cattailhaas - 69 cat 400x modified - (Vintage Open)

#1
So this will be my second bike for the build off but I will focus on this one more as I plan on doing a lot of fabrication to make it what I want. All though I am modifying this bike, I am not doing anything to it that can't be reversed by unbolting a few things. My plans for this bike are kinda hot rod / drag bike...I also plan on posting a lot of pictures...
 
#6
So I got both my entries up on their build benches and started to see how fat of a tire I could stick in between the rails. After some measurements went down to the tractor supply and picked up a 15x600-6 tire that matches the tread of the front tire. After checking that it will barely fit, I figured how much wider the wheel would have to be and then machined a spacer to go between the wheel halves. I bought a 40 tooth 41 pitch sprocket blank to go with the tav 30 and machined the center hole to match the band brake drum as there is no way to make a caliper fit. Hoping to get the sprocket / brake drum hub I started to lathe today done tomorrow. Here's some pictures of the progress including the shocks I got from Karl ( not so mini bike ) all taken apart...
 
#8
OK after I got all the wheels painted I put the rear wheel assembly together so I could get my final measurements so I could finish up the aluminum hub for the band brake and sprocket. I also painted the shock tubes and polished the aluminum ends and re assembled the shocks....
 
#14
So I made the rear axle spacers today. I gave them a taper as to match the taper of the hub ends. I also cupped the inside so they would fit over and hide the bearings. I put the forks and front wheel on and set it on the floor to see how much lower the front was to the rear which I thought it would be seeing how much taller the rear tire is, and sure enough it's raked forward which I can't stand. So I made a jig awhile back for making cat forks and I remembered that the slingshot forks are an inch longer than the 400x, so I pulled the forks and bars off my slingshot and put them on this bike and wa la, it sits level again. So tomorrow I will start making a new set of longer forks for this build....
 
#16
So i got the new longer forks made but didn't put them on the bikes for pictures as I need to leave it on the bench and start on the brake linkage.Here are some pictures of my fork jig and the tapered compression dies
I made in my press brake for compressing the tubes down at the axle end just like the originals.
 
#20
OK it took a couple of days to make the brake linkage as it was kinda tricky with the band brake tucked in behind the sprocket. I was able to make it all fit and use the original caliper bracket as the mounting point. With no access to the band with the sprocket on I had to make it so the pins were in the band and the linkage could slip into the pins from the top and the bottom. I made the pins with a small groove in the center as to fit the slots in the linkage to keep the pins centered and not able to rub the wheel or the sprocket.
 
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