81 CSR/LTD Bastard Cafe/Drag Inspired Build

[mikecola]

Nice looking build. I dig what you've been trying with the rear fender

[trikerdrew]

love that old school binnacle method! Damn cool!

Paint wise? Tarts hand-bag Flake?

Toying with flaking mine

drew

[Tatur]

Nice looking build. I dig what you've been trying with the rear fender

Thank you. More to come with that soon.

love that old school binnacle method! Damn cool! Paint wise? Tarts hand-bag Flake? Toying with flaking mine

drew

I actually promised my friends I would keep the paint on this one pretty simple. I have been spraying candy and flake on almost every project recently. I love the stuff, but man it gets everywhere. I still find flake in my place from stuff I sprayed years ago. I'll just be going a single stage gray (either L469 VW anthracite grey or L325 VW mouse grey) with a simple set of stripes in L87 VW pearl white. You can see the stripes taped out in blue on the rear fender a few posts up. Some old stuff I did years ago. I tend to paint a lot of tool boxes and jerry cans.
(unfinished box)
(this was a girls SV650. She loves butterflies)

I tacked on a ridge down the back of my fender which I will soon mimic on the tank. Did this to both add some strength and for aesthetics. I just need to choose between the three tanks I currently have and see which one I want to use. I started welding on the electrical box to the pan last night. Once that's done I will trim up the side 'apron' near the tank and seam seal the underside. Paint has been ordered.



Here is a general profile of the frame/fender/tank from when I was smoothing out the joints.



Thanks for watching.

[Tatur]

Progress has been slow because the weather has been too nice to be in the garage recently. That and I decided not to rush my deadline of April 8th. I did manage to get my seat pan cut and welded up. I just grabbed some 10 gauge sheet steel I had laying around. I drilled some holes to clear the button head bolts holding the lower pan/tail on. I also ran a bolt down through the bottom so I can bolt it to the lower pan. I'll put on some little rubber feet underneath once I can get it upholstered. I'm still looking for someone to do that for me because this guy can't sew anything but buttons.

It will be easily removed to allow access to the electronics below (pic was before seat pan pieces were welded together)


Battery box has been mounted to the swing arm. Its a little too close to the frame up front, so I will probably slide it back about an inch.


My paint finally came in. It sure doesn't photograph well though. The first 10 or so cars I had growing up were old VW's, so I have a soft spot for the colors.

They should look similar to these once in the sun.


Temporarily I am going to run my old taillights until I can find something that looks better. Previously I was just running a generic LED socket bulb for my running/brake lights and a flex strip of LEDs for my turn signals. They worked fine but I wished they were brighter. So I grabbed some of these super bright LED's fom ebay for $6/ea. My brother runs these on the back of his Frankenstein SV650 and they are freaking bright. So I made a generic bracket by welding a tab to a washer that will attach to the existing screw hole. I doubt the LED strip will be bright enough for my signals, so I will probably get something smaller to stick under my tail. Or maybe I will try and get two LED bulbs in there and use one for a signal.

This was just a basic mockup, I will most likely make new brackets and move them slightly lower and closer to the wheel. Essentially behind the shocks.


I also made a new bracket for my rear brake. The old one was long, ugly and was made to hold up the exhaust. So I made something simple. I cut down the stock pedal stop/adjuster(?) and tacked it on to my design. On the back side I welded a sleeve that will hold the OEM arm and prevent it from twisting when I press down.



I still need to do more fine sanding on the frame and misc pieces before I spray the high fill primer and do some more sanding. I have most everything separated, cleaned and ready for paint otherwise. I have been slowly picking all the Plasti-dip off my spoke wheels. If I can ever suggest one thing, its NEVER SPRAY PLASTIDIP ON SPOKE WHEELS. Cleaning it off is a pain in the @$$. Paint stripper and a power washer is your best bet. Especially for the sprockets.

Thanks for watching.

[billybiltit]

lookin good man!

progress is progress,
keep us posted,

leon

[Tatur]

Got the triple tree roughed in. Still need to clean up a bit around where it bolts down. I'll probably use a little filler to smooth it out a bit as well. Man, these are a pain to weld on. Had to crank up the amps real high just to get it to melt. Sometimes I really hate welding aluminum.


Tacked a ridge on one of my tanks to match the rear fender. I'm getting this one prepped for paint first. I still want to do the knee cutout on one of my other tanks at some point, but I really just want to ride ASAP, so that will wait until this is done. I' also welded in a set of bungs on the passenger side for my own gas sight tube thingys. I had already welded up the gas sender holes in the bottom and it seemed better than trying to count every 100 miles of riding. If I don't like it afterwards, I will omit it on the next tank (did I mention I have 3 CSR tanks to work with?). This tank had a ton of little dents all over it, so me and this filler are becoming real good friends.



Also built a crude license plate bracket which mounts off my lower shock mount. I can't believe what some people charge for these things. It was super simple to make. I may make another later that incorporates another brake light or something.



I still need to finish my gauge cluster and find an upholsterer. I've got a few metal/wood tables to build right now, so progress is slow on the bike. But I'm not quitting.

If these pics are too big, just let me know and I will insert them as attachments from now on.

Thanks for watching.

[Tatur]

No real updates. It's been too wet and humid to paint (no paint booth, just in my garage). But I made these wheel covers out of pizza pans. I couldn't justify the cost (or looks) of the ones out there. I'll use all thread and some black oxide acorn nuts to hold them on after paint. I still need to drill a hole for my tires air nozzle first. Probably will put some sort of tubing along the inside to prevent scratching my wheels. No more cleaning these spokes!!





Anyways, thanks for looking.

[billybiltit]

love the pizza pan wheelcover idea,

leon

[kgb]

great job i love it .

[Tatur]

Thank you. For those wishing to make their own discs, it was pretty simple. I just found the center of the pan, drilled a hole and made a makeshift compass to mark my desired circle width. If I remember correctly my drum was roughly 7.5" diameter. After scratching that in the pan, I cut it out using a jigsaw and flap disc to clean up the hole.




Drill some evenly spaced holes to sandwich on the wheel and bolt together. Bam! Cheap way to keep from having to look at dirty spokes. I may change the pizza pans to some 15" hubcaps later. Just need to find some nice ones that aren't $100+ a set.

Thanks again.

[Coxbow]

great thread ! love your ideas, pizza pan is awesome, gotta find me some 18" now !

[mikecola]

That's such a great idea..

[Sharkboy]

I done something similar with pizza pans.

No real updates. It's been too wet and humid to paint (no paint booth, just in my garage). But I made these wheel covers out of pizza pans. I couldn't justify the cost (or looks) of the ones out there. I'll use all thread and some black oxide acorn nuts to hold them on after paint. I still need to drill a hole for my tires air nozzle first. Probably will put some sort of tubing along the inside to prevent scratching my wheels. No more cleaning these spokes!!





Anyways, thanks for looking.

[Tatur]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]68971[/ATTACH]

Very nice! The pans were definitely not my original idea. Pretty sure I saw/read about some others doing it on here.

[Tatur]

Its prime(ing) time! Shot some high fill primer on the large pieces. Once they fully dry, I'll do another light sand and prep for the basecoat. I changed my mind on the dark grey and decided to go back to my original plan of being a lighter grey. Should work out better in the end. Just waiting on the new grey to show up.




The second tank belongs to my brother's KZ650 SR. I'll be shooting it black with black flake and a candy blue topcoat. Should be subtle but pop in the sunlight.