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Hmm..Do Bikes count? My Custom Harley type bike

Started by _j.e.d._ , Jan 27 2012 02:09 PM

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26 replies to this topic

#1 _j.e.d._

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Posted 27 January 2012 - 02:09 PM

Here's the other project I've been working on since 2006...I thinks its spent more time sitting around at my mechanics place doing nothing than having had any actual work done on it!
I decided to go this way as I've always like the style, & cos I saw my life flash before my eyes while being hit with a cross wind one day speeding along the motorway on my (now sold) VTR 1000 & thought, shit, I need a heavier & slower bike!

First pic is the initial mock up stage.
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I started with a locally made Don Morrison softail frame I picked up from Christchurch, & just went from there.
Engine is just a standard 1340 evo, bored out a little I think from memory, Keith Black 10 or 11:1 pistons, Andrews cam, & thats about it I think.
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This is what it looked like about 4 years ago when I got it back from the mechanics place..
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Then after a few months I got it mocked up again like this..
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After this it went back to the mechanics to get all plumbed up, primary set up etc..was going to run the twin side draught dellorto's as you can see in these pic's but my mechanic said they're a pig to keep tuned so I went for the S&S Super E carby setup..after about another three years at said mechanics (there was probably only about a weeks worth of work in that three years!) I finally got it back on Christmas eve just gone so I could do the last little bits & pieces before it can be fired up & certified for the road..yay!
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Just thought I'd share.. you never know there might be some one out there who likes it!
Its cost me more money than I'd care to admit, even though looking at it I think to myself..where the hell did over 20k go??!! but you never notice these things when you do it bit by bit, & I think when I make a start on my Torana in a month or two I don't think I'll add up what I spend on that when its done!
I've probably thought about selling it a few times over the last few years, but I think I'll just get the thing finished now & go from there..
Cheers for looking

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#2 fatslr

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Posted 27 January 2012 - 03:44 PM

That is a great looking bike i am sure it will be worth all the effort when it is finished.

I know there are several bike enthusiast types on these pages that will appreciate you sharing.

Garth

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#3 _ht467_

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Posted 27 January 2012 - 07:03 PM

The best thing about bikes is you can get them into the lounge room and work on them while you watch the telly......... at least until the cook gets home!!!! :furious:

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#4 _355 EH_

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Posted 28 January 2012 - 01:12 AM

thats a sweet lookin bike mate, thats my next toy! a harley when i get my cars finished.

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#5 lcgtr1970

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Posted 28 January 2012 - 07:44 AM

Very nice mate. Bet you can't wait to be cruising along the roads on it.

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#6 _j.e.d._

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Posted 28 January 2012 - 08:37 AM

That is a great looking bike i am sure it will be worth all the effort when it is finished.

I know there are several bike enthusiast types on these pages that will appreciate you sharing.

Garth

Yea I'm looking forward to it being done..I'm not a hardcore harley nut or anything, I just liked the thought of building something like this up to cruise around on & it kinda got carried away!

The best thing about bikes is you can get them into the lounge room and work on them while you watch the telly......... at least until the cook gets home!!!!

Haha yup, I had this in the living room when I was single & could get away with it.. now I'm attached & the living room is all painted up, carpeted & looking respectable my partner won't have a bar of it so its in the garage now!

thats a sweet lookin bike mate, thats my next toy! a harley when i get my cars finished.

I think for me it would have been easier starting with a complete bike & to customize it from there, but at the time it was easier for me to buy bits at a time..definately looking forward to when this thing gets fired up for the first time with those V&H short pipes on it!

Very nice mate. Bet you can't wait to be cruising along the roads on it.

Yea mate, its been a long time coming for sure.. I'm not a hard out bike rider, sports bikes were always too hard on the wrists over the years, so this is definitely the way to go for me!

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#7 _j.e.d._

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Posted 28 January 2012 - 09:00 AM

This is still a work in progress so I'll be posting pics when things are getting done..
The oil tank I got a few years ago never came with an oil outlet of all things so I got the local engineering shop to braze one in for me
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and I went out & picked up a bit more of this wiring loom sheathing. Not sure what its called but I think its used in a lot of european cars & I heard of a guy just recently used it in an old hot rod. I reckon it looks heaps better than the old plastic stuff, especially when some of the loom is visible where it goes from the handlebar controls down to between the tanks
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One of my fears when I got the bike back was that when I sealed the tanks a few years ago I had a feeling I didn't do one of them quick enough through the whole process of rust killing then sealing (using a product called Kreem) so I looked into it the other day & this is what I found..
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So I picked up this POR15 kit as it was advertised to be the best kit to seal tanks & the POR-strip is the product to use to get the old sealer off before going thru the whole process again
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I've also got to seal my oil tank as it has surface rust in it so it'll be a fairly tense afternoon when I tackle that job as I've got to cover up the gas tank well enough so I don't damage the paint! :banghead:

Edited by j.e.d., 28 January 2012 - 09:01 AM.

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#8 _Quagmire_

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Posted 28 January 2012 - 11:59 AM

nice bike....you just gotta love the look of the old harley's

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#9 _j.e.d._

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Posted 28 January 2012 - 03:09 PM

Yea I've kept it fairly classic with the fenders, tanks instruments etc, but just added my own touches like the 6" over front end, wider rear end, HOK paintjob & a few aftermarket billet pieces here & there..cheers

Edited by j.e.d., 28 January 2012 - 03:10 PM.

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#10 _Bomber Watson_

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Posted 28 January 2012 - 04:48 PM

Awesome looking bike mate.

I've got a Harley to, just a 05 Softail standard. Been getting around to fitting a heap of ripe fruit i have on the shelf to it and perhaps even starting a thread myself haha.

Cheers.

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#11 _j.e.d._

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Posted 29 January 2012 - 08:54 AM

Cheers mate..
Yea thats a good idea, post it up! There'll be a bike section on here before you know it! haha..

Edited by j.e.d., 29 January 2012 - 08:55 AM.

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#12 _j.e.d._

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 05:06 AM

Some more progress...it's all together now, just need to wire the rear brakes, horn & starter then it can go back to the mechanics to have a once over then start the bloody thing! It's been 6 years, 1 month, 27 days...... but who's counting?
I've never heard this thing run as I started with just the frame so it's gonna be cool
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Edited by j.e.d., 15 March 2012 - 05:07 AM.

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#13 _nicko61_

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Posted 16 March 2012 - 11:42 AM

ive got a 1996 dyna wideglide on road for last year and im envious of your beast,looks like the bike i always wanted but too stingy too spend the money,did you have a raked frame or just the extended forks?

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#14 _j.e.d._

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Posted 16 March 2012 - 06:58 PM

Hey Nick, this has just got 6" longer forks and the triple trees have a rake of 5 degress from memory..doing that gave me the front end rake I was after without the hassle of raking the frame itself..
I didn't expect it'd cost me as much as it has, as it just seemed to snowball at the start, but I've learnt not to keep a track of what i spend anymore as it's too scary!

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#15 _j.e.d._

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Posted 30 November 2012 - 12:19 PM

Holy hell, it's been this long since the last update!

Well, I've had a few hassles in the area of relying on my mechanic to do anything when I wanted it done. After he took a look at where I was at, he had worked out a list of about 10-12 little things that I needed to finish this off before we could start it, & he'd get it all together & mentioned the bike going back to his place to be done. Time just dragged on & on until about a month ago & I thought fu*k this, I'll get this stuff myself! That & the fact I really didn't want my bike going back to his place to be lost in the abyss that is called his garage where nothing gets done. :furious:

Don't get me wrong, he's a great & knowledgeable guy, but he sucks when it comes to getting him to do anything when you want it done.

After I got all the small things sorted I called him & managed to get him around to try & get it started, & it wouldn't go.

The rear wheel was spinning around which was dragging on the clutch & it was backfiring through the carb & exhaust something chronic. First thing he said was there's something wrong with the tranny with it jumping into gear like that, & secondly it didn't sound like it was timed right.

He asked me to take off the top cover of the tranny & he'd come back & take a look & see if there was anything wrong with it. Well, fu*k me if that wasn't a pain in the arse! I knew I wasn't looking forward to trying to take it off, & after struggiling to get 4 of the 5 bolts out the rear bolt was just too difficult to get to so I had to pull the battery & then pull out the oil tank to get to it! :banghead:

Once that was done, after a lot of mumbling to myself, I text him & tee'd up for him to come round last Thursday after work. Well Thursday afternoon came & went with no sign of him, so I text him again late on Thursday night & he said definately Friday after work...well Friday afternoon came & went with no sign of him so I slept on it & text him on Saturday afternoon. He then said yep no worries I'll come over on my way home from the drags at Meremere on Sunday...well Sunday afternoon came & went, so I just said fu*k this & gave up! :thebird:

Come Monday I had a new perspective on the whole thing & decided to look into it myself instead of relying on him to sort it out, & I thought it'll be a good learning curve for me as well. I posted a question on a Harley forum over in the States & straight away there were knowledgeable people giving me all sorts of advise on what to look for & do to sort it out.

So now I know how to static time a Harley (not that bloody easy to start with to be honest!) & I know a lot more about my bike than I did a week ago.

The first attempt at timing didn't work out too well but I did discover one thing - there was nothing wrong with my gearbox, it was just sitting between gears & the neutral light was coming on so when it started it just jumped into gear - genius!

After a lot of trial & error & finally understanding the timing thing I tried starting it yesterday & nothing happened, much to my annoyance. But while leaning beside the left hand side of the bike I was looking at the coil & spied one of the wires not being the color it should have been. A very helpful guy on the harley forum mentioned making sure the coil was wired correctly & said what the color of the wires should be & where they go. Well, the wire I saw should have been black & it was white, so I took the coil off the bracket & holy crap - they were around the wrong way! Man did I feel so much better in the knowledge I spent $800 a couple of years ago to get an auto sparkie to wire my bike up! Faaark! :furious:

I swapped the wires over, hooked everything up, & tried to start it but nothing happened...hmm maybe I'll just chuck the jumper leads on it from the car to give it a bit more grunt...tried it again & holy shit it started!! Man was I a happy lad! :rockon:

The very helpful guy on the Harley forum just happens to only live an hour north of me would you believe it, so I'm taking my bike up to him tomorrow afternoon to get set up & tuned properly, then it's ride time!

I'll post a vid of it running over the weekend if you guys wanna hear it, & I hope I haven't bored anyone with my ramblings - it's been a frustrating & eventful last few weeks & I needed to vent!

Cheers,
Jase

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#16 fatslr

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Posted 30 November 2012 - 06:05 PM

Well done mate you are giving me inspiration to try and get my Harley going again for something so simple they can be so hard.

look forward to seing video.

Garth

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#17 _j.e.d._

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Posted 01 December 2012 - 05:27 AM

Cheers mate. Yea I was amazed how complicated (to me anyway!) the inner workings of the engine were, but I guess that's why they sound so damn good!

I think everything else on them is pretty straight forward, & usually it's the little simple things that'll trip you up in the end. That's why I guess everyone always say to check the basics first.

Today's the big day to get it all tuned up & then all that's left is to get it certified & vinned & I'm away!

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#18 _BARRY JACKPOT_

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Posted 01 December 2012 - 09:51 AM

Good stuff Cuz, bikes are cool

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#19 _LHSL308_

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Posted 01 December 2012 - 03:39 PM

Excellent work Jase. You've shown a lot more patience that I could have shown, I would have sold the bike years ago lol. Can't wait to see it running, you've done a great job on that custom beast.

Edited by Gonedeaf, 01 December 2012 - 03:39 PM.

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#20 Collo

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Posted 01 December 2012 - 04:12 PM

Mate you haven't bored anyone I'd imagine. That's a sweet bike. :spoton:

Edited by slr_v8, 01 December 2012 - 04:12 PM.

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#21 _LS2 Hatch_

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Posted 01 December 2012 - 11:31 PM

Hi Jase, I built a very similar bike about 5 or 6 years ago. The issue I had was the front was too high and had handling problems. The other issue I had was with the front that high, keeping the front wheel on the ground. I had a 120hp engine that probably didn't help. I went back to two inch over for a much better ride.
Also the other issue with raked trees is it stuffs up your trail. I installed 3 degree head cups to sort it out. I used to get the wobbles up at about 140km and couldn't ride it out. The head cups worked a treat and it was good for 200 plus.
Good luck with getting it on the road, Harleys are great fun and I have now built 6 of them. Once the bug bites it doesn't let go.
Keep up the good work

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#22 _uctorry_

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Posted 02 December 2012 - 09:08 AM

nope lols

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#23 _j.e.d._

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Posted 02 December 2012 - 09:55 AM

Thanks for all the comments guys, it's been a roller coaster of a build with this, but I'm happy it's all but done now (can concentrate on the car now!)

Time will tell how the bike performs & handles, then I'll fine tune it to how I like it even more.

Here's a vid of my first ever ride on it. Please take into account this is my first ride on a bike in 7 years, & the first on a Harley ever! (you can tell haha)

And me coming back - a bit more confident!

Hope you guy's like it!

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#24 _Bomber Watson_

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Posted 02 December 2012 - 11:24 AM

Cool as.

I recognize the old harley wobbles, i've got a bad habit of picking up some jappa to flog around as a daily for a few months and ignoring the big bike, then jumping back on it haha....Had the Harley for 5 years now and still get those wobbles!!

Cheers.