Tore into the carbs for their complete rebuild and damn was that some work. Not only was every single diaphragm rotted out but all the needles and jets were dirty as hell to. I guess its to be expected for a bike that has been sitting for so long and had leaky carbs. That should all be remedied now, but it was pricey along with about 10-15 hours of pure clean up with all the parts. From polishing to soaking in parts cleaner to straight up scraping off sealed port holes from old gas. Now the fun part, tuning these bitches in unison!
Thought I would post this as I came across it this afternoon. Was commissioned by a friend to create a painting for his dad who happens to be a huge Ducati fanatic. Yes, he personally owns 12 Duc's of all years and models and rides them all regularly. I knew my work was cut out for me as he would be on top of all the details. Knowing that he was about to purchase the Paul Smart commemorative bike I thought it would be a great tie in for his shop/office. Was able to score a slew of old Ducati ads from a lady in Italy off ebay and funny enough, one of the ads was actually the first Duc' he ever owned. Overall, the project was fun as hell and he was stoked. The painting is acrylic and is 3 foot by 4 and a half feet wide.
Been absolutely swamped with work and trying to get a slew of projects underway for the new year. Some of the big things going on is the complete new Gearhead Records site, all the regular client graphics, working through the Honda 650 Chop build for the Smokeout and more graphics done for Rusty Knuckles TM official summer launch. The trademark finally came through so life is good.
We will finally be moving into a realm where the Gearhead Records site works great and fuctions even better. For all of those that have had a hard time navigating or even shopping, all will be changing shortly. He is a preview of the new site along with some Rusty Knuckles in progress graphics.
Wake up world, listen to these guys and smash beer cans against your head. Or at least go out and buy their cd, these guys kill it. Got to hang out with them again out in Asheville, NC last weekend and they never fail to live up to a good time. Great folks and great music, catch'em when you can as they are the epitome of punk n' roll.
Finally got around to pulling the carbs completely apart and found out just how many new parts I needed to buy. Yes, a couple of hundred dollars later in completely new carb parts I am still shitting my pants. Everything was shot due to the bike sitting for such a long time. All the needles, bushings, seals, springs and fittings were shot. At least I won't have too much trouble shooting to do when it comes to fire it up, well besides tuning 4 carbs in unison. Going to clean all the parts I can and paint them up black to match the heads. The rest of the engine will be polished out aluminum and should create a sweet color scheme matching the other tins.
What a great weekend overall. First trip back to California after moving down here to North Carolina and we rocked out at El Mirage for a great weekend of racing. Hooked up with my pal Dawes and we drove out to the desert to camp for the weekend and work the pits with the guys from a San Diego based racing team the Bean Bandits. Julio Hernandez or you can refer to him by his shop Lefty's Speed Shop built two great cars that run in the land speed races. One of the cars was having issues and his new one, the belly tanker was doing some shakedown runs to get ready for next season and the finished build. All in all, the whole crowd was cool as hell and I made a slew of new friends. Looking forward to seeing those cats next season at Sturgis and then on Bonneville. Check out Jake's truck above, she was running good and they are looking to break 106 mph record with a production truck and stock flathead motor.
Been trying so many different ideas in my head to figure out an appropriate setup for some cool fender struts. I had thought about welding some side panels onto the fender but realized it might warp a bit too much with the thin steel. Also I don't have an english wheel or an over abundance of sheet metal tools so I was forced to find a simpler solution.
What I came up with are a pair of struts made of mild steel. I bent a piece of steel rod around the rear tire and got a good radius to match the wheel. I then cut the rod to the length needed in the band saw and welded on some round stock I also cut off to make tabs from. They should work out great once drilled and tapped. The look is minimal and should be a great addition to the overall look of the build.
Dürer is without a doubt one of my favorites from the high Renaissance period and his illustrations are some of the best ever created. His dark imagery fits the period perfectly and over 500 years later the work is still relative. Seeing his work up close is even more mind blowing. The devil is in the details and he must have made a solid bond with the big guy from the deep south as his work is still captivating after half a millenia. Of course my favorite is the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse.
if you dig rockabilly and punk check these guys out. Billy, the singer guitarist is also the bassist in the sleaze metal Crank County Daredevils. Good tunes for sure. And if you are by chance in Asheville, NC stop by Billy's restaurant and say hello. Its called the Yacht Club.
As some of you may know, the whole impetus of Rusty Knuckles was to create a merch company in which ideas could be released away from the restraint of client demands. So much of my time and energy goes to my clients. This is great and a hard fought victory, but at the end of the day I want to produce graphics that I can release whenever I enjoy. Whether they end up on t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, patches or stickers, that will be determined by me and those who might want to purchase them. These are just a few of the ideas that I am cooking on now.
In my pursuit of making the honda 650 cooler, I needed to create a custom rear fender. With lots o' measurements I figured that some labor and a $30 blank fender from Northern Tool could do the trick. I opted on a 32" inch long fender by 9" wide. With the longer fender I would be able to cut off the section I did't need and still allow for the correct radius and arc to get the style I am after.
Not having a plasma cutter I also had to devise a no budget jig to cut a straight line on a radius. I made a quick little jig out of scrap wood and it worked out great with my 4.5" grinder and cut off wheel. Once I got the fender cut and sized to the dimensions needed I tig welded the two sections together and pounded out a few areas on the anvil to give it a bit more curve. After I smooth out the fender a bit more on the top with some grinding and sanding, I need to add a few curved side panels. They will act as my fend struts and fill in some the negative space between the tire and the back of the top panel of the fender. Then the fender will be mounted to the swing arm. Not sure how I am going to mount the fender just yet. Weighing a few options and seeing how the final fender will look at first.
As the build lurches forward or at this stage, tear down, repair and reweld, its been slow going. Trying to find all the parts I need has been tough. The parts are available but 3-4 different companies carry similar parts all at vastly different prices. Trying to keep a tight budget for the build as the bike only cost $300. The 650 also wasn't as common so a few things I simply cannot find, such as the paper gaskets on top of all 4 carburetors. Going to have to check the 750's carb sizes for similar gaskets or if need be custom make them. Either way a pain in the ass on that part. Hopefully for the engine tear down I won't run into too many issues but we shall see.
Here are a few photos of some axle adjuster brackets I am making. The ones I have are slightly bent but still work great. Hoping to trick these out a bit after I get the basic shape configured and polished out giving them some style.
I am not trying to recreate the entire flow of the bike but to alter the lines slightly and change up its posture to a cafe/chop hybrid. I want this to be a comfortable bike to run around town on and to do small trips with. Currently working on the new sheet metal for the tail end and figuring out a battery mount with room for a small stash box for tools.
I want to set up my carbs on the 650 with a similar metal mesh that is on these carbs. Has a great look and will go with some of other elements I am working on with steel mesh for body panels.
Did about 970 miles and mostly all back roads. The dyna ran perfect and had great weather for three days. Great run overall and gotta get back up the mountains in the next few weeks for the changing of the seasons.
