Indian Tadpole

[fasteddy]

P.S.D.
Last time I moved this fast I was 15 and her parents came home early.

I welded the arm that goes to the pitman arm on the steering post, on to the spindle and did some fast measuring for the tie rods.
Tomorrow I'll get the pitman arm welded onto the steering shaft and see if there is time to cut and thread the tie rods.

Have to see the wheel builder this week and ask if he will have time to do them and if not the search is on to find someone or I'll try to do them myself.

This week as well it's finding a paint colour that I like and the seat upholstery material. While I'm waiting I'll get the seat done as I said and the fenders mounted on the front as well.

Here's how it looks now.



Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

The moulding on the seat back is done. Had to use fir moulding which it not my favorite wood since it is so brittle and that is not a plus when your trying to bend it around a curve even though you have sawn relief cuts in it.

Today was Bondo the cuts and sand it to shape roughly and tomorrow it will be power sanded and any nicks and voids will be filled with spot putty that used hardner in it.

Once that's done the moulding on the foot rest can be put on and sanded out and the seat stored to give me some room.

Trying to find a 7/16 fine tread die to thread the ends of the tie rods. Not easy in a country that's been metric since 1974.

Steve.

 

[Mr.B.]

Easy to tell you restore furniture just by the amount of clamps you have!

Let me guess, you could use a few more...?

"-)

-Kirk

 

[silverbear]

Steve,
What would have been your choice in wood for the edging? I was thinking that cedar bends pretty well, especially steamed.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Mr.B,
I'm certain that I'll be dancing in the clouds with angels before there will ever be enough clamps.

Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

Silverbear,
My choices would be, hickory, ash, oak. maple, birch or even pine. The trouble with fir is that what we have today is 3rd and 4th growth. The tree's grow quickly and the growth rings are farther apart than the first growth trees and tend to separate more quickly but even then it is a brittle wood and does not take kindly to being bent.

Cedar bends fairly well but it is hard to find a long length of it without knots. Most knot free cedar is found in the boat building industry and terribly expensive. Years ago I wanted to build a sea kayak with cedar strips. When my wallet heard how much the wood was it hid out for 4 days until the idea went away.


Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

Ideally I should have glued up some oak boards and cut relief cuts in the back and then cut out the shape to fit the seat back and glued it on. After that it's a fairly simple matter to run a router around it with a round over bit.

Unfortunately when I went to Windsor plywood to get the oak I saw the fir moulding and my foot started tapping to the tune of Here Comes Santa Claus. Choice was $60 worth of oak or $20 worth of moulding. A lot of the oak would have been scrap because of the saw cuts.
I keep telling myself I'll do it the other way next time.

Steve.

 

[killercanuck]

If planning to paint, the bondo and $40 cheaper wood will do the trick. If you wanted to stain it, that'd be a different can of worms. (If someone wants to buy one, you know what to quote them for eh )

 

[fasteddy]

Hi Killer,
Ya, this is a paint and done, job. Paint, it hides so many sins. If it was to be stained I'd have broken into my first growth mahogany stash and done it up big time or just stained this mess and told everyone my brother did it while I was away.

If someone wanted one made, knowing what I know now, I'd have to dial 911 first before they heard the price. I'd also require that they be wearing Depends as well.

Steve.

 

[FastEddyJr.]

Hey Dad, trike is looking awesome! If you need any 'merican tools let me know, I'll ship them for you.

David

 

[fasteddy]

David,
Thanks. I have lots of tools but the SAE fasteners are h*ll to find here. You can find 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch bolts with a little looking but nothing in between. Heaven forbid you need fine thread like I do. Even Fastenal doesn't have them.
Forty years of metric has taken it's toll.

Off to Bellingham and Hardware Sales. That place even has widgets in brass and copper not to mention chrome, plastic and plain steel.

Dad.

 

[FastEddyJr.]

7/16 fine thread can be a challenge, even here. Seriously though, I, literally, have buckets of taps, drills etc. that I can dig through.

Jr.

 

[RicksRides]

Steve its been crazy busy at work, as well as finishing Dads bike( he entered it in a bike show the 18th) thats been getting most my free time, but your engine and exhaust are done. Ill get them in the post as soon as i can. The build is looking great, the jacobsen will really hit the mark.

Rick

 

[fasteddy]

Hi David,
I'll let you know what happens after I go down to Hardware Sales Thursday. Needed 3/4" regular nyloc nuts for the axles and 3/4" fine thread nyloc nuts for the go kart spindles I bought. They had them both so I have high hopes for the 7/16 bolts.

Dad.

 

[fasteddy]

Hi Rick,
So the old Dad figured how to put the heat on did he. Wish him well at the show for me. The bike is a sure winner.

I'll have to cut the down tube out of the bike when the motor gets here. I welded one in from a girls bike to clear the Sachs motor that was going to go into it.

Got the moulding on the foot rest and with about an hour of sanding it should be ready for primer and then I can turn my attention to finishing the bike.
All kinds of promises to finish the wheels but I have a feeling that I'll be learning how to build wheels.

Steve.

 

["the prussian" Shop Dogs]

She sure looks good ... I can see it being a real show piece!
It took me a year or two of messing around with wheels to learn all the ins n outs but sure was worth it .you can make a truing stand out of an old fork and most of the tools are inexpensive.

 

[fasteddy]

The mouldings are on the sides of the foot rest. Not quite like the original but close as I could get it without a lot of setting up jigs etc. Working for me.

The round buttons on the side have numbers on them. I put bondo in the bottoms of a couple of pop tins and let it set up enough so I was able to trim the excess off even with the bottom with the side of a putty knife. Then they were rubbed on a piece of sandpaper to level them and make them a little thinner.
When I popped them out of the pop cans they had picked up the date code from the can.

There is one coat of primer on the seat and I'll try and get a couple more on tomorrow and then it will go into the trailer and I'll finish the bike.

Thank you for hanging in with me on this build. It won't be much longer I hope and we can all try it out.

Steve.

 

[curtisfox]

AWESOME! thats realy looking good,you did a good job............Curt

 

[Mr.B.]

Yes! .

 

[silverbear]

The seat alone is a work of art. A whole lot of staring went into that one! My only suggestion is that it would have made the bike more authentic if you had used a 1903 coke can to make the button deals. Ha!

Now all that's left is all the rest.
SB