re-deconstruction

it's true of many things in life. sometimes, you've got to take a step back before you can move forward. so, after sitting quiet in a dark garage for an entire week while scott visited some family, that's just what we did today, took a step backward. after it was all said and done, i'm feeling a little less confident that i'll be bombing the pacific coast highway by spring... but that's just me.

first up... remove the ignition from the headlight bracket and pull back the wiring harness in preparation for an ignition relocation

next... test fit the new headlight brackets (courtesy of lloyd's vintage). the first pic shows the comparison between the stock brackets and the new ones.

and then... we yanked the forks followed and removed the gauge cluster. why? scott's dropping a set of new ikon progressive springs in the forks and he's powdercoating the gauge cluster and updating the idiot lights with super bright led's

and just for shiggles... he popped on the new ngk plug wires. don't know why. doesn't make sense. i don't even have an ignition right now. but that's just the way he wants it to go.

lastly... here's the latest shot of the box o' shit that's come off of me since we started, along with a shot of the "progress" we made today.

seat - part I

he knows it, you know it, the whole world knows it. the triumph bonneville seat, my seat, is just too big. if i’m going to make the transition from stocker to brat-tracker, we’re gonna need to do a little surgery. the goal here is to replace my bubble butt with a low, gel-core, black suede number finished in a diamond quilt stitched finish (the photo at the end of this post is spiritually what we're planning on).

here’s how we’re gonna get there...

1. remove about a hundred staples and pull the old cover
2. pull the old foam core.
3. cut back the seat tray back so that it very closely follows the lines of the frame.

next up, we’ll create a polyurethane seat pan brace that the factory seat tray can bolt too. the reason? to create a nice, clean tight edge between the new seat and the frame, and to create some stability for the new seat, while retaining the factory connection points.

wheels!

ya gotta admire his dedication. scott made his third hour-long trip out to buchanan's in azusa and, this time, came home with a pair of beautiful new wheels.

here are the specs again...

front: 19" x 2.5" excel rim, 400-19 coker diamond tread tire, stock hub
rear: 18" x  3.5" excel rim, 450-18 coker diamond tread tire, stock hub

new buchanan stainless steel spokes and nipples

he cleaned up the new tires, polished off the rims again and mounted them up. dig it.

elbow grease, weight loss and big cardboard box

things are starting to happen. today, scott came home from work and locked himself in the garage until midnight. polishing, cleaning, removing, replacing... that kind of stuff.

elbow grease

• drop swing arm, remove chain, soak chain, polish chain, lube and replace chain
• replace loose intake manifold clamps
• remove rear brakes, clean swing arm, clean and re-grease brakes, clean
• carb and engine exterior clean

weight loss

• remove headlight (i still don't know if that's the one that's going back on)
• remove front and rear turns
• remove tailight
• remove rear fender (in preparation for replacement)
• remove front reflectors

what's in the box?

i got a big box of new stuff today. (actually, 1 big box and 2 little ones.) here's what was in the box. he already started putting some of the new stuff on. like the clutch arm dress-up and rear shocks.

• new stainless manifold clamps
• new yellow ngk plug wires
• new headlamp mesh guard
• new ikon adjustable rear shocks (lowered 1")
• new ikon progressive front fork springs
• new vintage style tail light
• new mini bullet turns
• new led dummy lights
• new posh vintage style natural grips
• new rear wiring harness (for new turns and tailight)
• new superbar handlebar (note: i don't like it and fortunately scott doesn't either. it's going back and we'll continue the search for the perfect bar)

what's the plan?

what am i going to look like in the end? i know you're wondering the same thing. where indeed, sir and or madame, is this going? well, one of the advantages of having an owner who's a designer is that he can try out some ideas on the computer before he dives in head first with the credit card.

here's a super rough shop job of the direction we're headed. and a list of the intended mods required to get us there.

• black powdercoat, black wrinklecoat and black paint 99% of the shiny bits

• drop the front and rear with ikon shocks and springs

• drop the secondary air injection

• chop the airbox

• new ceramic coated headers and sleeper exhaust

• replace fender with a 5" rolled edge

• new vintage tailight

• new bullet turns front and rear

• 19" front, 18" rear wheels with new excel aluminum rims from buchanan's

• vintage diamond tread coker tires

• new high-rise tracker bars ( http://tinyurl.com/5smmfn5 )

• debadge tank, fill badge screw holes and finish in late '60 automotive green metallic paint (exact color tdb)

• headlight stone guard

• details: new ngk plug wires, clutch lifter cover, brush and polish all exposed metal, vintage gum grips

• custom low profile 2-up gel seat, diamond pattern black suede finish

• several cases of ice cold canned budweiser

fresh baked hubs

after a few days of waiting around for my hubs in the brutal 75 degree california winter weather, they finally came back from the powdercoater.

from what i hear, scott usually takes his stuff to embee coatings for this type of work. but in the interest of sanity, he decided not to make the trek all the way down to anaheim. this time, beach cities powdercoating got the call.

here's the rear hub reassembled with new all-balls bearings pressed in.

rubber!

he ordered me up a set of vintage rubber from coker tire in chattanooga, tn.
400 x 19 front
450 x 18 rear

coker specializes in vintage, industrial and military tire patterns and sizes with modern rubber compounds.

the rear came in today... the front is soon to follow.

off with my wheels

it never really made sense to me either. a 19" front wheel and tire with a clearly undersized 17" rear. just look at me... strange. like a fat guy with a tiny head. now google "1965 triumph bonneville"... that's the way it should be.

time to strip off the old in preparation for the new.

old wheels off
mirrors off
badge off

didn't hurt a bit

i know what you're thinking. my fender is too big. it's like a tuxedo with tails. you just wanna walk up with a big pair scissors and chop it the eff off. so that's what we did. we just chopped it the eff off.

the only problem is, i don't look any better post-op. but what would look better on me is a nice, 5" vintage fender with a rolled edge. (this is called foreshadowing)

it didn't take long

from the minute i got here, i suspected i might be getting a bit of plastic surgery. plastic, stainless steel, vintage rubber, black powdercoat and polished aluminum surgery to be more precise.

turns out... i suspected right.

the first order of business, more power  (that and a chrome-endectomy). thanks to british customs, I got a new ceramic coated header and sleeper exhaust system. we yanked out my old airbox and replaced it with a pair of big lung k&n filters. and since i can handle a little more juice, we rejetted the carbs with a 140 main jet and a 42 pilot jet. that's better.

now i sound all vintage-y like i should and I've got a few more ponies in the back pocket.