Out of curiosity: How many fabricated parts on your bike?

Just wondering, since a lot of parts for our bikes are now falling into the no-longer-available category and are also not manufactured aftermarket.

Mine's a bit unfair because of the customizations I've done, but discounting those, I can still think of eight fabbed parts:

Hand cut oil pan gasket
(4) Hand cut intake manifold gaskets (carb holders to cylinder head)
Fabbed washer for the oil filter bolt
Fabbed wave washer for the fork oil lock
Printed, painted, and cut replacement for the warning center bezel (on board computer)

I think the wave washer was the only truly unavailable item. The others I just didn't feel like waiting to get, or, in the case of the warning center, paying for a whole display when all I needed was the bezel.

Still, I have a feeling that maintaining an old bike like this will continue to include some amount of fab work.... any similar stories?

Cheers,
Paul

 

I've cut my own carb bowl gaskets for the 750... I also fabbed a mount for my phone (which is also my GPS) out of some parts from a windshield mounting kit, a sheet of Lexan and epoxy.

So far, I've found it more common to have to fab a tool as opposed to an actual bike part.

 

Fabbed tools > parts is my guess too.

I don't know if it is considered a fab, since it's not original, but I have a clock with two temp sensors, one mounted to the front wheel to tell me rough wind chill. And my 'fog' lights.
I will be fabbing my own highway pegs and maybe even forward controls someday.

Stereo - you have any pics of that cell phone mount?

 

3. The two luggage rack mounts on the '83 and my stick-on clock that I can switch between bikes.

Now if you want to talk about "MIX-N-MATCH" that's a different story, a little parts room engineering of my own yields FJ/Radian style turn signals, a 150mph speedo from an XJ900, an electronic tach and oil cooler from an FJ600 (not fitted yet.)

 

Re: Out of curiosity: How many fabricated parts on your bike

I had fabbed the backrest/luggage rack on my 750. I cut off the backrest portion this spring so that I could put on a trunk with a backrest pad on it.

mikeg

 

I mounted the touring fairing an inch forward and up, due to not having the bracket, and having long legs.
I just got done improvising mounts for the trunk and saddle bags.
Look for a full write-up in Modifications.
I also packed the exhaust with (drywall) expanded metal and fiberglass matting- - it's quiet now, almost too quiet.

 

I have limited fabed items - spacers to mount my rack and I put a tube over the post the chain lock is supposed to attach to. I use the pocket to carry a could of bungees in case I need to secure something to the rack. The tube keeps them from falling out.

 

Time, could you pass along the exhaust details, I'd be curious to know what material that (expanded metal and fiberglass matting) is and how quiet it gets.

 

I guess I shoula taken pictures of that too. I have a 4 into 1 and the muffler has an end plate and a mid-plate with 2 tubes welded so they bypass each other. This baffle assembly is held in place by 1 screw. This forms 2 chambers, I packed both chambers.

I took regular fiberglass matting, not cloth, and the corner reinforcement they use in drywall work, it's expanded metal with about 1/4 inch diamond shaped holes, rolled around a rake handle for the front silencer, that provides an unobstructed path thru. The rear silencer I rolled around the baffle assembly, and I packed in as much as I could, not really believing this would work, then used a 12 foot lever to aid in re-assembly all jammed in place, no vibration.

I don't know how to describe quiet, but I'm hearing the valve train and middle gear sounds, the exhaust note is now in the background.

 

wow... that gives me a few ideas

 

Made 1 side panel from aluminum sheet, a coat hanger ans some foam.
Fabbed up some mounts for my Shoei Fairing.....

Looking at takeing a crack at a custom flyscreen to replace the Shoei ...