Frame Restoration

[Steve Little]

I think in a frenzy of picture tacking and pressing buttons I lost a few pictures of the lower tube repair. I jump onto the repair of the upper tubes. The end of the tubes had been ground down and the ends had a 1 1/2 cut off them. The white line on the backbone indicates where the rounded end of the tube should be

[Steve Little]

Fitted all tubes into the neck and brazed it up

[Steve Little]

Thanks Cory.

Next item on the adjender is to replace the bottom tubes. I have turned down some sleeves to go inside the replacement tube sections.
The sleeves are hollow and are about the same thickness as the parent metal.
A good rule of thumb for the length of a sleeve is 1 1/2 times the diam of the tube into each side of the repair.
A sleeve should be hollow for any repair of a motorcycle frame tube.
A hollow sleeve will happily flex with the rest of the tubing. A solid slug will not.
I drill staggered plug weld holes in the tubing. This staggers the plug welds. The tube will also have a penatration gap between them for the weld to penatrate into the sleeve.

[c.o.]

I'm still watching this thread with great interest Steve. Thanks for taking the time to show what it is you do with these frames.

[Steve Little]

When it had cooled down I used the die grinder to clean and shape the weld. When this has been sand blasted and painted, I think most traces of the repair will dissapear.

[Steve Little]

Welding front engine mount

Then I pre heated the weld area before welding.
I used the TIG to weld this, as it was a narrow gap to get into and it in this instance I could ensure a cleaner weld.
Front engine mount 007.JPGFront engine mount 009.JPG
When the welding was completed, I post heated the weld.

[Steve Little]

Front engine mount

Next, we address the crack in the front engine mount.
I fitted a 5 inch grinding disc to the grinder and start to explore how deep this crack is.
Quite often, what can be seen on the surface is not the true depth of the crack.
Front engine mount 006.jpg

This crack turned out to be deeper than what was visible on the surface.
I got down to a certain depth and then change the blade to a slitting blade to find the bottom of the crack.

[Steve Little]

Next thing to do is straighten out the wings that wrap around the tube. This allows the front engine mount to be bolted to the jig then the replacement tube can be slipped in place.

[Steve Little]

Tubes all cleaned out and ready for next step

[Steve Little]

The tubes under the front engine mount have been severly flattened out and someone has tried to build it up with weld to try and get some shape. The left tube has nearly cracked completly through this welding. I have decided it will be safer for the customer, if I remove these affected tubes and splice in some new tubes. First I will clean up the front engine mount. First job is to remove the old tubing.
I use a 5" (125mm) X 0.060 thick slitting blade to cut the tubes as close to the engine mount. After I have cut all the excess tube away I fit a grinding blade in the grinder and ease into the remaining weld until I see the sepparation line between the engine mount and the tube. When I can see a sepparation line all the way around, I use a large sharp cold chisel and drive the corner of the chisel into the tube at different places to drive out the old tube. I do this in the vise with the engine mount well held.

[Steve Little]

46 frame resto 010.JPG Completed seat post cluster

[Steve Little]

46 frame resto 002.JPG first weld the wing.
46 frame resto 004.JPG Then form the wing down onto the tube while it is still hot.
46 frame resto 006.JPG Then linish off this weld before welding the rest of the wing.
This stops the remaing weld from being touched by the linisher and gives a original look.

[Steve Little]

Applogies for the slow posts. I have had many failed attempts at trying to do sequencial pictures and descriptions, but I think there may be a problem with the AMCA web site uploader. Some times it works fast and other times it hangs in limbo.
I am using the Manage attacments, then basic uploader, then upload pictures, then I try to add line break for description and the load wheel just spins away with no result. I will have to do singe entry pictures and descriptions.

[Steve Little]

Now we set to repairing the wings that wrap around the tubing. All Knuckle frames have these wrap around wings. Panhead frames do not have them.
Wings formed and clamped in place ready for first part of welding
46 frame resto 001.JPG

[Steve Little]

Drilled and taped 5/16 unef for grease nipple. Brass bush fitted with holes to the side.