Father And Son Project

[Greyfell]

Plating is actually easy to do, just seems difficult when you've never done it. I like Harper6t's setup for small items. Back when I had summer jobs during college I did some silver plating of copper bars, for better electrical conductance. They would then be used in equipment bound for power plants.

 

[grandpaul]

I know it's not that hard once you have the setup right, it's just more fuss than I'm willing to undergo.

It didn't make financial sense to plate stuff myself for the business, especially since there were almost always rims and fenders.

Anyway, I'm phasing out the business, and sold off all my project bikes, so my needs are likely to be zero in the future.

 

[Greyfell]

You're right, GP, rims and fenders require bigger tanks, more power and more time. If you had any limitations on those it was better to sub it out. I wouldn't get started in plating, now, with the ridiculous rules put in place by the EPA, and/or the California Legislature.

 

[harper6t]

A little progress of late, here is a (fuzzy - must clean the lens) shot of the engine and gearbox in the frame, have been looking to do the wheels up, using a sprung hub on the rear and a '55 T100 front wheel, pics below of the "before" as I wanted the spoke patterns to be sure when I am putting them together. I bought some alloy rims and stainless steel spokes. So far I have the front brake close to finished and the hub painted and ready to go back together, while the back wheel is taking a bit of time to get apart to see what I have. Paintwork has been done for the tank and guards, and the forks are done and ready to go back once I have the wheels together.

.

 

[Rocky]

Projects like these are a labour of love. Good progress so far

 

[triumph david]

Looking Good!!!!!!!

 

[harper6t]

I got the new rims and spokes from England and have made a bit of progress on the front wheel, pulled apart and cleaned and packed the bearings and repaintded the hub, while my son did the lacing up, he has started a motorcycle technician apprenticeship at a Harley/Ducati dealership and did a wheel building session at TAFE college recently so got this job to do and got it done very quickly - easy when you know how. I have rebuilt a few wheels but always struggle, its pretty cool being able to hand on this job. Now to move on to the rear wheel.

 

[grandpaul]

That is so cool.

My parents hated motorcycles, so I never had that privilege. I did START building a pair of bikes side-by-side with my middle son, but after we got the engine bottom ends done, both frames powdercoated, and all the parts for both back from chrome, we only got his springer fork built back up and installed, then he got married, joined the army, and moved away.

Keep 'em as close as you can, for as long as you can!

 

[keystiger]

VERY COOL!!!
Ive begun a Father son PRoject as well... inspired by your thread harper6t.
My son is a bit older and doesnt ride-- so we went for a different approach--- perhaps we can haul yours to the bike show with ours
'79 Ford Ranger 100 fires and runs down the road solid just needs A lot of TLC

 

[Qship]

That IS a very nice solid looking truck to do a project on, Keys.
Have fun with that. Teach him all the great cuss words one uses when working on old cars/trucks

 

[keystiger]

All ready begun .....the cussing has ALL READY begun lol

It is a solid one thank you -0-- couple minor body issues for its age.,...and the wiring is a rats nest hodge podge of --- who knows --- but --- good bones--- will be fun--- not going for Barrett Jackson level restore--- just a 'round town runner for fun

 

[harper6t]

Some more progress, wheels have been completed and tyres fitted, starting to put a few more parts together, but progress is always slower than hoped. Partly because its a bitsa bike and is being built as I go, i.e. it has not been put together first to make sure everything fits and I keep coming up against things that don't quite fit without a load of pushing, pulling, cutting, filing and cursing before they go together. also there are lots of little parts to be made along the way including the front mudguard stays and mounting bolts, the brake pedal and torque arm mounting bolts

 

[Rocky]

Nice to see it coming together

 

[triumph david]

Looking better and better, keep it up, love the pictures of progress!

 

[harper6t]

progress is slow and now in the last couple of months my son has brought home a Ducati 1000SS that he picked up for a song , which needed a little work, an Aprilia RS125 that needs a rebuild to fix a problem with the gears and his "dream" bike a Suzuki RE5 rotary which needs restoration, he's getting worse than me and crowding me out of the garage, I had to rearrange things to fit the extra bikes in. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

 

[harper6t]

A bit of work yesterday, I couldn't find a rear brake lever to fit the smaller square on the early sprung hub brake, so I have spent the day making one to fit until I find a genuine item. Fun and games in cutting a square hole in a piece of metal, starting with 4 holes drilled in the corners and the another hole in the middle and then a load of filing. all this is done by eye so its good to actually get it to fit and work, it's pretty basic but it will work for the moment and looks like some of the simpler ones Triumph used.

 

[grandpaul]

What was wrong with the original brake arm (besides some peeling chrome)?

 

[harper6t]

What was wrong with the original brake arm (besides some peeling chrome)?

The brake pivot on the sprung hub actually has a smaller diameter than normal rigid brake pivot and the square is consequently smaller so if I tried the original Triumph lever its too loose and has about 45 degrees of slack movement. This is a bike made up of bits and pieces and I couldn't find an original of the correct size.

 

[grandpaul]

Ah, so...

 

[harper6t]

It's been a while since last update
I have ditched the sprung saddle for a dual seat,
decided to not put a charging system , instead fitted a tacho, it is after all a bit of a racer
got it all together and had it sitting for a while, still needs a battery and a bit of fettling.
My son wanted to start it so tonight we have stuck some oil and petrol in her and started it, sounds good. Too late to take pics tonight so will put up a couple tomorrow.
A few oil leaks to attend to and looks like one carb is flooding a bit, but should be a goer soon, not bad for a bike built largely from bits leftover from other projects.