Chain guards are still a mystery to me and there are some LSR (Land Speed Record) rules regarding their length and coverage. By the SCTA rules, the guard must be steel, not fiberglass or even carbon fiber. Plus it must extend beyond the rear of the sprocket. So I went to work building a guard from scratch.
I grabbed some lightweight stainless and had grandiose notions of shapes and spacing, until I spoke to Rick Krost from U.S. Choppers, a 5-Ball sponsor, and the man behind TIG welding our oil bag. He looked at my notion and picked up a used H-D chain guard and said, “How about this. Might save some time.”
Of course it would save time. I stole one from his stash of old parts and went to work. I needed to extend it so that I could run Teflon pads, since the Paughco frame was stretched 6 inches in the rear. An old racer cat told me not to run a chain tensioning wheel, “It eats horsepower,” he said.
So I re-shaped some 16-guage sheet metal, made a mounting tab and machined chunks of Teflon for the bottom and top. Recently Rodan, an SCTA official of the highest order, came to the Bikernet shop and inspected our beast. He told me to raise the bottom Teflon guide. “Mount it very close to the chain,” Rodan said. He also instructed me to extend my chain guard forward.
Next, I needed to mount our new 5-pound Nitrous bottle. I wanted to mount it as close to the oil bag as possible, buffeting the air out and around the front of the frame. Again I used 16-guage sheet metal straps, welded a bottom in place and grappled with the position. I wanted it close without banging on the oil bag. It’s always a guessing game.
Note from reader: Since you already spoke with Keith Turk he may have already told you about Guy Caputo. Guy runs a nitrous Busa at Maxton and has set all the fast nitrous records at Maxton, running a best over 228 MPH, so he knows his stuff when it comes to motorcycle nitrous systems. He owns Tiger Racing and can be reached through his web site at www.tigerracingproducts.com. Probably old news since you already talked with Keith Turk but I thought I would pass it along just in case.
–Pablo
Jeremiah came up with a plan for the top of the nitrous bottle strap. It was good, but involved some machining and welding. The good Dr. Hamster showed up at the shop and came up with a different notion. When the Doctor makes a suggestion, you follow it to the T. Not sure if we’re not going to tear it off and go back to Jeremiah’s thoughts. Anything we use to strap this Nitrous bottle in place, with the Doctor’s system, will tear the hell out of the paint. Not sure that will fly. The cool factor is only superceded by aerodynamics.
Next, we jumped into modifying the tank and making the initial dash. We drew several patterns, but first we moved the gas cap back about 4 inches and rewelded it in place.
Then we went to work figuring out the AIM Sports data system speedo placement. This puppy will not only monitor our progress on the salt but display, for Valerie, the speed, RPMs, oil pressure, exhaust temps and something else. Alongside this 3.5 by 5-inch module, will be two oil-filled pressure gauges, one for fuel and the other for nitrous.
I went to work with a shitty hole-saw and lots of tapping fluid assisting the procedure and failing miserably. Finally I cut all the holes and used a template to figure the dash placement, since the AIM staff kept giving me varied measurements. Wish I had one in hand.
I spent long hours grinding and trying to fit the dash, then lean it slightly. I initially tacked it in place thinking I was going to build the cowling around it and make the cowling removable.
Then I spoke to Gard Hollinger of LA ChopRods on the phone. He needed a hand spreading the word about his myriad of bitchin products including ISR controls and brakes, billet crown gas caps, builder’s helpers, Mooneyes oil bags and Hildebrand oil filters housings. We may run his ISR handlebar controls on the Assalt Weapan, and I may run a bunch of his stuff on my Mudflap Girl bobber next year.
We were shooting the shit about his shop move and getting the word out about his products, when he asked if I needed any help. Gard’s a master fabricator, who has designed two models for Saxon Motorcycles, the Black Crown and the new Mad Jack bobber. He’s good and knows what he’s doing. So, knowing how goddamn busy he was, I mentioned the cowling and he stepped up, dropped everything and turned my bullshit endeavor into a very cool dash and shapely cowling. We’ll get to that.
Moving right along, we discussed the switch mount, and I grabbed a chunk of thin 1.5-inch angle iron and went to work mounting it to the top motor mount. I’m ignoring cooling, for the most part and focusing on the aero factor to keep the wind moving past the bike without creating turbulence. It’s a wing and a prayer without years of wind tunnel testing, but there’s the Code of the West, the notion of the wind gods and green tea. It’ll work, I swear it.
I wanted to make the switch housing accessible for Valerie and a positive aero supporter. The angle iron will hold the NOS arming switch, the ignition toggle, a starter button and the infamous kill fuse. According to Rodan I need another Kill switch on the bars that kills everything and I need a horn button on the bars for the Nitrous explosion at top speed.
As usual there’s a thousand items to consider and the NOS solenoids popped up. The instructions call for mounting them close and above the carb. Plus I wanted an aero plate to conceal the switches, protect the spark plug wires and allow the air to slip on by. We plasma cut the 16 gage material, arched the angle Iron, drilled holes and prayed for surf.
I wrestled with the plate and where the solenoids would mount. We’re running a wet system, feeding the nitrous and additional fuel into the intake track at full speed. I mounted the plate high, but didn’t have the tank (it was at LA Chop Rods) and worried about the plate hitting the tank or obstructing the petcock.
Pablo Checks in: On the Nitrous. Did you have a chance to check out the websites I emailed you awhile back???
Are you putting the nitrous nozzels directly in the heads or just in the manifold? I wouldn't put them in front of the carb or like a bolt on Edlebrock system.
Keeping it simple on electrical part of the system is important. Mainly because of the salt air, etc. Also being able to troubleshoot and fix it out there is something to adapt in your system. I would try to seal it up somehow as much as you can. Bring extra parts!!
–Pablo
I drilled another set of holes and shortened the plate. With it and all the switches in place, I messed with the NOS solenoids. The instructions call for the solenoids to be close and above the carb. Then the answer hit me like a ball peen to the side to my right temple. I’m left handed. I cut the supplied NOS mounting plates and mounted them to fit the bolt that holds the top motormount together. Perfect.
Then we headed over to LA Chop Rods to work with Gard Hollinger on the tank dash Cowling. Chris Kallas, the official 5-Ball Racing artist, met us and they both suggested that the cowling become a permanent part of the tank and the dash removable. Gard went to work with 18-gage aluminum killed sheet metal. That stuff is exceedingly malleable and easy to cut even with tin snips.
“Progress is looking good,” Chris Kallas said. “I didn't realize you were still really going to do a belly pan oil tank, I like it.And I was concerned with 3 inches of clearance.I did notice that the body, on streamliners, tend to be very low at the middle bottom point of their cigar shapes.As you know, your going to drive the tech inspectors nuts with this stuff. It will be like Burt Monroe all over again.
”Not crazy about the colors of that go daddy bike. Looks like a Kawasaki jet ski. If you use any of those colors,I'd advise sparingly, like the pin-up's dress and pin stripes and lettering.”
Gard made a rough template out of thick paperboard, then used a table sheer to cut the basic shape. We had to also consider the routing of lines to the gauges and all the wiring out the AIM sport data acquisition system dash.
Gard remade our dash, cut it lower and more sleek. He has access to a computer water jet facility. They will cut the final dash. We needed to scrape together the $800 to order the data system, so we can mount the bastard and see if it fits.
We’re headed back to Gard’s shop shortly to take more shots of the cowling. I’ll take my camera. I spoke to Berry this morning about our Accurate Engineering 120-inch monster Panhead, and it should be completed next week…
It’s the 3rd of July and my goal was to be at paint at the end of June. I’m closing on a week behind schedule. We hope to take the parts to Powder before we make the Hollister, California Run. That’s looking iffy. Hang on for our next report.
Gard also pressure tested our tank for leaks and discovered several. “Mig welding causes more slag to build up, when you stop and start welding,” Gard said. “That often causes pin holes that are difficult to fix. I TIG weld all my tanks.”
I have torches, stick and MIG welders, but not TIG. Okay, I'm working on it.
