Irish's Ironhead

So after staring at the various bits of my 84 Ironhead Sporty lying around the garage floor I finally got round to working on it again. Still can't pick the motor up myself to move it to the workbench so I'll start pulling it apart on the floor tomorrow and move it a piece at a time.
I wanted to mount the little mustang tank from W&W and the neat Bates seat I got off Brett. I usualy just drill holes through the frame to mount things but that only weakens the frame and I'll probably sell this one so I need to do it properly. I got some threaded steel bungs and used a hole cutter to make big enough holes to set the bungs in for the tank and seat spring mounts.

My welding is as bad as ever but I used a flap disk to tidy them up a bit and it looks like everything will hold.

I have a couple of the Biltwell stainless steel seat mounts like the one on Sara's Flyrite Sporty so I fitted one to the seat and welded on the front mount. This wasn't a great fit to the frame because of the shape of the top bar at the back end but after I melted just about everything round it, it's on pretty strong. Looks more like a metal sculpture than decent welding but I quite like it.

I tried a few of the spare rear fenders that I have in the shed but nothing looked right. The original fender that came with the bike was badly cracked and broken in a couple of places. I trimmed it back to about the middle of the wheel like I had seen on the old flat track sporties and rounded off the ends. The last one of these I did I had just cut the fender square like most other people but rounding it off makes it look a lot more finished. I mounted an old P-pad on top of it and bolted it back on. Now its looking like a bike. So much better than the ugly mess with that King Sportster tank it was wearing when I got it.


Now I need to get the motor up on the bench and finish tearing it down and start to recondition it. I was told by one of my mates that I have to ride with him and his 73 Ironhead to the Cold Kiiw in September and the Burt Munro Classic in November. Better make sure it stays in one piece.

Anyone know where I can get rubber grommets for mounting the tank?

i really like the look of that rear fender with the p pad on it, suits the era of the bike imo.
A guy I deal with does 84-99 softail grommets, they come as a set of 6, Ive no idea whether they would do the job as I dunno their dimensions. If u or someone knew what dimension (thickness, hole size) softail tank grommets are then that would help.
they'd be 7 days away & and come as a set of 6, for $25. Im guessin you want something handier than 7 days away too.
anyone else got any ideas?

Para rubber has a couple of stores around; they have some assortment of rubbery bits...

Can’t think where else have bits like that anymore, maybe... Is it Dave's emporium in Dominion Road near the climbing wall place (old picture theatre?) possibly...

by the way, nice bungs jon...

cheers

Geoff's emporium lincoln rd?
waitemata hydraulics?

Sara suggested Para rubber as well but I managed to pick some up at Super Cheap on Sunday. Got the tank mounted. Really solid. Cleaned up the welds a bit more and the whole thing looks great. Gave the barrels and heads a bath and then took out the valves. Guides are nice and tight to I'll just clean up a bit of carbon and regrind the valves and then start on the bottom end.

gonna leave the shocks stock?

Hey Irish do you still have that King sporty tank bud? By the way you might want something a bit more reliable than a sporty if your going down to the Burt Munro deal.
(now wait 2 minutes for all the enraged sporty owners to Bite)
You got that seat off Brett? I thought he only sold expensive tail lights.

Woody wrote:

you might want something a bit more reliable than a sporty - now wait 2 minutes for all the enraged sporty owners to Bite

*enraged biting sporty owner*

my old ironhead sporty was reliable as long as u didnt run the headlight. for some reason it didnt have the capacity to run it without the battery goin flat. I never did get it sorted out. prob shoulda got a sparkie to look at it.
was a good strong motor tho, even with all it's rattles etc.

i do love the evo sporty motor.

By the time I have rebuilt the motor its going to be reliable enough to get down to Invercargil and back. Then I'll probably have to built it again.

Well that will be 3 of us going to invercargill I'm sure we will have a few more hopefully by november,last year they had edge from the horse mag and fab kev over not sure if they will be here this year kev reckons the roads here are perfect for hardtails lol

[quote="Woody"]Hey Irish do you still have that King sporty tank bud? quote]

Sorry Woody. I missed this. Yes I still have that King Sporty tank. Do you need it?

I left the frame and swing arm into the local powder coaters to get it blasted and coated. Its a better finish than I could do with paint and they are real quick, Finished it in a day. I wanted to use cream so it would look more like a vintagre bike. Its not a colour that gets used much for bikes and seeing I hate to have anything that looks stock I thought it would be good. I really like how bit turned out.



We were going to do the tins red and cream like the So Cal Speed Shop cars but I couldn't find the data sheet to tell me how to mix the red 2 pack I bought for the Evo. So I ended up using some green paint I had left over from my softail from about 5 years ago. Sara taped it up and I shot the paint.
I'm dead pleased with how it came out. Definitely looks old school. The whole thing should look like a vintage bike when its done. I started grinding out all the powder from the races so I could put the rolling chassis back together. So far I have the swing arrm and back wheel in. I'll wet sand the tins and T-cuit them this week and roll it outside for some pics.
Next thing is to finish the motor and get it back in.

Woody wrote:

You got that seat off Brett? I thought he only sold expensive tail lights.

hey Woody i sell expensive seats too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
actually, I feel they're priced ok, and everyone that gets them loves them. and grease monkeys get a reduced price. rattlers used to too but then they chucked me off so Im not able to give them the deals anymore, unless they contact me via grease monkeys HAA HAA! A lotta those rattlers guys used to buy off me direct. i think i mighta upset the applecart somewhere with that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shit I thought I was going to see the new paint job
Answer to your question, Yes I sure do Just Pm me what you want for it mate.

Irishjon wrote:

Yeah powder coating nice n hard too.
hey that looks freakin great Jon !
but I think Pete might beat you in the race to finish first hehehehehehe

brett7777 wrote:

Woody wrote:

You got that seat off Brett? I thought he only sold expensive tail lights.

hey Woody i sell expensive seats too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
actually, I feel they're priced ok, and everyone that gets them loves them. and grease monkeys get a reduced price. rattlers used to too but then they chucked me off so Im not able to give them the deals anymore, unless they contact me via grease monkeys HAA HAA! A lotta those rattlers guys used to buy off me direct. i think i mighta upset the applecart somewhere with that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah I like those seats alot Brett, Not the flamed ones but those Tuck and roll suckers there the shit. Can you give me a length and width measure please.

13" x 9"

How'd I miss that ? Love that cream it sure gives it a vintage look alright Irish The Green looks sweet too, Kind of the Irish Speed Shop colours aye.
Nice job you two.

Brett I take it the 13" is the lenth?

Yeah I just posted the 666th post I'm so fricken evil.

Woody wrote:

Yeah I just posted the 666th post I'm so fricken evil.

oh u evil dude
yeah 13" is the length

I like the idea of Irish Speed Shop. I might just write that on the oil tank.
What about $50 for the tank? I thougt you already had a King tank?

Irishjon wrote:

I like the idea of Irish Speed Shop. I might just write that on the oil tank.
What about $50 for the tank? I thougt you already had a King tank?

Haha, Yeah I did but it was a late model deal, And no matter what I did with it, It just looked wrong. Let me Know what I owe you for freight and Pm me your account details Irish.