Sting-ray days

 I've been thinking lately about when I was a kid and riding my Sting-ray bike from dawn till dusk. I can remember getting my first new Sting-ray for my eleventh birthday and sleeping down in the basement with it that night. Our garage was turned into a finished rec-room that had a back door exit to the alley.

 I can also remember the year was 1969, just mid stream into the "chopper" craze. I think by the next summer I had hack-sawed off a pair of front forks from my older bike and hammered them onto the forks of my new Sting-ray making for one bad ass chopper.

not my bike, but about the same year and model as my first sting-ray

 I remember my father thinking I was crazy, but not as crazy as he thought I was the following summer when I talked him into letting me come to his shop on Saturday and letting me cut the center bar out and mount his old lawnmower engine onto the frame.  Those were the coolest summers I had as a kid, that started it all.

Wires out the ass

 I couldn't wait to get into the new wiring on the '56' pan this morning.  One of my favorite jobs is straightening out and redoing all the wiring.  Here's some contrast photos of new wiring vs old.

          The new wiring comes color coded for easy identification when using the original wiring diagram.

 

Hanging around

 

 My father and I built this overhead crane and trolley system back in 2000. It rests about 15 feet above the shop floor and can travel the length and width of the main bay.  It's been used hundreds of times over the years for moving around stone blocks when I was carving stone.  These days its used for just about anything and everything that's too heavy to lift, including this old panhead engine below...

Stuck on you

 I've worked on old Harleys most of my adult life and I've never seen a clutch hub stuck on the tranny main shaft like this, but I guess after being rusted together for decades it was to be expected.  After an hour or so of spraying it with degreaser, I used my home made clutch hub puller to eventually break it free!

clutch hub rusted onto trans main shaft



puller bolted on



home made puller did its job to remove this clutch hub




trans is now ready for the new clutch hub

Everything but the kitchen sink

 So, after a few days into my task of sorting out the '56' panhead parts, I'm beginning to find out that Billie Jo's father loved keeping worn out old motorcycle parts about as much as I do.  The only thing was, he liked to keep them mixed in with all the good parts, LOL.  I'm finding parts from as far back as 1941 in the coffee cans and boxes.  I even found an old screen door return spring and a few old car muffler clamps!

I'm actually having a blast sorting through all this rusty and greasy treasure.

cool old coffee can filled to the brim with nuts and bolts

Beauty in boxes

 It showed up this morning in crates and plastic bins, in boxes and coffee cans.  Most of it hadn't seen the light of day in over 35 years.  I'm talking about this 1956 Harley Davidson panhead that belongs to Billie Jo and her husband Matt. 

 Billie Jo's father owned and rode this beauty for years before dismantling it in the 70's and storing the pieces in his home with hopes of one day rebuilding it.  Luckily he has a daughter that saw the history and sentimental value in all those dusty parts and pieces.  So now it looks like this 'basket case' will one day soon have fresh air and gas running through its engine ports, as it comes back to life after so many years of rest.  I want to thank Billie Jo and Matt for trusting in me the task of rebuilding her family treasure.





Only in the 1950's

 When i saw this old comic book ad I guickly googled it to see if it was a real ad.  Distributed by Kix Cereals (15 cents plus a boxtop), the instructions stated: "You'll see brilliant flashes of light in the inky darkness inside the atom chamber. These frenzied vivid flashes are caused by the released energy of atoms. PERFECTLY SAFE - We guarantee you can wear the KIX Atomic "Bomb" Ring with complete safety. The atomic materials inside the ring are harmless."

When the red base (which served as a "secret message compartment") was taken off, and after a suitable period of time for dark adaptation, you could look through a small plastic lens at scintillations caused by polonium alpha particles striking a zinc sulfide screen.

Seriously, how cool was the 1950's ???

Extreme trailer makeover

 Here's a project I did many years ago to my trailer that had been sitting out in the weather for years.  I decided to extend the 12 foot long bed by four feet.  After reading much on the subject I extended the front by two feet and then extended the rear by two feet with a slight angle towards the ground, much like a car hauler. 

 With its new length at 16 feet of decking I should have no problem carrying a full size 1950's junk wagon back to my shop.  I did all my calculations based on the size and weight of a 1957 Chevy. That's my father's old work jeep on the trailer.

The rotted deck removed and the framing added two feet each way.  Underneath storage for the ramps were added on each side below the deck instead of the previously built rear mounted flip down style when used as a construction trailer. 

             

                                                             painted and ready to roll

I finally got around to painting and pin stripping it a few years ago



ready for hauling!

Stripes in a box

 Old school striping has always been one of those things I wanted to learn.  When i was a kid I'd paint and stripe my stingray bikes after making choppers out of them.  About 12 years ago I bought some brushes and paint and started fooling around with them. 

Every now and then when I'm bored out of my mind I pop open the paint cans and stripe away the day.

My first stripe box

                                                               

a old ammo can 

                                                                     

my welding helmet

                                                             

an air tank

                                                                       

the reverse side

                                                                     

a snow plow pump for my Jeep

                                                               

my current strip box

                                                               

                                                                   

fooling around on some old Harley parts

the brushes of champions!