In Stock!

Hot off the press...eerrr....I mean mill....

Sorry for the inconvenience.  There must have been a bunch of T5's going in over the holiday break.

Good News!!!!

Material is in for the T5 adapters and we are machining as we speak.

I also am going to make up a small run that have a 5 1/8" diameter register on the bell housing side.  These are for '67-'68 Chevy trucks with the large four speeds.  The standard adapters have a 4 11/16" diameter register.  Both adapters have a 4 11/16" diameter register on the transmission side for the bearing retainer register.

Have a seat...

The seat frame is starting to take shape....

ohhh...

There is nothing like a good weld...

I even impress myself sometimes...HA HA. 

Progress pics....

EZ Wire...

....was actually, fairly easy...

Overall, I think that the EZ Wire produces a decent wiring kit.  I would say that it is well worth the money and in the end has saved quite a bit of time.  The wires were very well labeled and color coded and the kit came with almost all of the connectors and plugs necessary.  However, there are a couple of issues that I have with it.

First, the horn relay is not connected to the fuse panel.  It is hard wired in so that it can be mounted next to it.  The problem that I have with that is I do not want another hole in the fire wall.  Prior to wiring, I filled 30+ existing holes in the fire wall to try and clean things up.  The flashers are mounted directly, so why can't a relay be?

Second, there is not a separate circuit for the taillights and headlights.  Power for the taillights is pulled from the headlight circuit.  This is not big deal, but I prefer to have them on separate circuits....like most factory harnesses.

Third, the directions could be written a bit clearer.  If you were wiring a car with a GM steering column, GM headlight switch and 2 wire GM alternator, then you were in good shape.  If not, the directions were really not much help.  If it was the first time you had ever wired a car, I could see how this kit could be a bit overwhelming.

If you are looking to wire a bare bones hotrod, I think that this kit might have too many circuits.  But for a driver, it just about perfect.

Mr. Twister...

If you have a chance, you need to check this out:

Mastering the Trade

A couple family friends recently received some coverage in the latest Summit Racing catalog.

A racer is born...

Work continues of the cafe racer.  The plan is to rebuild the entire rear section of the frame for a seat and a fairing.  On the stock BMW, the seat rises up from behind the tank, making the rider sit high and in my opinion, very unsightly  With the new rear section, the rider will be lowered approximately 3" to 4". 

It all starts with a template.  I wanted the rear to mimic the lines of the gas tank.  I really like the factory tank and have no plans on changing it...yet.

From there, a wooden buck was built.

And overlaid with paper to get a rough pattern.

I usually like to try and shrink the metal instead of stretch it.  The reasoning behind this is that when you shrink, the metal becomes thicker and thicker material is easier to weld and grind.  However, because the fairing half had so much shape to it, I had to stretch it in the middle.

Then for time with the thumbnail dies in the pullmax...

More stretching and shrinking...

Once the part has some resemblance to the shape I want, it gets smoothed in the english wheel

Close, but is still needs some work.  On smaller jobs like these, the buck is more of a suggestion rather than  what the final shape has to be.  As long as both halves look the similar.

Fast forward....the other side is completed enough to weld together...

I still needs a bit of finish work.  I am thinking of cutting it down since it looks almost as large as the tank.  At least I can start on the rear section of the frame and finalize the size once I can get a visual of a rider.

Progress...

Over the holiday break, some progress was made on the '56.

look at all of the new parts...

It's a good sign when you can start to run the wires.  I decided to go with an EZ Wire harness for this one.  I never used them before but they have a fairly nice 12 circuit kit for decent money.  The kit came with most of the necessary ends and all of the wires are connected to the fuse panel.  I prefer this style fuse panel over kits that are terminated at the panel.  It is at least for me, easier to work with, plus you have half of the connections to go wrong.  I'll follow up with a specific post on the wiring once I get farther along.