Triumphrat

Ru55boy

Hankster, thanks so much for your comments, really made me smile. Nice to know I'm achieving the look I'm aiming for.

You'll love the seat, it'll make a huge difference to your bike and how much you enjoy riding it.





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weewards

LOVE the seat, nice one 8-()

Ru55boy

The Airbox Removal is under way and running on another thread... http://www.triumphrat.net/cruisers-a...x-removal.html

And, I've junked the Air Injection system too, well the tank was off and I was trying to decide what to do with the pipe to the now non-existant airbox, and it fits in with the whole bobber thing, so it had to go. It's made some space under the tank too.

Sad day today too, I made a SORN declaration so the bike is now officially off the road, probably until the spring.

And.. the nasty chrome tank console is not going to go back on. Either a proper paint job on the tank filling in the "ash tray" or almost entirely polished bare metal, we'll see.

Verde

I dig the bike all around. Somewhat randomly though, this might be my favorite mod of yours Nice repurposing.

Dropping the rear an inch will help the look of the gap, but you'd lose some of the handling.

I've done the plastic chrome dash removal. For dummy lights I used a small section of aluminum channel, some LED indicators, and some red LED license plate bolts though the front two mounts of the original dash. The red license plate bolts are the only ones hooked up now (to the oil pressure sensor) after a second going over on the wiring. I filled the factory dent with bondo. A few thin layers with time in between to hopefully avoid any problems of it shrinking as it cures. It has held up so far for almost 4 years, granted this bike doesn't see wild temperature swings that would shrink and expand the metal and bondo drastically. As a possible alternative, I had some crazy body repair man chew my ear off about using "All Metal" for big fillings instead of bondo. Warned me that he had to take it down with a grinder when he over did it though.


Good luck with the rest of the airbox removal.

Ru55boy

Thanks for the comments Verde. Like what you've done to your tank, I've never liked chromed plastic and the console had to go.
Undecided about the idiot lights, I was thinking about one of these...


But I like your idea more i think, maybe a brass strip with the original lights set in, or LEDs.



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Verde

I tired to do an electronic speedo with built in dummy lights, but it wasn't the right size for the speedo in headlight bucket set-up i was doing (not pictured above obviously). Found that out after asking the company the dimensions before ordering Had to stick with a mechanical mini speedo for that swap.

Just to throw another idea out there, you could also do something with the riser instead. I have home built one piece bars/riser now that I could do a switch panel on the back side if I wanted to.

Ru55boy

Okay here's how far I've got with the airbox removal...



The battery box is now bolted to side of the frame and hidden inside the canvas army pouch.



Wires need tidying up but I'm almost there. Just thinking about where to put the ignition barrel now, may even hide that in another pouch on the other side, dunno.
The cone filters are cheap rubbish ones purely as a mock up and to cover the intakes. Will go for something like K&Ns.






Anyway, I've had to switch priority to prepping the tank for paint. I've got the tank and rear mudguard booked in for a demo paint at the NEC bike show in Birmingham later this month with Samurai Paints. They claim to be specialist motorcycle aerosol paint suppliers. Flip, candy and sparkle paint on offer and they're gonna do it for free so what have I got to lose? Could turn out great, or if not I'll just get repainted. I do fancy old school metal flake, we'll see.



I've decided to make a brass bar for the idiot lights, and bolt to the tabs that originally held the front of the tank console.


And finally, a pic of headlight guard...

Ru55boy

Just won a vintage car brass petrol cap on eBay. Don't know what car it's off but it's OLD, could be 70 years?

So I cut off the 10mm threaded neck and gave the dark brown cap a polish, came up lovely. I took the plastic thread from my original cap, opened up the venting holes at the top of the thread and then bonded it to the brass with epoxy resin. I cut grooves into both surfaces to assist bonding.

I'm over the moon with the result....

Ru55boy

Well I came back from the show with the tank and rear mudguard freshly painted in a beautiful Lime Green courtesy of Samurai Paints website / Facebook. I can't believe the quality of finish, this is from rattle cans....







It's a Movember btw, not my usual look!

Ru55boy

Here's with the green bodywork resting on. I'm really pleased with where it's heading...





Ignition barrel relocated to the rear mudguard, brass surround with copper rivets. I was watching a James Bond film some time ago and remember a generic scene of an American military commander turning a key to arm the button that fires the nuclear missile. The switch had two settings, "Peace" and "War". Reckon Peace and War is far more descriptive than just Off and On. Looks clearer in the flesh...



Brass bracket housing the original idiot lights...





And finally, the fork brace. When I removed the front mudguard I noticed how substantial the mounting bracket was, it was obviously also acting as a brace. Figured a fork brace was a good idea and could also be used as a token fender.
So I trimmed the lugs off and rubbed down through the paint and rust. Polished up nicely and then had it zinc plated, love the result!..