In the last article Ryan and mocked the tank split it and mocked. Now it was time to cut out the 16-gauge steel bottom and then move onto the tunnel. It was easy tracing the outline of the base of the tank and then trimming it with sheers. My delicate typing hands got a good work out and Ryan got a good laugh as I tried to cut through the thin steel sheet.
Then it was time to tack weld the base on. Ryan has proven to me that he is more than a proficient TIG Welder, and judging by the enormous tube bumper he built for the rock crawler he is working on he is a very good MIG welder. After the base was in place it was time to measure the backbone as and account for the Santee frame joints at the seat mount. Ryan laid down some lines with a Sharpie and cut through one line with the Plasma cutter, and said I should take a crack at it…I think just for his amusement.
He watched, as I tried to cut a straight line to no avail and asked if I was drunk. It takes a steady fast hand to plasma cut, and a true bro to let you screw up so you can learn firsthand. We needed to grind down the slag from the plasma cutter, because if you try and weld slag it “It spits like a whore,” Ryan said. Then it was time to fasten the tunnel, and I actually got to weld. I took a stick welding class at the community college a few years back and was just OK, plus some MIG as well. Most of my welds looked like bird crap, literally, but now I was taught by someone who could watch and guide me.
Ryan likes to make tools that make his life easier in the long run. That's why I got to weld, because we had to modify his tunnel bending apparatus. It was just a bunch of scrap he welded in pile with a ridge on one side to hold the sheet of metal. We added some width to it as well as some height, and I got to lay down some MIG welding beads. There were several different thicknesses of metal, so Ryan explained how to take the material from the thicker piece and work it into the thinner piece. Probably old hat for most people who weld a lot but great info for an amateur.
Once the tunnel tower was built he laid the sheet of 16 gauge over it and bent it over the top in one quick motion. We laid the tunnel in the base and there it was, then we traced with a Sharpie and cut the tunnel to size. It took a some stretching and hammering. but it slowly was made to fit and tacked together. We had a tank. It was far from done, but it had shave and fit the frame. The mounts were next.
One of the tell-tale signs of a true builder is whether they take the time to build a trick tank mount system. Ryan built several one-off tanks, so he had saved a program for his hidden tank mounts in his CNC machine. They are slick, beefy and keep everything looking clean. Ryan roughed in the lines of the blocks on the bottom of the tank and spent some time making sure all the clearances were met, as well as being centered. It was tedious, but well worth the effort in the long run. We ran out of sheetmetal, so it was time to move on to what I think is the crowning jewel of this whole project, the rear axle blocks.
I had an racer notion I wanted a hidden axle set-up, and I also liked the look of the WCC Dominator frame, especially the drag style diagonal brace in the rear. We combined that with Ryan's design, inspired by Gard Hollingers’s frames. I really liked the way the drawing looked but you never know until it’s built, whether it will look good on the bike. Ryan bent some DOM tubing to fit the angles of the frame rails and machined the slugs to hold the new section in place. He also cut and coped two other pieces of tubing for the braces. The frame was staring to take shape!
Then it was on to machine the actual axle blocks out of a 1 inch thick chunks of mild steel. He started programming his CNC, and I watched as he dialed, checked, programmed, checked and did this until it looked right. Then he made a fixture to hold the piece of steel he was machining, so he could handle the full cut without having to move his piece or slice into his vise. He ran a test and then tweaked it a bit more to make it perfect. We BS’d and talked. I learned that a cunt hair was actually .003 of an inch. You do learn something new every day!
Then it was time to sit back and watch as art was made. After a small metal shaving fire, that shits gets hot and burns quick, it was time to see the crowning achievement. It was shapely and aggressive all at the same time. I couldn’t wait to mount it up to the bike and Ryan couldn’t either.
We returned to the frame and Ryan took the sawzall to the rails, no mercy! The rails sprung a bit but because it was locked in his handy frame jig, so no problem. After we cut through the frame we realized it was not DOM tubing, which just meant this back section would be stronger than the rest of the bike. He set the DOM loop he bent in place and marked where he would need to cut to get the axle block to fit perfectly. After some more sawing he slipped the slugs in and set the cut loop pieces into place then it was the moment of truth. The axle block slipped into place and fit right up against the brace. It looked killer!
He welded up the pieces of loop after he set them in place with slugs guides and drilled pilot holes to ensure the slugs stayed in place. After he ground it down I couldn’t even tell there was an add on.
We knew running the ISR Sprotor set-up, that we ordered from Gard at LA County Choprods, was going to create a mounting challenge, but as with everything, Ryan took it in stride and came up with a quick solution. We needed to machine out the backside so we had clearance for the caliper, plenty of axle adjustment and alignment with the transmission sprocket. He programmed the CNC and let it do its magic. He coped out the ends of the blocks so they would fit snug and allowed the CNC to do two circular passes, as to not put anymore sideways stress on the shaft of the milling bit.
He had cut out some surrounds for the ends of the axle blocks to dress them and provide for fender strut mounting locations. Next up is drilling the axle adjustors and tapping, which needs to be handled before it's welded in place and then we'll finish up that tank!
