Rolling Chassis
Well the call finally came… ‘your frame is ready for collection’.
As usual ‘ready’ wasn’t quite what it means. Yes, the frame was done, but the mainstand had been repaired and not caught up with the rest, the chainguard needs two minutes brazing on it, so that’s not done and the disc carrier I had to have re-done is still in the strip tank.
But… the frame was done. And this is what was there when I arrived.
The forks and yokes were still being masked. I finally took them home three hours later. Anyway, it was worth the wait, they’re very well done. Not the original bubbly finish, but smooth satin black.
Anyway, got it all home too late Friday night to do anything with it, so set to early today. Fished it out of the car and set it up on the dining table.
First job was to unmask all the holes and remove a few bits of powdercoat that had got into places it wasn’t wanted. Not too much, they’d done a great job of masking it up. There was a couple of small areas which had bubbled and needed touching up…both in places that can’t be seen. I touched them in with some aerosol red, sprayed into the cap and applied with a brush. Perfect colour match, too.
Once that was all done the swingarm went in fairly easily, and the newly painted shocks with some stainless cap screws replacing the old bolts. I cleaned up the yokes, fitted the bearings, and dropped it all in. Then I fitted the headlight bracket.
The forks went back together easily enough and after removing some stray black paint, they slipped into the yokes.
It’s all looking very good, and will be a lot better when I have a stand and can fit some wheels.
Three weeks later, I finally get back the remaining bits, a few odds and sods from Mdina Italia, and summon up a bit of enthusiasm to do some more.
Without the right tools it took a while to polish up the alloy bits that surround the back wheel, but eventually we have a rear wheel and a temporarily fitted mainstand.
The rolling chassis has now been shoved to one side of the shed and I will concentrate on the motor, as it’s the next thing I want to put in the frame.