I spent the day putting the 50 Panther back together, frame repaired and painted and the new gas tank in place. A new engine mount was made this morning and is now in paint, drying so that tomorrow the engine can go in place.
I discovered that the clam-shell hub adapter had come loose enough that the chain changed alignment and was the reason the chain rubbed against the chain stay. It is secured with lock tite and the new engine mount was made so the the engine has some lateral adjustment now. You can believe that I'll be watching that closely.
Having the bike stripped down also gave an opportunity to make some small changes to make the bike suit me better. One was in tack welding the center kick stand so that it can't loosen up and move on me. I also changed the fenders to a black set from a build a couple of years ago. The chrome ones were looking pretty tired. And I changed the rear rack. It did have an original one which limited how low the seat could go... the springs would run into the rack if too low and that made my seat higher than I wanted it. I don't care about pedaling comfort since I have no desire to pedal... they are a legal necessity, serve as foot rests and activate the coaster brake. The rack on it now is from a 1960's Schwinn American Deluxe which burned up in a fire a couple years ago. The rack survived the fire with a little blueing to the chrome. I have always liked it's lines and being so narrow where ti attaches at the seat post, it rides in between the seat springs, so the seat can go all the way down. That makes it easier for me to swing my leg over the seat.
I think the tank looks good and my deep thanks once more to Tinsmith for all of his help in it's making.
SB