Handlebars

I decided I didn't like the dropped down handlebars and decided to get some straight bars.  I looked all over the internet and couldn't find anything that was affordable.  Everyone wants like $80 for a straight 7/8" SS rod.

So I just bought a piece of 304SS from McMaster and cut it to length.

Drop-back clubman bars

Straight bars

  

Not sure yet how I feel about the straight bars.  Could go back.  Will have to evaluate the ride with the different bars, although I favor form above function here.

Rust in the Tank

So I set out to find out what was going on inside the gas tank in case there was something dangerous in there.  Did some research on the internet and there were lots of opinions.  Flush it with Kleen, Por-15, Pressure Wash it, Pour in some Acid, Put rocks inside and shake it around.  Hmm.  The rock idea sounded cool.  So did the acid.  So that's what I did.

Went to Lowe's (Home Depot is cooler) and picked up some Muriatic acid (Hydrochloric).  Needed about a gallon as the internet recommends mixing a 1:1 water/acid solution before flushing.

Started by flushing it a bunch of times with good ol H2O.

Flushing the top hole

Flipped it over and flushed again...

Flushin the bottom hole

This kind of rusty soot came out first...

Sooty seat

Then added rocks. 

Rust busters

I originally thought that inventory management would be important here as I didn't want to leave any rocks behind so i took copious notes on the qty and shape of every rock I added (10 in total of similar shape and size). 

Rock Inventory.  Fascinating!

In the end however, I proved to be overthinking the problem as any rocks left behind make a distinctive clanging noise on the inside of the tank when its shaken.  Wasted brain.

So once the rocks were added, I shook the f*** out of it.  This s*** came out:

Clump of nastiness ready to destroy my engine!

This happened several times and then stopped.

Next I mixed up a 1:1 batch of H20/Muriatic Acid.  I poured it into the tank via this handy tubing rig I came up with all by myself (not really, I got it off the internet).  Apparently this stuff eats through paint pretty quickly so I took precautions as this paint job is what sells the bike.

Muriatic Acid rules.  I feel like making Meth.

I waited about an hour and then emptied it out.  It definitely took on a different hue on the way out.

I hope that plant survives.

Then I flushed it a bunch more times with water.  The Muriatic Acid did an awesome job of cleaning out the rust.  You can look down inside the gas tank from the top and once the acid bath was complete, all I could see was shiny metal.  I am impressed!

Check that one off the list.  I was dreading this job, but it turned out alright.  Now I'm gonna go watch Walter White work his magic with chemicals in Albequerque.

Welded Steering Column

I took a TIG welding class at TechShop by a high-energy old coot named Scott Saxon.  He was pretty good as far as a teacher goes.  I felt pretty knowldegable afterwards.  Below is my first TIG weld bead.

 

Not a bad bead for a newbie

So with that in mind, I'd targeted the seat post for some welding, but that job turned out to be easier solved by just driving a threaded shaft through the frame and jamming on some nuts.  So that left the steering column/handlebar post to be welded.

I machined up this plate that mounted to the handlebar clamps that came off the green Puch.  Turns out they made a lot of changes from 77 to 78 in terms of the Puch's design.  The handlebars were the first I noticed.  On the red 77, they mount with a post that's wedged down in the front forks.  On the green 78, they mount directly to a the triangular piece of sheet metal that joins the front forks with the frame.  Since I'm rebuilding the 77, I decided I wanted to do the post mount option as it gives me some height adjustability.  However, the old handlebars on the 77 are welded together as one piece and there's no way to get my new handlebars mounted to the old hardware.  So I chopped off the vertical column and made a plate to combine the abilities of the 77 and 78.

Plate to post mount and bracket mount at the same time.

What the setup looks like assembled.

This is all good, except that the plate isn't fixed in rotation relative to the tube.  You can crank down on the center shaft, but there's just not enough friction in the world that you can create to withstand the giant moment arm of the handlebars and wheels.  Let's weld the f*(#$% together!

Post and Plate fixtured and ready to spot.

I did have to make an aluminum spacer to put inside the tube to make sure it was centered with hole in the plate where the locking bolt goes.  I used a dowel pin to align the two and then clamped everything together.

Ready

An ugly job indeed.

The first tack went somewhat ok.  It held things together good, but the aesthetics leave something to be desired.  I also think I was jamming on the power a little hard and overdid things.  I could definitely use some foot control.

Tried tacking the other side and got my filler rod jammed in my pool.

Stuck filler rod.  Had to pry it loose with a pliers.  Coulda just heated it up again.  Duh.

Had to sharpen the Tungsten electrode several times cause I kept getting too close with it as well.

Sharpened Tungsten

Then finished going around the perimeter.  Check out that beautiful bead!

That's nasty.

Wow.  A thing of beauty.

Again, this is not going to be visible.

Can't even see that weld.

Unless you look from this angle.

So it turned out to be functional and a good little job to practice the TIG skills.

Finished product.

Gimme somethin else to weld dammitt!

Seat and Tail

Today I got back on the project and decided to mount the seat and chop the tail.

The seat is set up to mount to a post, but I want it to sit low.  It has this giant spring in it for a cushioned ride, but it kills the look if you have it sit up off the frame.  So I busted the hardware out of the seat and mounted it directly to the frame with a 3/8-16 threaded rod and a couple nuts.

Seat Hardware

Stock Seat

Luckily there's a bracket welded to the front of the seat that has a cross hole all the way through to mount the spring and hardware.  It lined up pretty well with the hole in the frame that's used to compress down on the seat tube by tightening a bolt.

Puch seat mounted to frame

Turned out pretty decent.  The seat is a little bigger than I want, but its growing on me.

I also decided to chop that gay tail off the back end today.  I used that fancy laser level thing I bought for notching the wheel earlier.  it gave me a straight line that I could line up with the front of the fender.  Used a black sharpie to trace over the line.

Laser tracing with sharpie.

Then I pulled out the angle grinder I bought from Harbour Freight a few weeks ago and went to town on it.

Tail gone.

Turned out pretty good.  I might give it a slight upward angle, but I kind of like the straight back lines for now.

And with that, the work on the tail is complete.  Next is mounting the handlebars, cleaning out the gas tank and mounting the engine.