Watch me and mini-b tonight

So tonight, at 10 if your on the east time, Discovery's Velocity network airs the Cafe Racer TV Sprint SS build.  

If you did not have the Velocity channel before , check again! The channel recently changed classifications or was down graded and is no longer a special channel.  

Pretty nervous to see the show myself, I hope I don't seem like a douche or something.

The Sprint SS

The Harley Sprint SS mini-b and I built on Cafe Racer TV.  The show will air on the 13th on Velocity network.  The new season starts tonight at 10 est. and they have been playing trailers with me talking shit and making sparks.

Cafe Racer TV Season 4..... finaly

Over a year ago Mini-b and I built a bike while Cafe Racer TV filmed it for season 4. Velocity Network had not scheduled it for who knows why.  The latest news says the wait is nearly over.  I am not sure which episode we will be featured on but new episodes in a new format will start in the first week of November.  So watch Mini-b and I make asses out of our selves on hi definition television.

Weekend Action

 Spent a bit of time working on a ultraglide and some on the Oily Souls trophies but still made time to:
Help Mini-b finish putting his ironhead back together .
Take the Turbo Honda on a couple of short break in rides.
Fiddle fuck with the charging system on the sprint ( I did manage to squeak a little more juice out of it )

Harley Sprint Action

The Sprint that we built for season 4 of Café Racer TV that is yet to air.

  The Sprint SS, although beautiful, has never been quite right.  The biggest issue was just the fact that it was a complete pain in the ass to start. You would kick and kick and kick , charge the battery and kick and kick so Mini never really wanted to ride it.........  We suspected a carb issue however I noticed a huge current draw when it was on the charger that coincided with the points opening and closing, Hmmmm.  The points are good , the coil is new so I figured as weird as it is, the condenser must have a partial short.  Now when we checked for spark it was always good but fuck it, something wasn't right.    So, we pulled the carb, cleaned it out and swapped the capacitor for a old Honda one and 2 lazy kicks later she was running.  The current draw issue is better as well.   Its hard to say what fixed it but who fuckin cares,  its running.

The sprint alternator conversion

Mini-b and I gave up trying to make the generator work on the sprint and decided a modern permanent magnet alternator system would be better . We started by buying a stator system from a Chinese scooter because they are cheap and plentiful. After that we drilled out the center of the fly wheel and welded in the center of the original tapered part of the commentator . Then we designed an milled out a adaptor for the stator. Just have the figure out the wiring now.

Before and After

The Sprint came out so nice that its easy to forget that it was a dirt bike in its previous life.

I have to admit, I wouldn't mind scrambling through the woods on one with all of the torque and throttle you need. Makes me want a original 350SS .

This Bike Fuckin Hates Me

The Charging system has completely shit. Its hard to tell which component is responsible without a known good system or the service manual but it seams to me that the armature in the generator has shorted out . If anyone has a manual and would scan a couple of pages , that would be super rad. The engine and electrics are out of a 71 350SS AMF Sprint.

something to post

mini-b in the spot light putting the very last piece on the Sprint Cafe Racer TV project bike. Look for the show in late fall on Velocity HD channel.
its been frigging hot out so I'm taking a short break from the shop , maybe go to Greg and Gabby's to help with the Guzzi tonight . It's always a good time with them.

Cafe Racer Harley Sprint = Done!!!

Saturday, we made this tail lamp from a old exhaust reducer draw.

Sunday we took'er for a spin around the hood. Everything is backwards on this thing, the kickstand is on the right ,The kicker is on the left, the shifter is on the right and has a up side down shift pattern, brake on the left. I don't have a issue with the shifter and brake being swapped , its the up side down shift pattern that is messing with us. Mini-b was super stoked with the results of the build and it was great to see him grinning ear to ear on the test ride. It is pretty quick for a 350 4 stroker. We haven't had it on any land speed runs but I ran it up to about 60 on the side streets with no problem, so with Mini-b on her, it will be a monster and my guess is a change of final gear ratio will be needed to get the full bike and rider potential out if it.

Greg, the speedo works great, thanks.

Harley Sprint Cafe Racer , So Close

so, other than putting the chain on , some gas in the tank and some bolts in the seat, it's ready for a test ride. Charging system confirmed working . She sounds quite responsive to the throttle so I'm hoping for some wheelie popping power, That would be pretty cool for the show. Might reveal it at the Ton-up event on the 30th , we will see. we still have to make the tail lamp and license plate bracket probably a few things that I'm not thinking of at the moment .

Diesel, I wore my ZON shirt on a day of taping the build , although sadly I have worn it out and will have to retire it soon. Have anymore round guy sizes left in black ?

Simplified Wiring Schematic For The 350/250 SS Harley Sprint

Sketched out this fun looking diagram yesterday while I was shooting wires to everything. 

Just a half ass picture of the super simple stupid exhaust system we built from some junk exhaust.

Sneaky VonPeekerson

Its looking pretty sexy.   Working on the wiring and boring details like switches and cables and ignition and other not so fun to do things that are a real sleeper to get through.   Greg donated a original speedometer the other day that will be perfect in there ,  Thanks Homie!!

Professional lighting is awesome !!!!

I snapped this picture with my phone while I was walking by as the crew was setting up a shot .   It was really cool how the lighting transformed the big picture. They experimented with a few lighting effects and some film trickery .    I learned allot and I think I might finally take some decent pictures once in a while if I apply myself to it.

Some more stuff done on the sprint

Yesterdays happenings .  Wrapped the rims with these vintage tread copy tires.  They look pretty nice for cheap tires and they seem to be true and surprisingly light. Color sanded and polished the tank and seat. Undercoated the tunnel of the tank and inside of the seat.  And did some assembly of the headlamp and stuff.  Did a few things to the front suspension but still waiting for the fork seals to come in which are 30mm X 40mm X 10mm and I was able to find them that way if you are looking.  Checked to make sure that the petcock I was planning on using would fit and it does not, so I have to figure that out.  Greg has the same problem but I'm thinking that there is a simple solution.  Mini-b is totally getting the itch to ride it now and he is mentioning destinations as we are working on it, this is a very exciting part of a build.

Mini-b and I kicked ass this weekend, Sprint Cafe Racer

Some powder coat , some body work, some grinding ,  some paint, some copper plate and allot of  head scratching .   The headlight bucket is half early Sportster and half Sprint  looks long and classy to me.  Just need to find a speedo to fit it.  Tires come in today so lots of action in Ry's house of science friction later.

The Harley Sprint Cafe Racer Build , Again

Mini-b and I kicked this thing right in the balls over the weekend.  We got the frame finished, welded, stripped the paint off of everything and finished the fab to make the Italian American headlight bucket ( no picture of that ,  sorry ).

Sprint Cafe Project, Frame Mods

This thing actually has a chromoly frame ,  Crazy Italians, making stuff all awesome and stuff..

Just have the rear section tacked in place until mini-b  comes by to to give it a thumbs up or down. Planning to stick some more parts on it too just to make sure its good before the pretty stuff starts going into it.