My Custom 1973 Ironhead
#Warning# This is going to be slow going
Find 1973 Ironhead in Canada - Check
Import - Check
Now to strip bike down and see what needs attention prior to taking it over the pits for licensing.
First Job - Fork Seals are leaking:
- Pull apart to replace slider seal.
- Snap a few bolts
- Fry a bushing
- Melt some tiny o-rings
- Purchase complete rebuild kit which contains all of the above.
- Install slider seal
- Simple Right?
And since everyone else is doing it :
- Shave of the ugly reflector mounts & Polish them up. I left the fender mounts on as WA Vehicle Standards say I need one.... and when it rains I want one!... (rather than the gaffer tape between the forks trick you see on the Jap Choppers).
Before Shot:
Rough Shaving on a Lathe
Let the Sanding Begin
Final 600grit W&D sanding compared to finished polish. Polish is with Black then Brown bar buffing compounds, then Mothers paste to finish:
Bit better than when I started:
Hard work but well worth it, looks good
Oil Hoses are all cracked and leaking. Found these fast red ones. Seem to be good for oil up to 120c. You'll hopefully start to see a bit of a theme emerging here. I don’t want to say the "B" word. But I'm planning to simplify the bike somewhat. Think Zen, any decorating should be functional or forgotten. Trying to lose as much of the bolt on chrome coverings and bullshit that I can along the way.
Speaking of wheel building & polishing.
I was trying to salvage the old rear hub with no tools in the middle of a Canadian winter..... Next day I went out and got the biggest set of bolt cutters $ could find!
Trying to find OEM idiot lights is bloody hard and the secondhand stuff I could find was shitty, expensive and funnily enough, outdated technology.
I went searching and found some aviation LED indicator lights on ebay.
A few holes later, some alloy plate (just so happened my aluminium straight edge is the perfect size for this piece.... it is now 60mm shorter than it was ) a biy more polishing and there you have it.
I moved the Hi Beam indicator off the original gauge mounts as this will be going for a mini fork mouted job later abd stuffed if I could find an OEM red lense for it either. I'm planning to keep the brow mounted light on the finished bike at this stage. I think its pretty compact already and would be hard beat to minimise any further.
I'm fitting an Cycle Electric generator mounted regulator to my bike. Started by pulling off all the chrome covers from previous life. Found the clamp on brush cover had been removed for cosmetics leaving the brush end of the gen open to all Canada's grimy/salty roads have to offer! I pulled the gen and gave it a good flooding clean with a can of contact cleaner i/s and a lick of paint on the outside. I tidied up the brush contact area but didn't replace anything.
To test it I just wired the generator up like a motor. It ran, so hopefully it's OK. To do this I clamped it in a vice and wired it up like I was going to polarize it and off she went. This obviously also has the added advantage of doing the polarizing at the same time.
My aluminium straight edge took another hit. It's now the new brush cover
Slowly Plugging away at things here
Got the wheels built
I managed to pick up a 1 bid ebay win while in CA on an 18" rear wheel. The 16" steel rim on the bike when purchased had a snapped spoke and was more rust than chrome. The newie came with an OEM Borrani alloy rim. Yes, it is the tapered bead type that gets dished pretty heavily by the high performance crew so they go pretty cheap anyway. I have fitted Dunlop k70's front & back and apart from being easier to fit as the bead does not need breaking they seem pretty snug. Biggest issue with these is the bead won't hold when running flat. Plenty of people is the US have been running them on modern tyres for decades now too.
Anyway I broke the rim down, bagged the hup for a spare and got polishing.
Here is the ebay purchase.
Get Polishing
Get lacing
So I used the FSM for the hub offsets and pattern. All good on the back...
Not so good on the front... For some reason (Maybe the 1 off 73 bannana brake) it was 8 mm out and rubbing on the guard when I went to install. Back on the stand for another go c/w tyre on, but I took a picture this time. Not perfect, but way better than when I got it. The OEM front hubs are just sand cast finish with a rough grind at joint only. it took some time to get this far.
Lesson: Check fit constantly and whenever you can.
Asher
So
Bit of an update
I managed to do some damage to my calf after having a kicker incident. Ratchet Slipped. Tore it pretty bad, ever heard of compartment syndrome?
Anyway.
All was going to plan, I had the bike back together ready to take it over the pits. Took it for a Saturday arvo blat round the burb. Stalled at a stop sign. Went to quickly fire it up again when it slipped. Managed to get it going next kick and get home. Spent the next two weeks on the couch. Next 4 weeks in rehab.
Aftermath of that is that I am now the proud owner of a Tech Cycle Tornado Starter .
A Couple of chores to do because of this:
Like fit a starter ring gear to the clutch sprocket.
Pulled the primary cover. Got the release disc off and pulled the plates only to have them crumble into a million pieces at my feet. WTF! More like HTF was this thing running!
Check the damage:
The clutch was actually real smooth on the test run the week earlier. Oil drained from previous owner was dark and showing its age but with little evidence of this.
I recon I know how it happened. The Transmission sprocket (final chain to tire) has an incorrect spline on it that allowed it to twist 10 or so degrees on the shaft. This constant banging as the bike accelerated/decelerated as transferred to the clutch teeth. Check out the mushroomed ends.
Hope there is not to much more damage beyond. Some sideways movement in the clutch sprocket may explain the kicker slippage though. Mainshaft bearings...?
Well on the bright side, At least I have another cover to polish.
New modern style starter now squeezed into the XLCH.
It wasn’t a straight bolt up. I had to grind back the oil tank mount & part of the sprocket cover mount on the engine case to get it in. Plus minor surgery to both the sprocket cover and cam cover. I fitted a direct start to the solenoid which helped in checking the meshing of the starter gear. Has to shim it out about 5mm to get it to align properly with the new ring gear on the clutch basket. Nothing just fits, but in the end I managed to get it together without losing the lunch box shaped oil tank so I’m pretty happy.
While I had the clutch apart I replaced the flogged out ratchet gear and bushing amongst the other bits thus solving the slipping kicker problem and part of the want for a starter in the first place .... anyway it was a good engineering challenge.
I replaced the old led-acid battery with a LiFePO4 battery to give me the required crancking amps for the starter without the size. It pretty well fits where the old XLCH one went (a little wider) but I figured I may as well test its gravity defying technology. It will get moved again when the hardtail goes on.
- Now just waiting on one pissy little oil fitting to get the lines all plumbed up (that was painful work).
Then off to licensing
All back together...
- Starter neatly sandwiched between the original XLCH Lunch box oil tank and cylinder. Had to notch the covers, but kept most of the facade of the kick-only cover intact.
- Picked up a secondhand Sele Italia seat from the period on Gumtree for 60$
- Ditched the sissy bar. That offset the weight of the starter! bloody heavy
Vehicle examination time.
Any suggestions where to take it? ‘DoT Vehicle Examilation Station’ or ‘Approved Inspection Station’.
Well done mate, your bike is a credit to you!
G'day Asher
That's sweet mate.
Alloy is Ok - the trick is to keep it maintained rather than let it go and then try to bring it back.
A regular wash & polish keeps it looking good and provides an opportunity to look for loose nuts & bolts or "jetisoned" bits & pieces.
I always get good results with Autosol however elbow grease is the key ingredient.
Love your bike - post some more pics !
FWIW - I have an '85 Roadster - last of the iron barrels - that I bought new. 30 years old next year ! It has been off the road for a while now - maybe 5 years ? My mission this year is to get the old girl back on the road.
Enjoy the ride.
Philthy
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