I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving  

wambr wrote on 11/27/13 at 08:11:57:


Thank you Wambr.

ToesNose wrote on 11/28/13 at 04:48:21:


Thank you ToesNose.

Demin wrote on 11/29/13 at 05:30:12:

Thank you Demin.

old_rider wrote on 11/28/13 at 05:00:12:


Hi old_rider,
going with a different speedo w/o a hard cable is not a bad idea for sure.  I do appreciate the input.  But I really like the look of analog gauges.

I went through Dave's build log thread last nite, what a cool bike that is, truly individual and very well done.

I was out in the shop yesterday and mounted the dash assembly on the bike in the position I was originally going for when I discovered the interference problems with the headlight.


This is by far my favorite location, now if I can just make it work  
So at this point here is a short list of alternative plans I am going to explore in the next few days (not in any particular order)... 
Move stock headlight forward. (don't think this will work though)
Look at trying to put more of a bend in the end of the speedo cable or looking for a 90° adapter for the cable/ speedo intersection. (seems like I have seen something like that adapter before and that would be cool but would probably be more obtrusive than just the end of the cable)
How about something like this...

I think that would be the ultimate, put a smoke windscreen on it and mount the head light in the fairing.  A fairing would make it easier to hide the rats nest of stuff around and behind the headlight.  I would love to try and figure that out, mounting and making brackets and so on.
But that is kind of expensive when you add a windscreen.
Another thing I want to investigate is maybe keeping the analog tach and going with a digital speedo?  old_rider got me thinking about that while I was writing this post.    Put all that in a different shaped dash along with the indicator lights.  Make the tach the prominent part of the dash.

It is kind of cold out in the garage today so I will probably spend a few hours in the shop and perhaps model that up in CAD and post my results later.
Thanks for reading,
Gerry

What an awesome job you're doing! This looks amazing.

I definitely think the instrument cluster you have looks awesome, and it belongs where you have it mounted in that last photo.

Have you thought about looking for a different headlight and bucket?
Something smaller, maybe? Or just something that isn't as deep?

I definitely think that fairing will fit the bill; takes care of the headlight, and hides the mess. I know it's $, but it sure would look the business!
Perhaps you could scour Ebay for something like it that you could modify?

old_rider wrote on 11/29/13 at 06:57:20:


Hi old_rider,
you got me thinking about just using the tach and then mount a digital led speedo in the dash so I did some web surfing looking for something to adapt and wasn't really satisfied with what I found.  

I tried to take the speedo apart when I discovered that the trip odometer re-set knob would not just simply pull away from the stem I thought it was mounted on.  I don't think these gauges are meant to come apart, not with out damage I think.

Thanks for the ideas though, I really do appreciate any input.

teabowl13 wrote on 11/30/13 at 11:12:54:


Thank you for the kind comments teabowl13.

I was looking at this headlight from DimeCity
http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-choppe...

Not sure how that would look on the bike though.  I may just order that light and see how it scales on the bike... budget is pretty much blown though  
And speaking of budget... I think a fairing would be awesome...  But I think maybe I'll wait til next fall and I might try to do one on this bike.

Thanks again for your input.

Ragnar444 wrote on 11/30/13 at 14:24:58:


Thank you Ragnar444.

I don't think I'll ask Ryan or Casey if they are interested in any thing I'm doing but I will send them some photo's of the finished bike and if they ask me about it I would consider it.

Hope your build is going well.


Here is a little up date on my "plan B" for the dash.
I got to thinking that the way the guy's at Ryca layed out their gauges on the little powder coated brackets was really pretty clean and put the bottom of the speedo in a location that allowed some clearance for the speedo cable and headlight.  They have the gauges mounted from the bottom whereas I had mine mounted just below the top of the gauges.  This put the bottom of my gauges further down in the way of the headlight.
so I re-designed my whole assembly.
Here are some screen caps of the model in CAD.
 


I made the indicator light housing pretty similar to the previous one but changed the outside profile and added a spacer with a pocket in it to raise the whole thing up to almost level with the top surface of the gauges.


I am going to dig through my aluminum pile and see if I got stock to begin machining this version today.
I think I will also start sorting out the wiring on the bike and see where I need to add wire to the loom and also position the ignition switch some place other than the tank.
Thanks for reading
Gerry

Dave wrote on 12/05/13 at 04:32:51:


Thanks for the encouragement Dave.
I read through your build log the other nite.  Very nice, I admire how you strayed from the kit in various ways and made the bike your own.  I'm afraid I needed the kit format to get me started and hopefully stay on the project.  You don't know how many bikes I have bought in the past, disassembled just to sit in my garage for years only to be sold as basket case's  
I really enjoy the evolution process in designing something and making it work.  So re-doing is not so bad, however I have been seen staring at the wiring harness draped over the bike, looking at the manual wire diagram and wondering how in the heck am I going to get that back to working order    I learned that I need to take better pictures before tearing it apart  
Oh well, one bridge at a time.
Gerry

Hi all,
just a short update.  Been too cold out in the garage to work out there so I have been dinking around in the shop where it is some what warmer.

The other day when it was a little warmer in the garage I put the wire loom back on the bike, more or less.  I wanted to see if the lights on the new dash work and see if I had wired the Ryca tail light correctly so I connected the battery.  Every thing works, no fuses blew.  I just need to work on getting rid of the decompression relay, clip the green connector from the side stand wires and tie them together, figure out where I want to locate the ignition and extend as needed, mount the starter solenoid, rework the battery cables a little bit and have the weather warm up a bit so I can work out in the garage  .

Here are some photos of the new dash...



And since I'm not going to use the Ryca position for the ignition I made a blank to cover the hole...



Here are a couple of photos of the whole bike that I wanted to post earlier with the tank and seat in place as well as the engine and exhaust system.



I hope in the next couple of weeks I get the wiring done and in position then put some oil in the engine and crank her over and maybe see if it will start, I can't wait to see what the exhaust sounds like.

I hate winter.
Thanks for reading

Gerry

verslagen1 wrote on 12/11/13 at 11:46:29:


Thanks Verslavy.

I haven't done too much on the project lately.  Been too cold and we had an ice storm roll through and have been without power for the past two days, finally got it back early this morning.

I'm kind of intimidated by the wiring.  I figured That the first thing I should do is get the ancillary's such as the CDI, ignition and rear brake light switch in their final positions then start routing the loom making adjustments in length as needed.

I did not like the way Ryca has you mount the igniter assy. using Velcro or two sided tape so I made a mount plate for it and drilled a couple of holes in the side of the battery box to mount it.
 

I put a strip of rubber under this aluminum strap to hold the igniter assy firmly in the pocket in the base plate.


I didn't want to mount the ignition in the gas tank cover either.  I saw this mounting method on the Ryca customer gallery and made this bracket.
 
I hope to find some 4X heat shrink tube to wrap around the base of the ignition and up onto the wiring to help seal that off.

I didn't like the way Ryca has you connect the rear brake cable to the rear-set linkage so I made a mount bracket for the switch body itself and connect that to the rear-set linkage.


I'm not sure how this will work out.  I don't know if I'll bang into that cable with my boot and screw it up during use or if it will work out?  I plan on painting these parts satin black when I paint every thing else.

I also made a stop for the rear brake pedal Ala Dave's Thumpin Special build, thanks Dave!


Thanks for reading,
Gerry

if you can vibration isolate the TDI in a similar fashion as stock I think the brain box will last longer.

and will the keys in any way be in danger of snapped off in a tip over?