Get Blown & a Happy New Year!

Bob Clark of Street Chopper fame and Dave Perewitz.

One of my fave Playmates, Gwen Wong.

Mmm mmm good!

Turbo Man

Turbo...Mmm mmm good!

Bob Checchinis

The American Express Honda. Dig it f*ckers!

Bill Holland

These pics have been posted a million times, but I never get tired of  looking at them.

Tommy Summers

This  fucker is ruling it! Not many cats built Harley, British and jap diggers and could nail them all. Check out his site http://www.lowridersbysummers.com/ .

Big Twin

Digger Monday

A few full bodied diggers. First up, Kutty and Duane's.

Unknown builder.

I think this bike was originally yellow, built by the fine folks at AEE.

Filthy gets framed.

When I went to check the bike out, there was some cracking around the neck area. I grabbed a screwdriver to see how deep the bondo was, and the whole piece of mud popped out. The frame underneath was factory clean. At the time, I wire wheeled the rest of the bondo off, did a little masking, and rattle canned the bitch flat black.

Once I had the motor and trans out for a freshening, I figured I should squirt the frame. I missed the molded look, so I decided to weld in some plates and do her right.
Here's a pic fresh out of the bead blaster.

I cut out some plates to fill the neck area and Tig'd 'em in.

After skimming with some bondo, I gave her a coat of single stage urethane.

The Saga Of The Filthy Whore

I picked up this fine piece of machinery last summer for a good price. I needed a decent road bike to commute back and forth to work with, and she fit the bill. She's an '80 FXWG with a "mild" motor, or so I thought. Well, the slut starts burning a little oil out of the front cylinder (after a year and a half of being ridden HARD), so I was hoping it was only valve stem seals. Anyway, I tear into her like a coke fiend on pay day, only to find a cracked intake valve guide. I'm gonna re-cut the seats, so I figure I'll take a look at the bottom end. Grab your britches junior, the whole fucker's all S&S! I could still see a fresh hone job in the cylinders. I decided this baby's a keeper, hence an entire rebuild and a slew of parts, paint, etc. She won't be my "the weather looks shitty out, I'll take the 'glide out bike" anymore.

Here's a pic after a couple months of owning her. Originally, she had buckhorns, a road sofa of a seat, and a lot dents, broken tank mounts, etc. She was a bit of a mess, but nothing major. I took care of the body work and gave her a fresh coat of flat black. At this point, she was still gonna be my daily commuter bike. Like any other filthy whore, this gal has a sordid past which I will eventually get into as I post the rebuild pics.

Dec.7th. Slap a Jap Day!

The term Jap Slap could probably be traced back to this very day in 1941. It was a term I heard when I was knee high to grasshopper. My family has fought in almost every war this country has gotten themselves into. My grandfather would tell me stories of WWII, mostly of the good times and hi-jinx in the barracks, never any of  the real gritty stuff that went down. He would tell me stories for hours and we'd laugh our asses off.  I miss him a lot. Take a minute to remember the men and women who fought back today and those who perished.

On a side note, my wife and I went to the Memorial during our honeymoon. For me it was on my list of things to do before I kick the bucket. If it doesn't bring a tear to your eye standing over the watery graves, your not human. One thing that really pissed me off was Americans were laughing and having a grand ol' time above the USS Arizona. You are basically in a cemetary, not Disneyland. I'm not talking about kids either, these were adults. And one thing that really left an impression on me was the Japanese tourists would put wreaths and flowers in the water. That definately showed some class and respect.

Remember a heroe today, no matter what war they fought or are fighting in. Mine is my Grandfather! Later.

Seat time.

Making a seat is probably the easiest thing to do when building a bike, at least on my end. Once your body work is done on the fender, I wrap it in heavy masking tape. Because I'm using the fender like a plug for the mold, wax the hell out of it, so later you can pop the fender back out. My mounting hardware is hidden under the front and rear of the seat. They are welded to sheet metal plates and glassed in.

While the seat is drying, I make some rough trim lines, and try to come up with an idea of what I want. Remove the fender when the 'glass is just setup, but still flexible.

After a little trimming and sanding, foam was added to get the profile right.

Next stop, the upholstery shop!

Fender Bender.

My buddy Bill and I headed up to Carisle for the big swapmeet. He was looking for parts for his '50 Ford and me for stuff for my '51 Merc. Bill scored some new chrome bumpers cheap and some trim, I picked nada for the Merc. But, I scored some old issues of Street Chopper magazine and an old Ness fender. Once I got home I tried the fender, only to realize it was about a 1/2 inch to thin to stuff a 150 under. I didn't want to cut it up to widen it, but I loved the way it looked. I tossed it up on the beadblaster and proceeded to make one from steel.

I grabbed an old flat tailer fender and welded on some tapered sides. I followed it up with some 1/4 inch round stock along the edges. I  wanted to use some 3/8 solid tock to support the fender so I tapered two small pieces in my lathe to smooth the transition. Then I cut out the offending section already on the fender and welded the tapered pieces in.

                

Next I made up some mounts, and through on a coat of bondo, to see she looks like. Not bad for a little work, and she's steel.

Tanked again. Part dos.(that's spanish for part two)

I always liked this picture, and who doesn't like to get tanked?
Well, what to do for an oil tank? I wanted something simple. Round, with domed edges. I could have bought one, but I'm a cheap f*ck and like to spend my money buying more bikes, not parts I can make. I ended up using two oil filters from an industrial engine. Gut 'em, weld them up and chuck up some bungs in the lathe. Eventually that f''n machine will pay for itself.  I had to weld her up with some brass rod, 'cause the insides were galvanized. I glass beaded the shit out of them before I welded, but you can't run a steel rod on galvanized without it pitting, poppin', and looking all boogered up. Here's some pics.

And on the bike. It's rubber mounted, not rigid. Everyone's got there own opinions, but this set up has always worked for me.

Fill 'er with Miller.

Sure I should of said filler up, but I like to say fill'er with Miller. I don't like Miller beer, but I used to work with Slammin' Sammy Miller's kid and that's what I'd say when we had a beer after work. I live to bust balls, and you should always have fun at work. If you don't, you should quit. Work is over rated. Anyway 'Ol Sammy holds the record for the fastest run in drag racing in the f'n world with a rocket car. 3.58e.t, 386 mph in the 1/4! That was set at Santa Pod in England, but he holds records all over the U.S.
 RIP brother.

Anyway, I needed a filler, so I figured a nice flush pop up cap would do the job. Here's some pics.

Get bent.

Now to finally start knocking tin. I fabbed it up in three sections. Front half, rear half, and the tunnel. I could have made it in two pieces, if I would've made that damn brake bigger. I kept my gaps tighter than a virgin, and got to Tig'n.

Take a brake.

I got my tempate to make the tank, but no brake to bend it. Sure I could buy one, but the cheap ones suck, take up room that I don't have, and in all reality (at the time) I thought I would only use it just to make this tank. I made one up from angle iron and some round stock. It proved to work quite well. I made it big enough to make the tank, but small enough to fit in my vise and then be stored under a workbench when no longer needed. F*ck, I should've made it bigger!

Time to get tanked.

What's a digger without a prism tank? I have no idea, but it's not a digger! I love straight up '70's stuff. Cars, classic rock, bikes, women, funny cars, all that good shit. To me '70's drag racing was the NHRA's finest time. This was a time when you could tell what car a funny mimicked. Not the awful generic looking bodies there running now. God I want a 'Cuda funny car! This was also a time when women looked like women are supposed to look like. Curves, f*ckers, curves! Remember, it's all about the profile. Actually, I find most women attractive, but NOT if they they got a body like a school boy. F*ck that shit, I want my women to look like Betty Page! I know Betty's from the '50's, but it's my blog and I'll type what I want. Can't help but post a favorite pic of Betty.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, back to bikes.

I never made a prism tank, but I've built plenty of other tanks. Shit, there pretty simple, just bend some sheet metal. I started with a crude buck, so I could get a visual, and have something to measure my angles off of.

The jig is up.

With the jig done, I cut the rear legs off and bent some new ones up. Slugged those f*ckers up and fired up the TIG. Much better.

And now onto the top tube. I always like a bent top tube. Yeah it's a pain in the ass, when it comes time to make a gas tank, but who cares. It's all about profile.

In order for the goosenck to look right, I really had to make a new neck. Sure I could have bought one, but that's not what it's about. So I picked up a small lathe and made one.

Cope some tubing and fire up the tig again.

Throw the engine in the ol' gal and let's see what she looks like. Profile man, profile! Don't mind the bars and headlight, there gonna get shit canned.