Another Chop Mod Ramrod - Beginnings

[Minimichael]

Well here I am with another Ramrod frame, another Briggs flathead, big dreams and other non-stock ideas. Welcome to my drawing board...

Plenty of finishing, redesigning and second guessing remain on the horizon, but last night I started thinking about engine and tank placement. I don't believe the stock tank/carb for the 5hp flathead will fit, which is why a remote tank again. It's a nice clean lauson. I could hang it in front of the engine but I've done that before, so it's on the crossbar...maybe.

And I guess another mikuni VM...

But does anyone think I could still run with the stock Briggs carb here? Maybe with a mini stock tank and shorter carb pick up tube? I'd really like to keep this engine build vintage - with performance gains achieved by hand and old-school mods.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw these up here. Thanks as always to you all on the site, and special shout out to Jeff in Windber for the frame!

 

[sparkwizard]

You could look for a one quart tank.

 

[sparkwizard]

What was originally mounted on that slanted mount? 2 smoker?

 

[Minimichael]

View attachment 313634
You could look for a one quart tank.

Okay, that search begins then...

And I don't know what was on the slant mount, but I wanna say maybe even a four cycle. And Tecumseh, of course. I don't enjoy cutting into a perfectly good stock frame, but nostalgia's got to wait til I'm done having fun.

 

[Minimichael]

Thanks, Sparky. I knew you guys would know, but I didn't know they made em that short! Thinking I could graft the lauson on as a secondary tank like a drip for the little pint below.

 

[sparkwizard]

@Thepaetsguy might have what you are looking for. You could use your tank as a 'reserve'. Run the little tank low, then turn on the Lauson tank to fill it back up.

3 horse pulsa jet carb with a small tank?

 

[Minimichael]

5hp pulsa

 

[Thepaetsguy]

5hp pulsa

If you try to mount ANY Briggs tank carburetor that came from an engine smaller then 5hp then you would have to cut and modify the bottom of the tank mount.

I have no small Briggs tanks but I do have a yellow lauson tank. I’ll get some pictures in the AM for you.

I hear AMAZING things about the nibbis

 

[Minimichael]

If you try to mount ANY Briggs tank carburetor that came from an engine smaller then 5hp then you would have to cut and modify the bottom of the tank mount.

I have no small Briggs tanks but I do have a yellow lauson tank. I’ll get some pictures in the AM for you.

I hear AMAZING things about the nibbis

Yeah those nibbi's are all the rage.

I won't mind modifying brackets, just not the tank housing itself. Also there's that issue of whether a 1qt could perform for a pulsajet with modified straws trying to feed a voracious 5hp.

And I have shorter tanks I think. Gotta dig em out and see. Plus the pulsa has a different mount config than a smaller horse vacujet, no? And those 1qt tanks are for the smaller engines, no?

 

[sparkwizard]

Keep checking the Bay. There are 5 horse pulsa jet carbs with the tiny tank, but not very often. I will keep an eye open for one, also.

 

[sparkwizard]

https://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/...at-minibike-factory-and-tooling.179935/page-2
Look at the engine in the background, post 22

 

[jeep2003]

Nice ramrods make great customs and the full suspension is great. Those rims are awesome what are they from?

 

[Minimichael]

Nice ramrods make great customs and the full suspension is great. Those rims are awesome what are they from?

Love the suspension. I found the wheels by shopping Honda monkey, gorilla, SkyTeam. I posted a short review of it here. I also look at scooter and European racing sites. I found tires and some other accessories on them.

Yeah I am enjoying the Ramrod frame. First thing you gotta do is bend down that rusty tail light bracket and move your seat back!

 

[RobertC]

That's looking good @Minimichael

I usually don't like the look when the Arctic Cat gas tank is removed.

But your electronics panel occupies some of the visual space, and looks great !

 

[Minimichael]

Thanks RobertC. Yeah I've decided not to worry about an original tank, probably because there wasn't much that came with these frames, so anything I added was going to be gravy. Here's a pic of the blue bike when I first came into it.

 

[Minimichael]

I'm also happy to use the crossbar for other creature comforts like that switch plate

 

[Minimichael]

I started prepping surfaces today by brushing on some citrus stripper, waiting, and then used my drill and a steel wire brush attachment. I got just the outside surfaces of the swingarm down to where you see the steel and certain stubborn rusty scale. I'm thinking about hitting the remaining with a 120 grit to just smooth the finish, and then spray it down with a rust stopper, converter, reformer or encapsulater. And Eastman has a silver version they say works better than "hardware store stuff" and that it serves as a good undercoat for metallics or gray topcoats. I'm leaning toward dark cherry metallic and white, so...

The overall frame is not showing bad rust anyways. So I'm not obsessing about sandblasting or sanding down to bare metal, especially if this product promises to arrest further corrosion. The pics are showing metal im calling almost ready for it's new outer coating.

 

[Minimichael]

Keep checking the Bay. There are 5 horse pulsa jet carbs with the tiny tank, but not very often. I will keep an eye open for one, also.

I found one. NOS.

This will allow me to keep the flathead's stock carburetor for my build, by keeping the tank clear of the jackshaft and sprockets.

 

[Minimichael]

Been stripping rust and paint all day. I think the citrus stripper did pretty well in softening the factory paint but it's still taking me quite a bit of elbow grease and seen a variety of abrasive discs and barrels spent. Not sure about the fork struts yet. Right now I'm being careful in removing the old kickstand bracket and slant motor mount. Then a couple more flap discs and I should be ready for "The Eastwood encapsulation."

 

[Minimichael]

Each time I do this I swear I'm gonna make it way easier on myself next time. And I try to. But every time this job comes around I'm a bit older and find myself feeling just as tired as last time!