Cleaning up a Shovelhead frame

[trwirthman]

Apologies if this is posted elsewhere, my initial searching turned up nothing. Long and short of it, I’m working on a ‘78 Shovelhead, original frame, and am wondering what I can or should do to clean up the mounts towards the neck area. Can I leave this here? Can it be cut off? SHOULD it be cut off? I most likely won’t be using split tanks, probably will be welding in bungs to attach a tank. Any info or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[Tattooo]

If your talking about the top front tank mount.... Sure you can cut it off.....

[trwirthman]

So I’m thinking just grind it off, then file until it’s flush with the rest of the frame? Sorry it’s just the first time I’ve done it and want to make sure I’m going about it correctly.

[Tattooo]

So I’m thinking just grind it off, then file until it’s flush with the rest of the frame? Sorry it’s just the first time I’ve done it and want to make sure I’m going about it correctly.

Cut it off then grind it flat... You might need to do some welding... Since this is your first time... Take your time and make sure that you want to do what you want to do before you do it....

[trwirthman]

Awesome. Thank you for the information, I will make sure I’m very careful before I do anything with the tank mount.

[MOTher]

Some guys leave the front tank mount piece like a stand of sorts. I think it's a clean look.

[trwirthman]

That’s not half bad. Thinking also of just cutting it down and putting like a piece of rubber over it so the new tank will still fit, and won’t be metal-on-metal. This would keep me from having to cut it completely off the frame...

[Tattooo]

That’s not half bad. Thinking also of just cutting it down and putting like a piece of rubber over it so the new tank will still fit, and won’t be metal-on-metal. This would keep me from having to cut it completely off the frame...

Rubber is a bad thing as it allows movement... Metal to metal is better than rubber... All that will do is let the bolt loosen up...

[seaking]

Firstoff I would keep the neck unmolested especially since the 78's are getting valuable stock and you're keeping it a swingarm.

Second if you remove them, I would take a hacksaw and remove the rear fatbob mounts ONLY and keep them for later use, should you want to mount the split tanks at a later date.

That way you could mount the stock sportster tabs off the front mount and a rear chopper-type tab could be either zip-tied or mounted with a bung.

This keeps the neck stock:



And I think he mounted a bung in the bottom of the tank and secured the tank up through a pass-through hole in the frame (easy to fix later)



OR secure the tab like so:



I wouldn't sweat the mounting too much, Honda never gave a shit and rubber mounted off tabs that I assume would make the damn tank air born on a wipeout--probably the least of your worries when riding a chop...

[Blackbetty]

I hated to remove those factory castings so I compromised. Cut off half the mount and used the speedo hole for a blind tank bung. If I did it again I'd leave the casting intact and run ears off the front of the tank to utilize the casting.

[Tattooo]

I wouldn't sweat the mounting too much, Honda never gave a shit and rubber mounted off tabs that I assume would make the damn tank air born on a wipeout--probably the least of your worries when riding a chop...

Yep they did rubber mount but it wasn't hard bolted they were usually slip mounted.. If you remember the tank moved... It wasn't a hard mount with rubber...

LOL Now that tie wrap holding on a tank... I hope that was for mock up...

[Dragstews]

Love the Hummer tanks ...





Which came to us from the spoils of War ..

These motorcycles were based on the DKW RT125, the drawings for which were taken from Germany as war reparations after World War II.
The RT125 drawings were also given to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union as war reparations, resulting in the BSA Bantam and the MMZ M-1A Moskva, later known as the Minsk.

.../// https://youtu.be/8xiWt0RsAAA \\\...

[MOTher]

Love the Hummer tanks ...
.

Me too, although I wonder if the tank shown is a Hummer tank with a modified tunnel or a Hummerized Sportster tank. I'm planning on the second for my next project.

[seaking]

Yep they did rubber mount but it wasn't hard bolted they were usually slip mounted.. If you remember the tank moved... It wasn't a hard mount with rubber...

LOL Now that tie wrap holding on a tank... I hope that was for mock up...

Honda gave me the inspiration to say....fuck it.

OP could also rubber mount with tabs welded to the frame (lookup bunking.com) and bungs welded up under the tank.....there's an OLD thread/how-to buried here somewhere. I've never had trouble with that setup except for my dad calling me an idiot (he couldn't see how it was mounted). Whether that's true or not is up for debate.

I love those hummer tanks. One sold for over $400 OP paint, I can't find a wrecked one cheap enough to pull the ignition housing.

How's that for idiotic though, put an ignition that sparks EVERYTIME you turn it next to a leaky cam cap mounted frisco.....nope. Maybe the OEM cap doesn't leak like aftermarket?

Either way I want to build an ign housing and try it, I have an oem peanut but I'd like to try it with the modern style cap, they chicom oem peanuts are so cheap I wouldn't mind going that route either. Think that might be less anxiety inducing.

[seaking]

Me too, although I wonder if the tank shown is a Hummer tank with a modified tunnel or a Hummerized Sportster tank. I'm planning on the second for my next project.

It sure looks like an oem hummer tank, the tabs look oem and that divot around the cap and ign looks stock. If you pull the cap to blank it off, why not move the cap higher for more gas--which phares cycle parts just did.....you could tell that wasn't an og tank.