650 Mod's 78 Fighter Build

that should work out nicely!

leon

Leon,

You don't see any structural issues with this new plan, right? We're top bracing it my cutting a section of the 1" square tube in half corner to corner (to make a triangle) and then welding it to the top of the flat stock to stiffen it up against the flexing that the loaded suspension will place on it.

Doing it this way too will also stiffen the frame up a bit. Reduce the amount of pretzel flex I'll have in corners.

Devin

i don't see any problems knowing how well you and your welder will fit and finish it out.
i believe that it will be plenty stout .
the way you are going to lay the split tube along the top and fit it into the crossbraces something has to crush and something has to stretch for it to flex and that won't happen short of a wreck .

imho sir, :whistle: :evil:

leon

Leon- I appreciate the kind words here (and so does my welder!). I feel the same way about bracing it out that way. If it's set solid into the cross members, I can't see an issue. Having it braced triangularly will help a great deal.

She's getting closer... I'm getting antsy to have it finished up by the time the snow is fully melted off and the sand has been washed off the roads here.

Devin

Alright guys- got a large step FINALLY finished on the bike today. It's OFFICIALLY a roller! No more steel tubes wedged into the frame to support the shock!

So to start things off, we decided to play around on a CAD style program (forget the name) to mock up the front suspension mount. This is the printed version. Taped it to the 1" square tube, traced it on, and ground away.


The bike sitting up on the welding table. Definitely made things ALOT easier today.


So plans changed slightly again. Instead of bracing the flat stock, we decided that we'd use another 1" square tube for the crossmember.


Mocking everything up on the CAD program made the crossmember slide RIGHT into place. No grinding or mucking around.


So the 1" tube is notched 3/4" down to hug the bottom section of the front/rear cross members. All welded around.


A better look at how things are marked up here. You can see the bottom of the front/back crossmember runs on the bottom of the left/right crossmembers. Should stiffen things right up.


With everything tacked in place, the new shock mount is H shaped. I think this should be more than enough to support the shock flex and frame loading.


Flipped the bike over to finish up the welds in tough to reach spots.


The best part about this mount style- I still get to use my battery box in the stock location to house all my wiring/hold the battery.


The battery box has 1/4" clearance directly under it to the front/rear crossmember. And roughly 1 1/4" clearance to the top of the reservoir.


After we had everything all welded in, it was a GREAT feeling knowing that I now have one more large step completed to getting the bike on the road for this summer.

Leon (or anyone else)- do you see any issues in strength with the way we mounted the shock up and supported everything?

Devin

I see all kinds of issues with that setup, dude. Gonna have to come and confiscate it so you don't hurt your self trying to ride it. You can have my bike, instead :whistle:

Seriously though, this looks so much stronger and ten times cleaner than all the stuff I did in this area with my project. You and your welder nailed this one, good job

Haha Zed- You scared me so bad when I read the first line over... I'd LOVE to take your beauty for a ride! If we lived closer, I'd swing down and we could do a swap out. It took a little more head scratching last time we worked on it to get things finally in order for a good fab day. Today went really well there.

Thanks for the positive support here. I think it really turned out well, and I think it's going to be more than strong enough. All the 1" tube is chromolly, so it shouldn't be an issue at all. Your work (and my welder says it every time) is amazing, The visions that you have with your fab work are sweet, and you really make things line up in the end. Kudos to you too, Zed!

The next step is the sprocket. Fingers crossed it doesn't take too long. Any idea on how long making an offset should take?

that thing is bomb proof devin!
it really firmed up the chassis in that area too.
you guys done a great job. :evil:

leon

Leon- I love that kind of feedback! When we got her all done yesterday, I looked at my welder and said "well, I think the rest of the frame will torque out before this does". Hearing that from you really solidifies things.

As always- thanks for the kind words and support.

Devin

Awe c'mon, I'm just one man; you guys are doing some real clean work yourselves, Its gonna look bad-to-the-bone :evil: Talk about having that "factory" look, haha, I think you are going to pull it off better than me. Wish I had never cut off the ears for the side covers. And I dig the stock battery cage, that ought to make getting all the electrical components lay in there clean and simple. You don't want to do what I'm doing right now with zip-ties and tape and harness wrap and trying to situate it all on a 5x7 tray, probably in layers, in a way that looks coherent :S
I think this is the only thing I've ever pulled all the stops for and you'd be more than welcome to take her for a spin when its all said and done. Too bad Ontario is such a damn far ride, I'd sure like to take you up on that offer. This machine of yours is going to rock and I want to see it done soon, cause' its getting warmer, we got no more excuses! :woohoo:

Thanks again for the kind words There's a Thursday night cruise in that happens all summer in my town. I'm thinking of taking the 650 there when she's all said and done. There's nothing like this bike in town, so I think it would be good to show it off a bit. Your work is absolutely classic- you've sourced so many of my spin off ideas.
Using the stock battery cage was my biggest concern here. Being able to keep it in the same place was such a relief. It's making things ALOT easier later down the road. No fussy fabbing to make a smaller box, relocate wiring, etc.
As for taking her for a ride- that would be awesome. We should meet half way or something, It might be getting warmer where you're at- I'm actually in the worst winter we've had here in 35 years haha. We just got hit with more snow/freezing rain... Still 2 feet of snow left to melt down, and the roads have to have the sand cleared off before I can safely ride. I'm aiming to have her on the road for mid May.

Looking great! Well done on the supports. If you and Zed both go to the Rally in August you could make that swap thing happen. Just say"n :whistle: