Starting all over on the Chopper

67849 Views 355 Replies 37 Participants Last post by Pau55, Jun 9, 2017

Alley Rat

Discussion Starter · Nov 24, 2010

This bike has been sitting for awhile now and it is killing me. Luckily I have my other bike so I am not completely down. Since I built my last set of pipes I have felt the need to really clean up my bike. For awhile I didn't take my time in my projects and just tried to get things done. It has been killing me to see my bike half a$$ed. So I have decided to tear it down and start over. I plan on getting a new tank, building new handle bars, new taillights, polishing things here and there, and maybe getting my exhaust and other pieces chromed. I just really want to make this bike super clean from here out.

This is how she is starting out.

Hacked some spare metal.

I cut off the square box on the top of the backbone and started cleaning all the welds

After a couple hours of messing around. I am to the point of no return. I am pulling the engine so I can get into all the nooks and crannys.

Of course I am gonna strip all this wiring and leave the bare minimum.

Stay tuned. I plan on hitting this everyday in some shape or form

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Rowdy1

· #71 · Feb 15, 2011

Rat, what kind of tire is on the rear of this bike? I need a new back tire, and I am looking for some ideas. I really like the look of your rear tire.

Rowdy1

· #76 · Mar 21, 2011

Alley Rat, I have a wiring question. I am shortening my wires up. Sunday, I was working on the regulator. Like an idiot, I cut the wires from the regulator to the plug without noting that there were 3 black wires. Do you have a close up pic of how these go back together? A close up pic or two would be awesome. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am a huge fan of your bikes.

Rowdy1

· #80 · Mar 24, 2011

Melted, huh? Hmmmm. Starting to worry about my wiring skills......

Yeah, I did my best guess rewiring it. Basically, I tried to match them up by the way they go into the plug. Of course, the color coded ones were no problem. The three black wires were what made me slap my fore head and voice a few choice words. Thank you for your help on this, Rat.

Dave, I did the yellow ones seperately.

I am still finishing up my chop bob job. Not ready to hit the start button yet, so I don't know if I got it all hooked up right or not. I hope to be ready to fire her up really soon...... I plan on creating a thread when I am done.

Thanks again Alley Rat!

Rowdy1

· #83 · Mar 25, 2011

Hooked up a battery last night about 6: 30 pm. Nothing. Not even a click. After about 3 good hours of scratching my head and staring at the wiring diagram, I found that when I omitted kill switch, I had neglected to hook up one of the necessary wires to close the circuit. She's clicking now (battery is no good). I will be getting a new battery this weekend, and hopefully finish cleaning up all the wiring.

Rowdy1

· #87 · Apr 13, 2011

Rat, where did you mount your crank case vent filters on your bikes? I haven't noticed in the pics of your bikes.

I hate that Dave wasn't comfortable with those bars anymore, but at least they will be mounted to another 800 soon!
We'd love to see a pic of the bars on Phil's scoot!

Rowdy1

· #91 · Apr 13, 2011

Crap man, that is cool! I am going to have to figure out a way to do that with mine. That stupid little cone filter is not going well at all with my slimmed down scoot. Thanks for the pic! I have that pic saved on my computer, but I never noticed that line before.

Rowdy1

· #93 · Apr 14, 2011

I've seen those brackets that move the choke lever to come right of the carb like that. I think they were on that john's motorcycle parts website. I thought about doing that as well, but I decided to go with what I have right now. I just angled my mount to run parallel with the frame like you did on your gorilla bike.
What do the cross hammers mean?

Rowdy1

· #95 · Apr 14, 2011

You're gonna have everybody thinking you are a Stone Mason!

Rowdy1

· #101 · Apr 20, 2011

Alley Rat said:
No but the those three on the engine side of the plug-in somehow all melted and I had to rewire. I cut the first one and respliced it and then without thinking cut the other two at the same time. I looked at the manual and talked with my uncle who is even more wiring savy than me and he said it didn't matter which way you hooked them back up.

So Rowdy, did you hook it all back up?

Rat, I finally got her out on the road Sunday afternoon. Rode about 7 miles. Rode about 7 more yesterday evening. So far, everything is working properly. I haven't actually put a volt meter to the battery to see if its charging properly. I think it is fine, though. And fast and lean! I rejetted the carb and that makes a huge difference! I just won a rear fender from a Harley Sprint (supposedly) on Ebay, so hopefully that will be arriving soon. Then paint and sanding.....

Thanks again for your help on the wiring. Looking forward to a pic of your new exaust. Do you know if exaust flanges for a Harley Evo 80" are the same size as our exhaust flanges? I want to build some new exhaust as well, but it takes forever to build the flanges from scratch, and I'd like to keep my current set in tact. There are pairs of these flanges for cheap on Ebay. It would be handy if these would work.

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Rowdy1

· #102 · May 16, 2011

Rat, whats the progress on your bike? I found these pics of a vulcan hard tail. Looks like a complete custom frame. He even went with a smaller radiator. Thought you might like to see these pics.
Don't understand the shifter, though. He's got a hand clutch on the bars and an 8 ball hand shifter. Who knows.
Still, fun to look at. I'm always up for pics of a crazy 800.

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Rowdy1

· #106 · Jun 24, 2011

Rat, I know you said you've forgotten to turn your gas on before. You get down the road a bit and the bike starts cutting out. This happened to me this morning, however, when i turned the gas on, gas started pouring out of my air filter. I'm guessing that when the gas got so low in the carb float bowl, the float may have gotten stuck in the low position. I had to park it because I was late for work by the time I got the bike back home, so I have not been able to diagnose the problem.

What do you think?

Rowdy1

· #109 · Jun 27, 2011

Update: The float needle had trash in it. Apparently some rust from the tank is getting by the fuel valve filter screen. I bought a clear inline filter an installed that Sunday when I put the cleaned carb back on. Still think I have some trash in the carb, though, because she is popping quite a bit when I slow down in gear. Maybe it will work itself out, or I may have to take the carb off again. We will see.

Word of advice: Don't get carburetor cleaner on your lips. It really burns.

Rowdy1

· #111 · Jun 28, 2011

Hey Rat.

My choke cable keeps binding for some reason, so I am gonna move it to the carb like you are doing. Question is, where do you get the shorter cable?

Thanks

Rowdy1

· #112 · Jun 28, 2011

Ah hah. Kinda answered my own question. Here is a link to one on Ebay. They are more 'spensive than a thought.

Keihin Choke Valve PWK 35 38 39 Carburetor Carb | eBay

Rowdy1

· #114 · Jun 30, 2011

Rat, there was no link attached.

thanks!

Rowdy1

· #117 · Nov 16, 2011

Rat, how you be durin'? What's the status on the chop?

Rowdy1

· #119 · Nov 21, 2011

I didn't know the tank was part of your plan. Is something wrong with your scalloped tank?

I've only had one bad ebay experience before, about 6 years ago. I do check feedback, though.

Keep us posted on any developements. We are all interested in your progress. Just noticed this project is going on a year old!

Rowdy1

· #131 · Jan 17, 2012

Progress! Sweet! What are you going to ask for your other bike? Wondering because I am planning on selling mine in a couple of months as well. Everything is looking great!

Rowdy1

· #135 · Jan 23, 2012

Rat, did I miss somewhere that you are not hard tailing this bike anymore? Sounds like you are just ready to have it moving again.

Rowdy1

· #137 · Jan 24, 2012

Rat, give your brother my sympathies for his loss. I almost teared up when I saw that on his blog.
Any idea what happened to the engine? Will he look for another engine or start over? Maybe you could sell the gorilla back to him!

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