CB desert sled

So today Luke worked on the rear brakes, first on the agenda was to find a brake pedal.

Here is the brake pedal and pivot pin off one of the old SL350's up in the loft (Luke had already cut the lever off the pin before I could get a picture);



Luke test fit the pedal and then modifed to curl up and under the custom footpeg (note the kick start lever is different than what was shown yesterday, this one is most likely off another old 350 twin, we pulled it out of a junk box);



Luke has now fabbed a bracket to mount the master cylinder;



Luke creating the actuating lever to go on the backside of the pivot pin to operate the master cylinder;



Luke building a new clevis to extend the reach from master cylinder to actuating lever;



Nice work Luke!



A functional brake system in one afternoon!

It's amazing how much faster things go when your parts are 90% built from the start.

Somehow I missed this thread and just found it from Paul's link in his subaru thread. Very cool stuff! Love the mix of parts.... honda, suzuki, shocks from some soft of quad.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes in Baja. You planning on doing it with multiple riders like you guys did last year or you going solo this time?

Luke,

Make sure you have a way to limit the uptravel of your brake arm. You don't want it to rip the guts out of your master in a slow speed sand type of getoff.

-John

I hadn't really thought of that, but it's just a circlip holding the piston in, right? As it is, it's not a problem because the lever hits the front of the footpeg bracket -it's hidden by the footpeg in the pictures.

Haven't settled on how many riders. Either one or two. At this point anything besides 'get the bike running' is just background noise.

I have one if needed It is missing one LED to keep make it "interesting"

Ya know, I have a variable speed drill press and lathe...

I'd love to share some time on the build if you'll have me.

I have a computer that should not violate the spirit.

I would be happy to loan my TI99/4A computer. :d

It should be almost period correct- early eighties model, 16kb RAM, and no drive, hard, floppy, or otherwise. (Yes, you read that right- kilobytes.)







And no, I am not posting with it now.

Yesterday TwinDuro showed up to help and Luke decided to focus on completing the swing arm.

First you pull the swing arm;



Then you "consult", (or is that BSing?) There is a high degree of BS associated with this build, sometimes I have to make myself leave the work area, just so Luke can actually get some work done without my non-stop commentary and story telling. Just sayin'!



Lots of measuring;



Then welding;





Brake stay almost completed (caliper bracket slides on this lug).
Luke's weld quality just keeps getting better and better!

absolutely amazing

Another fun Saturday was had with Luke and Rick while working on the 650! First order of business was cutting a piece of 1-1/4" stock in half to create the brake-stay on the swingarm...



...which was followed by welding the two pieces together, some measuring, grinding, and attaching it to the swingarm:



Another view of Luke's TIG Welds:



After fitting up the axle and brake stay, it was time to make some provisions to attach chain sliders, aka: "gussets." Which was followed by more welding.





With the gussets welded in place, some UHMW (ultra high molecular weight) polyethylene was carved up for the chain sliders:


We then needed to bend the sliders slightly to fit the contour of the swingarm... I didn't get any photos of this, but with four hands, lots of clamps and a heat gun, it got done.

How hard can it be to build an airbox? Funny you should ask!

Armed with tons of ideas, lots of tin, measuring devices, and an assortment of tools, we set out to build an airbox and fully intended to have it completed today. Yeah right!

First step, lots of measuring and layout;



Drilling holes to accomodate choke and crankcase breathers;



Milling intake air tube holes. We started out with a traditional cutting tool, but it was extremely slow on this tiny machine, so we ran to town and picked up the best 1 7/8" hole saw we could find. Our intention was to cut out the centers and then finish mill the holes. Turned out to be a good strategy.



After holes drilled and milled, ready for the next step. Air tubes are a very precise fit.



Making sure the holes actually lined up as designed. They did.



The original layout for cuttting and bending the air box forward bulkhead was mostly obliterated by the drilling and milling process, so Luke laid it out again. As the day wore on, the design became simpler.



Using a cut-off wheel to trim the bulkhead prior to bending the flanges.



Initial bending on the Harbor Freight "brake", this little machine got the job done, but it was almost as flimsy as the material we were trying to bend.



Final stages, we had this piece in and out of the brake many, many times!



Airbox bulkhead with air tubes slip-fit into place.



Test fit, looking good!



At this point we were going to start the brazing proceess, but after a long day, I was out of steam. Still we felt really good about our progress. Another good day in the shop!

That airbox is sweet.

That airbox is off to a good start! Might try annealing that aluminum prior to bending if you're having a hard time forming it?

It's steel. 16 ga. I checked and the bender instructions say 'up to 16ga'. It's from harbor freight.

The back/top/bottom peice of the airbox will be 22ga, so it should handle that ok. I'll reinforce it just on general principle.

Gotcha. Do you have any kind of shop press? Dunno if you have any more bending to do, but these actually work pretty well. Or you could just buy one.

No, but we've been talking about them. Mostly for working on steering stems and such. A press brake would be a nice addition to one of those. I couldn't think of anything else on this bike that needed a brake... until I remembered the skid plate.

The press is high on my list right now, will go over to harbor freight and check them out, maybe at lunch today.

You may regret them opening one across the street from your work

If you don't already have one, I'll mail you a coupon for the 20 ton model at $149.99.