62 Chopped FL Rebuild

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2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

Fired up the bike while it was up on the table, took a dozen kicks or so, but it ran well, needs a little fine tuning on the carb, and the timing, but no problems that I could see, so time to put it back on the ground....
Image
Got the trusty ol' hoist out and picked it up, cleared the table out from under....
Image
Put 'er on the ground, fired 'er up, and went for a short ride....
Image

More Pix Here
The faster I go, the behinder I get....
I never look over my shoulder, I know what's back there, and it scares the hell outta me !!
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

Yeah, the last time I rode that bike I was about 50, I sure don't remember that front end being that "heavy" at low speeds. It lightens up considerably when you get moving. But horsing it around in the garage and out in the yard, Oooofff !!!!

The rake is 45 degrees, compared to stock being anything from 28 to 32, and the "trail" is 12", stock is usually only 2" - 4". That really affects the low speed handling. A heavy city traffic bike, this one is definitely NOT !!!

Can you imagine me on this bike at 5:30 am coming down from Pukalani to the Keahua hauler road, about 4 miles, then in on the hauler road, with my belt radio I check in with the control tower (up on top of the Puunene Mill), "26 to tower, on Keahua heading to da mill".....
Tower: "You on da bike?"
Me: "Yeah"
Tower: "Be careful, Willy...."
Me: "Yeah, howz da wife?"
Tower: ...... (Well, you get the idea, had a plantation truck down at the mill, parked the bike under cover, worked all day, and then rode home. On private Plantation Roads, with radio coverage both ways with the tower. Way cool....)

The oncoming hauler drivers all knew the bobbing motion of my single headlight as I rode the plantation roads, they would always slow down, pull over to give me more room, and give me a big ol' shaka as we passed by. As I ran the hauler repair shop from '80 to '85, we all knew each other, and watched out for each other. For me rank and file and management really didn't exist, I was there to help them, and vice versa, and it worked very well.
hansgoudzwaard
Contributor
Posts: 804
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:43 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: I was on the last board as bonustoolkit. I have changed that to my given name.
I started a project build there " File and Fit." I paln to continue that when I go back home in Dec. 2011. I first joined the board when Gary W had it in the year 2005. That was the time I really gained an interest in building chops. I have a long way to go, compared to some here.

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by hansgoudzwaard »

Nice to follow this Willy thanks for posting all the fine details. Enjoy the road.
Dusty-Dave
Conventioneer
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2013 4:43 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi,
Been building and riding since the 60s. My last contest build made The Horse BC last year "Home Built Indian" and had a 40 Indian in the TCU section of the Horse BC the year before.
Iv'e answered to Dusty since 69
Thanks
Dusty
Location: northern New Mexico

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by Dusty-Dave »

I built this VT as instructed with 62 degrees of rake. And surprise surprise it had incredible chopper flop just like I told him before we started. If I narrowed the steering stops enough to prevent flop it would only steer a few degrees. I mooved the axle to the top of the sliders and put wide bars on it but he still wasn't happy with what he insisted on. So I took a pair of tailgate struts for a Jeep Cherokee and built this.
Image
Image
When adjusted right it steered like normal for about 15 degrees in the center but had spring assist to about neutral when turning. Not terribly attractive but it worked well. I have seen chain stops with springs in the middle of the chains that rode well on radically raked bikes also.
Dusty
I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe
But at least I'm enjoying the ride, at least I'll enjoy the ride.
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

Got some miles on the bike, about 40 total, no vid unfortunately, my iphone camera not working right...

Some tuning, got it running quite well, and parked it at home next to my 2010 Dyna...
Image

Posted more pix HERE....
The faster I go, the behinder I get....
I never look over my shoulder, I know what's back there, and it scares the hell outta me !!
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

Think I need a kicker plate on that exhaust pipe,
then re wrap the pipe leaving the plate exposed...
Image
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budoka
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Posts: 492
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:51 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: I'm a Kentucky boy who's found himself transplanted into Japan. been into turning wrenches as long as i can remember. i love muscle cars, hotrod bikes, and the martial arts.

been a member of this board since back when it was a part of Chopperweb. been handling the tech side and sharing the admin duties for several years now.
Location: Fuefuki Shi, Japan
Contact:

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by budoka »

i'm so jealous! i'm really happy that you're getting to put some miles on yours, though. it looks absolutely beautiful.

if all goes well, i'll hopefully be able to get the knucklehead going this week. i have a sneaky suspicion that the magneto is going to need a good overhaul before she'll fire up easily. i think the old magnet is just a bit too tired to make too much of a spark. we'll see though.

great job on yours, i hope you get many miles of enjoyment out of it before you have to do anything to it.

take care,
-dan
-experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
http://knuckleheadsummer.blogspot.com/
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

I have a 2010 Dyna that sez: "Do me, Do me, Do me......"
Let's see how long I live....

Thanks guys,
The bike is running quite nicely, but having some throttle wide open cut outs, think it is just that the carb is open ended, air flowing past that open carb goes vacuum, and a good filter can will fix that, but......
Meanwhile I cut away the rear cylinder exhaust wrap the kicker was tearing apart....
Image
And need to pull off the front valve cover and put a new gasket on, it's leaking oil down on to the exhaust pipe....
(Not unusual with these old harleys....)
And, yeah, if you look closely, you will see some "ball peen hammer" work to get clearance for the kicker....
There's a vid of "Starting IT Up" floating around out there, if I can find it I'll post it....
And, yeah, at age 75, I find that I'm still having a heck of a lot of fun doing this....
Aloha,
Willy

More Pix HERE>>>>
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

The other problem I ran into was that the throttle on the handlebar was loose, even with screws tightened up all the way, have run into that before, so I tapped and put a 10-24 allen head bolt under the relief in the throttle clamp, it will not pull off any more....
Image
The front brake mc clamp was also loose, tightened it down, it is good to go....
The faster I go, the behinder I get....
I never look over my shoulder, I know what's back there, and it scares the hell outta me !!
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

Now I'm dealing with the local bureaucracy to get this bike licensed for the street. It was previously licensed in it's present form from 1969 to 1989, but they seem to be wanting to apply new rules, so let's see where this leads....
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

Dusty-Dave wrote: Sat Sep 02, 2017 4:15 pm I built this VT as instructed with 62 degrees of rake. And surprise surprise it had incredible chopper flop just like I told him before we started. If I narrowed the steering stops enough to prevent flop it would only steer a few degrees. I mooved the axle to the top of the sliders and put wide bars on it but he still wasn't happy with what he insisted on. So I took a pair of tailgate struts for a Jeep Cherokee and built this.
Image
Image
When adjusted right it steered like normal for about 15 degrees in the center but had spring assist to about neutral when turning. Not terribly attractive but it worked well. I have seen chain stops with springs in the middle of the chains that rode well on radically raked bikes also.
Dusty
Cool idea, do you know exactly what springs were used, and where I might look to find them?
I considered a small shock looking device on one side that had double acting springs that would "kick in" when the steering moved beyond a certain angle in each direction. So I've been thinking along these lines anyway, you're comments very timely....
Willy
Dusty-Dave
Conventioneer
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2013 4:43 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi,
Been building and riding since the 60s. My last contest build made The Horse BC last year "Home Built Indian" and had a 40 Indian in the TCU section of the Horse BC the year before.
Iv'e answered to Dusty since 69
Thanks
Dusty
Location: northern New Mexico

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by Dusty-Dave »

Those were tailgate struts off a Jeep Cherokee (maybe 88 I think all the boxy Cherokees were the same) at a guess around 75 pounds. They make short ones for toolboxes and camper tailgates, But those worked so I stopped there. I put some on a pickup topper the other day that seemed about the same strength and were about a foot long that she bought at Autozone. If you build a set be sure to put the rod down so the seal stays wet.
Dusty
I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe
But at least I'm enjoying the ride, at least I'll enjoy the ride.
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

Thanks, not sure what if anything I'm going to do with that. Once the bike's moving it's fine, just pushing it around a parking lot gets to me sometimes...

Rode it about 50 miles yesterday, at about 25 miles out, the mc for the rear brake went south, pedal all the way down, no resistance, looked for a leak, but everything was dry, no leaks, suspected low brake fluid, but still no leaks, all was dry !!!
Front brake was working not well, needs lots of improvement, but at least I had something, so rode the bike back home, got lucky, traffic was light, hit greens at the several lights, and made it home easily with no problems.
The mc was full of fluid, so I suspect that the used plunger cup I used had failed (on the left), as the new cup had proved too tight and would not retract when I had it installed. Am now sorry I used that old cup...
Image
Going to again try that new cup and see if I can get it working....
The faster I go, the behinder I get....
I never look over my shoulder, I know what's back there, and it scares the hell outta me !!
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

The bike rides quite well though, once I get the "gremlins" worked out of it, it should be a solid ride.
There's still lots of the typical vibration for a bike of that era, I put a mirror on it for the "safety inspection", which is required here in Hawaii for all motor vehicles, and going down the road in 4th at 65, the mirror vibrates so bad nothing can be seen in it !!
But it is stable going down the road, stays centered, straight ahead when I take my hands off the handlebars, responds left and right to body english perfectly, corners well, the front foot pegs will drag is I corner too hard just leaning the bike over, on hard cornering it's better with this bike to lean over and use body english to balance the bike in a hard corner, keeping the bike more upright, or at least upright enough that the foot pegs do not drag....
The motor sounds and feels solid, although I seem to have a high speed "gremlin" of some sort in the Linkert carb, just tuning the high speed needle while riding seems to have no effect, but slamming the throttle wide open while cruising at speed causes a hesitation and a cough before it will go, and it doesn't go well at all when at speed and using wot. I will need to pull that carb again and check out the main jet, see if it is plugged or just what is happening. The "mouse trap" still has a "heavy hand" at the clutch lever, I need to "tune" that a bit, as I think I can get that improved. I don't remember it ever being that "heavy handed" before, although I am running a different clutch and clutch springs this time, and that might have something to do with it....
All in all I'm pretty happy with how this bike came out this time around, and I'm still trying to put together a vid to post, been running into problems getting anything to work, my son took one vid of me starting it up w his fone, and it didn't come out, the video images were badly blurred and jumping all over the place, nothing worth watching !!
The faster I go, the behinder I get....
I never look over my shoulder, I know what's back there, and it scares the hell outta me !!
User avatar
2Loose
Conventioneer
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:46 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Maui boy, farm systems mechanical engineer, sugar cane and pineapple, retired, chopped a '62 FL in '68, still have it, have five HD projects in the shop right now, three are panheads. Try to work on them every day, but often looking for or waiting for parts. Nothing stock going on here, all hot rod street oriental, and mostly old style.
Location: Maui

Re: 62 Chopped FL Rebuild

Post by 2Loose »

As I also have a small "farm" where I put in a lot of hours, I've been in there a lot as tight on water on Maui right now.

And need to get the mc for the '62 hawg rear brake working. That old hard plunger finally failed, and I need to fit that oversized new plunger, by reaming a bit until it fits right, a finger test, and tie down the rear view mirror so it don't dance all over the place, and fix the front fender 4th mount flange that had broke off, and put that fender on. Or at least have it strapped on the sissy bar. "Hey, I have it....."
The faster I go, the behinder I get....
I never look over my shoulder, I know what's back there, and it scares the hell outta me !!
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