| Author | Message | ||
     Lynrd |
 Meet Gloria - a 1995 Buell S2 frame built in August of 1994. She only 57 numbers away from Rhonda, which makes her #202 - . As you can see, she didn't survive the chopper builders, but she WAS rescued from a dumpster by a fellow badwebber and has moved into my garage. From another badwebber came a set of Roma forks (no billet trees, though...if anyone knows of a set) , and in my spares pile there are some odd bits like side plates, an oil tank...most of a motorcycle. Engine will be the engine from The Frog - a 2000 S3T converted to carb. She is starting to go through "first build" today - I have learned to always build a bike before painting anything, go through title trip with the state, ride it for 50-100 miles, then pull it down for a repaint. She won't ever be a "restoration" unless I get extremely lucky and find the original engine cases - doubtful, so instead I get to have fun...I plan on a tribute to Greg_cifus #13 RS cafe racer. Nothing irreversible, but she'll end up a naked bike. I'll post some more pictures as we go....and probably more than a few questions. | ||
| Ustorque |
I love seeing that frame coming back to life. Congrats and have fun. | ||
| Jolly |
I don't have a compete set of triple trees but I may have a lower with a beat up stem...PO beat it out with a hammer...I swear some people's kids should not play with their dad's tools! any way, I'll have to dig...but to save a tuber I may be able to find that lower tree I have if you know where a useable stem and top plate is.... | ||
| Lynrd |
I have a set of S2 trees, but not the billet ones that the real early S2s had. | ||
| Hootowl |
Do you have the title? | ||
| Lynrd |
Nope, a Bill of sale. | ||
| Jolly |
oh, mine may be cast instead of billet, for the life of me I cant remember now. have you found a set-up yet or do you need me to track my lower done? some states do a great job of re-issuing a title with a bill of sale, some states not so well...you would think there would be a standard... | ||
| Lynrd |
I have a full set of cast trees - in fact the forks are together and moving onto the frame this morning. Thanks for the offer, though. The title trip will be an adventure in itself, I am sure - California is one of the toughest states on this sort of thing. That said, I have done enough title trips that I don't expect any surprises - I envision three possible outcomes: 1. Gloria gets titled as a 1995 Buell with "Salvage" branding on California title under the existing VIN (Unlikely, but could happen) 2. Gloria gets titled as a 1995 Buell with "Salvage" branding and a California Blue Tag for an assigned VIN - (Probable outcome - Since I also do olde HDs, I have had to do the Blue Tag thing before since pre '60 the frames had no VIN numbers at all -it's a pain but not impossible). 3. Gloria gets titled as a 2014 "Special Construction" with a California Blue Tag for a VIN. Since she's not a restoration, I am not going to get wrapped around the axle on title branding etc. I will document what I do and how to do it so other "Chopper donor" frames can also be resurrected. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
John, What you doing for bodywork? Brad | ||
| Lynrd |
Brad - What I'm thinking is, a stock S2 tank, painted black, a XLCR type seat pan (I'll probably be cutting up and sectioning an Airtech) and either a XLCR or a BMW R90S type fairing - something with a 7" round light. S1 front fender of course. Here she sits at the end of the first weekend...I ended up being stymied by 1 hard-to-find bolt - one of the countersunk allens that goes to the side plate was gone, so I can't quite let her stand on her own.  | ||
| Lynrd |
While it may not look it, bike is progressing well. Spent today working on the fairing mount - it's about 80% there - I am waiting for the headlight bucket I am using to complete the fab. Found some stock handlebar controls and scored an original front caliper. Also have the rear MC but haven't mounted it yet - I have an extra PM 4 piston caliper I may adapt on. XLCR tail section is on order from Airtech. Was please to find that the Borla exhaust I picked up on a whim is going to work - and it has the bung for the Fuel Injection system - build is going so well, I decided to make it complicated and build a Fuel Injected S2. Most important, I started the title trip with the state. January 9 is the day of the CHP inspection when I will find out if she gets a blue tag and if she gets titled as a "Buell" or a "SPCNS". The VIN is not in the system per the DMV but that is not a sure thing. Between now and then the mission is to get all the safety gear on it - in case she gets called a salvage I need her to have working brakes, lights and horn. SHouldn't be a problem Here she sits...  | ||
| Kc_zombie |
Awesome work! | ||
| S1owner |
Nice front fender! | ||
| Jumbo_petite |
Looks like a XB fender | ||
| Lynrd |
Looks even more like a factory CF S1 fender, painted black. | ||
| S1owner |
It is an S1 CF front fender painted gloos black with red and blue mica in it I know because it was mine | ||
| Hootowl |
The header clears the frame without issue? | ||
| Phelan |
IIRC those headers have to be "massaged" aka relieved a bit to fit. That one in particular is actually a race header I believe. | ||
| Kc_zombie |
Looks like a good candidate for updated side plates. I know this guy who...  | ||
| Lynrd |
The exhaust is a Borla, and it has about .750" clearance on that rear pipe to the frame - it looks like less in this picture but right now I think it is going to work without having to muck about....I have too get it running before I can be sure it's not going to kiss the frame from vibration but it is fine static.. The Borla is 2 separate 1.75" pipes each feeding down to the muffler - no collector at all (so I guess technically not a 'header'). It really fits nice - I like how tight it wraps to the motor and how it bisects the timing and oil filter lumps on the cam cover. Re: side plates - all I can say is...stay tuned. | ||
| Lynrd |
How about an update on Gloria? Well, We've had two trips to the CHP so far - one to the wrong office....second to the right office. The right office is OK with calling her a 1995 Buell S2 with salvage branding on the title...about the best I expected. The hold up now is that they want the odometer to be on and functional. I am grafting on the Fuel injection wiring harness from the donor S3 ( The Frog) , and I just haven't gotten to wiring the damn thing up until a few more bits have been rounded up - so no odometer until I get the wiring about done, which will be after I complete the new dash for the 2000 instrument cluster. So, she'll be a running bike before the title trip is done. In the meantime, the tail piece finally got here, and I spent some time today with modeling clay, roughing out the shape for the seat pan/side cover/ tailpiece.  After I get her really smooth, this will be the plug to build a negative mold and ultimately a new rear tail  I am trying to decide whether I refer to her as a "SR-2" or a "SR-1200"  | ||
| Newmans3 |
Great work, can't wait to see the end result. Hey, you mentioned a donor S3, I am looking for the tail fairing around the seat, any chance you want to part with it? Thanks. | ||
| Lynrd |
Someone has dibs on the DNF green tail section from the frog. I owe them pictures, but it has to wait as I am out of town again. If they don't want it, yeah, it's for sale. It's in good shape if you can overlook the fact that it's f'n green | ||
| Newmans3 |
Okay, let me know what he decided. Can't promise it'll stay green very long though. | ||
| Newmans3 |
Ok, thanks, let me know what he decides. Can't promise it'll stay green very long though. | ||
| Lynrd |
Last weekend I worked on thin in several fronts. I have the mold made for the tail section - came out about 95% there, but no matter how many coats for wax I use, the gelcoat seams to grab somewhere - I have some touchups to du under the seat, but the sides came out just right.  Here was the form - it's a mix of the XLCR seat pan, foam core, modeling clay and bond.  After that was done, I rubbed about 8 layers of turtle wax on the form. It makes a mold release. On top of that goes a couple coats of Gelcoat. I was so focused on getting the sides smooth I frankly screwed up right under the seat, but nothing major.Remember - this is the negative mold, so I am not sweating the brush strokes on the outside that are visible A big time with some good ol' resin, matte cloth, some brushes and rollers, and we have a mold. I am reinforcing it with woven rope material and wood. I already popped it off the form, only had one small hidden area where the mold release didn't work, so I will touch that up, and glass some reinforcement into the mold - then I can pop off the piece I think I will make a couple of glass ones, and if they come out well I may try my hand at carbon fiber. I also have been making headway on the wiring and fuel injection  Here's the inside of the stock style air cleaner, with the IAT sensor occupying one of the holes from the breather system. I am changing to XB rocker boxes so I won't be using the breather holes in the AC  And here is the olde green stock air cleaner, fI had to drill and tap the throttle body for the 7MM x 1.0 threads needed for the air cleaner, and the rest was a bolt on I got an X-1 harness and I have worked out how to make it look best - I need to fab an electrical box that will be concealed behind that right side cover. Right now - am pleased it's going so smoothly. Still lots to do but it's turning out to be a straight forward build even with the fuel injection. (Message edited by Lynrd on March 19, 2014) | ||
| Lynrd |
Oh, and here is the missing picture of the gelcoat coated form  | ||
| Lynrd |
I spent some quality time on Gloria this weekend, and she's made a lot of progress. I continue to smooth out that "SR-1200" tailpiece mold - By next weekend I hope to be popping the first fender out if it. So the weekend started with touching up the Rt Side cover area - more glass, more gelcoat, more sanding. Here it is curing in the sun - note I am using "The Mylar trick" on the gelcoat  While waiting for curing time between layers on the mold, I turned my attention to fabbing up the electrical box. I am pleased with the result.  Here it is before I attached all the Fuel Injection stuff  And here it is mounted with the electronics attached. The fuse boxes tuck right under the seat rail tube, and the tipover switch is mounted behind the fuse box harness. I also got a damaged S2 dash from Beardo - it had a bad chip right where the idiot lights go. It also turns out the S3 gauges I have are ever so slightly larger than the mechanical stock gauges, and I want to add the clock as well, so I went ahead and filled the holes in the dash and reinforced it a bit.- since I already had the gelcoat and resin out, it was the right time. I have a couple ideas on some cool things to do there. By the end of the day, the mold was about 95 % there, dash is ready, and I finally have cut the piece I need to weld into the fairing bracket for the round headlight bucket. All in all, a pretty productive day! | ||
| Phelan |
Be mindful of where you put the clock in the dash. If you are plugging all the dash wiring into the mounts in the fairing stay under the dash, the clock mounted in its logical spot is too long and will not sit flush with the connectors plugged in below it. This can be remedied by cutting the metal back and plugging in the connectors underneath the bracket, but you will want to secure it under there somehow. | ||
| Lynrd |
I get your point, but I am actually spicing the '95 controls onto the X-1 harness, since someone got me started by cutting off the stock connectors.  So I will just use the plugs down by the coil - nothing on the fairing mount I don't think. I will probably use a badlands module for the self cancelling signals and re-use what wires I can from the X-1 turn signal circuit. It will mount where the diag plug is in the photo above. |
