poop's tuscaloosa dumplin'!

[Poop]

alright, so i showed earlier my process with the front brake, using a two-piston caliper from a sport bike rear in place of the much maligned one piston this one came with. really, i have heard so much crap talked about the early, shitty front disc brake setups on these honda cbs. well, i learned along the way that modern discs are typically 5mm, maybe less. i can't remember off the top of my head, but i think this bitch was like 7mm or something. so i'd have to get it machined down. cool, i figured, because i'd also like to get 'er drilled while i'm at it.

i figured this is something that would be done by cutting it on a lathe. cutting it down, i mean. the drilling i also thought would be totally standard. a couple local machine shops told me i needed to find a place with a degree wheel to get the drilling right. then, the more i looked into it, the more i read about the importance of "grinding" a rotor down with stones, as opposed to "cutting" with a bit on a lathe. the difference? cutting produces high localized heat that can warp a rotor, whereas grinding produces a more even process that will not damage your rotor. furthermore, grinding can be done so as to leave a nice cross-hatch pattern for bedding in pads, plus it just looks good. also, grinding can be done after rotors are drilled, whereas cutting on a lathe can become a problem because each drill hole can cause the lathe bit to skip a little bit and chatter. and finally, i've been told from many sources that you can't really cut stainless discs too well, that they have to be ground by stones.

most of all, these guys ground and drilled my rotor for a pretty low price, it seemed to me. so i sent mine to the guys at TrueDisk. make sure if you're looking for them you spell the disk with a k and not with a c. if the link in this paragraph didn't work, here is their address: TrueDisk LLC - Motorcycle Brake Rotor Resurfacing and Grinding Services

these guys were friendly, helpful, reasonable, quick, and reliable. i will definitely use them again, if i have the need.

the first pic is one from their website, the second is what they did to my disc. it made a real difference, i think, in the looks of the ride, and it was done exactly to my specs and that cross hatch pattern has been perfect for bedding in my new pads. and have i mentioned i have freakin' AWESOME front brake power?

[Poop]

so, in case i haven't mentioned it, my hand controls are pretty unique among chops, i think. i found a few years ago these trick little levers from ASV. great name with motocross guys, and they do plenty of shit for street bikes. since i was trying to keep my handlebars skinny, and i wanted to keep controls short, i had considered using mountain bike cable controls, using a remote master cylinder with a actuator lever pulled by the cable. i ended up scrapping the idea when i found this one, which i think was the better solution for me. ASV sells a certain line of kits that gives you a replacement lever for your master cylinder, and a matching cable clutch lever and housing. all i had to do was find a suitable master cylinder. i wanted to find one with a bigger bore, for a firmer grasp at the front brake lever. i found that there are a ton of four wheeler front master cylinders on ebay for dirt cheap, and they're designed to push calipers on two discs. if it could stop one of those big heavy sonsofbitches, it could push my two pistons on my one disc well enough. so i purchased a yamaha raptor 700 four wheeler front master cylinder (that quad sounds like a big bad sonofabitch!) for very little, then got the kit from ASV that included "unbreakable" levers and a cable clutch perch. very small, very light, fairly unique, good warranty, not too expensive. and the levers do have an extra pivot allowing the lever to bend waaaayyy far backwards (towards the front of the bike) when you spill it. not that i plan on doing that, but hey... cool.

no pics particularly of that, i don't think. actually, here are two from my "final assembly" bunch:

[Poop]

guess what? i'm coming down the homestretch of this build thread. i've left out quite a lot, and glossed over even more, so please let me know if i can explain anything in particular. not to assume y'all don't already easily get this stuff; i'm no rocket scientist, by any means, and most of this is somewhat new to me. but i'd be happy to share more where someone let me know it was wanted.

so, until then, probably the most fun part of the build: final assembly. it was a time of major fucking excitement for me, one where friends and family (and most of all, i!) could finally see that what i'd been fucking around with in the garage for so long might actually amount to something.

so, here go some pics, usually taken around 3:00 am or so before i turned in.









that last pic is of the seat before i added some more shading with a sharpie, then added another coat of clear. i can't take credit for any artistic skill, however; i was simply going by a piece of artwork i found on the internet.

[Poop]

on the subject of sharpies... a quick use of one made another big difference here, i thought. that nylon cap/plug/whatever thing on the top of my carburetors? looked old and not particularly clean on my scoot...



it was an easy fix.



oh, and on those tabs for the seat pivot, you can see i'm already fucking up paint. i kind of wish i could have afforded powder coating there, but then again, the paint is pretty much only scratched up in areas that aren't left bare. the only significant exception i can think of is at the axle drop outs, where i had to slide tight-fitting axle adjusters over the frame. but that was easily addressed with black fingernail polish, a trick which covered up a couple of different modifications to my other bike frame, years ago.

[Poop]

blech, wiring.





the best thing i did after drawing up a wiring diagram was to redraw one, in the shape of my frame. i don't know why i had such a hard time transferring the conceptual wiring diagram to the shape of my frame, but i did. having it all drawn up ahead of time helped me more efficiently pull wires, and make a cleaner job of it. oh yeah, and i made use of some wire terminals i hunted down for a buddy of mine a few months back. he cleaned up my carburetors for me, and i hunted down some open barrel type crimp vintage crimp connectors. even though i sell all kinds of wire terminals for a living, i'd never learned about the advantages of the open barrel terminals. i tried a couple on some wire i had lying around before i delivered to him last year, and like 'em so much i set aside some for this build. they're pretty simple technology, but with the sleeves that come with them, they seem like they do the job quite well if used with plenty of dielectric silicone grease. i'm a fan of that stuff.

oh yeah, and go to the local welding shop and buy welding cable for your battery cables. it's finely stranded, so more flexible and better conducting. that flexibility makes for much easier routing, and less voltage drop to your starter. also, battery lugs aren't crimped on, but soldered. i used a product i sell that is a pre-measured solder pellet (different sizes of pellets for different gauges of cable). you just place the terminal in the vise, drop in the pellet, slide heatshrink back over the cable, and heat the terminal with a mini butane torch (or whatever you prefer), while gently pushing the cable into the terminal. when it's done, slide down the heatshrink (i use heavy wall, adhesive lined battery grade--great abrasion resistance) and shrink with a heat gun (or whatever you prefer) until shrink is shrunk AND adhesive has flowed out every outside edge. i can't imagine a more reliable connection, and there ain't nothing worse than hunting down some lame short in a crappy wire harness. i don't find it relaxing in any way, whatsoever. blech.

[Poop]

i had to text my painter buddy one day, to get an idea of my petcock placement so i could figure out where to run my filter before i got my tins back. he texted me a teaser:



then, this was one of the very coolest days: my painter buddy had knocked out all the color on my tins, and was pretty excited about it himself, i think. (i have to guess, because he's a pretty cool cat, doesn't show excitement over too much.) but he called and asked if i was home, he wanted to show me something. i quickly drove home to meet him, and he showed me my tins, minus the clear. we very carefully placed them on top of the scoot, just to see what it was all gonna come together like.

i was floored.

[Poop]

oh yeah, i have to go back one sec to wiring. to run those pull chain switches, i had to wire in relays, as the switches are rated for very low amperage and notoriously burn out easily in other apps. without going into too much detail about the wiring in that headlight, i'll put out there that there are three relays in there. the original relays i was using were a little over one inch cubed, and were a tough fit to get two in there. when i realized i needed to run three (only because my electrical engineer buddy told me so--i had delegated the headlight part to him, because it was a little beyond my comprehension), we sat down and found the little micro relays that chevy trucks run, got a part number, then went down to napa to pick 'em up. that reminds me that i need to store that number with me, in case i need 'em on the road.

anyway, i also wanted to use the pull switch that i control the headlight with to also cut out the tail and brake lights. the best solution we came up with involved using the hots from the switch to the different headlight bulbs as hots for the rear light, connected after running through diodes to keep current from reversing up one while the other was on. i didn't know what the hell i diode was until my aircraft mechanic buddy told me, and my electrical engineer friend confirmed this was the way to go. picked up diodes from the dildo riding jackass at the electric supply house (i hate those fuckers) for a couple bucks (pack of ten, i think), and problem solved.

so, stuff those two pull switches, and three relays, and two diodes, and two inline mini blade fuses for good measure, and what seemed like thirty soldered and heatshrinked connections all into the back of that headlight shell, and after some fanagling the headlight actually and finally fit into there as well, to my amazement. late night testing of the scheme on a little battery showed all worked like clockwork. phew!

[Poop]

final look at all those freakin' wires under my tank, before i clip them and attach bullet connectors. i have several wires going to my headlight that i need to be able to disconnect if/when i need to remove it, as well as wires to the front brake switch, so i had to hide those connections under my tank.

[Poop]

alright, so really cool part here. i get the call to come pick up my paint. i never was too worried about it, because i believe that what makes a scoot cool is everything before you get to paint. i also have the luxury of have a great painter as a local friend, and i secured his services long ago when i provided supplies for his scoot. a couple of years ago i saw a new house of color candy in his sample book, and i asked him if he'd hold that color for me. lucky for me he picked it up some time back, as it's now already been discontinued for some reason. we finalized terms around christmas and i gave him my tins in late january or february. anyway, the point here is i knew it would be cool... but he still surpassed my expectations. i couldn't be any happier.

here it is, with the gas cap just sitting atop the tank, not yet attached.

[Poop]

so, i guess from here, it's mostly a bunch of 3 am, i'm-tired-as-fuck-and-going-to-bed pictures:

[Poop]

that last one was a favorite of mine for quite a while, because it still had that skinny waist to it. the next day was when i put that intake on i'd made long before, and have to this day carried a love/hate relationship with.

[Rhode Warrior]

Originally Posted by Poop

here's that first battery box finished. it's a little too big for my space, but too small i think for most traditional lead acid batteries. the leather has darkened up a good bit on it's own. here it looks kinda pale and sickly. but it has warmed up a bit since.

Nice to see you're taking that "CC Minister of Eugenics" title seriously.

[Poop]

Originally Posted by Rhode Warrior

Nice to see you're taking that "CC Minister of Eugenics" title seriously.

sometimes, i think i'm our only hope.

[Boogeyman]

Poop, I've become a fan of Testers Paint pens, like you would find in the toy model car paint section. They work real well for touch ups etc.. I've also recently discovered vinyl tape. It works really good on little things like your top caps on your fork tubes or that little round thing you painted with the sharpie. I've used it on several small pieces to give it a black/chrome contrast. Once it's stuck you have to really look to find the seem. I was having air bubble issues at first but after practicing with it some I've gotten pretty good with it. I done my upper fork legs with it (between the upper and lower tree) and it turned out real nice. The best thing, the people at the hobby store will sell me a 7"x15" piece for $1...any color.

[Poop]

thanks! good to know.