Thunderbird Street Tracker.

[Phantom1500]

Hi John....just an update on where I'm up to...I redid the seat fittings in some 25x3mm stainless, just a much better look :-)





Headlight bracket trimmed..



Front indicator mounts done out of s/s as well..

[Tbird tracker]

Love the stainless Daz, like you said, it's a much better look and the redesigne is much neater than the original, did you tack the nuts to the inside in the frame mounts??.
Headlight definatly looks better tucked in closer and the indicators are very unobtrusive which is just what I wanted. Sweet
If you have enough of that 25x3mm stainless left, the rear guard mounts would look awsom in that, the top mount could be run on the underside of the guard instead of on top.
Come to think of it there isn't much point realy if your going to cover it with a glass ducktail!!! It's up to you though but leave it till the other bits are done & then only if you have time.
Excellent work as usual mate.

[Phantom1500]

With the seat nuts, I have a special tool for inserting "nutserts" these are a blind rivet just that you crimp through or into steel or alloy. Very clean and tidy.

Cheers

[El Skitzo]

So much progress lately, this is great. Nice work guys, keep it up

[Tbird tracker]

Hi Daz, just thinking about the battery box, you could allways make it an inch (25mm) or so longer at one end and have a divider for the battery, this would allow a place to put the blackbox for the electronic ignition and the flasher relay so they would be out of most of the weather, then have the Reg/Rec unit on the outside on the other end in the breeze.
Check you Email to, I sent some pics of the old ducktail that got lost, just to give you some ideas.
I also have a second length of that small diam Stainless tubing to use as a front stay for the front guard if you thing it's needed.

[Tbird tracker]

I dropped the second gearbox of to Trojan Classics Thursday arvo and had a look at the first box all pulled apart. you can see the water mark on the inside of the outer cover where water had got in and mixed with the oil, there is some fairly noticible pitting on some of the inturnal gears where they were sitting below the water line and some on the shafts as well, obviously that box had been sitting for a long time, the second box looks to be in much better nick so i'm hoping it will be a case of swapping the inturnals and replacing the bearings, seals and a couple of slightly worn gears. Fingers crossed as cash is in short supply atm, if I have to wait and save a few extra bucks to get a good box rebuilt, I will.

[Phantom1500]

Hi Daz, just thinking about the battery box, you could allways make it an inch (25mm) or so longer at one end and have a divider for the battery, this would allow a place to put the blackbox for the electronic ignition and the flasher relay so they would be out of most of the weather, then have the Reg/Rec unit on the outside on the other end in the breeze.
Check you Email to, I sent some pics of the old ducktail that got lost, just to give you some ideas.
I also have a second length of that small diam Stainless tubing to use as a front stay for the front guard if you thing it's needed.

OK, we can make the box wider to hide stuff (good idea), I will Fab up a s/s rear guard bracket and tuck it under the guard and make a skirt around the seat. Will send some pics as I go.

[Phantom1500]

What to do with a few spare hours.....I hear your bike a calling John. Now we have a front fender :-)

[Tbird tracker]

Cool, Looks just like a bought one. Let me know if you think it needs a stay up front, I have another one ready & I'll bring it when I come to pick up the bike.

[Phantom1500]

Cool, Looks just like a bought one. Let me know if you think it needs a stay up front, I have another one ready & I'll bring it when I come to pick up the bike.

I think it should be ok with just the rear brace.

[Phantom1500]

full day in the shed yielded some great results....

First up is the front drum brace



next new tank standoffs




Off with the old brace and on with the new




Now to play with battery placement


and new tray




Finished gap


Back together ready for another full days work tomorrow....


I had to fit the tank backwards due to the breather hose getting in the road for now.

[Tbird tracker]

Excelent work my friend. I am guessing you are going to do something with the breather so the oil tank can sit the right way around?
Front brake stay is cool, why didn't I think of that, it now has an extra mount point.
Battery box fits nicely and still has some room for other bits, im guesing the sweet oil tank stand offs helped with the room for the battery.
New cross brac sits just right.
Much happiness & joy all around

[Phantom1500]

I'm a bit scared to try to bend that little pipe cause it may either crimp or crack when moved, If I heat it it will crimp but a cold bend may crack.....I will look at it today :-)

Yep, those oil tank spacers were the only nice way to lower it without it looking like it has 14mm of spacers.

I'm working on the little bits today like:
1: rear ind mounts
2: rear fender brace and new s/s bracket
3: ign mount
4: electrical parts placement amd mounts
5: rear brake arm

[El Skitzo]

Fantastic work!! I lot of progress and it's looking awesome

[Phantom1500]

Hi John,
Another fun filled day in the shed with your baby...progress as follows:

Ign barrel and key fab'd and fitted.





Battery box and oil tank breather sorted and installed the correct way around now.



Rear fender bracket made and all tucked under the guard.


Added some bracing to stop the wagging tail effect.



And you now have rear indicators fitted.



The chain guard has also been dressed up and refitted.

Tomorrow leaves me with the dash lights and the exhaust brackets, not sure what to do with regards to the rear duck tail as yet.

[Tbird tracker]

Excelent, I owe you more money. Any thoughts on jacking the rear shock mounts up 30 or 40MM??
You could have the bottom of the mount braced along the swing arm a bit??
If you can't think of anything for this you could always remake the front bracket of the rear guard and move the mounting tab up 30mm on that side!
I gather you got the Email I sent to you re the duck tail, just for some ideas!!
Did you use the new folder for the key mount?? looks shit hot mate.
Jus had another brill idea, you could fit a small tool tray under the seat and ducktail maybe, just a thought.

[El Skitzo]

I like that key switch mount, thanks for the idea!

[Phantom1500]

Excelent, I owe you more money. Any thoughts on jacking the rear shock mounts up 30 or 40MM??
You could have the bottom of the mount braced along the swing arm a bit??
If you can't think of anything for this you could always remake the front bracket of the rear guard and move the mounting tab up 30mm on that side!
I gather you got the Email I sent to you re the duck tail, just for some ideas!!
Did you use the new folder for the key mount?? looks shit hot mate.
Jus had another brill idea, you could fit a small tool tray under the seat and ducktail maybe, just a thought.

The more I look at the rear shocks I'm not so keen on the bracket idea just because it's a structural part of the bike and under vairing loads, the best option would be to get longer shocks (I know that's extra money though).
The swing arm needs to drop down to both clear the guard mount and the exhaust bracket main bolt as you will see in the pics, I copied the mounting holes you had drilled in the mounts and re made them with the alloy plate you supplied.
I got your email with the duck tail pics, that looked heaps cool :-(.... I tried bending some alloy up but without the right forming tools it looked pretty crap and I can't buy an english wheel just yet.
I had to hand fold the key bracket as the folder doesn't arrive till sept.

I also looked at the rear brake setup and maybe a cable rear brake might solve a few issues... if you like and when we get a cable I can weld a lug on the frame above the brake pivot to attach the cable to as it will be a pull system rather than push?

You got me thinking with the tool bag and rear seat idea, why not get a nice leather pouch made up that goes under the rear part of the seat and out over the rear guard? that would look neat and carry those clean lines that we made???

Today:

Dash done.


New rear exhaust mounts.



Just an idea for the reg, it's just double sided taped there....?

[Tbird tracker]

Looks Great Daz, I think I'll go with the longer shocks, just another thing to add to the list of when I can afford it!!
Reg looks good there & close to the alt to for easy wiring. Only consideration would be that it could cop a bit of radiant heat from the bottom of the barrels at the lights & so on. What the hell do it, I don't thing it should be an issue. Rear exhaust brackets look better than mine, I figured you might remake them & thats probable all that alloy plate used up.
I'll look in to the leather tool roll idea. Thanks for all the hard work, I'm tied up the rest of the week, is Saturday ok for pickup??

[Phantom1500]

Looks Great Daz, I think I'll go with the longer shocks, just another thing to add to the list of when I can afford it!!
Reg looks good there & close to the alt to for easy wiring. Only consideration would be that it could cop a bit of radiant heat from the bottom of the barrels at the lights & so on. What the hell do it, I don't thing it should be an issue. Rear exhaust brackets look better than mine, I figured you might remake them & thats probable all that alloy plate used up.
I'll look in to the leather tool roll idea. Thanks for all the hard work, I'm tied up the rest of the week, is Saturday ok for pickup??

Im working days sat and sun this week and then nights mon/tue/wed but will be awake between 2-4 on those nights or after 6 sat night.

Yeh, I used most of the heavy alloy flat on the exhaust brackets. The heat from the engine won't be an issue.