Street Chopper's 40th Anniversary Bike Build

Got Some Head(s)




Due to the fact that the OE heads we had turned out to be complete junk, we begged Bruce and the crew at S&S Cycle for a set of it's black, single plug, 3 5/8-inch bore heads.

Off they go to Hi-Bond Modified!  

CUSTOM CHROME Pushrod Tubess



Look who's joined the Party! A set of nice and clean chrome pushrod tubes that don't have skulls, trucker chicks or Eric Webb's Last Name on them. Sweet!  

HEY JOE!



The friendly folks at Joe Hunt sent us a Magneto for the build. We opted for the Model 1296 with polished housing and mount. It is one damn sweet unit boys and girls. I cant wait to slap it into that engine once Rico's done molesting it.  

Oh Dang! THE BAKER DRIVETRAIN 6into4 SHOWED UP!





After a while of hashin' and thrashin' our girl Trish at Baker Drivetrain wrangled us up a fully-polished 6into4 Trans for the build. We are gonna call that heavy hunk-a hunk-a shiny aluminum BIG SEXY!

This trans, coupled with the 93ci motor, will be a strong-assed runner on the highways and byways this great country of ours has.  

The INVADER WHEELS have landed



As you can see these wheels are as close to the original versions in every detail, except they are made with better materials by someone with over 40 years experience in building Invaders. Scott or Scotty as he is known, has owns Invader Wheels for over 35 years and started in the  bike business by building Halcraft wheels. He then worked at Invader shortly after serving in Viet Nam and has been hand-crafting these wheels throughout the 70's till today. Let's just say Scotty has the process down to a science.



As you can see the welding, machining and assembly is second to none. The mirror-like chrome plating on these wheels is left to only one company, Norbrook Plating in Warren MI. Norbrook's chrome is so perfect in every way that they have the contract to plate H-Ds chrome aftermarket and OE wheels. These guys do a stellar job!







Every Invader wheel is made to order and personalized with the customer's vital information. Scotty told me that he can make any combination of over 40,000 different kinds of Invader wheels to suit any bike. Now that my friends is a custom wheel.  

REVTECH HITS THE SCENE



We searched for a quality oil pump since we are increasing the cubic inches on Ruby's engine and found the Revtech to be one of the best on the market.

For more info on them, check out REVTECH  

The CUSTOM CHROME top engine mount arrives

 

MOUNTING THE TIRES AT WHEEL WORKS





We humped the Invader Wheels and Avon Tires over to Wheel Works for a bit of proper mounting. Scotty at Invader told us that when installing tires on these wheels that it is crucial to support the rim. If a hub-type installation is done, the pressure of the hydraulic tire mounting press could damage the wheel. After talking to Adam and Mat at Wheel Works, they told us they only use rim-supporting installation equipment and to go have a beer at Henry's while the skins got slid on the wheels.

 

BACK FROM OLDE TYME PAINT



Thanks John... You Rule!

Now the plate is "Period Correct" whatever that means...  

DNA STAINLESS HEAD CUPS





We went down and got a set of head cups from DNA. We liked the Timken bearings,  stepped design, and internal lock. The mirror-polished stainless finish ain't bad either!

for more info on DNA & its products check out www.trydna.com  

LOWBROW CLEAR MAGNETO COVER



We got word that the boys at LowBrow Customs had a clear polycarbonate mag cover that would suit the build to a tee, so we had to call and shake them down for one... Thanks guys!  

WE ALL NEED A SWIFT KICK





The Brothers Nash hooked us up with one of their Straight-Arm Swift Kick Kickers. Originally designed by John Grant, the Swift Kick uses rare earth magnets to keep the telescopic kicker pedal neatly tucked away when not in use. Nash Motorcycle Company casts these babies out of 174 Stainless Steel and use all stailess hardware so it will look as good as it works. for more info on the Swift Kick, check out: NashMotorcycle.com  

THE SPRINGER HAS ARRIVED









When the boys from 3GUYZ Customs agreed to donate a custom-built narrow springer for the 40th bike, we were super stoked. I had seen 3Guyz handiwork before and had it on good record that their springers were some of the best you could buy.

When the baby-coffin sized box showed up, we  ripped it open with a crowbar and were blown away by the construction of the fork. the welds were sweet, the hardware blingin' and the ready for chrome finish work was top notch.

these dudes are true craftsmen...  

ENGINE BUILD UPDATE FROM RICO AT HI-BOND MODIFIED

Guys,
Here are the pics I wanted to send you of the case's with close-ups of the damaged & welded, front & rear, motor mounts before I cleaned em up for polish.










I also included a neat pic of the bottom end with the HD casting #s inside. Notice they are from 1984, Which means the original 1977 case's were sent to the factory for repairs and they replaced them with Evo case's that were made to fit Shovel tops. they stamped the case with new style numbers but the same old 77 VIN, which is a pretty cool deal and you don't get to see alot of these.




I also sent a pic of the cylinder hole's bored, by Bill Chambers before I cleaned em up. there is also a pic of the inside of the case that has been clearanced for the S&S stroker flywheels.






When I was doing all the grinding-smoothing-clearenceing etc. to the case's (mostly inside)  I realized that  the  purest  traditional chopper part of this 40th anniversary bike  (to me choppers are 70% hand made/massaged one-off pieces)  is the lower end of this engine that nobody will ever see,  which made me very happy & proud to be doing it. Even though most of the parts are custom made non-stock items, they are still store bought. So, you assembling bike & my engine build are the truest part of this new chopper.

Ill take & send pics of case's & rocker boxes once back from polish and we'll set up a time when you wanna come shoot some assembly pics.

later,
Rico.

PS: let me know if these pics suck. I can adjust my camera,
Rob (Fortier) taught me how. hahaha..  

CHASSIS DESIGN TRANS MOUNT MODS & OIL TANK



We wanted to use an under the transmission style oil tank from Chassis Design Company and when we got the frame from Flyrite it had a trans mount that wouldn't permit this. Anthony, who is the main man over there has been fabbing up killer frames, tanks and the like for years told me just to bring up the Flyrite and he'll make it work.




Here is how the original trans mount looked on the frame from Flyrite





This is the Oil Tank we wanted to use. As you can see it is a no-go type situation.









That is until Anthony set Desi loose with some powertools to cut out the OE tranny mount.





After Desi hacked out the old metal, he cleaned it up so well that you could not tell that there was anything ever there.






From there the bike was installed onto one of Chassis Design's jigs and fitted the Trans mount fixture to it.







Once the measurements were taken, Desi fabbed up some mounts for the 4-speed trans mount then Anthony welded `em up and handed it back to Desi for clean up.





Here is how the mount looks before being trimmed to fit











After the measurements were taken, Anthony got busy cutting and welding.





This metal box is the oil tank. it will be hidden underneath the Baker 6into4 Transmission.







Anthony slid the frame over the oil tank and marked where the mounts needed to be then got back to doing what he does best: welding.




Here is the final product. One badass hand-made oil tank.









Here's how the new trans mount and oil tank looks mocked-up on the frame with the Baker 6-into-4