Mad_bohemians VooDoo build - Revisisted

Ok, I'm going to try and recreate this thread with pics.... Some of the post where I can't find pics or off-topic banter and responses will removed to simplify the process, but the important posts will be word for word, so you can always open up a second window of the original thread and compare if needed

Hi all.
This begins my build thread on my latest project bike, an '82 750 Maxim. I picked it up for about $400. Flat front tire, wiring at the headlight all unplugged. The guy told me the bike had been sitting for about a year.He got the bike from a friend who got the bike from some guy who ran it off the road into some heavy brush. Supposedly it ran after the crash and that owner had replaced the front forks. Clutch cable is gone, brakes need a new MC and lever. The guy I bought it from said he couldn't figure out the wiring to get it started....
Fast forward 2 months. Got the wiring all hooked up and with the help of forum members here I got my starter circuit bugs worked out. PO had swapped the starter relays.
Once I got that straightened out I took my carbs off and cleaned out the bowls. Pretty ugly. Everything was gunked up so I know this winter I'll be rebuilding those.I just gave them a quickie clean job and slapped 'em back on the bike. Put in some gas and hit the starter. She sputtered but wouldn't start. Used some starter fluid in and she fired right up. She had trouble running but then the rpms kicked up to about 4k and stayed there. I used the key as a governor to keep her running but not screamin'
So, at least I know she runs. Now I can start my build knowing that it will at least RUN when I'm done 8O
So here's the plan so far:
Shorten the rear suspension.
Drop the seat area of the frame.
Move the controls forward.
Fabricate a solo style seat.
New rear fender.Not sure if it will be bobbed yet....
new front fender
Still tossing around the idea of a bolt on type chopper front end, nothing radical, 5-9 deg rake with 4inch over down tubes. Pocketbook will have the final say on that one though.
Drag style bars or something close to that.
Want to upgrade the dash to something simpler/cleaner.
Probably change/modify the headlight assm as well.
And will fabricate an exhaust system for it.
Good thing I have all winter and spring to do all that 8O

SOME PICS! Remember ...WITHOUT PICS, IT NEVER HAPPENED!!!
Here's what I started with..



Here she is after I got her running. Getting ready to start the frame mods.




First thing I did was cut the tail section off just behind the shock mounts..



You can also see where I mocked up an 11" 'shock' to see how low I want to go with the rear end.


This shot shows the area of the frame I'm going to change. I want it to follow the lines of the side cover closer...



Next I carefully measured and marked where I wanted to make the cuts to bend the seat section down.




I made a second cut to give me some room to contour the new end sections so they would mate up with with down tubes later.


Then I heated the frame and bent the seat section down till it met the 'down tubes'. I also moved the end of the down tubes in about 3/8 of an inch.




Here's the job when I got done welding and grinding...



And here's with the side cover on.



My only concern is if there's enough strength in the frame at the shock mounts now. I was thinking of strengthening it with some gussets or maybe like this...



Whaddya say guys...Do I need to bolster up this area of the frame??

So that's where I'm at so far. Next step is to get new, shorter shocks and a rear fender. Then once I have that mocked up I can proceed with stripping the frame....




UPDATE:
Okay...so being laid off and sittin' around the house goin' stir crazy...I decided to suck it up and brave the cold....
Alrighty then...so I picked up a rear fender , and seat and did some cuttin' and slashin' on those. Because the fender was wider than my rails I was going to try to have it mount coming up from the tire, instead of dropping in like normal.....baaaad idea. It left me with some very large gaps that my seat wouldn't cover (no pics of that abortion... sorry ).
The fender is a Rick Doss "Dixie" Here's the stock version



Well, first thing I decided was the frame needed to be wider. So I split the cross brace, heated up the frame and spread it out about 1 1/4" and welded in a spacer. I made the spacer a little smaller then the cross brace so I can weld a small 'tongue' on the fender so that will help locate it without interfering with the seat.



You'll also notice I went with the topside gussets to strengthen the frame for the shocks. So with the wider frame I was able to drop the fender in from the top....But that meant I had to make some modification the to fender and eliminate my boo boo. So basically I cut off the snafu'd part, rotated the fender to bring the tail up and also removed the flat section. I don't have a pic of just the fender ..but you'll see it later

So next I started on the seat....
I picked this LePera up from Ebay..



First thing I had to do was tear it apart so I could modify the pan. Then I cut 2 clearance slots in the pan for my frame rails...(I also moved the tongue on the front of the seat so it would work like a stock Maxim seat under the tail of the gas tank but I did that after everything else.)



I then took a piece of exhaust pipe steel and cut and ground and hammered and bent the puppy until I had made a liittle 'hood' to go over the rail and give me something to rivet the seat cover to.



It's kinda hard to see...but this is what the bottom of the pan looked like originally.



Then I used a wire wheel to clear out now-excess foam on the seat...




So it would fit correctly on the modified pan..



You'll notice also that I took the mounting tab and moved that inboard more so I can add a mating tab on the frame rail, then I can bolt them together to secure the seat

Then I riveted the seat cover back on, took it out to the garage and did a quick test fit with the fender




I LIKE where this is going


One nice thing about my fender snafu...it left me with a piece left over that worked quite nicely as an integrated tailight housing.



That's all for now. Next on the agenda is to fabricate some fender struts, get the shocks on and finalize the back end details.



that's all for now....




UPDATE- TAIL LIGHT ASSM
Been working on the tailight / turn signals and I can't make up my mind. One way would be easy and quick but I am thinking about an even more custom look. I'll give you guys the option and you can help me decide.....

I picked up some LED turn signals and a flexible strip of LEDs for the brake light.


Then I fabricated a mounting bracket for the tail light to mount on.




Drilled and tapped it for 10-32 screws to hold it on the fender.
Then I'll mount the LED strip to it for my brake light, which should look something like this..



I took a piece of prismatic plastic from a florescent light and trimmed it to fit the cowling.
Plan is to laminate transparent red over this eventually.


So here's where my other idea came in... If I go with my original plan with the turn signals mounted on the fender the end look would be kinda like this (the signal is small and on the left side of the fender)



But... then I thought " What if I take the LED turn signals apart and mount them along side the tailight??"... (only one is shown to the right of the tail light)




And the split the lens with red in the middle and clear on the sides so it would look like this..



UPDATE:
Got the tail light 95% done so I thought I'd post some pics of it. Turned out pretty good I think with the addition of the strut signal I should be pretty safe...well as safe as anyone can be on two wheels around cages...


With no lights on..


With just the brake light.



with the left signal and brake...


and finally with the right signal and brake..





Got my handlebars and shocks in. I'll try to get pics of that tomorrow.Gonna try to get the handlebars replaced since this set has a pretty poor chrome job done on it...but I digress....
Now that my shocks are in I can start proto-typing my fender struts.




Now all I got to do is have them machined. I'll probably start by machining one out of wood to make sure they will fit. That pic is what I modeled up in some cad software. The GHC is the initials for the name of my "business" - Green Horse Customs....The slot is for the flush mount signals I'll put in the struts for better viibility. (which I never did actually )
Hopefully I can have a friend of mine cnc cut these for me cheap cheap....
..that's all for today...





Well here's the pics I promised of the bars and shocks. Had to remove the lower bracket for the shock and fab a new one. These are 11" harley shocks and they're nice and stiff so I won't have to worry about bottoming out on the fender.


(Sorry... can't find the shocks pic )

Here's one with the cardboard strut stuck in place to test fitment and alignment...as best as I could with a cardboard part anyways..



You might notice the strut looks different from my model. I had to revise the original strut because I made that one before I was finished with the seat. Glad it was just a matter of cutting cardboard and not re machining steel!! 8O phew!!!
The handle bars are 1" with a 4" rise. I slotted the existing holes in the top of the tree. Still got a ton of work ahead of me.....



ok time for an update.
Got my new 1" handlebars with the new controls all put together....





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And while I'm waiting for my soda blaster to get here I started buffng out some of the engine covers. Here's what I started with...
Left side of the engine...




And the finished covers...







UPDATE : FRAME

Just got my frame back from powder coating!! Looks fantastic!!! Found a local place that sandblasted and coated the frame, swingarm,side kickstand,center stand,and swingarm brace for $175 8O
I was going to go with a basic black but they said they could do it in what they called "silver veining" for the same price. I had them do the center stand in black because I don't think I'll be putting it back on the bike, so I figured when I sell it the new owner will love that it looks brand new!!

The place is called Custom Powder Coating and they're in Grand Rapids. Most other places I found wanted over $200 (some as high as $245) , and that was for basic black! If you wanted other colors, that was extra. Custom told me that it didn't matter what color you wanted, if they had it in house, it was all the same price!!
Great guys to work with!! I know who my pc source around Grand Rapids is from now on!!!
Here's some pics..






WOOHOO!!! Got the prototype strut finished!!! I used a piece of 2x6 pine and since I can only turn about 3500 rpm's (no high speed head) the cutters left a lot of 'fuzzies' . But at least I can test fit and make the needed changes The wood was also about 1 1/2 inches too short , but the tail section is the area I was most concerned with.

The model..


The prototype....





I didn't cut the styling groove or the logo in...I'll save that for the real thing. Wow...between learning how to build a rotary phase converter, wiring the machine, learning the CAM software, learning G-code for the machine, figuring out how to get the machine communicating with a laptop...my brain needs a vacation!!!

Now just have to make a few minor adjustments, then on to cutting aluminum!!!




UPDATE:

Finally got done painting the engine. Pulled the head, cleaned her up real good and used some high temp ceramic paints..



Got most of the covers on. As soon as my metric feeler gauges come I'm gonna check valve clearances, make any adjustments then pop the motor back in. I'll try to get another 'mostly-assembled' pic of the motor tomorrow.....




With the aid of fellow member lowlifexj , I think I got the new controls wired to the xj harness. Once I verify everything works I'll throw up a wiring schematic for those interested.




Finally decided on a front fender!! WOOHOO 8) That came in on Monday. Since the mounting bolts had a 6" spread, I needed to fabricate some front fender brackets. So I modeled some up...



Took a .250 thin 4x7 plate of aluminum, threw it up on the ol' cnc and milled then out , bolted them on to the fender and slid her in....





Still working on machining out the rear struts...got one about 65% done...it's frustrating when you have the time to do the work....but not the funds :? I'm running out of things to sell too!! 8O lol Not stressing about it though, I just decided I'd push back the finish date to some time next year... ... how long can you work on a project before it officially becomes a hobby?!?! LOL


UPDATE:
Finally got both the struts machined !! Woohoo
Had to rework the backside so they have a nice tight custom fit. Here's the right side all fitted...



Took the right side strut and finish sanded/buffed/and polished. The left side is is fresh off the machine 8)





Getting closer!!!

Well, I got the motor in yesterday and finished wiring everything up. I put the exhaust on and slipped on the HD mufflers I got last fall just to see how it will look. I'm not totally sold on the mufflers yet. I'm thinking of trying something simple like the chrome turndowns Strat did on his 85....what do you guys think??




UPDATE : EXHAUST

OK...So I'm spending some spring-break time in the garage tinkering on Maxine and I'm not really sold on the direction I was going with the exhaust (see previous pics in thread) . First I thought about just taking the the pipes 2 per side, straight out the back side by side, bumping them up to 1 3/4 dia....kinda like a shotgun look. Well I spent quite a bit of time yesterday running around town trying to:
A) Find adapters that would fit to go from 1.5 od to 1 3/4 id.... OR
B) Looking for a muffler shop that could flare pipe for me...

Nothing...
So after spending the better part of the day putting about 75 miles on the car yesterday, today I thought I would run up to the repair shop in lil' ol' Coopersville 5 min away. Talked to pipe-bender and told him what I was looking for and he says yeah... I can make a flared adapter to fit your pipe...then he starts telling me how he made a custom exhaust for his buddies quad... :idea: "Let me get back to you on the parts" I told him...

So now the wheels are turning..came home and photochopped some exhaust onto the bike....(this was the only side view pic I had with no stock exhaust in it...) So I am thinking later this spring to take the bike into town and have my new friend bend me some pipe. Plan at this point is to have the inner pipe swing out and under the outer so the pipes would be vertically stacked at the ends...

Feed back guys... yea or nay ?? or what about just straight thru shotguns side by side??




Well it's been a while since I have been able to spend any worthwhile time out on the project bike. got two weeks before summer classes begin so I decided to spend some quality time with my other girl (don't tell the wife ) Decide to get the get the 'exhaust from he11' finished. yikes! I had no idea the can-o-worms I opened with that idea.
I went with the vertical stacked pipes with the change of having the outside pipe just a straight pipe with the inner pipe coming out and above. That meant having two just pipes bent instead of all four. So I went up to the local car repair shop and the guy there bent two of the pipes with a 45 deg elbow, a 2" straight section then another 45deg elbow, and two 3' sections of straight 1 3/4 dia. pipe. Then he made me 4 adapters that flare from 1 1/2" (that fit perfect on the ends of the header pipes) to 1 3/4". Everything out the door for $60. One of the first things I found out when I started fitting things together was that the header pipes were angled wrong for what I wanted to do. The ends of the headers were at a downward angle instead of being parallel with the ground. Then I noticed that instead of being like a flat letter 'C', they were skewed and pointing inward to boot. Well...to make a long story short I decided to do the job right.I went and picked up a tubing bender at Harbor Freight and got 8' of 1 1/2 exhaust pipe. I measured the header downtubes being about 20 deg from vertical which meant I needed a 110 deg angle from the header downtube to parallel with the ground. Cut my self a 2' piece of pipe and started bending




The tubing bender was pretty cheap... I got two and 1/2 pipes done and it broke (stripped the set screws :roll: ) So I took it back and got another one to finish the job with. It worked great once the pipes were bent. I could tack weld them to check position and angle. I added about and inch of length to the downtubes so the exhaust wouldn't be right against the bottom of the motor. I was surprised to find that the header pipes are double walled pipes1 ( That explains why it was such a cluster *#ck trying to heat and bend them! 8O )
So I got the downtubes welded and cleaned up then took them back to my favorite car shop dude and he flared the ends so the fit nicely into the 1 3/4" dia exhaust ..and he did it for free!! Very nice guy!!!

So everything is fitted and all I have to do it weld the tailpipes onto the headers and make the slash cuts on the ends of the pipes and add some hangers that bolt up to the frame. I think I'm really gonna like the way these turned out!



Ended up hacking off the mounting brackets for the center stand to make clearance room for the pipes.
With the center stand gone I had plenty of room for the pipes





I found a guy locally who can do a high temp (1200 deg) black powder coat on them for around $350....jury is still out on that though.. Tomorrow...start working on the forward controls...



Progress has slowed to a painful crawl....but at least it's still in a forward direction!

Got the exhaust all finished. 60 deg slash cuts

I have a hangar from the outside cylinder pipe that mounts to one of the stock footpeg assembly bolt locations (red arrow). The for the inner cylinder pipes I have a brace that goes from the upper (inner) pipe to the lower pipe for support(green arrow). Now the entire exhaust is rock solid!




UPDATE FWD CONTROLS:
This project is still moving forward...slowly... Have been trying to get the cnc working but there are endless problems there...so I finally took the plates for the forward controls out to my fathers and used his old manual knee mill to rough out the general shape, then I bolted them together and ground the profile in with my bench grinder.

Here they are mounted up with the pegs and levers I had laying around for what seems like forever!!





slight snafu... I'll have to get levers with more of an 'L' shape so I can bring them up higher..

Got the mount for the headlight and fairing finished so I can check that off the list. I really can't tell you much about the fairing. Found it on ebay a while back, it was just listed as a Yamaha fairing.... no marking or manf info on it either...

so now I am down to rebuilding front calipers, and getting the brakes finished, license bracket paint and a few wiring odds and ends.....gettin' closer...



UPDATE time..
So I took the forwrd controls and swapped them from side to side and they worked great like that with the controls I have! So the forward controls are done and painted and the brake calipers have been painted and bled ...so I'm getting real close to FINALLY getting this beast done. Next on the agenda is paint....

I had thought about a snake skin look so I did this yesterday.. I took an old helmet I had laying around to do a quick proof-of-concept paint job to see if my idea for a snake-skin look was do-able. This is just the paint with no clearcoat on it yet and there are some areas that ran a little but I'm not too worried about that, I was trying out a new detail gun and knew I was going too fast and not taking my time, I just wanted to see if using a mesh and with directional spraying would get the effect I was going for. I think the diamonds will be eliminated or at least the color will change to more of a maybe a rootbeer brown, this was just what I had laying around paint wise, but I do like the blue/silver/black...





It's no Sure paint job...that's for sure :roflmao: but I might just try to put this paint scheme on the this bike...I'll try to post some updated pics as well later today..
comments, critiques, criticism....??


UPDATE 7-3-2011
Had my pipes ceramic coated for way cheap and they were supposed to be done a week agao from last Friday..well I got an email at 8:30 (yup..on Sunday) letting me know they finished my pipes and they were on the way to drop them off!! Seems they had some equipment issues during the week which accounted for the delayed delivery. The pipes look FANTASTIC!If you guys are looking for an alternative to chrome / paint / or wrap for your exhaust, give the guys at Kalamazoo Coatings a call. They took my pipes (see previous post) and did all the surface cleaning and prep work on all 4 pipes...I am VERY pleased with the results !! :thumbup1: Kind of a satin chrome look so I will be taking the rear fender struts and side cover trims and sand them to get a brushed look. I got the forward controls all painted with linkages finished. Got the calipers painted and bled... so it looks like I am down to fabbing a license plate bracket then paint / buff assemble and wire...got an issue with the throttle I have to work out yet, but she's getting close now!!
for the paint I talked to a custom painter who shared some tricks of the trade with me to pull off the snake skin look, but take it from cool to killer!! Hopefully will get time to do a test panel tomorrow and I post some pics..

Here's how she's lookin'








UDATE more PAINT:

So here's how I spent my day today... Spent the day practicing my second go at painting snake skin with some tips from a custom painting pro....
I redid the helmet and also did an old computer case I had laying around...








Here's a close up of the 'scales..


This is just the first two coats of clear. I still have to wet sand and put the final coat on.

Not sure which shading I like better, the hard edge shadowing on the helmet, or the softer shadow edge on the computer case. The case also has more intense mottling with the copper pearl. i did it on the helmet as well but not as heavy. You can just make it out on the left hand side of the helmet 'skin'



All in all I'm pretty pleased with it.... now if I can just duplicate it on the bike I'll be all set!

UPDATE PAINT continued..


DONE YET?? was the question...


YES!! well... kinda... just have to wet sand, give the final coats of clear, wet sand again and the buff!! But I am definitely on the downhill side of this project!!! Got my aftermarket speedo and tach. I think I got all the wiring figgurd out including the idot lights which I will be wiring up to some 3mm LEDs!! Was going to shade the tribal effects...but after 1 1/2 hours of fricken around with the frisket stencil I made trying to get them off the backing paper and apply them I said "SCREW IT! they're gonna be one color!!" lolol
Here's some pics..










UPDATE: ASSEMBLED!!


She's finally DONE!! WOOHOOO!!
Carbs need a little tweaking (anybody near Grand Rapids MI willing to trade some home made wine for a tune up?!) I always struggle with carbs but I digress..

Here's some pics and I get some more when I get a better location... In the interest of sanity (both yours and mine) i will post some more recent pics of voodoo here.









Here's a short video WARNING!!! TURN YOUR SOUND DOWN

For those of you not yet bored to tears.. here's an exhaustive photo gallery of VooDoo

 

Try this for the photo gallery here

 

Awesome. So cool to have the pictures back again.

 

Love that bike! I hope to someday take on a similar build

 

Bike looks great I like it.