Lots
of progress has been made in the RetroFit Garage lately. We've been
moving forward pretty quickly since 47 Mike's Unfinished Bike Show.
The exhaust is going to be entirely seamless so the header clamps had to be bored to slip over the turnouts.
The
old turn outs were only clamped to the stock XS headers. Since we're
going with the seamless look, we pie cut the turn outs and pinched them
closed to match the XS headers.
Pictures dont do justice but it gives the pipes a subtle, tapered look.
For
the lower exhaust mounts, we welded some recessed some nuts inside the
turnouts and bolted them from behind through old frame mounts.
We also made a new set of highway peg mounts to match the rockers on the springer.
The model A taillight that originally came with the bike got a bit of a face lift too. We decided to go with a red and amber lens because it matches the original paint really well.
Now for some trick stuff! We scratched our heads for weeks how we would ultimately mount the light and cover the wires and then it hit us. Thanks to an old tank hanging on the wall we permanently borrowed the gas cap... Cant get much cleaner than that!
Then this past week I took a trip to my previous shop in Brooklyn to use the sandblaster on some parts.
I
got all the aluminum covers cleaned up for polishing and blasted the
new gas tank. The tank is in great shape, no dents and no holes!
The
stock mounts had to be removed. We're making new frisco style mounts on
the backbone. The petcock is getting relocated next.
Our
"Columbia Roadster" chain guard is now mounted. The bike never had a
chain guard but we decided it would be better to have one.
Today was the first time the engine was removed probably since the bike was first chopped.
We'll be diving into the head next and go through a major clean up.
More to come! Just remember, this bike could be yours!!!
