First build

This is my first build. I have posted for a while now but today was the first day I had where everything was in that allowed me to do my first step of painting the frame.

So far this build is going to be a retro/vintage looking Indian cruiser/board track racer.

The frame is a GT2A Skyhawk frame with 150mm drop out. The front forks are black powder coated 1 1/8" threadless Sunlite Deluxe double springer. Once my threadless stem arrives Monday I hope the paint to be cured enough to assemble the head set so I can cut my steer tube down to size then I will be using Eastwood Down to Metal paint and powdercoat stripper so I can paint the forks in the same color as the frame.

Anyways here are the photos I have taken from what I have done today.

Primered with Dupli-Color self etching primer

Base coat

Base Coat w/ Indian Script

First coat of clear

Second coat of clear

Third and final coat of clear

For me the shape of the frame resulted in some over spray with the clear so I am hoping when it comes to the buff stage after this clear had time to dry it will buff out. If not I still have some clear left over and I will simply put more clear where it needs it and just blend it in.

For those that are wondering the paint is 1949/1950 Dodge Red. This red as per PaintRef.com shows the mixing code is the same as Coke-Cola red. Which from my research a guy who had these bikes new said the closest match to Indian red was Coke-Cola red as that's what his guy did when there wasn't any Indian red for his bike he would use Coke-Cola red for a almost perfect match. The clear is automotive grade high gloss clear that I purchased from AutomotiveTouchup which is where the base coat came from as well. I have used their paint in the past for automotive and am very impressed with color matching even for 40+ year old vehicles that are sun bleached.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Well they didn't get the wheel finished today. No call so I wont get the wheel tomorrow as I am out of town all day.

Anyways I got off work early today stopped off at Advance Auto Parts and picked up two bottles of Meguairs ultimate. I got a compound and a polish one. They didn't have the Showcar glaze yellow carnuba wax so have to get that later. But I spent about an hour today using the compound on the fuel tank and the roughness in the clear has smoothed out quite a bit and the sheen on the finish is more brilliant. So I will be probably spending tomorrow afternoon after I get back compounding the frame more and probably spend Sunday doing the same.

Tomorrow my brake rotors from Amazon are to be delivered so I will have to match up what thread my front hub and hub adapters are for my disc brakes and hit up Lowes to see if they have some stainless/chrome button head allen/torx bolts to attach the rotors. I think they would look better than head headed bolts. Might take and replace my 44T drive cog mounting bolts with allen head/torx bolts to give a more professional clean look.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Well, tried flikr as I already had a site there but it just wouldn't give me a link to share that would work on the other forum I am on. So I uploaded my pictures there to share them but it has a link so I will be trying to share the three I shared today using those links embedded here.

These pictures are taken after about 2 hours of using Meguairs ultimate compound by hand with a microfiber towel. I didn't want to burn the clear or eat through the clear using a powered polisher so I am doing it by hand.

The first two photos below if they work are of the frame after 2 hours of hand compounding. In the second photo you can see the frame between the seat down tube and the engine mount is dull as I have not polished it yet when these two pictures were taken.

This next image is after about 5 minutes of compounding the spot between the seat down tube and the engine mount. I added the compound to the rag three times and I went from the second photo to this kind of shine.

Aside from that I was out of town today so I had no calls or messages from the bike shop my wheel has been there for 7 days now and still hasn't been finished. I was told when I called Friday during lunch it was scheduled to be built today and that it would be finished today as in on Friday. Still not finished. I will have to go over there tomorrow at noon since they are open 10am - 2pm on sundays, find out what the hold up is as my wheel has been there with them working 10am to 7pm on Monday, Wed, Thurs, and Fri. Sunday they had it 10am - 2pm and Saturday when I dropped it off at 10:15am they had it 10:15am to 5pm. So honestly something is up as if they can build a wheel in one day what is the hold up. If they are going to charge me $50 to build a wheel then get on it otherwise they need to knock some money off as I was told Friday it would be ready and it wasn't.

On the upside, today I got my two brake rotors from Amazon, I got from Niagara via Amazon (they shipped fast in this case lol) my two ten packs of 5mm and 2mm spacers. Then from MBRebel where I bought my wheel set from I got my black drop stand. I will have to pull the stand apart and force it to fit my wider frame but once I do that and tighten it down it should straighten itself out and flex.

Tires were to be here Tuesday but they are ahead a day so will be here Monday. Could have had the bike pieced together with the forks installed sitting in the garage on the wheels till my tires came in then I could assemble them and get this done. Be one more step closer to bicycle status.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Well I did some work on the fuel system today even though I don't have the engine. Found out the aluminum threads are screwed up already so I threaded in with a wrench what is supposed to be the right size 1/8" MIP Got a little off straight but I am going to get a brass 1/8" NPT so I have a hex head to install it. I will use some petroleum safe Teflon sealant tape to seal the threads and bottom the fitting out. This will give me a male 1/8" NPT threads to use for my filter housing.

http://www.tractorpartsasap.com/Sediment-Bowl-Assembly-p/107944.htm?gclid=CLra3K6d_dQCFQwoaQod5gEJiA

I emailed the above as Ive done business with them for tractor parts in the past. This sediment bowl filter assembly uses 1/8" NPT female threads for both inlet and outlet. How ever due to the offset nature I need to know the actual dimensions of said filter as I don't want to spend $65+ for this only to find out I cant spin it on as it hits my seat tube. I also want to know how tall it is as I am going to do some research on how much room there is between the engine and the fuel tank in this area. If there is enough room great I will use a 1/8" NPT brass 90* barb fitting to turn the hose forward towards the engine. If not since I want to use a Mikuni 18mm carb I might get the offset long intake tube for it and it should in theory give me more room directly below the fuel outlet for the fuel tank. It also makes a difference on if I use a 90* or a straight barb fitting out the back.

I rather go this route how ever as it presents a vintage but yet cleaner look as the fuel shut off and filter is all contained in one assembly not requiring a cheesy plastic filter flopping loose mounted inline.

If for some reason this does not work then I will have to find a 1/8 NPT to 3/8 NPT female adapter which would allow me to make use of a Ford tractor sediment filter assembly with fuel shut off. This has the fuel inlet centerline to the filter and not offset like the John Deere version above. I really don't want to run adapters I want to run as few adapers and joints as possible for a more professional look.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Still waiting on my wheel. Called yesterday they are having a hard time finding the right spoke length gave me a story bout how there is no tool to tell what spoke length you need so the mechanic has to assemble the wheel and go from there. Said they are making progress and should be ready Friday. Come Friday I will call them up and if its not ready I will go Saturday and just request the wheel back as there are online calculators to figure the proper length spokes I think they don't want to mess with it and are just jerking my chain wasting my time through the guise of working on it.

Aside from that my fuel filter stuff should be here tomorrow. Hopefully the filter isn't too big and will look good on the bike.

I got my tires in yesterday look good and thankfully there are no markings on the white walls. Tubes I ordered will be in Thursday and hopefully they are not defective seems lots of people are having problems with tubes out of the box and tubes leaking air over night. When I had my mountain bike as a kid I remember putting air in the tire like every 2 or 3 weeks. Not every couple days.

I'm currently looking at fenders I might have the best bet of going with shorty duck tail fenders but they come in black or chrome. I am leaning towards chrome but some friends are telling me I should go black as the bike has more black on it. But that's the reason I am leaning towards chrome is I want a balance between black and chrome trim.

 

[gary55]

This bike is going to be amazing.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Thanks. Only thing I did different is I went with a Stens 120-030 filter assembly ment for a briggs and Stratton mower. I figure its for a riding mower so it should be fairly compact and its better than the Briggs boxed one which has a weird fuel shut off valve that requires pliers to turn.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CNVF4OQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Crisco]

Thanks. Only thing I did different is I went with a Stens 120-030 filter assembly ment for a briggs and Stratton mower.

I like this idea of a water seperator that you can see into. Might have to grab one of these...

 

[Rusty_S85]

I like this idea of a water seperator that you can see into. Might have to grab one of these...

Eh its not really a water separator but water will pool in the bottom its a additional feature that it wasn't really designed for.

On my '56 Fairlane I rebuilt a double action fuel pump so I could have a sediment bowl like this. This bs ethanol blended fuel sucked the moisture out of the air and it separated where I could see water in the bottom of the sediment bowl. But in the case with ethanol blended fuel mixed with 2 cycle oil, I don't think it would separate.

But I have to see if it will work I have a male/male 1/8" NPT brass nipple that I will screw into the aluminum fitting and then spin this filter assembly onto the nipple. Hopefully its small enough to spin being offset and not smack the seat tube. If it doesn't then I am thinking of situating it with the shut off on the right side of the bike then the left side will be the fuel out and I have a 1/8" NPT 90 degree 1/4" barb fitting to thread in. Hopefully it wont interfere with the engine if it does then I might have to run a Z bend off set intake manifold with my Mikuni 18mm carb I want to run to get it away from the fuel bowl. That's the big problem for me is I don't have the engine to assemble it to see how it will all fit. I want the engine to be the last thing bought so incase there is a problem the warranty is not already expired as it wasn't the first thing I bought.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Got my fuel related parts in today. Just need to check at work tomorrow and see if I have a 1/8" NPT tap as the soft aluminum since the threads were messed up the brass fitting I threaded in went in not straight. It wont leak I bet but I know its not straight to the flange and its going to bug the **** out of me. Even though other people will most likely not even notice it.
Here is the supply side of the sediment bowl assembly, the 90* fitting is angled like that as that's about how it has to be to be level with the bike sitting on the ground. The sediment bowl will be at an angle but that will not hurt its function as a filter.

And here is the shut off valve side of the sediment bowl housing. Hopefully the shut off valve functions, lots of people talked about how the briggs and Stratton brand doesn't fully shut the fuel off. This being a different brand hopefully works.

 

[Crisco]

Perdy..!