Yes, it’s time to mount the sissy bar that I made in the last part. I think it came out quite well and it’s a big part of the character of the bike, well worth the three quids worth of offcut steel and half a dozen welding rods. I still had to make the mounting brackets for it though, which was a fairly hard challenge for me as I wanted it to look right as well as being functional ie strong. Whoever built the frame originally had included two mounting points for a bar , one a tab for a bolt to go through and a 6mm diameter peg presumably for the very bottom of the bar to slot on to. I didn’t like that arrangement, it would have been very difficult to make the end of my bar look right and be strong enough so I did it differently.
What I did was to weld a couple of tabs on to the top of the frame tubes and then make a bracket to match the existing metalwork. The old locating pins were cut off and the rest slightly reshaped to tie it all in a bit better. I am quite pleased with the results, once it’s all properly cleaned up, painted and fully welded it should look decent and it has loads of strength. Next job is to make the brackets for the rear light and number plate – these will be fairly simple tab type things welded to the upper cross bar – there’s forward thinking for you!
A mate of mine just popped round and discussion inevitably turned to the bike and I had one of those really annoying moments when somebody says “why don’t you do this bit this way” and you kick yourself for having not thought of it!! The bit in question this time was the front footpeg mounts. I had made a pair and had intended to fit them to the frame and then weld a bar across to add some strength. What I will now be doing is using two long pieces of hex bar that go right across the frame with some pieces of steel acting as an infill. I think it will look better. I just wish I had thought of it before wasting time and money on my original idea.
With the footpeg mounts well and truly dealt with my attention turned to the exhausts – definitely one of those jobs I am not over keen on. No point whingeing about it though, just get on with it. I have two sets of pipes available from a couple of GSX600’s I broke some time back, I can’t sell them as the collector boxes are rotten but I am now glad I kept them. The pipes coming from 1 and 2 look like the easiest to use so one pair of pipes 1 and two will be used for cylinders 1 and 2 on the dog, the other pair will be used for 3 and 4 – I hope that makes sense? I figure doing it that way I only have to have one join per pipe.
Welding pipe this thin is something I am not used to so Stupid boy should have practised on a bit of scrap first cos I burnt a sodding great hole in my pipe – not good as these ones are all I have. I wound it all the way down to 30 amps and then filled in the hole and completed the weld. I am using arc and some decent quality stainless rods, which I have to say seems to be working rather well.
It’s a bugger cutting the angles and getting them right, it’s a matter of repeatedly fitting the pipes, trimming them, having a look and then tweaking, I don’t know of any other way to do it.
For now I am bringing the pipes down to just below the engine, the “cans” which will be straight lengths of stainless tube will run back from here. They will have removable baffles in them to keep Mr MoT happy. I may use a reducer on each pipe so I can make a baffle that won’t be too restrictive, I’ll see what I can get my grubby mitts on when the time comes. For now though I am content with getting all 4 downpipes terminating where I need them and pointing at the right angle of dangle.
I suspect the second side will be harder as it has to match the first side but it’s looking good thus tar. The welds need cleaning up a bit, I will grind off the high spots and then finish the job with some abracloth. You can also see the new mark 2 super dooper footpeg mounts in this shot, kind of like a buy one get one free kind of deal.
I shall get the other side done and then it’s moving on to the electrical gubbins. Won’t that be nice?
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
