650 Mod's 78 Fighter Build

Fits right in the palm of your hand! Fully waterproof, also. I think this will fit the look of my end goal quite well. Nice clean gauge area with little clutter in it. I'll have to machine down a new ignition block also. Maybe I'll somehow mesh the mount for the speedo and the ignition block together...

Devin

I just read through your build again, the Buell front end looks awesome with those triple clamps, I love the "skeletonized" look. I remember having my project sitting on a 2x4 for mockup for weeks while I found the time to build the mounts and will never go back to the old dual shocks after sitting on it, not that duals aren't cool to me, haha! The Acewell unit looks nice, I like the combination gauges that are small like that, can't wait to see it installed. Keep up the good work!!

Zed,

Thanks for the compliments! That triple tree setup is made by Accutronix out of the US. They make triples, foot rests, aluminum grips, etc. All CNC cut, chromed aluminum. I was lucky enough to get the forks/triples/wheel as a combo unit for a good price- the triples alone are worth $450...

I'm really close right now to getting the rear shock dropped in- getting the lower bracket welded soon, then we'll be moving on to the upper mount. I can't wait to feel the difference in the ride and how it grips the road

Keep up the great work with your build, too- I check in all the time to see where it's at.

I haven't posted anything here in a little while due to not getting any shop time in. Things have been pretty busy, and the welder I'm working with has been pretty busy (his wife is having a kid soon).

In the next little bit, until I can get some weld time in, I'll try to get some wiring sorted out- new fuse box in, wire up my speedo/tach, and maybe make up a speedo/ignition plate to mount up to the triples.

Pics will come with any progress

Alright, guys. I know it's been quite some time since I've posted any progress on here. Things are still plugging along, just slowed down a bit with the welder I'm working with. We got some shop time in today, and got a bit of work in. The other day, I got the new fuse box wired in, but took the wiring harness off before I could get pics. I'll put some up later.

Here's what we got done.

Ripped the engine out to give us more room to play around with the shock mount


Flipped the bike upside down to finish grinding/prepping the frame for the lower mount


Crossmember all cleaned up and ready for the mount


The lower mount on the welding jig


All welded up, cooling down


The rough stance for the mount/shock positioning


The lower mount clamped in place, ready to be tacked. Nice clean welds to hold it in tight


We got the mount tacked in place, and started to figure out ride height and upper mount ideas. I'm going to use some 3/16" plate steel to make a mount. Pics will come with that progress Should have the upper mount completed after the next work session.

lookin good man!
your welder looks like he may have been at awhile !

nice,

leon

Leon,

He sure has! He and my dad work together for an aircraft custom fab/repair shop. His welding has to exceed the requirements for anything being put in an aircraft. Those standards are VERY strict, so a lot of practice and time fabbing definitely helps!

I'm hoping to have the upper mount finished up in the early new year. Maybe get a little shop time in before xmas.

Devin

Nice to see some progress! I like how that mount jig was set up, very slick Your build makes me want to hit the reset button on mine with a brand new TIG that doesn't dump full voltage at the instant you touch the pedal! :woohoo: When I set up the back end I pulled the engine first and used 205lbs of weights to simulate where it would sit once it was put back. Hell of a lot easier to sling steel bar bells in there than the whole engine. But I still made it sit too high :whistle: . I appreciate what your fabricator friend has to say about my build, he is doing a great job and I applaud both your skills and vision and can't wait to see the rest of it come together. I think your bike is going to turn out sweet!! Now, get to work! I know it can't be that cold in that shop!! :lol:

I like the idea of loading the suspension before setting everything in place. I'll have to maybe do that too in order to get the best ride height figured out. I think where we mocked it up to is going to work well- I can still flat foot when I sit on the seat like I used to with the stock suspension set up. It keeps roughly the same stance in regards to seat height and how the under engine tubing sits angled. Thanks for the kind words- it's slowly coming together. Between my school and his family, it's tough to get alot of full-day build time in. But when we do... We work hard It's all starting to look closer and closer to what I had in mind- one day at a time. As for work, I'll get in there whenever I can! Had to dig the bike out of a 3 foot snow drift the last time I worked on it...

Got a bit of work done yesterday- almost finished up the rear shock mount. With the front of it braced, I ACTUALLY have rear suspension now! It's going to be a huge improvement over the old school twin shocks. There was LOTS of head scratching done, trying to decide on what mount would work best. I was going to use DoubleZed's idea, but ended up canning that one. Looked at about 4 more mount ideas, and we were able to brainstorm this idea up. Sorry it's not fully finished.

Since I didn't have the c-mount for the upper shock, we made one out of 1/4 inch flat stock


Welded, cooling down


Since I wanted to keep the battery box in place, there was alot of head scratching. This mount will use one 3/4" tube welded to the 3/4" tube that crosses the frame under the seat. The front will have two 1" tubes welded into the frame where it splits just under the gas tank mount (by the side cover mounts, but on the 1"frame tube split) . The horizontal upper part of the mount is 1/4" flat stock


Once everything is in place, the flat stock will be shortened up a bit in the rear to properly clear the shock reservoir. Ignore the tube in the front- this is just to brace it for the time being. This is where the two 1" pieces of tube will be welded in


Not too shallow of an angle so hopefully the tube will hold out alright.


the top of the 3/4" tube is notched out to hug the frame. The underside of the tube at the flat stock will be braced with a piece of 1/4" flat stock to prevent flexing.


Since I want to keep the battery box in place, this will roughly be the stance of the mount. It will sit a slight bit forward, with around 1/8" clearance to the battery box on both sides.


Does anyone see anything wrong with the structural support of the mount? The horizontal flat stock will be braced on top perpendicularly to prevent any flex, and the tubes will also be braced with triangle flat stock.

i think you will be fine.
i don't really like the rear tube feeding into the center of the unsupported upper tubing.but the way you are going to do the front tubes is very strong and feeding into strong areas of the frame .so the suspension force is being distributed into all three areas.

you could split a piece of tubing lengthwise and use that to lay on top of the flatbar and cope it into the back tubing then weld it all in and gain all kinds of strength without adding much more thickness to foul the battery box.
just a thought.

leon

Thanks for the input, Leon. What we were thinking of doing was something like this to brace everything up- just like you were saying.

Bracing the horizontal flat stock with a perpendicular piece (still enough room to clear the box), and bracing the front/rear tubes with more flat stock. I also like your idea with the split tubing on top- either or, there's going to be something on top of the horizontal flat stock to brace it up


This should work out ok, right?