The question is. Does it fit?

And the answer is no. Had a setback on the chopper today. My combination of mid 90's fork slider and brake caliper does not cooperate with my 2005 wheel. I am now in search of a 2000-2007 four piston front brake caliper and a 2000-2003 left side 39mm fork slider with 3/4" axle. Gonna have to sell some parts I don't need because I am out of money.

My only other option is to machine the hub on the rotor mounting surface down about 1/4" to move the rotor in, farther away from the fork slider. The problem is the inboard brake pad holder that fits between the rotor and the fork slider is a press fit and will not allow the wheel to spin. I do not have a mill accurate enough to machine it down. I am going to measure it tomarrow and talk to Joe Bell and see if such an operation is possible. He did a really nice job boring the 1.5" hole through the center of my exhaust tip when I couldn't do that on the Smithy.

It's the end of March and I don't have a running motorcycle. This really bothers me. I'm putting the new starter in my Sportster tomorrow and doing a compression test to see just how bad my top end is. It's making noises I don't like but they are not I'm about to explode noises. I hope the Sportster hangs in there long enough for me to get the Chopper running. Then I can put some high compression pistons in it.

The Gears

I went to work today on my day off so I could work on the bike some more. Started the morning on the Smithy making custom rear transmission mounting nuts that will accept eye bolts that I'm going to order from McMaster-Carr to use as my primary belt adjusters. They turned out (get it) really nice.

The transmission case has had several days for the texture black paint to dry and it's probably as durable as it's going to get. Brought the gearset's home today and got The '98 gears from Hootis assembled onto my billet S&S trapdoor. The retaining rings that hold the gears onto the shafts were kicking my ass when I was taking the gearset apart. I got a new snap ring pliers off the Snap On truck today, a tool I've wanted for a while. Harper finally removed one of the retaining rings for me at my house this afternoon when he stopped by to see if my fridge still kept beer cold. After I watched how he was getting them off with a couple screw drivers and the snap ring pliers, I was able to settle down and get them apart alot quicker without wrecking parts. I was really getting frustrated with them so I'm glad he stopped by.

Now I need a few hours to put the transmission back together and install the kick starter.

The pic shows how the electric starter mounting ear is now gone and smoothed out for a kick only application. Good-bye modern convenience. Those long bolts sticking out the left side hold the outboard mainshaft support bearing that goes between the clutch and the drive sprocket.

The Headlight

The headlight has been hiding in the background of all three of the previous posted pictures so I thought I would show that next. It is a simple 4 1/2" Drag Specialties light with a regular H4 55/60w bulb in it. I made the mounting block from a peice of 1x2" aluminum on the Smithy 3 in 1 lathe/mill at work. I'm very happy with the way it looks mounted to the fork.

The Transmission

I built the transmission from parts. Looking back I should have just bought a complete transmssion because I have WAY more money into it than I needed to spend. It is full of nice parts tho.

The transmission for this bike has been through the most changes as my plan for the bike has changed over the years. The gears in it originally were mix-n-match gears from various different bikes that had the gear box opened up for one reason or another. 5th gear main & counter shaft are matched and came from the same bike. One that Tony at The Boar House had put a PM phatail kit on. The others are unknown origin and will be replaced with the 1-4th gear sets from the original transmission from Hootis' 1998 hardtail FLSTS project that he recently completed.

I finished the chopping of this transmission last weekend and need to re-assemble it. The starter mounting ear has been sliced off and filed smooth, The case is now texture black and will be put together with the exsisting 5th gear, Pauls old 1-4th gears, my original Baker roller detent shift drum and billet shift forks, and a Rivera-Primo kickstarter. All within the S&S super stock tansmission case and billet trap door.

The Frame

The frame is the foundation of the motorcycle. If it is a pile of junk the motorcycle will be too.

This is a Kraftech frame that I bought back in Sept 2003, the start of this project. It's stock width, 38 degree rake with +2" in the downtubes.

I bought the frame when I was working at The Boar House in Lino Lakes. Larry the Midwest rep called me when these went on close out as Midwest was no longer carrying Kraftech frames. I had told him I was looking to start a project and I got a really good deal on it.

The motor

One of the most important parts of a motorcycle is the motor. I bought this motor last summer from a fellow named Fred that put a 107" into his bike.

It is a 1995 Evo from a Heritage Softail. The heads are ported and polished with roller rocker arms, decked .050 and a V-Thunder 3010 cam. I'll be running it off points ignition to keep things simple.

The coolest part of this motor is it has my initials and my birthdate in the motor number. Like it was really ment for me from the get go when Harley-Davidson built it 15 years ago.

You may have noticed I always refer to it (and any motor for a Harley) as a motor. It's a motorcycle not a "engine"cycle.

My Chopper

I'm writing this blog to place all the pictures of my chopper and build progress in one spot. I titled the blog "If you build it they will come" because Field of Dreams was one of my favorite movies as a kid. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's about a farmer who plows under his crops to build a baseball field because he had a dream. Everybody thought he was crazy and didn't understand why he was doing it but he did it anyways and his dream comes true at the end of the movie. I've been dreaming about this bike for a long time now and it's getting near completion.