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SHEET METAL FINAL
INSTALLATION
After the painted parts had a chance to sit for a while it was time
to put the sheet metal back on the bike, hopefully for the last
time. But first all the accessories had to be installed on the sheet
metal. I started with the rear fender and installed the trim pieces.
The trim I ordered is made of aluminum and bends rather easily.
Although we had test fit it to the fenders as part of the pre- paint
finalization there were still minor adjustments needed to make it
lay right. I gently tapped it from the sides with a rubber mallet
until it conformed properly to the fender and was nice and straight.
Instead of the nuts and lock washers that came with the trim, I used
lock nuts. I don’t ever want to deal with the underside of that
fender again if I can help it, therefore the deviation from factory
practice.
 Then
I installed the tail light, and wire. The tail light wire is a two
conductor armored cable that is fed through loops of metal tacked to
the inside of the fender skirt. I secured the cable to the loops
with small black tie wraps. This is overkill as the cable does not
look like it will abrade. The wiring to the brake light switch is
installed in a similar manner. I have looked at a few bikes, and
some had an armored cable in this location, while others just used 2
wires. Not knowing which is right, I chose the armored cable, to
match the tail light cable. These cables are fed out of the fender
through holes and protected by grommets. I rolled up the loose ends
to protect them from scratching the tape. At the end that would
later go to the brake light switch, I soldered connectors on and
used black shrink tube to cover everything but the ends of the
connectors. This is the method I used for all connectors I
installed. Mechanical (crimped) connections look great, but will
fail. After you crimp them solder them!
The package tray
and rear fender tip were also installed using lock nuts.
Turning the fender
upside down on a piece of scrap carpet, and resting it on the
package tray, I taped off the center stand latch holes, and the
mounting holes. Then I grabbed a tube of 3M Ultrapro Sealant seam
sealer. I went over all the inside seams to make sure they were
filled and waited a day. Then I came back and Liberally applied 3M
Undercoating part No. 08881.
Well by now all you
purists are probably flopping allover the ground, foaming at the
mouth! Ha! It’s my Indian so deal with it! Any way, you can’t
see it unless you lay on the ground and look up under the fender. I
left the visible parts red.
The front fender was
handled in a similar manner.
A few days later I
installed the fenders! When I built my garage, I put a pretty good
slant in the floor so that I could wash my cars inside and all the
water would run out. My lift is designed to lift a full framed bike,
and even with wedges under the frame to stabilize things, I was
afraid that the bike would fall over. While we were test fitting the
front fender Gonzo and I talked this over and the upshot was that we
installed a large eye bolt in the ceiling. A couple of strong
tie-downs from the bike up to this made me much less paranoid. It is
a bit of a pain to jack the bike up a little then tighten the
straps, but what the heck. A couple of neighbors were by for a
drink, so I used one of them to hold the handle bars straight, and
carefully snuck the fender in between the forks. Then we slowly
jacked the bike up until the front wheel would just sneak under the
fender, and lowered the bike down over it, ensuring at the same time
that the front brake arm fit properly into the fork stud.
After the fenders
were installed I went back and installed the coil and the center
stand latch.
Before I could
install the right gas/oil tank, I had to install part of the line
sets that goes in the tanks. After posting to VI to find what to use
on the threads, and getting five different answers, decided to use
Teflon tape in the gas tank petcock threads. I used Permatex number
2B on the oil line threads. The right side went on, and I finished
part of the plumbing. I connected up the oil lines and bent them to
fit between the front cylinder and its exhaust pipe. The gas line
petcock on this side seems to sit a little far back on the (repro)
tank. I could not make the lines fit up properly with the petcock
perpendicular to the bike’s frame, so I swiveled it about 45
degrees forward.
The wiring harness
from the fuse block to the dashboard goes along the frame. I ran it
on the lower frame tube and secured it with black tie wraps. Not
sure if it should have gone on the upper frame tube. The speedometer
cable I got is a reproduction, and much thinner than the original.
It has a steel outer casing that I know would rub on the rear
fender. To prevent that and to make it look older, I wrapped the
casing with rubber tape. The cable crosses to the left side of the
bike and is routed through an indentation in the left gas tank up to
the speedometer. I secured it to the lower frame rail with another
black tie wrap or two. Then the high voltage lead and ground wire
from the coil to the distributor. These route through a little
chrome tube along with the spark plug wires, so I installed that,
too. As a side note, when finalizing any bolts, I used Locktite
blue.
Finally the left gas tank could be installed and its petcock
connected to the gas line. Then I hooked the gas line to the carb. Each
gas tank has a little badge that snaps into a clip. I carefully
snapped them in, holding a paper towel under the pointy end so that
it would not poke into the paint.
click for larger view, i.e., the big picture!
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