Sawzall Heartbreak

Today I braved the cold to strip off some parts from my CB750. The plan was to remove the fenders and tail light bracket, have the chrome blasted off then have them, the tank, headlight bucket and side covers all painted basic black. I also removed the stock bars to be replaced with clubmans as well as the stock directional lights in favor of mini bullets. Aside from replacing the cracked original Dunlop tyre with a new T110, recovering the seat and cleaning up the accumulated dirt and grime my vision was to give my old Honda some freshening up. I was not planning on doing an entire frame off rebuild. But upon removing the gas tank I found this.



Some numbnuts took a sawzall to the upper frame rails to facilitate removing the engine to install the big bore kit. I should of caught this before I bought it, but I didnt. Now I'm in more than a bit of a shit pickle. I will consult some of my local pals for their input. But I might as well do a complete tear down now while I get the frame fixed and replace the swing arm bushings, grind off tabs, etc.

My daily ride just became a project. SHIT.

Peter Bagdanovich

One of my all time fave movies is Paper Moon,

directed by the legendary Peter Bagdanovich.


He was in town Friday night at the Indianapolis Museum Of Art to present and discuss Touch Of Evil, directed by his friend and mentor Orson Welles.

Brilliant.

Classic lid resurrection, part 1

I picked up this large size Arthur Fulmer AF50 helmet at the Martinsville swap meet for $5 last summer.

It has seen better days; the liner was falling apart and though still intact it was badly scuffed. But with my hard to fit big melon head and the availability of helmet relining services like Hel-Mutts and Justified Defiance it was the vintage brain bucket of tight budget dreams.

After wearing it on a a couple rides I got a bug to try relining it myself. How hard could it be? I got together my supplies and went to work.

Bondo
Sand Paper, Several Grades
Scotch Brite pad
Primer
Construction Adhesive
Headliner Adhesive
Lining Material
Masking Tape

I removed the old liner and saved the foam rubber.

Then I put it back together to see how it all fit.

I sanded off the flat black paint and filled in the gouges with bondo, then finish sanded it like I would a fender or body panel.

Unfortunately I couldn't salvage the original AF tag or "DOT Approved" sticker.

After I masked off the chin strap I sprayed on 3 coats of flat black primer.

I cut the bandana material using the foam rubber as a guide allowing for some extra material to wrap around the back side. After a quick dry fit I affixed it with the headliner glue. Then I reglued everything in place with construction adhesive.

I put the trim pieces back in place...ET VOILA!



It didnt come out perfect, but it was better than I expected. One word of caution if you try this at home, go easy with the headliner glue as it tends to bleed through. At some point I will probably redo it with brand new foam.

Nate Spainhower has kindly offered to paint it for me so stay tuned for part 2.

All hail the new dawn!

The Crap Shovel

My girlfriend is in the process of buying a new house. It's a four bedroom affair built in 1901 with a big (mostly) dry basement, great school district, perfect for her business and kids. But the seller is being pretty stubborn about fixing some things and coming down off his selling price.

Out back in the 2 car garage there is a crapped out shovelhead (reminds me of my horsetrading hillbilly grandpa's early Sportster that sat behind the garage for years after he died and eventually was thrown away by my grandma, but that's another story). It looks to be a 70s FLH that has been sitting in a barn (or outside) for several years, if not decades. The chrome is rusted and pitted, alloy is oxidized and the rear drum brake completely frozen. He started stripping off the sheet metal, bars, pegs, brake caliper, etc. I'm not sure if the motor turns over, but my guess would be it is stuck too. No clue if there is a title (lost titles are not a big deal in Indiana). Cash value is maybe $1500-2000.



My suggestion is that the owner leave it, along with the new riding mower, to make up for some problems that came up in the inspection. He'd be a fool not to go for it rather than come out of pocket for money he obviously doesnt have. We shall see...

Film noir

In addition to motos and music my other passion is movies, specifically film noir. I love the gritty, fatalistic realism, boiling sex and raw violence in the classic movies of the 30s-50s and some of the neo-noir efforts also. Brilliant stuff.






Perfect viewing for long, cold winter nights. Happy New Year!