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Winter Project: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

117K views 135 replies 62 participants last post by  TheManInBlack 
#1 · (Edited)
I've always loved these:

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Now, thanks to Jockey Journalist RDub, I'm building one of my own.

Last January Rob gave me (!) a CL450 basket case that's been cluttering his garage for several years. Said clutter collected dust in our warehouse while Billdozer put the finishing touches on his El Cheapo Sporty. When that bike rolled out of our shop under its own steam, I started banging away on the CL450 immediately.

The first task was to graft Billdozer's Sporty forks onto the CL's head tube.

This was accomplished by pressing out the steer tube on the CL forks and boring the upper and lower Sporty trees to fit:

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As you can see, this process was clean and painless.

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While Bob at Temecula Motorcycle Repair did the machine work on the front end, I ground off the buddy peg brackets and other extraneous tabs and mounts to make the frame is clean as possible.

The swingarm is off a mid-'70s Honda dirt bike of undetermined lineage. It's approximately 1" too wide at the pivot, so JJ member and friend Leoj is going to help me narrow it to fit the frame.

Wes at Four Aces is helping me make this thing a runner, and he got things off to a good start by finding me a race-prepped '70's CB450 motor at a shop in the SF Valley. Said motor was $800 sans carbs and electicals; I couldn't have rebuilt the two basket cases Rob gave me for twice that.

I'll post photos of this motor and more as the project unfolds. My goal is to finish this bike in time for the Chop Meet in SoCal July 19.

In the mean time, please enjoy the fiberglass bodywork the good Mr. latimer at GP Glassworks in WY is building for me this week:

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Very trick, indeed.

Thanks in advance to Rob, Wes, Joel, Chris and everyone else who is helping me build this fun little street tracker. With any luck at all I'll come in on time and well under my $2,500 budget. See you at the races...

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#5 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

Is that a fiberglass tank? I need one done. Will it hold up to gas without delaminating?
..good question
..on the race bikes that sit, we always drain the 108
..high octane out. .. have dug fibers out of a mikuni
that made it pass da fuel filter. coating's are possible
..ya got good start and yes,
..you will see me at the track..
..the infamous
"81 speedway"
wichita
... endo this month
kk#38
 
#19 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

Billdozer: I don't get it but it's funny as hell!
Ah, our friend Boylecom asked what all that black shit was and my only way to describe McGoo's dirty, frenzied working style was to call him Filthy McFumblefingers since that is a clean, sand blasted frame and he's got gobs of grease smeared all over it already. Hey, it works, he does really good shit even if it's not exactly a surgery ward when he's done.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

Biltwell Chris and I got the stance more or less sorted out two days ago...

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The Sporty legs will need to be shortened 2.5-3"

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The tire squeezes between those Narrowglide sliders with about 5/8" to spare on both sides... I think the whole front end turned out really good. Just ordered a front axle from J&P Cycles (I've got to remembers to solicit JJ2 members for this kind of crap in the WTB classifieds... I could have saved a couple Lincolns.)

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Our friend Kim sets the bar for rear shocks very high on every bike he builds or owns. I'm a cheapskate when it comes to following his wake. These are MIC sport bike shocks I found from an eBay dude in France for $200 delivered. Remote nitrogen reservoirs look racy, and the eyelets and clevis will fit the frame and swingarm w/o too much drama.

On the subject of that swingarm, I found out what it is: an early '70's t/o from a CB750. It's too wide for the frame, but there's a dude in San Diego who can take an inch out of its middle and weld it back together using the swingarm pivot bushing as an alignment aide. This photo also shows the buddy peg brackets in their final removed state.

Today I'm gonna fab my headlight bracket and maybe my frame-mounted foot peg brackets. The plastics didn't arrive last week, so I'm left dicking around on other stuff.
 
#21 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

Looking good!

Hey, on narrowing that swing arm one inch...

An easy way to do it would be to make up a tube with bushings that will fit in your frame. The inside diameter will have a bushing or bearing to fit the bolt. Then the outside diameter will fit inside the hole that is in the swing arm.

I'd then cut the tube looking part of the swing arm from left to right about hafway down.

After that... take a pie-cut on both sides to narrow the swing arm 1/2" on each side... weld those up.

Then weld the tube in the "half shell" of the swing arm.

TIG would be best to make it look nice... but a guy could do it with a MIG.

Sam.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

Got the glass from GP Glassworks yesterday. Here's how it's shaping up:

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Apparently, a velcro strip is all these dirt trackers use to mount their seat. Mods to the frame and bodywork will be minimal, and everything lines up really nice. THanks, Mr. Lasiter.

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I reduced front suspension travel 3" over the weekend so I could put my stanchions where they belong in the trees, and I cobbled up some split bar mounts from a one-piece stock H-D riser set with the disk grinder, a hacksaw and the trusty scotchbrite wheel.

That's a second prototype of the Biltwell CNC'ed alloy throttle on the stock Sporty bars... I think I'm going to talk Chris Moeller at S&M into making me some 1" dirt track bars as soon as he gets the new mandrels for his CNC bender.

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Next step: ordering custom-cut spokes for the 36-hole rear wheel from Buchanan's and lacing up the back wheel after the EDR...

More progress next week.
 
#24 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

halwade,

Although this is my first post, I am very active with vintage Nortons. Fiberglass tanks were standard on Norton Commandos from 1968-1972. Unfortunately, modern gas, which has ethanol added, as well as other additives, has created havoc with fiberglass tanked Nortons. These are tanks that have served well for 30 plus years but can begin melting with the first tank of modern, ethanol-laced gas. This problem seems to have become most prevalent in the last 3 years or so and ethanol seems to be the primary culprit. Although ethanol gas used to be somewhat limited in distribution, it now appears to be everywhere. The melted resin from the interior of the tank will also enter the carbs and quickly candy coat your engine internals, requiring a teardown and rebuild.

The one fix so far that seems to work is to epoxy coat the interior of the tank. Caswell sells a kit that has been working on our Norton tanks. One kit will easily do two tanks if they are ready to be coated at the same time. Proper tank preparation is a must for this to work and good instructions are given at the Caswell site. I have no connection with and no interest in Caswell, but their product is one that seems to work when properly applied. I also understand that this same issue has run amok in the fiberglass boat industry and if you are near someone that is very experienced with fiberglass boat repairs, they may be able to do the proper remedial work on a fiberglass tank.

Recently built fiberglass gas tanks may have a different formulation that isn't attacked by modern gas but I would certainly confirm this with the manufacturer first and seek a warranty that the tank will withstand regular pump gas. I have seen several beautiful and expensive paint jobs of uninformed owners ruined in the last 3 years when the uncoated tanks began melting upon the first gassing up.

Sorry for my first post to be such a downer but it makes me sick to see good tanks ruined by modern gas.

Happy trails.

weathermann
 
#25 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

McGoo,

Mr Weathermann is very correct as Rob has had the very same ethanol issue with a new airtech cafe tank. get with Rob as he may have some caswell epoxy left from his mess.
FYI, I was looking into those same shocks but I didn't want the external reservoirs.
Lets see that motor?
 
#26 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

Mr. Lasiter at GP Glassworks made no mention of the gas dilemma... I'm too deep into the body kit for this bike to turn back now, so I think I'll follow the weatherman's advice and do the caswell epoxy liner kit.

Thanks for the heads up!

Re: motor, I'm gonna have it in the shop tomorrow... maybe. More news at 11...
 
#27 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

like i said on the first page
when i was shaping surfboards (still do sometimes)
i was also into making epoxy gastanks
overhere in europe whe've had that issue already with the
polyester and the "modern" petrol !!

so iff you go to a surf shop ...they will be able to help you
then can vacuum the inside of the tank to make sure it sticks were it needs
and will give the inside a perfect epoxy finish

don't let them tell you strange story's about delamination of the epoxy /polyester combination ......there's no need to worry
did that also a couple of times ,and it worked out great

good luck with the build ...it's real nice !
 
#28 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

halwade,

Don't be bashful about calling your tank supplier and seeing what he has to say about it and ethanol gas. If he is already using an epoxy resin, your tank may be safe. If he is using a polyester resin, and/or cannot or will not speak about the ethanol issue, call Caswell next.

Good luck.

weathermann
 
#34 ·
Re: Birth Of A Street Tracker...

08_08_08 progress report:

Things ground to a halt on this project over the summer, but my friend Duane Ballard have given me the hook-ups and motivation to start moving again.

First on the to-do list:

clean up the fork legs and do a little light machine work at Hippy Killer Garage. Kutty's got family biz this weekend, but I'll be going to his place next week and I'll take photos.

I may ask him to help narrow the CB750 swingarm to fit the CL450 frame, too... gotta see how money and time holds out.

Stay tuned, and thanks for the props.

McGoo
 
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