69 "Lil" Indian

#41
It's confirmed, I'm going with a 3HP 2-Cycle Clinton, yep, I'm the nut who bought that NOS Clinton on eBay. I got my all white seat too, unfortunately my idea of 2-1/2" thick (Total) and his were two different things it was just a "tad" over 3" thick, not to mention the piping seam isn't centered, who does that?. I mean, I get that it lines up with the front seam but it throws off the whole look. I sent the seat back today, I just hope he doesn't tear this one down to correct the problem rather than making an all new seat. My Rally Silver wheels should be done tomorrow, hopefully something can go right this week.

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YOU the One who got My Engine ....lol
 
#43
While waiting for the new Clinton to show up, I decided to use the one from my Greenhorn as a mock-up. It was a good thing I did too because with the clutch mounted inboard, the Clinton sits too far to the left and thus an adapter plate would be necessary. While I hate drilling holes into a perfectly good frame, I decided to go with it. I remembered that I had this cool adapter plate from a mini bike I bought quite some time ago, it has "Motor City Minis" milled into it. I thought it would be really cool to represent the Motor City with a mini bike from the Motor City with some swag from the Motor City Minis mini bike club that I don't think exists anymore. I drilled the holes so the adapter plate can't go further back than the back of the engine plate, leaving only forward adjustment as the chain stretches. The blower housing is right over where the adapter plate says "Motor City Minis" so I'm going to paint the script so it gets seen. I'll be using my Mercury clutch once I get it pulled off the engine it's on, I don't want to damage it with my cheap puller. I also matched up all the control hardware to the same thread count and combo head screws, found some large head combo screws for the lever pivot screws. I've never seen L/R levers, just left ones, when you use the left lever on the right side, the pivot screws nut is on top. With my OCD, I had to drill both the L/R sides out and use the large combo head pivot screws so they match and clocked all the other hardware to align with the clamps.

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#46
And this is why I hate committing to drilling out an engine plate. Thanks to @mountainmini who hooked me up with Bob Muha who then hooked me up with with Billy Dalton, I now have an AH-81 mount. And thanks to @bigevilone2 I'll be getting a straight carb reed plate, Bob's hooking me up with the carb spacer too. I've literally waited years to find the right parts with no luck, now it's like it's raining them. Now that I've drilled the plate, I think I'll use the AH-81 on another build.

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Addicted 2 Minis

Well-Known Member
#49
I'm getting so discouraged in this build, I'm about to throw in the towel. Why can't ANYBODY do what I am paying them to do???. I send the fame to get powder coated and it comes back with sags in it. I take it back and they do a mediocre job at correcting their mistakes. I order a seat that is supposed to be 2-1/2" thick TOTAL!, I expressed that more than once. When I received it the first time it was over 3" thick, I send it back, expressing once again 2-1/2" TOTAL!, this time I get it and it's 3" thick. It has been a month since placing the order and I wait for what?, for it to be wrong... again. I don't know who Randy of JKInteriorbiz11 on eBay is but apparently units of measurement in California aren't the same as units of measurement in Michigan. I'm no mini bike seat specialist, if I was, I would have made my own but when you pay for something to be done the way you want it, it should be done the way you want it.

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Lizardking

Well-Known Member
#50
Don't get discouraged Tad. You've come to far to stop for a seat. 3rd time is the charm with this person I guess. I'm watching this thread to see the final master piece! Did the person acknowledge your change request? Don't stop, You got this Tad!!
 

Addicted 2 Minis

Well-Known Member
#55
Don't get discouraged Tad. You've come to far to stop for a seat. 3rd time is the charm with this person I guess. I'm watching this thread to see the final master piece! Did the person acknowledge your change request? Don't stop, You got this Tad!!
I tell ya, it's not just the seat. Almost everything I have had done, I've had to take back to be done again. After seeing an original model 300, I thought silver wheels would look good. The wheels cost $40 a set to have done but they have a $100 minimum so I took another frame to have done too. Here's a shot of my silver wheels, you can see where the powder is too thin on the inner lip. I haven't said anything about them yet and probably won't, I just won't go to them anymore. I'm not opposed to giving people a second chance but at this rate I could have built at least two bikes if things were right the first time.

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bbiggs54

Active Member
#59
I tell ya, it's not just the seat. Almost everything I have had done, I've had to take back to be done again. After seeing an original model 300, I thought silver wheels would look good. The wheels cost $40 a set to have done but they have a $100 minimum so I took another frame to have done too. Here's a shot of my silver wheels, you can see where the powder is too thin on the inner lip. I haven't said anything about them yet and probably won't, I just won't go to them anymore. I'm not opposed to giving people a second chance but at this rate I could have built at least two bikes if things were right the first time.

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Paint everything and you don't have problems. Things weren't powder coated back then. I don't know a powder that's any good as far as I'm concerned.
 

pomfish

Well-Known Member
#60
Maybe not powder coated in 1969, but in 1973 and going forward they did powder coat their bikes and they did look good.

From the Lil Indian History;
https://www.alliedleisurecorp.com/littleindianhistory


For a year that was a disaster, there were only 3220 “LiL” Indian Mini-Bikes built by Allied Leisure in 1972. Note: In 1973 Allied Leisure built a separate building to install the paint line that they got from Michrina Enterprises. A major change that Regis made, was switching from liquid paint to powder paint. Regis was always ahead of his time, and this was the first powder coating system in Michigan at the time. Another first for “LiL” Indian was the fact that it was the first Mini-Bike with a powder coated frame. 1973 found Allied Leisure going to auctions and buying parts at distressed prices to be used to manufacturer their Mini-Bikes. Regis and Leon hoped that this would help Allied Leisure stay afloat until the surplus was cleared out of the pipe line. After another disastrous year, there were only 2107 “LiL” Indian’s sold in 1973.

Love that long story and read it at least twice a year.
 
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