Fall...and change is in the air

[T99Ford]

Well after a great summer on my VTR, I have decided that more weight loss and modification is necessary. I took it for its last ride in stock trim a couple hours before snow fell, and so closed this chapter. I did get a couple cool pics, though:





Then I took it home and tore it down for a new incarnation. My plan is to build an alloy race tank, for starters, and then continue on trimming and tweaking. Not really sure where it will end up, but if I can get it down another 15#, I will be happy.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon building a concept tank out of cardboard. It makes it kind of difficult to visualize as aluminum, but maybe you can get the idea:



Here I drew in what will be see through webbing. This part of the tank is not tank at all, but just a fill piece






Of course it takes some imagination still, but you can kind of get an idea for my leaning. This tank will really open up the rider position forward, and allow for a better tuck. It also shows off the rear cylinder head a little, and should just be a lot lighter.

Anyway, just wanted to check in, and show you what is going on at Tyler's House of Horrors!

[T99Ford]

Got the aluminum pieces cut and fit. As soon as the gas cap and petcock bungs show, welding shall commence! Not much to look at yet, but it's progress. I weighed this tank, and it comes in at 5#.

[T99Ford]

More progress on this next incarnation. I've stripped the old can, and gone to something lighter and less obtrusive:





Although it is baffled:



I am now reworking the pipe, and full on dedicating it to a 2-1:



Some restriction (now removed) in there:



And I am reworking the undertail for better airflow to disipate heat from the rear pipe out of the battery area:



Should get the tank welded up hopefully next week, and be able to start a little polish on it as well.

I'll post up with all of that soon, too!

[natemoen]

You do amazing work.

[T99Ford]

Thanks, Nate! I really appreciat the kind words.

Here is tonight's progress, the reworked undertail

[Shacknasty]

Awesome fabrication skills! You sure aren't afraid of a big project. I will be following this and hoping for lots of regular updates and new pics.

[T99Ford]

Small update tonight. I finished off the pipes, and got them re-installed. Then fabbed up the mounting stuff for the lil' can, and got it mounted as well. Everything is mocked up to kind of give direction now:





The filler bung showed today, so I am still waiting on the outlet bungs. As soon as they show, I should be able to weld up and polish the tank!

[Elevener]

Well after a great summer on my VTR, I have decided that more weight loss and modification is necessary. I took it for its last ride in stock trim a couple hours before snow fell, and so closed this chapter

Stock trim indeed .

While Im sold on your talents and skills you finally have me wondering about that tank. Hell maybe it will grow on me.

How in the world do you work on your bike that close to the wall
?

[T99Ford]

Ha, the pics by the wall are only for the work that I don't have to move it for. When more is required, I roll it into the middle of the floor. Just frees up more space in the shop (as the Mrs. won't park her Mustang outside...)

As for the tank, you are not the only one to question this madness!! Just keep following along, and I will do my best to please There are a lot of cut outs, polishing, and finish work that still have to be done before the final vision is realized.

But it is supposed to have a "Transformers" element and functionality-based look, to a certain degree

Thanks for looking, mate!

[Shacknasty]

Really appreciate seeing the custom fab. Do you have anything on building the seat/tail section? It sure is a sweet-looking piece. The LEDs fit in well with the look.

[T99Ford]

Actually, I cannot take credit for the seat. I bought that from Sean at Roc City Cafe before I screwed up the courage to take it on myself. Check his work out here:

http://www.roccitycafe.com/store.php

However, I did conceive, design, and wire the LED's from an earlier concept of mine. Pretty striaghtforward stuff, just buy 10mm LED's and resistors on ebay, and solder them all together. All the functions are there in their proper colors , as well:



a better pic of what they actually look like, with just the tail markers on:



I have always liked the Dunstall seats, and this alloy one was the ticket. I just needed a tank to match, and that proves to be a little harder to come by!

[T99Ford]

So I decided to build a small (very small) fairing for the front of the bike, to hide some of the wiring, and tie in some of the front parts to the tank. Since I had yesterday off, I piddled around with some aluminum I had left from the tank, and this is what I came up with:







I like it for now, but I am holding judgement until I get the tank back on. Then we shall see if it fits the whole look or not.

[Elevener]

That actually may help the tank out, where are the pics?

[T99Ford]

The tank is being welded as we speak, so is not on the bike. Hoping to get that soon, though!

In other news, I had a fit of inspiration (or insanity?), and ordered a 20 & 30 hp nitrous oxide kit for this build. Going where it is, it just has to have nitrous to be right, even if I only use it 'rarely'. The small size will keep me from over using it, too!

I got all the components custom for the build, though, so it shouldn't look out of place. The bottle is only 12 oz, so should be easy to stash. The rest will work really well under my new tank. Pretty stoked...I'll post pics as it happens!

[T99Ford]

More parts in today! Got these first:







AND, my nitrous stuff showed up:





Didn't get a lot done tonight, though, since I spent some of it re-jetting the carbs for the mods to the pipe. I did manage this much, though:





Moving forward, now!