1951 Plymouth manifold needed!

Last week my exhaust manifold cracked in half!
Because I use this car daily I'm in need of another one.
It's a 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook and it still has the
original straight six motor in it.

If you have one or if you know where I can find one.
Please contact me at: dcharged@gmail.com or leave
a comment on this blog. Thanks!

The seat

Today I finished the seatsetting. I liked the original
six spring setup but the springaction didn't work out.
So I had to modify the springmountings and used
only the big lower springs.

Rear fender

I'm going to use this rearfender.
I have to modify the radius so it will fit the tire.

Battery Box

Made some brackets for the battery box I bought
off the internet secondhand.

Sneak preview: 1928 Indian 101 Scout project

Here are some pictures of my other project which I'm
gonna start after I've finished the XS project.

The seat

Last week I bought an old Dutch "Lepper Primus" bicycle
seat. The previous owner didn't have a clue what he was
selling so I got it real cheap. I wanted to use the spring-
'system' for my new seat. But... after I tried the complete
saddle on the frame I was amazed how good it looked in
combination with the other parts on the bike.
Just have to modify the springs so it fits the frame.

The tank so far

Today I finally finished removing the excessive solder
and smoothed all weldings up. Next step is to smooth out
all the tiny scratches with bondo. Just in time, because
all the filling and sanding is getting really boring.

Orange Goblin

Like their English counterparts Electric Wizard, the Goblin thrives
on heavy bass in their songs; however, the walls of guitars make this
band stand out. They consistently put out quality albums with heaps
of great songs. So, if you like Monster Magnet, Atomic Bitchwax, Sloth,
Goatsnake, etc, you must check these guys out at www.myspace.com/theorangegoblin

Lead loading the tank

As you could have seen in one of my older posts
I modified my tank by cutting it in half, removing
the middle part of it and welded it back together.
Now it's time to make things look smooth again:

First I made the weldings smoother,

than I lead loaded the tank.

At last I removed the excessive solder roughfly with a bodyfile.
(Not finished, still filing)

Roadburn 2009

Within one hour this stonerrock festival was sold out
...But we've got tickets! Check the website for
bandinfo: roadburn.com

Engine mounted

After I modified the rear engine bracket a bit
the engine fitted like a glove.

17 hours of hardtailing

At 8.00 a.m. yesterdaymorning Michael and I went to his
workshop because we were finally going to hardtail my
XS650 frame... It took us a bit longer than we expected,
we finished the welding at 2.00 a.m.(!) Most of the time
we were measuring making sure everthing was in line.
Here's the process in a nutshell:

We lined up the frame in a mould.

Bending the lower frametubes by heating them.

Welding the tubes to the frame. Inside the connection
is a 12cm long massive round bar for strength.

We lined up the rear wheel.

Great lines so far.

Made the upper tubes to connect the rearwheel.

Michael welding the tubes.

We took the frame out of the mould for the
finishing welding.

That's why I asked Michael for help, great weldings!

We made a quick mockup before we left the workshop.

I'm very satisfied with the overall look.

Lowertubes are parallel to the ground and the upper-
tubes are in line with the orginal frametube underneath
the tank. Perfect! Thanks for your help Michael!

3D frame tryout

At my work I'm getting the chance to learn more
about 3d modeling. I've learned some basic
skills and know I'm trying to build a chopper.
This is only a start, as you can see some parts are
not finished, like the frontfork for example.

Triggerfinger

Last Thursday we went to Triggerfinger @ 013 Tilburg, Holland , great Belgian rockband. No attitude just pure rock'n'roll! Check them out at www.triggerfinger.net

Headlight bracket

Tonight I finished my headlight bracket made from scratch.

Colour Haze @ Baroeg Rotterdam, Holland

Last night my girl and I went to a Colour Haze concert @ the Baroeg Rotterdam. I've got all their albums but it was the first time we've seen them live... but surely not the last! If you're into psychedelic stonerrock, check their website www.colourhaze.de! (this video was not shot @ Baroeg)

Before hardtailing

It's been a while that I posted something about the XS
project. Nothing interresting happend lately. But here's
a photo to keep you updated. As you can see I put in the
front fork and made an attachment for the tank. I bolted
on the enginemountbracket to use it as a reference point
to keep the lower frametubes parallel with the ground
and the top of the engine.

The Black Keys @ Tivoli Utrecht, Holland

Last Friday we went to The Black Keys concert @ Tivoli. I've seen this band for the third time now, still not getting bored, great music!
(This video is from earlier this year @ Melkweg, Amsterdam.
Couldn't find a video from the last concert.)

The new frame in half

I cut off the rear end and all needless shit.

Temporary frame support

Before I cut off the rear end, I secured the 2
downtubes and the middle one, to avoid bending
while cutting and welding it.

Another frame

Today I bought an original 1978 XS650 frame
including title and all documents for almost
nothing (!). This changes my plan a bit:
Now I'm going to modify the '78 frame to a hardtail
and gonna sell my other '86 frame as a rollin' chassis.

This gives me the opportunity to make a better
looking frame than the one that was modified
by the previous owner.

The project so far

I still have to change the rear-end
to fit the HD discwheel. The tank is
roughly finished. I modified a pair
of white grips from Motorcycle
Storehouse to fit the 22mm bars.

Tank bottom

Bending a steel plate (1mm) around an iron tube.

Made it fit the frame.

Welding it into the tank.

Rear wheel

Piet from Old Mill Choppers made me some
spacers for the rear-end. One thing left to do:
welding it on to the frame.

Tank halfs and Belgian beers

Last Saturday night Michael (General Wheels)
and I started to shape the tank by cutting out
all the holes with thread and closing them by
welding 1mm steel plates in to it.
-Thanks for the welding tips and Duvel beers, Michael!

Today I made a simple mould to weld the
2 tank halfs in. The width of the mould is 22cm,
exactly the same as the front fork.

The picture above shows you the tank so far.
(Don't pay attention to the position of the tank,
it's just to give you an impression.)