Finished and ground!

Here is the finished and ground axle plate! I had to use some brass for filler, but you won't be notice it after the frame is painted.


Here you can see both plates. This is a great fix.

Center stand repair pieces!!!!

The bottom piece is all you end up using for this repair. It is a little more difficult to do the finish grinding with this set up, but you don't mess with the integrity of the original machining. The line is rough cut with a cut off wheel in this pic. I sanded it to fit in place before I welded it onto the frame.


You can see the fixture that I use for locating the repair piece in this pic. It has six mounting points, so I know that the center stand holes are in the exact spot that they are supposed to be in.



Here you can see the piece welded onto the frame.




Here is the backside with the fixture removed.

Here it is all welded up. I am very satisfied with how these repair pieces worked out. It is a lot less work than making the missing pieces from scratch.

machining fixtures!!!

I scribed the outline of the casting onto a piece of ground steel, and machined a pocket into it.


I drilled and tapped a 3/8 16 hole for the clamp. You can see how the casting sits in the pocket in this picture. Once I have the hole in the casting dialed in, I can mill out the 3/8 hole for the centerstand mount.

Here is the action shot.

Undrilled and drilled for your viewing pleasure.

Free motorcycle part contest

This is the prototype lay out for our next reproduction part


Sometimes I feel like I am just posting on this site for myself. I know a lot of people read this blog daily, and I would like to see more comments on here. So I am having a contest. Here are the rules, The first person to correctly guess what this box is for, will get one of our prototype mystery parts that goes inside of it. The contest is over as soon as I post a picture of the prototype part. The last rule is-- if I have already told you what the part is, you are not allowed to guess.

The only clue that I am giving you is that the mystery part is for big twins and fits 36 to 64 big twins.

Pretty gas tanks!!!!!

Here is a tank I got in the mail while I was in colorado. Check back later this summer to see the final assembly of this 36 EL.

I figured I would take a pic of this 39 tank while I was up in the paint area. I pulled the airway blue sample off of an early 39 rear fender.

axle stay fix

This frame is a 1940 knucklehead frame that somebody cut the axle stops off of. This is kind of an odd set up, because the chopper dudes usually cut off the mounts for the centerstand when they were chopping frames back in the day.


In this pic you can see how I built the forgings up with weld.



Here is the right side forging after grinding, sanding and texturing. This whole process took three hours, what a bunch of work.

Here you can see each side. The stop is different on each side, it helps a lot to have a nice frame around for measuring and comparison

1935 VL front fork fix!!!!

uh-oh, how is the steering dampner going to anchor? It appears as if somebody ground off some of the fork forging over the past seventy years.


In this pic you can see how I built it up with weld.



Here is the finished product, it turned out well, the steering dampner anchor fits like a glove.

cracked forks mang

shit mang, this 36 fork leg is cracked. This happens when water gets inside of the fork and freezes. The cracks are usually on the back of the legs, this is the second one that I have seen on the front of the fork leg.


In this pic you can see how I ground a v into the crack for better weld penetration.

Here it is all welded up. I made two passes with the tig welder to keep the heat down. I finished this repair with a file. Draw filing is a lot of work, but you have a ton of control over what is going on, and get a better finished product. Check out the skinny fender tab, this was used on 36 and early 37 bigtwins.

Check out the cool stuff I got in the mail while I was on vacation!!!! Part 1!!!!

Here is a stack of 36 to 38 handlebar lock plates and lock pins. These are perfect in every detail, I just have to put them together and send them to Pat to get chrome plated. The rivets are different when compared to 39 and later plates, plus they are chrome plated steel rather than polished stainless.


Here are some intake manifold plates, I posted the blueprint for these awhile back, and I finally got the finished parts.



Here are some 39 and later handlebar lock plates, these are stainless steel, I have to send them off to get polished, these are bitchin. You can not tell these from originals. It makes me so happy to make good reproduction parts.




Here are some clips for horn buttons. we were down to 1 clip, so we made up 100 of them. we are looking into making the complete horn assembly. I will have to see how it prices out before I commit to anything. If you are interested in a perfect reproduction horn button for your bike let me know, and I will put you on the list.

BB47 colorado pics

Here is a black bike with a black background. This is a pretty neat looking pic, the bike fades into the background and kind of turns into a silhouette.


Here is a pic of Mike doing his thing, this guy is a magician with a camera, he makes our hillbilly work look really nice. Thanks Mike!!



Here is a pic with the white background. The cardboard was to catch oil leaks, Mike and Steve said most of the bikes they shoot leak. I think they were probably just trying to make me feel better. lol.




This is the only bike I saw him dust, dirt really shows up on black motorcycles.

Here it is with a white background, what a bike!!!! I love 47 FLs, we probably do two of these bikes a year.