Whew that was fun....not! Whatever the 'bug' that's been going around happens to be officially called I call it 'The Suck of 2013'....and not the nice kind.
Finally seeing the back end of that and back working again.
Jordan's bike for Old Bike Barn's Greasy Dozen build-off is moving forward, frame re-work, a custom swingarm, a front end swap, custom Ducati spoked wheel swap, custom header....loads of work.
I won't give much away here but will tease you with a few pics and tidbits of info just to stir your interest.
One of the build points I'm handling is a stem swap for a ZX7 front end. It's a standard style 41mm cartridge fork that works quite well but still has a touch of retro for the stylists out there. I've done stem swaps before but this one has been a challenge.
But not this time.......the good little fellows at Kawasaki did a REALY good job welding this one. Really good.....
I used my angle grinder with a .110" cut off disc and proceeded to chop off each side to make it easier to turn on the lathe.
You mugs thought I forgot.....be good humans!
Finally seeing the back end of that and back working again.
Jordan's bike for Old Bike Barn's Greasy Dozen build-off is moving forward, frame re-work, a custom swingarm, a front end swap, custom Ducati spoked wheel swap, custom header....loads of work.
I won't give much away here but will tease you with a few pics and tidbits of info just to stir your interest.
One of the build points I'm handling is a stem swap for a ZX7 front end. It's a standard style 41mm cartridge fork that works quite well but still has a touch of retro for the stylists out there. I've done stem swaps before but this one has been a challenge.
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| I start by grinding off the weld goober on the bottom then cut a notch in the triple. At this point I can usually whack it with a brass faced deadblow hammer and displace the stem enough to then whack the side of the notch with my 4lb hammer and a drift. This will normally break the weld and I can clean the stem up and go from there. "Usually...."Normally" I said. |
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| Can you see the color shift in the metal within the notch? Hmmmm......great weld depth there Yoshiro san! Note that this pic is 'pre-whackage', also note that the original bearing race hasn't been cut completely through as I wanted to be careful not to nick the stem. Fat lotta good THAT did me! |
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| Huzzah for carnage. If at first you don't succeed......chop the shit out of it until it gives up. Always works for me! |
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| Here's the result, lumpy and ragged but sans arms..... |
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| A wee bit of grinder work later to knock off the worst of it and I'm ready to center it in the lathe... |
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| Poor sad little triple clamp......DIE DIE DIE!!!! Sometimes carnage is cathartic! I used to keep a few old gas tanks around just to smash with a mallet when I was feeling cranky. I'm out of suitably bad tanks but this felt pretty good too. Think of it this way...I'm not beating on people who make me cranky. That's good....right? |
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| After a bit of clean-up on the lathe it looks pretty good. I turned down the base of the stem to 28.95mm, removing roughly 2.05mm for a nice tight press fit into the ZX7's lower triple stem bore which mics at 28.85mm. Obviously there's more to it that just slapping the two into a hydraulic press and mashing away.....but we'll leave that for the next installment. |
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| Yup! |
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| Boo-TAY!!! |
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| I 'found' this on my hard drive.....I don't know where it came from or how it got there....I hate clowns. Ronald McDonald's girlfriend kinda scares me. I'm ok admitting that.....I'm a big, viking scary guy myself and I'd run like hell was on my heals. |
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| Easy like Sunday morning....... |
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| The incomparable Stacy Dash. |
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| Someone's Grandma was a hottie! |
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