The upgrade!! Electra "rat rod" frame mod.

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Mo'Beffah

New Member
Mar 17, 2010
59
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Hawaii
finally switched my whole kit to my rat rod. I sissied out with having to cut the frame and all and bought a cheap bike off craigslist. It was wal-mart junk and I was so bummed i put all that work into a crappy bike. Was a good test run. This time around I kept the frame scratch free. I came up with the simple idea to just cut that gap out and leave it like that.



switched over the whole back wheel cause I had the sprocket lathed to that hub. Also the three speed nexus hub doesn't wok with a sprocket. Had to get new mountain bike tires cause the wal mart exploded on me going thirty five.


the air filter is pretty dang close. I had to grind all the welds down to help give it room. Already had the front moun that I built for the last bike. Used the same style for the front but realized the top u-bole and plate were in the way for the chain by the engine aproxket. I had to use the kit large frame mout, drill through the seat-post, and connect that to te plate with u-bolt. I then had to still cut some of the plate away. It's all G now.

can't wait to finish up tomorrow. Let me know what you guys think. If that 1/4 inch gap for the air filter is enough. Oy yeah btw, I decided to swap finally cause I ordered the new hp air filter and also an expansion chamber from sbp. And I already got the 66cc speed carb. Chee hoo!dance1
 

Mo'Beffah

New Member
Mar 17, 2010
59
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0
Hawaii
Everything would be all g if both mounts were like the front one. Had to modify the back one so the chain would fit. Now I'm worried there's a little too much pressure onjust the seatpost bolt. The ideal plan is to have a buddy of mine weld something from the crossbar to the engine head.
 

Mo'Beffah

New Member
Mar 17, 2010
59
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0
Hawaii
The u-bolt and metal for the rear mount (see 2nd picture) was right in the way of where the chain enters the engines sprocket. As you can see from picture two to picture four the rear mount has been modified. I ended up attatching the kits large tube mount as specified and then just connecting that through my metal plate and bottom u-bolt. I also just had to re-work that bolt that goes through the down tube cause there was way too much pressure. You could see it bending. So that dropped the
motor a tad just to help the air filter clear the bik frame as well as level out. I moved it down also so I could re-drill the downtube so there wasn't as much pessure on the single bolt. It's now kinda assisting and the u-bolt is holding most of the load. All I got left is exhaust and chain but I might née to buy a new chain cause this is a lot more spaced out from engine to sprocket. I'll definately post more pics tomorrow.
 
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VIP

New Member
Mar 30, 2010
17
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maineville ohio
I have a real nice Electra Townie and I was tempted to use it but that long distance between the frame rails really worried me.

If I do anything with it, it may be an Electric front hub motor.

Your motor mount is very inventive but it would really worry me.

Maybe you could weld in another verticle piece from the bottom up to that piece you cut off so you could use the normal rear seat post mount.


You may have been through trying all this already, but good luck and keep us posted to how it works out.
 

Mo'Beffah

New Member
Mar 17, 2010
59
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Hawaii
I appreciate all the concern. I do. Cause when I first put it on the craigslist cruiser I had no idea how dangerous it all could be. And I read about a guy who's front tire blew out on him. I took a lot of precautions stepping everything up as far as materials and hardware. Just having the engine on this bike i can tell it's a much safer ride. By far. Now all that aside this mount setup was originally just a front mount. And I mounted the engine right to the seatpost on the craigslist bike. On that I was already having problems with the studs rattling out of the engine block. So although the nut would not loosen the engine would shake and cause the bolt to loosen out of he engine. On this re-build I used thread lock on every bolt and nut connection. Just having the engine sitting on the plates and not being pulled down by the bolts that would connect to the downtube it's much more stable. The plates support the engine and the nut just comes up and tightens from the bottom. A Lot less strain. Then there's thread locked nuts and washers on each side of the plate at every connection. This isn't o say it doesn't have a little rattle. But very little. not enough to foam the fuel which was possible on the last bike. It may look gimpy but I feel confident that if you guys were looking at it personally you would feel the same way. Over all it's way sturdier than my last bike. Which was the goal. And also I think she looks mean with the engin sitting up in there like that. Anyways here she is. Just finished.
 

Mo'Beffah

New Member
Mar 17, 2010
59
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0
Hawaii
So you guys were right. I could easily not post anything and make like my mounts worked...but they didn't. Guess everything is stable until it breaks huh? Got a buddy to help me with the welds. I think it's awesome but he said if a real welder was to look at his welds he would laugh. They're not pretty but it's definately bonded together and connected on a lot of surface area of the frame. It took longer than expected and I didn't want to waste his day so we decided to weld the next mount later. I figure I could ride it as is now that one side is stable.....wrong. Broke my other mount. So bow I gotta wait to weld the other side. Bummer. But didn't want anyone trying what I did thinking it worked. Safe riding.
 
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nolan_speed

New Member
May 31, 2010
30
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0
Seattle, WA
Is there a reason you're mounting the engine so high? Why not just mount it directly to the frame and down low like they're meant to be? Is it a style thing or will it not bolt to the frame ?
 

Mo'Beffah

New Member
Mar 17, 2010
59
0
0
Hawaii
Hey Nolan. It was a little of both actually. It started just because of funtionality. But I gotta say this, someone told me a slanthead fits in that little space but I had already purchased this one and wasn't about to buy a diff setup just on this guys hunch. First off I woulda had to cut that bar ANYWAY with a non slanthead mounted naturally. Iff I raised it I though that bar and also that little triangle of metal I figured it'd be in the way for the carb. Also I'd have to bend the pedal cranks as they were hitting the engine block if it was sitting in it's normal setup position. Now on to the looks. This Electra rat rod is extremely spaced out for a cruiser frame. It's a nice chopper feel and since I had to cut that middle bar anyway I juft figured why not use that space. Throw the engine in the middle and leave it floating. I basicLly didn't want a cut bar, huge space in the middle o frame, and tiny little engine on the bottom. Figure make it look like a chopper since this frame was asking for it. The only changes was I had to get 2 415 chains and add like 15 links from on to the other to just get a super long chain. And besides that just the mounts. Can't wait to weld the other on. It's gonna be SO stable. All torque no vibration. Hopefully. P.s. The sbp exp. Exhaust fits perfectly and unmodified except for header length which is tuneable anyways. Def would have had to shorten the pipes if engine was sitting low. Here's a full pic but this is without the welded mount yet.
 
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