Slow and Steady

...wins the race. Yes, I have lots of excuses. I moved again. I'm trying to sell my house. Yadda, yadda, yadda. You don't care. I did manage to buy a tank. It is the kind I was looking for and I got it for only $40 shipped. But, it has a large dent in the top that is going to take a good amount of work (read $$$) to get out and it is too rusty to use how I wanted to with the brushed metal finish showing. I put some of the bike back together with the tank on it to see how it looked. Now that it is on there, I'm thinking I want something longer. Ugh, the search continues. I'm currently working on cleaning and painting the rear wheel. I expect that one will take even longer than the front wheel.

Mockup with 11" shocks and the triple tree lowered 2" on the forks
(No, I will not be using that seat)

444 CCs of Environmentally Unfriendly

Not a whole lot to post about except I've finished the engine! All it needs is some oil and to be put back into a bike and she is ready to push me down the highway at speeds grandmothers are afraid to drive. It got a very thorough cleaning and scuffing with sandpaper and another good cleaning with some lacquer thinner. I used high heat primer and satin black to paint it. It came out really nice. I then replaced all of the bolts with new polished stainless bolts and put everything back together. My dad helped my get the pistons back on. Then I put the head on and fed the cam chain through the guides. I got the camshafts aligned and riveted the cam chain back together. I Set the valve clearances and put all of the other stuff back on. Now, if only I could find a tank.....

Priming the Bottom End of the Engine

Painting the bottom


Painting the top


The pistons and cylinders are on


Feeding the cam chain through


All buttoned up and looking pretty

Deep Contrast

Quick update tonight. I got the top end put back together. Put the valves, valve springs, cams, cam followers and cam chain guides in. I put the valve covers on and put it on top of the jugs to get an idea of how it's going to look. I like it! Now I am cleaning the bottom end to get it ready to paint. I should have a finished engine soon! Now I just need to find a tank.

40 Spokes

The Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival is fast approaching and that has really got me motivated to get some work done on Nixon (and the fact that I'm back working 40s again for awhile). Since I got my wheel stand put together last time, I figured I'd start in on the wheels. I got the front wheel trued on the stand and then started cleaning it. The spokes were pretty cruddy and a little rusty so I took some sandpaper to them. After working for about 2 hours and only getting 5 spokes done, I decided I needed some power tools. I set to work on it with the pneumatic die grinder with an assortment of sanding pads and wire wheels and in no time she was clean as a whistle. I then spent a couple hours applying the brushed metal finish to the hub and spokes with some sandpaper. I taped up the inside of the hub and the rim. I found if I used a hole punch in the middle of a piece of tape and then cut a slit to the hole, the tape would fit perfectly around the spoke nipples where they meet the rim. I clearcoated the hub and spokes to keep the brushed metal finish looking pretty with the high heat engine enamel I've been using on everything else.

After that cured for a few days, I taped those up but left the center of the hub and rim exposed. It took awhile to tape all of those spokes and get the edge at the center of the hub trimmed right with my exacto knife. That was seriously the longest taping job I've ever done.


I painted the hub center and the rim with satin black epoxy paint. The epoxy paint is supposed to hold up better than regular enamel paint so I figured I'd give it a go. I must not have gotten the chrome on the rim scuffed up enough in some places because the paint did this weird thing where it would get anti-bubbles. Little spots where the paint wouldn't stick. I did three coats within about 10 minutes of each other and that seemed to cover up most of those spots. You can still kind of see it if you look close, but who's going to be looking that close at my wheels as I speed by them at 100 mph?


Now I just have to do the back wheel. :/

Stand in the place where you live

My assignment in Greensboro is coming to a close so I figured I better get back to work on Nixon. I made some time to build a stand to hold the wheels so that I can adjust the spokes and get them true and also to help me paint them. In true low-budget fashion I snagged some scrap wood from some shipping containers at work and found some random bolts, screws, nails and washers in my dad's garage and threw this baby together. Actually, I designed about 4 months ago, I just haven't had a chance to build it. It has a couple cool features. Since the wheel hubs are different widths, I made the upright post spacing adjustable. The picture below shows the narrow front wheel. I put little spacers down at the bottom of the posts. So, to mount the wider rear wheel, I will just take the upright posts off, turn them around, and bolt them back on and BAM! They are 1.5 inches wider. There is also what looks like a random screw sticking through one of the uprights. That thing is actually there so that I can see how true the wheel is. I screw it in until it almost touches the rim. Then as I spin the wheel, I can easily see how much it moves side-to-side with respect to that screw. Simple. Now all I have to do is find the spoke wrench I bought and figure out how to use it. I haven't quite figured out how I am going to paint them yet. The rims and the part of the hubs between the spokes will be satin black. The hubs will get the brushed finish. I haven't decided what to do with the spokes yet. They are pretty cruddy, but may clean up with the proper tools and some elbow grease.

Off Track

It seems this blog has turned into a documentary on the rebuilding of a motorcycle instead of the crazy things that happen while riding. Oh well, I guess I can get back to that when she's done. For now, even though I'm in Greensboro, I've managed to finish some more parts. I finished the engine mounts, jugs, cylinder head and the starter (shown below). Right now I'm working on the wheels. I need to make a stand for them that I will use to paint them and to true them up with the spoke wrench (not in that order).