I put the bike back together on Sunday. It was a bit of a fight to put the rear wheel back on with my bad arm, but I manages. The rear fender fits well enough, tight to the wheel. It is a little longer than I would like, but at least, the wheel won't throw mud at the back of my helmet. The rough gold leafing has a nice antique look I like, and glows in the sun.
I am working on turns signals made of aluminum fence post tops and an LED unit from AutoZone that exactly fits in. I will paint them crinkle black and am making aluminum brackets to attach them to the lower triple tree:
Today, I took the gas tank and the fender in the studio, which it is cleaner than the workshop, to gold leaf them. I don't know if I mentioned before that although I appreciate the perfectly lined up squares of chine screens, I don't have the china man skill, and anyway, I prefer the messier gold leafing with pieces of different sizes and shapes going every which way and hairline cracks, which gives a bit of an antique look. Also, I am using fake brass gold leaf rather than real gold leaf, which I find garishly shiny. And the color matches the brass parts I made for the bike. The size dries fairly fast, so I did the tank in 4 sections, starting with the bottom part:
The tank finished received 3 coats of clear lacquer:
Then I gold leafed and lacquered the rear fender:
I finally managed to remove the exhaust pipes chrome covers and expose the plain pipes. I had to extend the top one slightly to be able to fit the sound baffle in, and wrapped them with tan colored fiberglass tape:
Then I started working on relocating the wiring( what the hell are all those wires for?), regulator, etc... under the tank in the space left by the removed air box:
As you can see, I also made a copper curly gas line and mounted the pump to the side:
In order to drill the holes in the swing arm and fit the flat rear fender( I couldn't find a round one at a reasonable price I had ordered from J & P Cycles, I had to remove the rear wheel and shaft transmission:
I drilled 1/4" holes in the fender and through the tubes to attach the fender to the swing arm, close to the tire:
It feels quite rigid, so I don't know if I will add the brass braces I had planned.
I bent and cut a 1/8" steel plate to fit the triangular space underneath the seat and hold the back of the Mustang seat in place securely, and painted it semi flat black. I drilled holes in the frame and tapped them 8-32 to attach it with brass screws, and also to securely bolt it to the tank attachment and attach the seat retainer ledge:
I hated the bumpy grey plastic sleeves the wiring was in going to the levers, so I removed them, replaced them with smaller fitted fleck flex tubing wrapped in electrician tape, and slipped over them braided 1/2" copper flat lead I bought a spool of.It is actually wown as a tube , and adjust to pretty much any diameter by pushing or pilling on it. I used black rubber tubing and washer to finish the ends. I did the same with the headlight wiring:
I painted the rear fender 2 coats of black on the inside, and 2 coats of red primer plus 2 coats of gold on the outside to ready it for gilding:
Looks like spring already, and after a break through the Holidays in France, I am back "bobbin" the V STAR. I actually rode it yesterday, and it felt good. Raising the tubes 4" in the triple trees did a lot to improve the handling, and removing all the extra chrome junk made it lighter and more nimble
I got my zigzag fat black handlebars, cut them in half, and attached each half to the top of the fork tubes with my solid brass clip on brackets. It's going to be tricky to figure out the installation of the reversed brass levers, so I temporarily put back the original levers and grips.
I cut off the whole rear end bracket that supported the rear fender, and am looking for a short fender to attach close to the wheel to the swing arm. It looks good with none, but just a little water would soak my pants...
I made a bracket to attach the battery( with plans for a box and leather straps), tied all the loose wires and fuel pump temporarily, gold leafed the front fender after a couple of coats of red primer and a coupe of a dark flaky metallic gold. I painted the gas tank gold too, but will hold of on the gold leaf till I get the rest of the mods done.
I rigged up the Mustang seat in place with a couple of temporary steel brackets. I know some crazy uncomfortable bronze or wood seat would probably look better, but my ass likes the comfort of the big Mustang seat with a back rest!
I made an aluminum bracket to attach the old tag holder sideways on the right side. It has a built in rear/stop light. I am not sure at this point whether I will use blinkers, they are not required in Alabama.
I bought some 2" wide beige exhaust tape and wrapped the two short exhaust pipes. I had to weld a short extension to the top one to be able to slip in the baffles that cut the noise level considerably.
