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100 HP Softail Sportster Project
Mating A Buell To A Custom Chopped Sport, Part 8 Photos and Text by Rebel |
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Sorry it’s taken so long to get this next section done, but in addition to every conceivable delay known to man; I moved again. The new place has electricity in the garage, not that the bikes here. But let’s take a few minutes to walk through the final steps to freedom. This was intended to be the last section, but as I’ve been writing it the story lengthens. I had to bust it into two sections. So, there will be one more section after this. This section has been written over the last year, almost. I’ll have to check and see when I actually sent the last section. Seems like sometime back in the dark ages.
First off, the bike I built is not the same as the original plan. But what is? This bike was and is supposed to be cheap. Not crappy, but built with the idea that I don’t have all the money in the world. I can’t have everything I see that looks cool. I can’t build the bike from my Christmas wish list. The bike had to be built using a realistic budget. Ya, I know that’s one of those words we men don’t really like to use. It’s one that puts restrictions on what we do. And that isn’t supposed to be mixed up in the building of a trusty steed. But reality is here to stay Brothers. One major condition of the original plan was to use everything of quality from the donor Buell. Originally that included some parts that later got scrapped. That means they didn’t get used on the project. They didn’t end up in the dumpster, though. They got sold on Ebay! Let’s face it. A Harley inspired bike does not run on 17 inch rims. Here, take a look at what I mean…
Looks kind of funny, doesn’t it. Now here is the same bike, same angle with the correct size rims. Notice the BIG difference?
The rims lead to some brake changes on the rear wheel. Couldn’t be helped, but the cast off Buell parts are out there somewhere stopping someone’s bike. Sold them on Ebay! I bought that 2000 Softail caliper and a rotor from you guessed it, Ebay. Joel machined a steel stop to keep it from rotating and welded it to the swingarm.
Something else that affected the bike project was money. Oh yeah, I already said that one. But this time I was talking about not having a job, so that meant NO money, not low money. I was out of work for eight months and during that time the bills still needed to get paid. Fuckers.
Nothing takes longer than building your own bike, when you don’t have another one to ride. I don’t care if you did it in six days, six months or six years. It takes forever. For me forever isn’t over yet. FUCK! Anyway, when last we spoke the bike was floating somewhere near the end of the journey but just short of the line. When you are getting Brothers to build parts for you, complaining about how long it takes just isn’t in the cards. The one thing that you must keep in mind is that without the help of friends, you would NEVER finish. Period. That said I did sit and wait a bunch during this build. Technically, I could have had this thing done in at least half the time if I had just bought everything. But that was never in the cards. Remember that money thing? Ok, so what was left? I still needed the exhaust finished. I bought a set of Khrome Werks ARII baffles from J&P, online of course. These are the same baffle design that comes in their patented ARII mufflers. I just finished putting them in this morning.
Believe it or not, I read the directions. They suggested taking the pipes off the bike, duh. So I did. I used a couple pieces of wood to help me line the pipes up on the ground.
Then I measured one inch from the ends and marked it with a Sharpie. Next I lightly tapped a locating dimple on the pipe and drilled a 5/16 pilot hole. After swapping in a ¼ inch drill bit I finished off the holes and deburred them will a file.
After drilling the holes I slipped the baffles into the pipes. I did this before drilling the holes to test fit the baffles. They were a bit loose so I carefully bent the edges of the baffles a bit to tighten things up. I really think the baffles are too small for the pipes. They need to be manufactured a bit larger in my opinion. Take a look at the end shot and you’ll see what I mean. By the way, these are the proper baffles for the ¾ inch pipes.
We modified the baffles again after I got the bike down to Joel’s shop, J&T CNC in San Diego. We added some tubing around the ends of the baffles to act as a spacer and make them fit tightly in the tubes. That way they don’t rattle around.
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