SAT Motorsports rigid attempt.

[JamesS]

Frame and accy's into gloss black:


And a cool dual USB port with led volt meter:

Steadily forward.

[gt alex]

Originally Posted by JamesS

Thanks for lookin'

Convenience is not high on the list for a custom builder.
Doing it easy is , well , too easy.
And generally creates bikes that are of singular use and attractive to the builder mostly.
The work done and the experience of dedicated custom builders is not to be easily dismissed.

FINALLY the oil tank is tigged and airtight. A whole lotta patience required to get there. Its ugly as hell , not something I would use on a personal build , but it will work and is pretty much invisible on the finished machine. I'll find a 'hammered' or textured paint to finish it with , wrinkle black or such will hide some of the imperfections.
Here the tank and the battery box are placed in a tub , CLR is introduced , water to fill , and placed in the sun. The CLR will clean the steel and etch it for the primer to come. It will also create a no rust etching inside the tank . Placing the tub in the sun to heat it will accelerate the process.We did this to gas tanks at the chopper shop where I worked. The treatment works great for any new construction or repair work.

Good work I am enjoying the progress.
I was thinking of using vinegar instead of CLR do you know if that will work OK??
Keep up the good work

[JamesS]

Thanks for lookin'
Vinegar will work , in a hundred years.
CLR gets it done in a reasonable amount of time.

[JamesS]

Frame inside the house for now on a stump.
Under seat wiring plate finished and installed:



And time and care was taken to assemble a set of mounting hardware , consisting of chrome 10/24 acorns , washers and allen bolts.
Mounted are the horn , ignition , starter relay and the main circuit breaker , nicer when the work is laid out prior to final finish' being in place.

[JamesS]

Thanks for lookin'.

Electrical assy continues with the install of the led turn sigs. These are red for lighting /brake and yellow for the turn signals.
Look ok:

And the rear axle , an important piece , supplied as a hardened steel rod with threads on either end. I know how critical it is to have the rear axle stable and secure. Looking to the stock Harley item we see one end with a nut welded on. As I was looking at the parts making a plan , I noticed that rectangular washers would help keep the axle from turning.
So I made some 1/8" washers , welded a nuit on one end ofthe axle trapping the washe in place , I then tigged the washer to the nut:


And installed you can see the axle will have a tough time rotating if it came loose:

I may take the other rectngular washer and make a lock plate for the end with the nut.

[JamesS]

My fav part of choppa building , the wiring.
As previously stated I buy a lot of supply off of Harley , the loom , switches , etc.
Mount the components and go...
Looks little hairy as the work progress' , but the second pic of the under seat plate begins to show some organization with the use of short pieces of loom to separate guide and gather the diff wiring groups.


Moving quickly as wires are placed and moved and replaced for maximum situating. Adhereing to Harley colors as well , so any one can look in a manual and find the wire color for each circuit or component.

[Spade115]

god wiring worries me, but one day I will try it lol. Awesome work man.

[JamesS]

Thanks.
Wiring continues with looming and mounting the tail /licence/turn harness.
Small clip placement was envisioned during the frame prep and the small tig rod clips migged on.
This is one of the coolest tricks I was shown in the choppershop where I worked.
This trick alleviates the bush league tie wrapped frame tube look:

[JamesS]

More wiring progress.
Everything is looking good , a lot of time was spent thinking about the work...
Ignition 'dash' components:

Assembled and placed in position:

Under seat nearly complete:

Battery box placed and vertical wiring test fitted:

[Spade115]

CONGRATS MAN!!!

Take it slow and always stay positive.

[JamesS]

Thanks.
Ongoing.

[JamesS]

Progression continues with the forks going on .
And as per the custom genre , issues arrive with every part installed. some are brutal , some are easily fixed , like re-mounting the headlight properly.

[JamesS]

As ststed when parts go on issues arrise.
The frame was drilled and tapped 10/32 and 2 button head allens were placed for fork stops.
2 s/s brackets were made for the front turn sigs , they were fabbed and mounted:

Turn sigs look good in kline with the headlight:

[JamesS]

Some catch up pics.
The oil filler/breather tower gets the opening up where it can be easily accessed and the top cap will have a tig rod dip stick welded to it:

4 pos/neg battery cables fabbed and installed as per stock locations:

Here they enter the 'mailslot' battery box and out the side:

No ends on them as the battery has not been finalized.
And under the seat you will see the pos cable enter top right and the neg cable bottom right:

Wiring under the seat has definite layers , not just a willy/nilly install.

[JamesS]

More update pics:
Oil tank filler tower is heavy and having it hanging out unsupported is not cool. Here is a rubber mount fabbed up from s/s stock:


And the handlebars.
Not a good idea to dump alla the controls and switches from the bars. Silly suicide shifter dream and front/rear brakes working offa the rear master cylinder is really silly , to me anyway . The previous owner had these dreams and got some nice bars made, got them powder coated too. Now as reality kicks in a set of V -Rod controls ( same as any big twins ) was found. 8 " is needed for the parts to be used properly in the bars. So I cut off the length needed an got some 1" bar to tig weld on. Wiring holes and proper lineup up next as well as sanding away some of the 1.5" bars material to clear the master cylinders: