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The Iron Pooma

Construction Diary

Day One
The start of the challenge i walked over to Ants at 8 in the morning to pick up the SPV before he went on holiday. i walked it back home and rode it down the drive in neutral, knowing i had to cut up something that was such a laugh pains a builder but when i examined it closely i cut it up quickly so no one could see how shoddy she really was. At mid day i had cut the bike up, taken the engine and wheels off to be re-used and returned from B&Q with vast quantities of metal that i didn't actually need because i had loads of salvaged metal from a bloke down the road that was gonna throw it away!!!!

With metal and bike parts nothing was holding me back. i started by thinking how i wanted the base of the frame to look and how i wanted to attach the engine. Then i did it. no real planning or design. i had it planned in my head and it worked, almost, its not perfectly square i know that but it looks good and will work so that's all that matters. After laying out the engine mount and lining it up i welded it in place with a little bit of frame around the front too. this chopper is gonna be thin and long instead of short and fat like other Iron pooma custom bikes.

Halfway through the final weld on the engine mount plate a bit of spatter joined the tip to the sheath and the torch started to earth out so i went to take the tip off to clean it with a rag wrapped round my hand but managed to burn all of the finger print off my left middle finger. It burnt a lot at the time but seems fine now.

Day Two
After getting the engine mounted in day one i decided that day twos aim would be to get the rear wheel mounting and the frame around it tacked in place. To mount the wheel i spent along time with a bi-metal bladed hacksaw cutting the old gingus/gingus sport engine mount plate into two triangles with slots in them. with these done and close to the same size and matched angles. i then mounted these to the bottom of the rear frame. With these welded in place and aligned i thought up and cut the top rear of the frame to mount the seat mounts too and welded those into place. With thirty minutes of the day left i found two bits of tube with nice bends in to use as the start of the backbone. i slit the top of them so i could weld them together to join smoothly and then tack welded them in place on the rear wheel mount.

Day Three
Well today i did sod all on the bike other than start to polish the flywheel cowl to a semi-shineyness, i also cut up the headstock off of the old SPV so it will be ready for grinding and setting up tomorrow to maybe finish the main frame and start work on the forks.

Day Four
Today i got quite a lot done. Firstly i took the headstock and ground the old mounts off it with the trusty angle grinder. After ripping it up with that beasty i took a bastard file to it, leaving it smooth and rounded once again. after pissing around tapping the bearing cups out so i could weld it i managed to cut some steel lengths for the front down tubes and miraculously cut all of the angles on them right first time. After tack welding the top together i placed the headstock in position and tacked that in place. to finish off i cut a length of oval pipe i had, to finish off the backbone and tacked it in place. i then took out a small soft faced mallet and preceded to align the headstock. With all the parts aligned i went over the welds and decided to do a mockup of the forks ready for tomorrow.

Day Five
Today i almost finished the forks off. To start the forks i cut two lengths of tube that would make up the forks. I then mocked up how i wanted the bike to look. After getting an idea of what i wanted i fabricated two wheel mounts for the ends of the forks. These were simply two bits of plate, each with a slot in. i then welded those to the bottom of the tubes and attached each side of the fork to the wheel. After measuring the gap at the bottom of the forks i then tacked a bit of scrap across the top of the forks to hold them parallel whilst i made the headstock mounts. to do this i simply took the pivot out of the old forks and welded on a bit of box section with a notch and bend in and then attached that to the two fork arms. with it all tacked and aligned i finished the welds off on the forks and started to make the top fork mounts. it is looking nice. I think i can meet the deadline.

Day Six
I was going to finish the forks off but i couldn't be bothered to make the top of the trees today. However i did grind the tree mounts for the top of the forks so they were smooth. I then decided to do the sissy bar and seat mount. This is a simple design that consists of some tube that goes up and over the wheel to make a short sissy bar not a tall one. the seat pan mounts then run from the bar to the bottom of the backbone following the lines of the rear wheels.

Day Seven
Did sod all today, although phoned a few bike places up and have some possible tank sources. Also bought a tin of paint to try to see if i like the colour. Will buy primmer and the rest of the paint tomorrow.

Day Eight
Ok today has been a hectic one. First thing i went out in search of a tank, a long drive down to D&G motorcycle breakers (a few miles from Baldock) gave the desired result. a nice 70s style peanut tank with twin filler caps and a petcock. This set me back £30 which i considered a good price. the tank was in good shape with only a small knock to the rear of it. Although it had a leak before and had a chunk of epoxy resin bashing around the inside because it hadn't stuck. On the way home i picked up a tin of paint to do the flames with and some thinners. Once home i bashed the hell out of the resin inside the tank with a hammer and screwdriver which i sharpened the end. after a good 30 minutes of bashing the resin was broken into enough small pieces to come out of the filler cap. I then testing the tank for leaks by putting some petrol in and sloshing it around. none came out apart from a bit around the cap so i was pleased.

When i offered the tank to the bike frame my fears were confirmed though, as the backbone forks before joining the rear of the frame the tank wouldn't sit low on the frame as it was designed to do. To fix this i would have either have to have mounted the tank high or modified the frame. i chose the latter. With a bit of grinding and hack sawing the old bit of backbone was off and a newer bit was placed into the frame which is altogether just as strong and looks just as good in my opinion. Now i will be able to mount the tank on some rubber bushes to keep it from knocking the carb. All is looking well apart from brakes now.

Day Nine
Today has been tiring but i didn't get much done. I started by making the top of the fork mount, which just needs the corners rounding now. I then decided to do some work on the tank. I stripped all of the paint off of it, put some filler in the dent and smoothed it all out and gave it a very thin coat of primmer as i ran out. I will get some more and finish the job tomorrow. I also considered the brakes and need to modify the band brake i have to get it to fit the frame nicely. Tomorrow should be all go.

Day Ten
Today i have done a lot of the paint work on the tank, firstly i did the tank mounts so i could use the tank to set them up without risking damage to the paint. i then gave the tank several coats of red primmer smoothing between each coat with fine wet and dry, followed by a several coats of Diablo red. I have also sourced some PVC for the seat cover from an old jacket of my sisters. all i need to do is sort out some foam for the seat and modify the band brake mechanism some how so it will fit onto the rear axle. After this all i have to do is make the exhaust then the rest of the tasks left to do will only take a short time each and i should be painting in no time.

Day Eleven
Today it would seem i didn't get much done. I managed to get the foot rests welded on and looking sweet. I have modified the brake mechanism for the band brake so all i need to do is make a mount to attach it to the frame now. To enable me to do this i have shortened the chain and got that all jubbly. I have also stocked up on more paint and some foam which i am half way through cutting the seat from, i just need to make a pan. Lots left to do so its ready for painting on thursday so it looks like tomorrow will be busy. I plan to do the exhaust first thing when i get home.

Day Twelve
Ok today i planned to get loads done but as usual i got sod all done cos some thing went wrong. today i ran out of shielding gas for the welder just after the shops shut. So instead of doing what i wanted to on the exhaust and brakes, I had the start of the exhaust done when i ran out so that can be finished tomorrow. I got the seat ready for the upholstery to be tacked down and i played with the airbrush a bit, not realising it had no paint feed hose in the paint pot or that the paint nozzle was blocked... i couldn't blow the nozzle out so i took it off the brush and heated it to red heat with a propane torch and after cooling i was able to blow through it and see light again. Tomorrow i will be able to mask and spray the fuel tank after i sort the brush out, and also finish off the welding if i can find some CO2 on the way home.

Day Thirteen
Today i bought some more shielding gas on the way home from work, i then made the exhaust which didn't take long. Simply had to seal one end of the copper inner pipe and drill lots of holes in it, i then got the outer pipe and tapered the front in to fit the smaller pipe welded it all up and cut a slash on the rear, to mount it i simply put on a bit of plate with a hole in that lined up with one of the gearbox bolts so the whole system would vibrate and flex with the engine not against the frame. After that i decided to take on the brakes. not looking forward to doing this job didn't help get it done any quicker. I got it done in about an hour and it seems to work quite well but welding in the area seems to have softened the return spring so i will add another one tomorrow. Finally before packing up for the night i put some steering stops on so the forks don't swing around into the tank and cause damage. After packing up i am having a quick go at the seat upholstery then ill call it quits.

Day Fourteen + assembly time
Ok i knew today was going to be a mad rush but firstly i decided to take on the task of making sure everything was perfect before i stripped it for painting. I quickly made up the gear shift lever from some candy twirl steel and from the same bit i made up a kick stand. With these done in no more than 45mins i started to strip the bike down neatening edges with a file and making sure all of the welds were good on the forks etc. once all of the bike is stripped from the frame i got the welder out and spent about half an hour making sure all of the welds were solid and strong, at this point i also added some webbing to the neck, down tubes and backbone for looks more than anything.

after allowing it to cool for a while i went over the whole bike with a wire brush to remove all off the weld dust and then wiped it off with a damp cloth. Then out came the red primer and after a few coats of it and the frame was touch dry i took it inside to hang on my chinning bar/oven ;) . The forks were then primer'd in a nice clean matt white. Once the primers were dry, sanded and another coat applied and dried the paint was added. This is where the bike really started to come together. The red paint really looked nice and i just managed to squeeze enough silver from the can i had left over from doing my car vent.

Whilst the paints were hardening on a stand in the garden under the hammock which was a nice and toasty spot. I decided the engine needed some livening up. I took the carb off and thoroughly cleaned it out and also cleaned the fuel filter. I then cleaned and painted the cylinder and head in matt black VHT paint, the gearbox in VHT silver paint and to finish if off lined the edges of the fins with silver VHT paint.

With the engine out in the sun to get the VHT paint to dry properly i got the frame parts back into the garage for a few coats of lacquer. Whilst the lacquer was drying in the shade i painted the stand and shifter with some smooth hammerite silver, and also cut a bit of aluminium tube to house the electrics in.

The next morning i assembled the whole bike. Starting by fitting the forks and packing their bearings with grease. Then the handle bars were fitted and loosely tightened. I then fitted the front wheel which i had also re-greased when waiting for paint to dry. The hardest part was fitting the engine, as the stressed member mounts on the gearbox where seized with the old bolts i had to use the stand mount bolt holes. this meant the sump drain plug was in the way of the frame and the whole engine had to be raised on washers, i would had used spacers but don't have a lathe at home to make them from. Anyway once the engine was mounted and aligned i got the rear wheel mounted, the chain setup and the brakes set the best i could.

With the Frame rolling i decided to mount the seat, this was simply screwed to some brackets i had welded the frame before painting. The tank was then carefully lined up and fitted. With the tank in place i adjusted the handle bars so they cleared it and looked good. I then connected the fuel lines, fitted the air filter, the stand, gear shift lever and connected all of the controls. Finally the Exhaust was hooked up and i rolled her out of the garage to fill with some fuel and take it for a blast.