gave it away to whoever could pick it up. Since I live only an hour or so away, I went and got myself some free toys, namely a shopping cart full of Datsun transmissions

And a corroded and 2/3 complete set of triple Solex carburetors. Since the triples aren't complete, I'll probably end up selling them since I plan to do an engine swap eventually anyway. I'll likely keep at least one transmission as a spare and sell the other. Not a bad haul for an afternoon's drive.

The other day I was walking in midtown and saw this very interesting Ducati. It was a 999, which usually looks something like this.

But this one had been stripped down way beyond what even most streetfighter conversions remove. Check out the tail section. Not only is the seat gone, but the tail fairing as well. Just exposed tubing there. Also the wrapped exhaust is sweet. It's not often you see something this...different.

I've been plugging away at getting my frame rails installed. As I said, it involves a bunch of hammering to get them to fit flush. I also needed to use a wire wheel on an angle grinder to grind away the undercoating on the car. This is dirty work.

I finally have them fitting the way I like, so now it's time to paint the inside of the framerails with POR-15. I prepped them last night with the etching solution, which allows the paint to stick well to the smooth new metal. Paint will go on tonight.

I also finally got ahold of the UV-proof clearcoat I needed for my tank. This is gonna look awesome on my bike.

Finally, I pretty much have the CB700SC back together. I may register it so I can ride it around until the SV is back on the road, but eventually I'm gonna sell it. The only thing holding me back right now is I'm missing a stupid little 'T' fitting for the fuel system. I misplaced it at some point and it's always the little things that hold you back.

-W.W. SBSS