In a mad rush to build and break-in a monster Simms built S&S motor rigid before the long haul to Sturgis, Bandit makes an abrupt move. At the final hour he decided to take the frame to a local powder coater in Orange County who is capable of layering on a two or three stage powder coating process. After much deliberation with the entire staff, the decision to attempt a match between the frame and sheet metal was made. Nuutboy pointed out that the powder coated frame would be more resilient to wear and tear.  Snake, in a rare lucid moment, noted that we wouldn’t be able to cover Bandit’s crappy welds with bondo, because powder coating is baked at such a high temperature that it melts the bondo. Overnight shipping would have been less than $100 to truck the delicate metal parts to Sacramento for Harold Pontarelli to paint.  In contrast if we had the frame powder coated locally, we could have it back in three days and be working on the bike. On top of the concern for the various components being shipped, damaged, lost or dented- which would really set things back- there was the overall concern of time.  We needed to be building a bike. Some of the Bikernet gang like Renegade, who was pissed that we weren’t working on his bike (he won’t ever let any of our mitts near it), Snake, Nuutboy, and my most informed self, huddled around a large bottle of Jack and a small bonfire in the junkyard rubble behind the Bikernet World Headquarters in San Pedro, California to take a vote. Bandit was somewhere inside the luxurious offices chasing a new female recruit, an oriental girl, whom he had failed to introduce to the rest of us.  He was building a deep-seated resentment amongst the staff. “I say, fuck that bastard, let’s burn his frame,” Renegade said taking a hit on the freshly opened bottle of Tennessee champaign. “You say that every day,” Snake mumbled filling his large rusting flask with the bottle while guzzling the last remaining can of Bud from his 12 pack. No one else drinks beer. “We’re supposed to be deciding whether to ship or powder coat,” Nuutboy said standing on the edge of the fire holding a wad of tools in each hand. He doesn’t drink, but smokes joints incessantly and fidgets constantly. “We’re running out of time.” The evening went south from there. More riders showed up, Japanese Jay from the antique bike shop, 34th Station, came by. Chris from Hill Products wandered in and filled his boot flask, put in his two-cents worth and moved on. Nuutboy and I pondered the question until we heard the giggling stop from inside the Headquarters and the large thump of boots against rickety floors. Bandit appeared bleary eyed but content and placed his vote. If we could get a sample of the paint color on a separate rod we could ship it to Harold for a paint match. We went to work. We delivered the frame to Primo Powder Coating in Huntington Beach, California (714) 596-4242. They had a sample of the metallic blue we were after, waiting for us. We immediately took that sample to a mail box joint and shipped it overnight. The tank and fenders were carefully boxed up and shipped to Harold via UPS second day air. Then we delivered the chrome to Orange County Plating (714) 532-4610 where they immediately photograph the items and enter them into a computer. In four days we had the frame and chrome back and were in the process of building the bike. Harold moved on the paint quickly, but even with a simple flame job on the table, a couple of days was spent at the body shop, then paint prep and primer, then undercoats of silver base were followed by a matching blue candy with a hint of pearl, then drying time before the graphics could be laid out. Two weeks have slipped past, but the progress with the frame in hand is considerable. The engine and tranny are bolted in. The Weerd brothers front end is in place. The wheels and P.M. brakes are in place along with the Samson exhaust system. Wiring will begin this weekend. Then with the BDL 3-inch primary belt in place we will haul the bike to Mikuni for a Carb and go for a ride. Here’s a sample of the paint from Vacaville, California near Sacramento.  This shows the cream flames and silver dimensional elements. No pinstriping has been applied or clear. We’re still arm wrestling over the color of stripes. Just 25 days left before departure to the Badlands. –Wrench

Here’s the deal. With less than two weeks to go I’m praying, laughin’, grinning and scrambling. The paint finally arrived from Harold Pontarelli of H-D Performance of Vacaville, California, and the dark haired beauty wanted to be at the shed when I opened it. I paced the floor waiting for her alabaster legs to bring her quiet self up the sagging stairs and into the world headquarters of bikernet.com. We took the carefully packed boxes to the basement where we were attacked by the foam peanuts assigned to protect the polished finish. First it was slabs of pressed foam, then thousands of bouncing peanuts, yards of plastic wrap, then plastic bags and bubble wrap until we finally reached the bright candy blue finish with cream flames, silver inserts, for dimension, and gray pinstriping. Unbelievable! The perfect match for the bike. I’m jazzed. But let’s explain some of the praying that’s going one. BDL Belt drives, especially this one in particular, are simple to install. Incredibly simple, but there’s a caveat, a loophole or a tiny chink in the armor. It’s called alignment and spacing. Hot Rod Bikes recently published a full-on BDL installation, and I read it several times. It never made any sense to my simple mind, yet it was full of very precise instructions. The key is how you install and space the motor and tranny. It turns out that your inner primary, or in our case, the motor plate, is the best alignment tool you have. According to Frank Kaisler, the editor, you leave the engine and tranny loose, bolt the inner primary or belt plate to the engine then pull the tranny into place and bolt it up tight and start checking under the engine and tranny for gaps with feeler gauges. In the article it showed big Frank filling the gaps with spacers as thin as .010. Damn, that’s getting touchy. Recently a Bikernet reader, Breeze, sent me the following on BDL installation suggestions and I added my two cents worth to his experience: “When I was installing the BDL 3-inch open kit (the one that comes with the motor plate) I was having a bitch of a time gettin’ the belt on. So, I called and got to talk to their tech support.” Photo 1 “Anyway Buddy Bob, tech master, says, “Oooh, just file the pulley splines (Photo 1) it will go right on.” Filing splines applies to S&S motors with slightly larger main shafts, like .001 so take your time and it will work out fine. If you don’t and force the pulley on, you may have a serious problem taking it off. I used a handmade puller from the bottom of the tool box to get the pulley back off.” “As far as alignment I use the good ol’ straight edge across the pulleys method. Check at top, center, and bottom, to get things straight on both axis. I do this without the belt and space the front pulley out so you can use feeler gauges to compare the front to back space between the rear pulley and the straight edge. Of course the ultimate alignment test is to run it and see how the belt is tracking. It should not wander and should track on the front pulleys outer flange and center on the rear pulley.” “I think they have a great design there, it is one of the smoothes clutches I’ve run, but you need to check tolerances for reliable running. Be sure to follow the instructions on the clutch install, the Locktite they tell you to use on the basket splines is important for the basket to seat properly.” “They call me the Breeze, I keep rolling down the road!” Well, that’s the Breeze’s story. In fact Breeze has given me a couple more things to check. I put one of the polished rotor covers on, which threw my pulley alignment out of whack, so I had to take it back off. I’d rather have reliability that flash. Before you attempt to install the belt drive check these alignment areas. Bolt your rear motor mount bolts down tight, without the top one in place. With feeler gauges check the front motor mount. Space the front ones if there is any gap. Now bolt down the tranny plate and the tranny except for the single bolt on the right side (Photo 2.)  Photo 2  Check the clearance to the final stud from the frame and correct the spacing. Now with everything loosened up install the inner primary. The BDL system comes with a very heavy duty clutch bearing, so the the stock bearing race must be removed. Fortunately I had a JIMS puller for just that application. Photo 3 That and a couple of crescent wrenches and the puppy was gone, and the new bearing installed. Slide the clutch and front pulley on, and make one more alignment check as you rotate the motor (Photo 4). Photo 4 Grease the starter shaft and bolt in the starter pinion gear. Next install the clutch pack as per the manual. You can now install the belt guard and adjust the clutch. I’m carrying another set of clutch studs and springs, in case the clutch begins to slip. I’m hauling along another belt for safety, also. Couple of years ago, I ate one (it wasn’t a BDL, though). Seems like a lot of work, but actually this is one of the cleanest, simplest systems out there, and once you have it dialed in, you can put it on and take it off in minutes. Damn, I running out of time. Gotta git to the wiring. Rock and roll. –Bandit

Wiring is the nemesis of man, the puzzle of the best builders, the hornet’s nest of breakdown treachery. Bandit sat for hours drawing a wiring schematic for Agent Zebra’s Softail, only to rip it to shreds and toss it in the trash. He made lists while Sin Wu brewed strong coffee and baked peanut butter cookies. Bandit barked and growled for a couple of days with each run to the marine store for connectors, to the electronics store for switches, to the Custom Chrome catalog for components. The same formula fit his own West Coast entry in the Sturgis Bikernet Chop-Off. We knew as soon as he mentioned that the bike was ready to wire, that we should pack our shit and leave. We took the case of Jack fifths, the girls, and checked into the nearest fleabag motel. While we sat around the stanky pool and partied, Bandit thought about each wire, each connection, and each component. His mentor, Giggie from Compu-Fire, was his only sounding board and the only sonuvabitch big enough to snap back when Bandit growled about wire gauge or lost connectors. He wired the bike entirely with 14-guage wires. The only other sizes used were for the battery cables (stock units) and the wire that ran from the battery to the ignition switch (12-guage). Even when the sexually starved statuesque Asian roamed into the garage with cocktails, adorned in a sheer negligee, she was ordered back to the headquarters. Soon she found another plaything to keep her occupied, but that’s another story. Wiring, in the big guy’s mind, is a process of understanding what is happening with each component, where each component is located, watching for the safety of each wire, keeping the bike sanitary, and organizing each group of wires. Each wire is covered with shrink tubing, each connector supported with additional shrink tubing. Each bike had a minimum of wires carefully placed. Each bike had a minimum of components to keep the wiring process uncomplicated or enhance the reliability of the machine. No turn signals, no handlebar controls, and no micro switches. He used only millspec (military specifications) or marine quality switches. Vibration is a killer on motorcycles and much the same on boats, in addition to the moisture considerations. One additional component made wiring simple and risk free, the Custom Cycle Engineering starter mounted mechanical switch. (Check the article here in the Garage.) This unit eliminated the starter button, the starter relay, and all the associated wires. You must make sure you will have access to the switch, which is mounted directly on the starter, under the oil bag, (Photo 2) which can easily be interfered with by the position of the exhaust pipes.   Photo 2   The concept is that you physically push the solenoid into contact with the starter gears and electrically engage the starter. We chose a Compu-Fire starter from Custom Chrome to kick this 98-inch monster to life. The key thing on fucking up starter motor installation is over tightening the brass lug wire fitting. It may turn the connection on the inside of the starter and ruin the contacts. Compu-Fire has designed a new line of starters which feature 6:1 gear reduction (Photo 3) and a 6-pole permanent magnet field to eliminate starter stall-out.   Photo 3   These units deliver maximum cranking torque without overloading the battery. They also eliminate starting problems on fuel injected bikes. Only two switches were used and one 30-amp H-D (common at any electronic or auto parts store) circuit breaker. One on-off marine toggle for the ignition, which energized the Compu-Fire single-fire ignition system, the hydraulic brake switch, and the taillight. Since all the sweet parts like handlebar controls, foot controls, mirror, and taillight were Joker Machine components, he was in luck. Joker works the brake light switch into the body of forward controls, which eliminated the bulky hydraulic switch, the junction, and a two-piece rear brake line. Another wire went to the other switch, an on-off-on switch for the headlight (high/low beam). Two wires were run from it to the headlight. Daytec does a beautiful job of running guide tubes in the frame to hide the wires. Initially, if you chose to do so when ordering a Daytec frame, you can have two inserts welded to the frame seat post rail for electric box mounting. We ordered the certs for this frame but decided that with the simplified wiring program we could stuff switches and all the wires into the structure of the top motor mount. This was Giggie’s suggestion and Bandit readily agreed (a miracle). With careful measurements the switch holes were drilled with several bits until a 1/2-inch hole for each switch was attained. The only guide hole that the frame was missing was one for the headlight wires, but two wires were run through shrink tubing to the headlight and through a 5/16 hole in the motor mount. One wire was run from one side of the ignition switch to the circuit breaker, another, the 12-guage wire ran to the battery. From the circuit breaker a wire ran to the taillight down another guide hole along with the brake switch wire. From the brake switch another wire ran to the taillight, brake element. We also used a Compu-Fire regulator, which mounted to the front of the motor. One wire ran from the regulator back to the hot lead on the Compu-Fire starter motor. Bandit used the excess 12-guage wire to run from the battery to the hot side of the ignition switch. Giggie recommends that you use crimpers designed for Duetch connectors for a solid, vibration-handling connection. Bandit used water resistant connectors from a West Marine store. After some 20 hours in the garage, Bandit was finally lured into a well warmed King size bed by Sin Wu and her girlfriend Coral as the sun came up, but at that point the bike was ready to be fired to life. The question was, could Bandit be fired to life? –Wrench

 

With Sturgis 2000 looming over Bandit’shead we’ve been firing away at the getting the job done. Bikernet Eastmachine was well out in front in the competition when we wheeled the Agent’slow slung Softail onto a slick Gold Rush semi and said goodbye as the rig,packed with Ultra machines, Big Dogs and customs from the west coast, headedeast. Eddie Trotta from Thunder Design was more than happy to have thebike unpacked in his shop in Fort Lauderdale, so he could point a fingerat Bandit’s creation for Agent Zebra and bust out laughing, “You expectto ride that to Sturgis?” he said rolling on the floor of his shop. Weweren’t discouraged and neither was Bandit as we strapped the road wingswheels, the Weerd Brothers Front end on the Daytec rigid and went to work.

Now with the sheet metal in place and Bandit,wiring his own bike, was finished, we were ready for the carburetor. Carburetorsare like booze, everybody’s got their favorite. With all the choices outthere, we had to give this choice some serious thought. We considered theperformance requirements as well as the appearance, and settled on a MikuniHSR 42. Hell, CCI installs Mikuni carbs on their complete Rev Tech enginepackages, and Mikuni’s are standard equipment on some OEM bikes. They providegreat performance, torque and tuneability, so that’s where we took theBandit’s Blue Flame. Lee Chaffin, Mikuni big wheel, suggested that we bringthe bike to them to insure the proper fit and installation of the cables.Joe Minton, a long time moto-journalist, was on hand to assist, and Bryana Mikuni expert performed the installation.

This was no ordinary installation. First,time was a factor, second it’s no normal, stock carburetor swap. The 98-inchS&S motor offered taller cylinders and improper intake manifold fitment.The stock Super E S&S manifold was too big for the 42 mm polished MikuniCarburetor. Stock manifolds shove the carb out too far and aren’t wideenough for the tall S&S cylinders so a quick call was made to JamesSimonelli of S&S who rushed the correct manifold to Mikuni. Lee alsowanted to explore an American Iron Horse manifold available for their customswhich pull the carb in closer to the engine and “L.T.” or James Littleof American Iron Horse moved equally fast and the parts were in hand inone day. The next hurtle: The cables. A call went out to Xavier at BarnettCables who turned about a set of Mikuni compatible cables which are setup the same as stock H-D cables, but cut to Bryan’s specifications forthe job. They also arrived in time.

Bryan decided to mount the choke cable tothe motormount, but decided that a super clean installation was necessary.He cut and re-connected the choke mechanism to fit the look of the bike.Then he reviewed the two manifolds, chose the American Iron Horse versionand detailed it on the polishing wheel. The final touch was a difficultdecision regarding the air box. We had a Little John Buttera velocity stackthat’s clean as a whistle, but the minds at Mikuni were skeptical abouta ride to the badlands with no air cleaner. They spotted a tear-drop K&Non one of their own bikes and decided that was the unit for the job. Easyinstallation, it slipped into place and the bike was good to go.

Bryan pointed out an adjustment on theleft side of the carb as you face it, a main jet air adjustment. He toldme to inform Bandit to turn it out a half turn in Denver for more compatiblerunning in altitudes. The bike immediately fired to life for the firsttime. Two weeks to go.

–Wrench 

 

 

With the final Joker Machine forward controls bolted in place on the Daytec stretch, Bandit began his test ride period. With 300 miles estimated on the machine, a full fluid change took place and only one element was left hanging–the speedometer. For Bandit, trip gauges act as gas gauges. Once he knows the mileage capacity of his tank, he resets his trip gauge to zero at each gas stop and rolls.   We plan to back up the shots here with an article on Joker Machine components that went into making this bike the hot shot it is. Rich, the designer at Joker, who lives in a small air-conditioned cubby hole in the pristine Joker Machine facility, put a great deal of thinking into their components. For instance, their foot pegs have an Allen set screw between the body and the peg to adjust the angle of the peg. So, if your foot is vibrating or sliding off, you can fix the bastard and not suffer. That’s just one of many well-thought-through elements in their components. Besides, they look hot as hell.    The speedometer arrived from the Dallas Easyriders with a little over 24 hours to kick-off. The cable was coiled in a cardboard box waiting and the drive unit was already bolted to the front wheel. Unfortunately, the cable was the wrong unit and a hunt began for the proper cap. A call from Phil, the Hamster painter, encouraged Bandit to send a young lady to see Jim at Drag Bike Engineering. He had the cable and, at three in the morning, Bandit was installing it. We will also follow this series with an article on the Weerd Bros. front ends. This is a ball-milled wide glide that, depending on what ruler you use, is approximately 14-over. According to Bandit, who is in the garage packing as I hit the keys, the front end is light handling with narrowed flat track bars due to the six degrees of additional rake. Even with an overall 44 degrees of rake, the front sliders are smooth and work effortlessly. Although this is a European-built front end with metric Allen head fasteners, it’s highly adjustable with removable fender mounts and brake caliper mounts that can be installed on both lowers or either one or none for the hardcore muthas. Bandit’s about to take his Blue Flame for a final test ride with his bed roll centered over the Weerd Bros. front end. Yesterday, during the heat of the harbor day, a small Fed Ex package arrived. It was from C.J., the old biker engraver. Inside was a Bikernet engraved point cover, a “Bandit” money clip, and a flamed mag light. When more photography is revealed of the Blue Flame, the Bikernet logo with our babe mascot will be revealed in all her nearly nude glory. Damn, when she walks into the sagging headquarters, everything stops, as if a contact high permeated the garage. In a daze we watch her every fluid move. By reader demand we will post a photograph of the lavish facility in the next couple of weeks. The bastard is rolling out in the wee hours of the morning and the race will be on for the Badlands. Agent Zebra will be heading out of Miami at noon on Saturday heading north and into Tennessee, as Bandit heads east across the border into Arizona where he will relieve his helmet of duty and ride on in freedom toward Phoenix. More reports are forthcoming. Live from the Bikernet World Headquarters in San Pedro, California. This is Renegade. Over and out.

I knew it! The sonuvabitch couldn’t make it to the Badlands and back on that piece of shit. I knew it! The way Bandit mounted that tank was fucked from the beginning. I told him. Nuutboy told him. Harold Pontarelli told him. Shit, his 78-year-old mother told him. Did the big bastard listen? Nooo. So it jumped off the frame in Aspen, Colo., and landed in his lap. Yeah, they welded it up in Aspen with the help of Randy Aron from Cycle Visions in San Diego, and he limped into Sturgis, rode around the Badlands for the week and then the scoot was kidnapped from him by someone who knows what the fuck he’s doing, namely Paul Yaffe from Paul Yaffe Originals in Phoenix. Paul is working with Kyle of Independent Tanks, who hand makes steel tanks from heavy 16-gauge material. It’s about time someone grabbed that bike before it exploded into flames and scorched the ornery sonuvabitch. So we sent that fly-bitten claybrain to Phoenix for a welding lesson and instructions on how to properly mount a gas tank. If he wasn’t such a hasty-witted old fool, he would have put the bike together right the first time. Here are shots of the existing piece of shit with the new tanks recommended by Paul, who builds some of the most innovative bikes on the planet. Paul’s philosophy is to manufacture enough custom components to allow his customers to build something without doing a piece-meal job. “Instead of buying fenders from me that don’t fit the other guys’ frame properly and then mount a gas tank from so and so, and nothing fits properly, I want to give the customer half a chance to build a world-class custom on his own.” Paul’s positioning himself, unlike Bandit, to afford customers with frames, plus the fenders, tanks and billet components to match. Paul began his operation building LED taillight products. Unlike the slob who runs this joint, Paul is a young man of vast energy and talent who could not contain himself building bikes with existing components. He began building his own fenders, air cleaners, frames, etc. The young upstart with the flaming red hair does share one notion with Bandit: “If you’re going to build a new full-custom for a customer, I want the bike to be a reliable runner, of the newest technology, or how can you call it a new bike?” So all of Paul’s bikes are built with Harley-Davidson Twin Cam drive lines. “I use as much Harley stuff as possible,” Paul said. “Plus the factory is going crazy building more new accessories all the time. The selection is growing by leaps and bounds.” Damn, if I told that lunkhead Bandit once, I told him a thousand times, it’s time to move away from the Evolution shit into the real world of Twin Cams. But that motley-minded minnow is still out in the garage trying to put two Mikuni’s carbs on his ’48 Panhead. If you want to check true customs, built to ride, check Paul’s site http://www.paulyaffeorginals.com Finally, after much consternation, Bandit succumbed to one of Paul’s buddies, Kyle at Independent Gas Tanks. These are new, contoured tanks and here’s how ya do it right. Kyle has been building his own line of steel gas tanks for two years. Prior to ’98, he built tanks for Roger Borget for three years and before that he built Porsche 911 race cars. He won’t get near aluminum. “Not with the engine sizes that are bouncing around in these frames,” Kyle said. None of his creations are Mig welded, either. “I only Tig weld my tanks. I’m glad to work with builders and make suggestions. I’ve hand-built over 1,000 tanks for Harleys, and if told the brand frame, the stretch and rake, I usually know which tank works the best. I can go with one of my six to eight standard styles, or I can design something out of this world. I can make a bike blend into the crowd or stand out anywhere.” Kyle’s tanks come with mounting straps. Don’t just weld ’em on and go, though. “Depending on how the tank is designed to mount will depend on if the existing tabs will work immediately or need to be modified,” Paul said. In this case, he created some spacers to allow the tank to set on the frame perfectly to capture the look the big bastard wanted, then he cut the tabs and tacked them to the frame. Next he removed the tank and solid tacked the tabs. He put the tank back on and made sure everything was in place. These tanks are handmade and not manufactured with a jig, so no two tanks are alike. The tabs were finish welded and the tanks shipped to Harold Pontarelli for repaint. Paul welds everything with Tig because the Argon gas shield makes for a more controlled burn. It gives him better penetration and a less brittle weld than a Mig. Kyle had one other recommendation. He often gets calls from brothers requesting tanks after they have taken their frame to the powdercoater. Don’t do that. Make sure all the sheet metal is prepped and assembled before any finish work is undertaken. In fact, many builders ride scoots without paint for a hundred miles or so before tearing down for paint. Saves the headache, and makes for a much tighter custom. Of course the whole operation must have a photo finish. Two days before the Love Ride, the tank is floating into town via Harold and eight H-D Performance troopers. The bike is rumbling in on the back of Paul Yaffe’s custom trailer. The two will meet with Bandit in Woodland Hills for the install and road test for the parties to come that weekend. He doesn’t deserve this scoot. It should be mine. –Renegade

 

 

Hey, here’s quick bit on George The Wild Brush who handled the Pin Striping on the 2005 Sturgis Shovel project. He’s pin striped several other bikes for me in his 47 years behind the brush. Born in Hanford, California, a miserable military town, in 1944, he kicked tumbleweed while his mom worked on a base.

She moved to the safety of Southern California away from the miserable summer central Califa heat, to Long Beach then Lakewood (next door) where he went to school, but didn’t graduate.

“I was too busy reading Car Craft mags and drawing flying eyeballs,” George said.

He was warned that the fad would die so his vocation would fail. “The fad’s still rockin’,” George said. “My first car was a ’54 ford and I custom painted the driver’s side. I couldn’t afford enough paint to finish the passenger side, so I had the only cool side.”

He studied Von Dutch work, Larry Watson and George Barris. “I’ve striped refrigerators, toilet seats (new ones), and 50 and 110 Tom Gentry trans Atlantic ocean racing boats. He’s taught me a thing or two about striping. “It’s best to have the parts off the bike for the best quality art.”

Here’s a couple of codes:

It’s difficult to paint bare aluminum—“Paint won’t bond to it.” without a primer.” I worked at Gasoline alley for 15 years painting aluminum dragster bodies.

It’s also difficult to pin strip chrome—“It won’t hold up due to the lack of porosity.”

He only uses One-Shot enamel paints—“Can’t use any paint.”

With motorcycles it’s a good idea to clear over striping—“People don’t pour gasoline all over cars, but they do bikes.”

Cars don’t generally need to be cleared over striping work.

His number is (310) 488-5488 for classic pin striping and good stories.

George came to the shop just after I picked up the clear powdered aluminum sheet metal from Foremost Powder. He usually tells me what I’m going to have striped. I have a vote and initial color selection, then I best get out of the masters way.

He striped the Goodsen Air Cleaner, which was treated to my holy treatment, then brushed with Scotchbrite to remove the polished appearance.

Then he striped the panel polished, highly-modified, XR750, Cyril Huze donated tank and Lucky Devil, custom made fenders. I polished the panels and brushed the rest for a two-tone effect. Not sure it worked, but George gave it a final touch.

George suggested the 5-ball addition to the center of the tank. Not the gas cap. Ultimately I filled the center-mounting hole with a small 5-Ball to commemorate our company and all the women who put up with my shit over the years. In case you don’t know the story, I’ve been married five times, that’s five misses Ball.

Click to see morefrom Lucky Devil

Box of parts after teardown for powder.

I’m not sure if I’m keeping everything in line. But this segment took us to Foremost Powder Coating in Gardena California. I was at that point when these shots were taken. I’ve had a Powder Coating Sponsor for years, Custom Powder Coating in Dallas. They’re good people and know how to handle custom work. They’ve handled jobs for Strokers Dallas, our custom for American Rider and even the 1928 Shovelhead for Bikernet.com.

Powder coating costs have dropped and it doesn’t make sense to ship a frame to Dallas. It would cost less to have it Powdered in LA than to pay for the shipping. So I looked around the area and was recommended to Foremost Powder Coating (877) We-Coat-it, 1608 W. 139th, Gardena, CA 90249. These people have their shit together and the girl who runs day-to-day operations, Esmeralda, is a delight on the eyes and to work with.

Let’s back up, though. Just before teardown for Powder I needed to think electrics. Kent from Lucky Devil Metal Works in Houston sent the above illustration for mounting the Compu-Fire voltage regulator under the tranny with the small Dyna Coils from Custom Chrome. I pondered that drawing and decided that I didn’t like the notion of putting my coils at ground level. What if I ran through a rain puddle? He’s built bikes using this technology several times and so has the guys at WCC, so it must work in most circumstances.

I decided that since I was going to run the Compu-Fire engine based electric starter that I had room under the oil bag for the coils. I still installed the sealed voltage regulator under the tranny on a 3/16 sheet of aluminum. But then welded brackets under the Craft Tech Oil bag to hold the two coils apart.

This was a delicate operation and ultimately the new Accell Sparkplug wires run right across the top of the RevTech Tranny. I also had just enough room behind the coils to house the wiring for the single-fire Compu-Fire ignition system. I thought through most every aspect of this motorcycle right up to the wiring business, then came up with a nuts notion, which I will explain during the final assembly process. It actually worked out fine with a handful of scary moments.

I welded four bungs that housed 3/8 fine threads to the frame with my Miller MIG welder. Ultimately I mounted the Compu-Fire voltage regulator to the pipe side (right) and it worked out fine.

It was time to strip the Engine out of the frame, complete final welds, grind the welds and ship the parts to Foremost Powder. I needed to create a temporary engine stand to hold the S&S 93-inch Shovel in place. I used a RevTech engine stand and mounted it to a junk metal table leg. It worked perfectly and I shoved it in a corner for future use.

As I tore portions of the bike down I formed zip-lock bags with labels to hold the fasteners. You’d be surprised how fast you forget which spacer fit what, unless you organize. Mike Egan told me years ago that he takes photos of every part and organizes his assembly with photographs to demonstrate how components matched or were fastened. Since I try to take shots constantly I had an archive of various aspects. Hell, I just need to turn on Bikernet and look up the tech.

The next move was to finish welding any tab or bracket that had been tacked or partially welded. MIG welding is a breeze, but not as dead certain as TIG and I’m after a Lincoln TIG welder.

Here’s all the fasteners, grommets and spacers in bags with biz card labels. It works like a champ although I replaced some of these fasteners with stainless Allens wherever possible.

Next I dug out all my tools for grinding welds and went to work. This level takes a great deal of patience and artistic style, which I don’t have. The more time and patience, the better each weld will look. There is actually a process for bondo filling powder now, but it’s more costly. If you don’t want welds to show ask about it. If you don’t mind the look of a clean weld, just powder. I wanted the look of a machine, nothing slick.

There’s one more consideration. Try to make each weld look the same as the next one for consistency. In my case that was tough. Some of my welds were decent, others sucked. I did my best, but my welds didn’t compete with the Paughco paid professional beads.

As I finished grinding and drilling holes in the frame for wiring I separated each group of powder finish parts and took a shot for the Powder guys at Foremost. It was a lifesaver to be able to hand them a shot of each group of parts since some had to be sand blasted before the finish was applied.

Here’s the group for the copper color.

These parts would only be clear coated along with the tank that was delivered a couple of days later.

Finally, a few parts were black powder coated to match the Paughco Springer.

One more comment on drilling holes for wiring. This was one of the first times I drilled plenty of wiring holes. Remember Frank Kaisler’s rule? Drill the hole. Ream it out on a taper to prevent cutting your wires. Then with emery cones make sure there are no razor-sharp burrs in the tubing. Frank ran the emery paper then he’s twisted a Kleenex and shoved it in the hole. If it caught he’d sand the edges more. If not it was good to go. Let’s hit it to the next chapter, we’re burnin' daylight.

This is strange. I’m writing several Sturgis Chop Techs after I returned from Sturgis. I’ll try to remedy that in the future, but we were so damn busy trying to complete the bike and run Bikernet, we didn’t keep up on the techs. Many apologies.

This piece covers the installation of the hot Speedster cap from Crime Scene Choppers in the modified stock XR 750 factory tank. Later, you’ll discover, that this highly modified, strengthened and extra rubber mounted beast was my Sturgis nemesis. But more on that later.

We added rubber-mounted bungs to the back of the tank. I moved the petcock to the rear and filled the center for a 2.76-gallon gas capacity before it hit reserve. I doubt that it contained more than a quarter tank of reserve, so I’ll toss it a 3-gallon total gas capacity.

Oh, I need to thank Cyril Huze, who designs beautiful steel tanks for the opportunity to experience an aluminum tank once more. He suggested this classic for the Sturgis effort.

Don’t ever run an Aluminum tank on a rigid frame. You’ll be asking for problems.

I’m not holding it against Cyril. He’s a master and I’m the bungler for attempting aluminum on a 93-inch rigid S&S hot rod. As you’ll see the vibration aspects came from several sources that I could have remedied. It’s all just a roll of the dice.

When I received the Speedster cap I drug the cap and tank down the street, about three doors, to Bill Hall’s Welding. He handles my aluminum welding, since I don’t have a TIG welding system. I’ve got the rest, but not TIG. I would highly suggest a TIG system for quality welding capacity and good looking welds. It’s much like welding with a torch, so you’re certain of the bead and depth of penetration.

Bill’s a retired designer who enjoys welding and fuckin’ with his customers. “How are you going to drill the hole for the bung,” he asked?

I was thinking about die-grinders and files. I knew it would make a mess. Bill hooked me up with a 3-inch hole saw. He suggested that we hit a marine store for a tapered dowel pin (used for plugging holes in the leaking hulls).

The key was to drill a perfectly centered ¼-inch hole to maintain a center approach to the cap bunghole. I drilled it and then ran the tapered wood dowel into the tank.

Then we set the tank on a pad on the drill press platform and lined up the hole saw. I used plenty of cutting oil on the edge of the blade and aluminum face to prevent the tank from snagging or catching. I knew how tender the surface of the tank was. We oiled the hole in the tapered wooden plug and carefully went to work. Bill’s formula worked like a charm.

Next, we needed a tool to hold the Crime Scene Speedster bung in place. I grabbed a piece of strap, drilled a hole or two and mounted it with the supplied hardware, which was brass. You can order the cap with several styles of fasteners for your application.

It was off to Bill’s for welding. While the gaping 3-inch hole was available I could have made a tapping tool and tapped out any imperfections in the tank walls. I dinged it way back in the beginning and never got around to fixing it. I left her be, as if it was the first injury and she needed to stay. I know it’s one of those wild superstitions.

Okay, so during the “read the directions” phase, I noticed the bit about a non-vented tank. I would need to drill a tiny, cunt-hair hole in the cap of the tank. I discovered that I actually had such a tiny fuckin’ drill and dug it out. I had to find a chuck that pinched down to that size. Then I had a wise ass notion to drill the initial hole about 1/8 inch in diameter, since drilling with hair-thin bits causes easy drill bit breaks. The thinner the surface the better.

So, I initially drilled the inside of the cap with a 1/8-inch drill and drilled right through—Bummer. Ultimately I tapped the cap with a 10-32 then drilled the stainless Allen stud with the tiny drill bit. Then I screwed the stud into place and the job was finished.

After Bill welded the bung into place it was my job to grind the welds down and ship the tank to Foremost Powder for a clear coat. I hit the big spots with a grinding tool. I tried my damnest to take only meat off the welds and not off the surrounding tanks surface.

Next I used small emery discs to carve at the aluminum bead. I also smoothed some of the welds on the front of the tank where we filled the tunnel for additional gas capacity.

This shows the different grinding phases to reach a level that’s still strong with weld bead but handsome enough to live with. This was an interesting effort, since no bondo or thick urethane would be applied, covering a myriad of mistakes. This was the final stage before clear powder from Foremost in Gardenia, California.

After this stage I polished the panels of the tank and hauled it off to the powder masters. There’s one other process I need to explain. I made every effort to clean the tank of debris and shavings. I also made sure to run a gas filter. I still had problems, which I will explain in my Sturgis Saga. They were easily remedied through Lee Chaffin at Mikuni. Just needed to dial the right number.

This shot was taken after powder and pin striping when I installed the gasket, decided which direction I wanted the cap to face and screwed the brass fasteners down. The cap worked flawlessly all the way to the Black Hills.