HF Qmatic in modern Schwinn
- Thread starter LS614
- Start date
alright guys, it's been a few days, but needless to say I've been working hard on my bike. When I was a newb and did not know what I was doing, I drilled a 1/4" hole in my frame. Not wanting to compromise the structural integrity, I called up my welding buddy to see what he could do. I'm not sure if he welded the holes until they were full or put in a rod and welded it in, but by the time I went to pick it up, you could not even see where the hole originally was! I only paid $10 for that. I left my wheels down at the bike shop, front and rear, to get a truing since both wobbled. For the time and energy I would have put into it, it was fine with me to just pay the $26 total for truing. I also got my cassette removed so I could repack the bearings with high grade lithium grease. I'll pick the wheels up tomorrow 
I've been working REALLY hard to get my frame ready for paint. Being clever, and on a budget, I duct taped my dewalt orbital sander to the hose of our 3.5hp shop vac and I made a beast that would not spew dust everywhere as I took the paint off the frame. After about an hour of getting all the major surfaces, it was 8 hours of nickling and diming to get the tight spots on the frame by hand. The end result is that over 90% of the bike was down to bare metal by the time I got to shooting my first layer of self etching primer. I only had a few runs when I sprayed it, but I'm going to do a light sanding before moving on to filler primer and then the flat black barbecue paint which I love because it looks good, is durable, and is CHEAP. The first pics are of the complete-ish bike right before I installed my chinagirl HT last year, and the frame about mid way through nickle and dime sanding.
I've been working REALLY hard to get my frame ready for paint. Being clever, and on a budget, I duct taped my dewalt orbital sander to the hose of our 3.5hp shop vac and I made a beast that would not spew dust everywhere as I took the paint off the frame. After about an hour of getting all the major surfaces, it was 8 hours of nickling and diming to get the tight spots on the frame by hand. The end result is that over 90% of the bike was down to bare metal by the time I got to shooting my first layer of self etching primer. I only had a few runs when I sprayed it, but I'm going to do a light sanding before moving on to filler primer and then the flat black barbecue paint which I love because it looks good, is durable, and is CHEAP. The first pics are of the complete-ish bike right before I installed my chinagirl HT last year, and the frame about mid way through nickle and dime sanding.
The next pics are an idea of what my hands looked like next to the frame. At that point there was more paint on me than on the bike 
The frame sure was clean. I wiped it down with acetone before painting, you shoulda seen the black that came off the frame! When I felt it was ready, I got a rig together, putting one of our portable clothes racks in the garage, and the other in the basement. It was snowing and in the thirties here, so I hung up the bike on my rig in the garage, sprayed, and quickly took it down stairs, where it is a constant 55 and low humidity, to dry. I think it came out pretty nice Also, I forgot to mention that I bought two suzuki lighting coils on ebay today. I have no idea of their output voltage, wattage, or amperage, but I expect to get enough juice spread between the two to power a headlight, a tailight, and maybe a horn. I'll keep you updated on how the self sufficient electrical goes for this build.
The frame sure was clean. I wiped it down with acetone before painting, you shoulda seen the black that came off the frame! When I felt it was ready, I got a rig together, putting one of our portable clothes racks in the garage, and the other in the basement. It was snowing and in the thirties here, so I hung up the bike on my rig in the garage, sprayed, and quickly took it down stairs, where it is a constant 55 and low humidity, to dry. I think it came out pretty nice Also, I forgot to mention that I bought two suzuki lighting coils on ebay today. I have no idea of their output voltage, wattage, or amperage, but I expect to get enough juice spread between the two to power a headlight, a tailight, and maybe a horn. I'll keep you updated on how the self sufficient electrical goes for this build.
Well guys, I don't have any fresh pics yet, but I got a lot of painting done on the bike today I shot flat black barbecue paint at my engine covers and handlebars, and have flat drab olive on my frame and chainguard. I have some stencils and flat white paint, so I will work on the lettering to make this look military. One of my favorite harleys is the 1941 military WLA (http://www.cmvpa.com/attachments/Image/wla.jpg) so I'm doing a tribute to it. I also feel that is important to be grateful for the freedom that I have in this country. Few days go bye when I'm not grateful to the soldiers overseas who are fighting to bring freedom to foreign lands. I love this country and I'm proud to show it, so that's why I'm building a tribute to a great American motorcycle from Chinese parts (oh the irony) Anyway, I hope you enjoy my build as it progresses! The Qmatic drive will be coming soon!
I shot flat black barbecue paint at my engine covers and handlebars, and have flat drab olive on my frame and chainguard. I have some stencils and flat white paint, so I will work on the lettering to make this look military. One of my favorite harleys is the 1941 military WLA (http://www.cmvpa.com/attachments/Image/wla.jpg) so I'm doing a tribute to it. I also feel that is important to be grateful for the freedom that I have in this country. Few days go bye when I'm not grateful to the soldiers overseas who are fighting to bring freedom to foreign lands. I love this country and I'm proud to show it, so that's why I'm building a tribute to a great American motorcycle from Chinese parts (oh the irony) Anyway, I hope you enjoy my build as it progresses! The Qmatic drive will be coming soon!
Bonnie's brother has one of those old Army Harleys. It's a 1942. I'll try to get him to bring it to the Rally in August. Remind me before the Rally.
Jay
Jay
Checking in for some updates on your bike and looking at your throttle set-up (my motor came today)
Cheers
Cheers
Funny you should mention it! I got my Q-matic and my mount today! Also got the suzuki lighting coils that i will attempt to fit on the engine somehow. I'll post pics once it's together a bit. By the way DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT take apart your recoil starter to paint it, leave it together. I'm going to HF to get a replacement because I can't get the old one back together. Peace!
-LS
-LS
Chain, I understand you want to paint it, but trust me, pull out the whole cord and wrap it and the handle in painter's tape and do it that way. YOU WILL NOT be able to get the coil spring back in. The people at HF were nice to a dopey kid and let me take a new pullstart
Thats cool they had some sympathy for you ... did they replace the whole thing or just the pull-start. I guess I will tape it all off and spray it.
Yeah, they replaced the pullstart only. I brought the walmart bag with my pathetic attempt at putting it back together in there and the guy took it. He said that they would probably throw away the whole engine that I took the starter off of though I need to do some HF dumpster diving for now, I'll deal with ugly blue, till I have the time to make it pretty in flat black. Now I know what NOT to do
I need to do some HF dumpster diving for now, I'll deal with ugly blue, till I have the time to make it pretty in flat black. Now I know what NOT to do Updates! Well guys, I was on spring break but I went back to school, and I was away when my transmission and Suzuki lighting coils got here. I was so happy when I opened them today! The Q-matic was a bit disappointing though much higher quality than I had hoped for Really though, I was impressed with how sturdy it was. Hand crafted by Quenton himself, it is simple yet beautiful! I also like how the inside of the cover is signed There's so much to like about the transmission. I will say that it was a tiny bit difficult to get it onto the engine, it was a two person job. I had my dad push the tranny, and I popped in the bolts. Once it was on, it was really secure. The pulley tightened up without a fuss, and I cut about 3/4" off my output shaft so I wouldn't need to cut the cover. It is a heavy and wide setup now that everything is bolted together, but I like that, heavy means sturdy in this case The mount will take some work to be right for this build, but I'm up for the task. The lighting coils are NOS suzuki coils I landed for $8 each on ebay. I'm going to "machine" the faces with dremel sanding drums so they hug the curves of the flywheel. Wired in series I'm hoping to run an led headlight, taillight, and maybe a horn. We'll see though
much higher quality than I had hoped for Really though, I was impressed with how sturdy it was. Hand crafted by Quenton himself, it is simple yet beautiful! I also like how the inside of the cover is signed There's so much to like about the transmission. I will say that it was a tiny bit difficult to get it onto the engine, it was a two person job. I had my dad push the tranny, and I popped in the bolts. Once it was on, it was really secure. The pulley tightened up without a fuss, and I cut about 3/4" off my output shaft so I wouldn't need to cut the cover. It is a heavy and wide setup now that everything is bolted together, but I like that, heavy means sturdy in this case The mount will take some work to be right for this build, but I'm up for the task. The lighting coils are NOS suzuki coils I landed for $8 each on ebay. I'm going to "machine" the faces with dremel sanding drums so they hug the curves of the flywheel. Wired in series I'm hoping to run an led headlight, taillight, and maybe a horn. We'll see though