Prowler

[ChrisG]

How do you decide on a shape, do you sit on the bike and somehow mock up where you want the grips, or do you do an initial bend to what you think it's going to need and then keep trying and adjusting?

 

Loving the dolphin!

[LIAW]

How do you decide on a shape, do you sit on the bike and somehow mock up where you want the grips, or do you do an initial bend to what you think it's going to need and then keep trying and adjusting?

 

Loving the dolphin!

 

thanks, yes I will sit on the bike and position my hands where I feel relaxed and make a note of the angle of pull back I need by holding two short pieces of tube, then it will be trial and error by tack welding parts together and checking that it is correct for me while also missing the fuel tank on full turn, in my head at the moment the upright rise section of the bars will be flat plate,

ultimately they have to be comfortable, clear the tank, look different and be narrow enough to get them through my shed door 

[LIAW]

not much but painted 'new' worse condition top yoke so I can have normal height handle bar rise, today I'm going to look into cause of fast idle not shutting down

[LIAW]

right then, due to emotional feelings I've not done anything with the bike, but now there is a spark starting inside me again, it's been hard to get round to making a start so I just thought ''start at the bottom'',

so I have sorted out the main stand problem (I hope) of not raising the bike far enough, the rear wheel was only 5mm off the ground on level surfaces, I thought it would be the bolts out of round and while there was a little bit of 'ovalling' in the bolt holes I didn't think it was enough to cause lowering of the bike, the underside of the mainstand feet were really worn and bent though, so I have welded on a couple of 4mm plates to create a level surface again, the weld easily burnt through the existing metal so I know it had become thin,

the other thing was the stand wouldn't return to the fully upright position, I thought it was weak springs but actually the sides of the holes were very lightly 'mushroomed' over making the area thicker and jamming it in the mounts, I re-painted it too and it should look better than the rust  , I'll refit it later, one small piece at a time 

[LIAW]

the stand was re-fitted and works freely and must've raised the bikes value by at least fifty pence without the visible rust,

the bike is much more stable now with both areas flat to the ground (it rocked easily before), the rear wheel has enough space under it for my fingers too so future parking on uneven ground should be a bit more possible,

I've got a summer bug now so I don't feel like doing much, other than going to bed with my ladybird 

[dapleb]

One bit at a time LIAW.

[LIAW]

bug almost gone now so able to do something :good: , before starting on the major bodywork issues I need to know the bike is running acceptably  , so the first thing to do is sort out the stuck fast idle as it continues to rev at 3000rpm once warmed up,

I managed to get the end of the fast idle part of the throttle body off (the bit with the wax in) without removing the throttle body itself, there was some spillage of coolant but only half a mug full,

the moving parts that came away were all moving freely, the part that was stuck was in the part left on the throttle body, the bar/pin was stuck fast but with a bit of gt85 and some gentle tapping with a drift and hammer had it freed up, I was able to pull it out of the housing with a pair of long nose pliers, it was very grubby, it cleaned up well though and the hole that it goes through was cleaned out with a bit of 1200 grit paper wrapped around a cotton bud, I smeared a very light covering of copper grease on all the moving parts and reassembled, it all now moves freely,

while I was removing the airbox I found it still had the k&n filter I fitted 20 years ago but it didn't look like it had been cleaned after I sold the bike, so that has been properly washed out, dried and re-oiled, 

it has been reassembled but I didn't try it out yet as if it didn't work right I would've kept everyone awake last night with smashing things up kind of noises,

I'll try it today but only now it is raining  :angry:

[dapleb]

Haa lettuce snow how the running goes. Sounds loike it should be smooth.

[LIAW]

well it rode great, just as I remembered it, easy to control at low speed now, I only did about 20 miles but it was enough,

today I will be stripping the front end and decide on which bits to do first, probably steering bearings as it didn't like my choice of straight line, it seemed to prefer a gentle meandering zigzag

[LIAW]

change of plan, it rained a lot today and I didn't get to do anything other than think, I have now decided to do the last thing first, the paintwork, might as well get it done while there is still some warmth to the air,

the stainless fixing welding and polishing can be done ok in the colder times

[LIAW]

so as I hadn't done much riding I decided to do just that, I took it out for a reasonable ride and enjoyed it,

I have now made a wooden stand to fit the fuel tank on while it is worked on and painted, I still have stands for the other parts from when I painted it blue for our Son a while back

[LIAW]

I got the un-needed fairing mount brackets cut off the replacement fuel tank and then stripped to bare metal on the areas where the filler will go,

just a quick tip for any that don't know, when you are going to paint over existing automotive paint that has had polish and wax's applied, wipe the surface with a panel wipe or some brake cleaner 'before' you start to rub down, otherwise you will force any residue of wax further into the surface which could give you endless troubles with paint finish,

I am leaving most of the original factory paint on as it is a good base to work on, but I have done as above in my tip,

rain came in again so I stopped short of starting to fill as any dampness in the air can easily settle on the surface of the metal, this would mean that it gets sealed in when you start to fill or paint giving the possibility of future problems, I will wait for a drier day to carry on

[LIAW]

I made a start on the filling and shaping of the tank, it will take a long time to get right as it has quite complex curves to it,

I used 'chemical metal' as a first fill over the removed fairing brackets just as a bit of future proofing against fuel leaks in case the vibration of cutting somehow broke the spot weld, probably not really needed,

while I had the chemical metal mixed up I used it to fill the gouges on the engine covers which will get painted at a later date

[Studley Ramrod]

:good: 

[LIAW]

not much to say other than still filling, it will take a lot of time filling and shaping to get the curves right, hopefully I'll have it ready for primer by the weekend if weather permits,

I am taking lots of pictures but I think there will be too many to just load directly to this site, so I am 'condensing' a few to add a bit of interest, maybe 

 

the stand

[attachment=o15763]

 

tank

[attachment=o15762]

 

[attachment=o15761]

 

 

 

 

[Catteeclan]

Interesting stuff, keep it coming. :good:

[Studley Ramrod]

🤘

[dapleb]

Them centre stand feet sure had worn tin. Look a bit more substantial now.

[LIAW]

the last few days have been frustrating in that it rained a lot, I don't have the perfect environment to work in so I had to put a halt on the filling phase,

I thought I'd have a go at making a new seat cover as mine is split at certain areas where a stupid previous owner had been putting the seat down too roughly, the lowest parts of the seat were damaged at the lowest points,

I had some material for making a seat cover but it is way thicker than the standard seat cover and did not have enough 'stretch' to enable it to be recovered in one piece due to the depth of the seat sides at the curviest point, after five hours of pulling and stretching I had to admit defeat, I got close but the material did not have enough stretch to it to enable a one piece seat cover to be made, so I have ordered a standard seat cover from 'FOWLERS', yes I could've bought an after market seat cover but they are made in 'panels' with stitching, as I have previously reshaped my seat foam for comfort (as in rounding off the square edges to the seat), I didn't think a stitched seat cover would sit right on my particular foam, it is due to arrive at the end of the month,

in the mean time I am back to filling and sanding as the weather has improved, there is probably about a 1000 fills and rubs until the shape is acceptable  , I am considering doing it inside a microwave oven to speed up the process

[fixitsan]

the last few days have been frustrating in that it rained a lot, I don't have the perfect environment to work in so I had to put a halt on the filling phase,

I thought I'd have a go at making a new seat cover as mine is split at certain areas where a stupid previous owner had been putting the seat down too roughly, the lowest parts of the seat were damaged at the lowest points,

I had some material for making a seat cover but it is way thicker than the standard seat cover and did not have enough 'stretch' to enable it to be recovered in one piece due to the depth of the seat sides at the curviest point, after five hours of pulling and stretching I had to admit defeat, I got close but the material did not have enough stretch to it to enable a one piece seat cover to be made, so I have ordered a standard seat cover from 'FOWLERS', yes I could've bought an after market seat cover but they are made in 'panels' with stitching, as I have previously reshaped my seat foam for comfort (as in rounding off the square edges to the seat), I didn't think a stitched seat cover would sit right on my particular foam, it is due to arrive at the end of the month,

in the mean time I am back to filling and sanding as the weather has improved, there is probably about a 1000 fills and rubs until the shape is acceptable  , I am considering doing it inside a microwave oven to speed up the process

:good: good stuff

 

Im interested in the seat. Mine needs a cover, it feels like Im tilted forwards too much so I'll probably have a go at reshaping it in the future