By this time I realised I might need some spacers. "Kursaal Klassics" in Southend kindly provided me with the details of someone who can turn them for me, which he did, and also suggested someone who had some front end parts. And he certainly did have most of it. By the looks of it we had it all... Oh I wish it was that way... - all of the parts were actually from different models of xs650 so almost nothing came together the way it supposed to.
the forks and triple tree were older model (34mm), all the rest was newer (35mm fork diameter), so I still needed the brakes and the top yoke. For time being I came up with an idea:
and it worked. I also sourced a cheap peanut tank - this one came of an ajs 125 bobber.
...but it had an unusual for a peanut tank fitting system, so some brackets had to be welded on
With the tank on (oh I should've known better - who pays less - pays twice, but I will come back to that one later) - was time to clean up and reseal forks.
oh the rust...
chain tensioners in place
I found this stand foot online, but only after buying it I realised it to be for the wrong side. Some remanufacturing had to be performed.
Spring pin moved to the other side
and a bit of edge grinding
Bingo! Nice and flush
You take two that don't fit and make one that does
Harley footpegs and some heavy duty hand made steel to hold them solid (with a bit of oilite bushing for future brake pedal)
Brake pedal
brake cable oilite bushed also
I just don't know why, but sometimes I choose the hard way... maybe just to see if it could be done
same technique for the rear end of it
rear brake anti roll bar
after the rolling chassis was time to make it rideable. next step - servicing the engine that stood for 10 years... and oh no - what's this
heatproof, oil resistant silicone... why not
why not
another traitor - sprocket seal... this one got executed
after it got rideable - time for pretty things - start of the electric box
got these headers from the same guy who failed to supply me with the right stuff for the front end - no charge. Originally these where 2 into 1, but for obvious reasons - had to be chopped
...and back to the electric box
stainless steel braded brake lines... oh yeah
...aaand back to the box again
back to the exhausts... we will need some of the old steam extractor grill
and two solid brass curtain rail elbows
stir them together...
while it's rising, why not to enjoy the strong solid grinder cut front light bracket
back to the steaming hot stuff - let's wrap it up so it don't get cold to quick
shove them into the ovens
enjoy hot
Ok, think it's enough for today - next - we are baking the seat