More Me Now

lots of work done, and not a lot of blogging. I should take the lap top out to the garage with me and actually blog while I am building, That way it might get done more than twice a month. so I might just add photos to the blog and fill in the details later.....

So I now have the frame together so I mocked up the rear wheel with steel rod I had laying around.


You ask "Why didn't I just use the axle from the stock frame?" Well that is because the company that makes the Hardtail, has the axle plates set up for a Harley rear axle. Which is funny, because it is sold as a Yamaha xs650 weld on kit. I can't complain too much though, the company rocks. I think it is funny that the description says it will accept your stock wheel components. I actually found out the axle plate dimensions from their Ebay store. Who knows, maybe different years of the XS have different Dia. axles.

Here is the link... copy and paste into your browser.

http://www.kansaskustom.com/Hardtail_Sections_XS650.php

Harley axles have a 3/4 " diameter and a stock Yamaha has a .7875 axle. So I had to machine, and by "I" I mean I had the guys in the shop do it, off about 15 thousands .015 finish height of .765.

After we had punched out of course.



Thanks John !

I will ad a pic of the axle later, I haven't taken one yet. Now I have the daunting task of making wheel spacers for the new frame.



So in the mean time, I have been wire brushing the paint of the frame, and de-greasing it. (details on the later).



All clean and shinny.

The dangers of the wire wheel.
The funny thing is that I didn't even notice the wire sticking out of my arm until after I had cleaned up for the night and was relaxing on the steps.

So de-greasing the engine:
I got some good advice from a great guy I work with, he said to use good old fashion

EASY OFF OVEN CLEANER - ORIGINAL FORMULA.

Not the environmentally friendly scented foofy stuff.

Before:
after:

and the engine. This was a HUGE pain. only because we had our hose stolen and I did not notice, so it was full of de-greaser with no way to wash it off. so we went out and bought a new one.

Before:

After:

While I was cleaning up the frame of all it's unwanted paint I decided to clean up all the ugly factory welds and brackets:



So, Last night I wanted to try to figure out where to set up the foot controls. I really want to stick with the mid controls for a more retro look. My issue is that the engine was taken out to make cleaning up and moving the frame around easier, so I had to put it back in. 2 hours later...



I put the wheels and bars back on to make moving it around easier, and to get a feel for the final stance of the bike. After getting it together and sitting on it, I might not go with the ape hangers I had originally planned to put on it.


YOUR VOTE:

forward controls:

mid controls:

Much more to come.