Tuesday, August 4, 2009

It's been hot and I've been busy

... but not busy on my trike.

However, stuff is happening.

I spoke with Bondo Joe a week or so ago. He's almost ready to paint the body. There were a LOT of stress cracks and pinholes and general agedness to contend with. I mentioned that I was planning on putting on some fenders and he has asked to have them so that he can paint them to match, which means I need to get that together right away!

I tried standard trailer fenders (from Northern Tool, though you can get them other places) but the widest they have is 9" and my tires are 11" wide, so it didn't look right.

After reviewing various methods of widening the fenders, I elected to do it by purchasing a third fender to use as donor material. I split that fender down the center, leaving two 4-1/2" half fenders. I split one of the other fenders at 7" then welded the 7" and 4-1/2" pieces to form a 11-1/2" fender. Blending this weld is turning out to be a lot more work than I had expected, but a couple more evenings and I'll have the fenders ready to deliver.

Well, there is one thing that must be done first. The fender mount on the left side was bent in the old collision. I need to straighten this bracket, which will be easy if I can get enough heat on the bends. I may not have enough torch to do that, so I may need to get some help with that. I need this repaired so I can have the fender drilled before it goes to Joe. If he puts any artwork ont the fenders, as opposed to single color, he'll know where the holes are going to be and can accomodate them.

hmmmmmm

Or, I may be able to secure mounting brackets on the bottom of the fenders to leave the tops pristine....

We'll see...

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