Blood, sweat, tears & beers . . .

Got some welding to do in the meantime. Fabricated a set of exhaust brackets that need to be welded together then welded to the frame. Made them out of some old fish eye seat bungs I had laying around and some flat iron. Then I need to get the ignition bracket I made welded on, too. Last thing to weld on is a bracket for the brake tee which I haven't made yet.
I have a new guy to do my welding - the only one with a TIG welder for miles around and the guy is hard to catch in his shop. Oh, well . . .
Pics are of the two brackets for the exhaust & the ignition bracket which took hours of hand filing to get the inside shape correct - lots of stop & go so I wouldn't make the opening too big. (Been there, done that).

Today made the speedo bracket - here it is mocked up. Ordered the short speedo cable from Barnett just now - $43.40. Not bad.

I thought that is what the beer is for?!

Ha-ha! Fill er up with beer and let er rip! I've seen other set ups like this one, (minus the beer) but don't know how they fared longevity wise. At least it will get me thru the inspection. Oil pressure gauges have been attached directly to the rear head and had no problems that I know of.
BTW, I've been following eieio4tn's thread ('73 shovel build) in the projects forum but the screen is so wide that I have to scroll sideways back and forth to see it. What gives?

Looking awesome!!!!!

Most of the oil pressure gauges are liquid filled except the dash mounted ones

Hee-heee! My leg clears with room to spare, see pic . . . other one clears the air cleaner, too. Second pic shows new location of where I will get the ignition bracket welded. Found out today my welder is out of town on a job - no telling when he will be back. Grrr! I'm looking for another welder, but it means a long drive - at least 60 miles.
Today, I put 3 qts. of oil in the oil tank & 1 in the tranny - 20/50 and 85/140 respectively. HD oil - only the best for my sickle!
I then kicked it over about 10 times or so to check for leaks, and sure enough, found one at a plug in the oil pump. Plug was loose so I took it out, wrapped it with some teflon tape and put it back in. Walla, no more leaks. It kicked easier than I thought it would. Muscle memory is coming back on the right leg, plus doing leg squats for the last year has given me the strength I need. Mac the Wife doesn't call me "chicken legs" for nothing!

I've noticed that on a couple other threads. I will be eternally grateful you showed me how to use "paint" to get pics the right size and get them in the forum. Also works for getting pics on emails, too, though they have to be downsized to 15%.

Well "chicken legs" your bike is looking sweeter everyday...maybe Mac the wife can make a video when you roll the finished bike out into the world....

Wow is this stuff ancient!!!! Be smart and upgrade to Windows 7, has an entire program that is dedicated to pictures, easy to use and effective.. This is gospel...:roflmao:

Nice SANDLES....:roflmao:
That's a sweet ride you have built,

Found a new welder yesterday in Tarboro which is only 15 miles away. Took my exhaust brackets over and he welded 'em right up. We talked about bringing my bike over next week sometime to weld all the remaining brackets to the frame. Pics show the exhaust brackets/clamps mocked on the bike & one of them before mock up.
I know I should have done all this stuff first before anything went on the frame, but that's the advantage of using flat black - you can grind & sand & weld as you go and you don't ruin an expensive paint job. Just feather, mask off and repaint!
In the 2nd pic (closeup), it also shows where I ended up installing the brake tee. I hated having to drill thru the frame for the 3/8ths bolt, but it was the only place left to put it. Notice the little fishmouth spacer I made so the tee would have a flat mounting surface. I think it's the little things like this that make a bike function & look better . . .