More Fabrication: Rear Sets Bracket



Moving the foot controls back to the center of the bike, is to this point the most daunting and important step.   I had originally thought I would use the rear motor mount brackets and make some sort of bolt on setup.   See rough drawing below.

 

 

I had a hard time working this out and decided to use the same design as the kit I had found online.  So with the rough patterns I had made earlier I set out to a local metal fabrication shop, Piedmont Metal Processing.  I also took the extra set of rear motor mounts I had bought on ebay to make sure we had the right hole spacing in the brackets.  Fortunately they were not very busy and had time to set down with me and draw up the parts I needed on their CAD system. 

 

 

A short walk down to the shop floor and the plasma cutter, a little set up, push a few buttons.

 

 

Voila! Brackets! I mean in about 5 minutes I had a complete set of brackets for my build.

And they bolted right on when I got back to the shop.

 

I then simulated the belt position and worked out the placement of my connecting bar.

 

 

Cut to length with the chop saw.

 

 

 

 

Checking the length and width with my drive belt pulley cover installed.

 

    A few things I had to work out because I was not completely happy with the clearance between the swing arm and the belt with the 1 inch square rod I had used in the original set up.  I changed to a solid 1.5 inch X .50 inch solid steel bar.  This gave me greater clearance tolerances and added strength.  I had hoped to use .25 inch steel plate for my brackets.  I found that I the clearance between the frame and the swing arm on the non drive side was too small to allow me to use the thick plate.  I went back and had them cut the inside plate out of 10 gauge steel plate.  I then needed to add the steel rod pictured below between the two plates to help solidify the whole unit.  I cut a threaded rod to the proper length and used nuts to lock them in place for the exact width of the motor mounts on the bike.   I positioned and clamped the entire unit together and took it to another local machine shop, World Precision Machine and Tool,  to be TIG welded together.  Hopefully I will have it back in a few days.  I met a guy there that does some custom bike building as well.  If I decide to cut down the tank he can do that for me as well.

 

I sourced my rear sets from a company I found online, "Fast From the Past". http://www.fastfromthepast.com

 

 

The Universal rear sets come in several configurations.  Once I get them mounted on the bike I can get the proper measurements and order the connecting rods from the same vendor.  I am starting to get excited as we get closer all the time.  Hopefully in the next week I can fire the bike up and ride it around the block.