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Lord Gruntfuttock’s 1975 Ironhead Café Racer…


Lord Gruntfuttock

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Quick summary of work done:

 

  • Fitted shortened  front end from an 85 FXR-P - and progressive springs
  • Fitted taper roller steering head bearings.
  • 84-99 front brake caliper fitted, original master cylinder sleeved and rekitted
  • Clip-ons made
  • Umpteen stripped threads fixed.
  • New rubber, rear shocks, brake shoes and wheel/swingarm bearings,
  • Seat frame made out of decrepit Honda CBX550, sportster rear fender struts removed
  • Suzuki T500 tank patched up, Monza style filler brazed on and mounts fabricated
  • Oil filter mount fabricated and installed, copper oil line sections made
  • Rear guard modified, seat base and rear hump made out of MDF and fibreglass
  • Completely rewired, electronic flasher unit fitted, H4 headlamp and LED tail light
  • LED idiot lamp panel made, Stainless dash instrument panel made
  • Rebuilt Generator, starter motor and solenoid
  • Keihin (non-butterfly) carb stripped and sorted (because every bugger told me to chuck it)
  • Painted Ford Nightmist Blue and Wimbledon White (I have a thing for Ford paint colours of the 60’s)

 

So she is an amalgam of Harley, Suzuki, Honda, Lawnmower (really) and other parts, that surprisingly doesn’t look as cobbled together as it is…

 

Think it came out looking all right. I was planning on replacing the side-mounted oil tank with an in-board unit under the seat  but it’s sort of grown on me. Should mention all mods are bolt-on, so it could be returned to stock if I ever felt the need…

 

I’ve been using it for a while now, but really need to do the following:

 

  • Fit electronic igntn (although points going ok)
  • Fix oil issues, leaks externally and into the primary
  • Needs rearsets, will convert to RH shift reverse pattern
  • Kicker kit to install, just for fun
  • Twin disc front (Tokico calipers)
  • New switchgear/ controls – I like the original Harley gear to look at, but it has let me down too often.
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Dynatec do a single fire ignition system for the iron head witch dose away with the points, I fitted one to my bike and found it made the engine run much nicer and its more simple to set the timing

 

 

You should find another front cylinder head and fit that to the rear cylinder so you can have twin carbs and both exhaust ports facing fward  

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Font end...

 

This shows the difference in fork lengths before and after. About to pull them and replace the bushes and seals as last check showed one was full of dirty oil. Had a bit of trial and error getting the level right...

twelbgfx.xb1.jpg
 
 
You can buy Timken roller bearing kits cheap enough, just have to make sure you've got the right sizes if swapping bits, the centre stem changes dimensions depending on the model/year. I used the FXR yoke as the original was bent, just had to remove some metal and weld on some stops to fit...
jfrfbxkq.5c4.jpg
 
 
And a view of how she sits down the beach, gaiters from GB500 fit perfectly.
Unfortunately some dirty girl was rubbing herself on it. I shooed her off and wiped the poor old thing down with dettol.
An ongoing problem, sadly... ;)
 
fqignujk.x5m.jpg
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Found some build pics, something in here might be of use to others.

 

Carb
Cleaned out the old Keihin, Had a bit of trouble tuning her till I fished out a mystery spring washer that was stuck in the pilot jet hole, preventing the needle from seating. Once that was sorted and I fitted a knurled pilot screw I could adjust on the fly it all came together (had to take tank off to get thin screwdriver in previously). Not a rocketship but she starts easy and doesn't 'sneeze' like Keihins are supposed to, saved a bit of coin here...

qecu3q32.t05.jpg

 

 

Dash

Made up a mounting plate out of stainless for the clocks. The pushbutton in the middle is an illuminated headlamp switch, operates a relay in the headlamp shell for operating the main beam. Given I am running a genny, I wanted the option to run on running lights only if necessary...

5rt2gayl.ocs.jpg

 

Made a small plate with LED indicator idiot lamps (Generator, Oil, Hi beam and L and R indicators). These were fairly expensive but are industrial quality and bright enough to be seen in daytime, sort of wanted to modernise the old sporty 'eyebrow' housing...

wmmewjwj.0zd.jpg

 

And how she looks all together...

tzl50kyj.1pu.jpg

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Front wheel repair.

There was a hose clamp around the hub bearing, concealing this...

ey0hnbws.jdu.jpg

So I spun up a bearing retainer and screwed it to the hub...

dzdjwviy.4e2.jpg

fjnkppab.ghm.jpg

Came out all right, I like this factory alloy Borrani deep dish rim. Next stage is lacing a twin disc hub to this - would like a matching rear at some stage...

bskowywz.ak1.jpg

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Made the decision early on to re-wire the entire thing. Pretty simple system, I drew up a wiring diagram on CAD, and just made up a loom from trailer cable and heat shrink tubing.

 

Pulled the cable through the top frame member and fitted a mounting plate for components where the old breakers sat...
inzsajst.fx2.jpg

 

And mounted most bits under the seat/above the rear guard, where they should be out of the weather. Used a Badlands flasher unit, generic 12V start relay, a small fuse block and tied things up as I went...
zxr4prdq.0xk.jpg

 

Mounted electronic regulator where the original was, and made a snug fitting base for the Motobatt glass mat battery...
ms52cw1n.uze.jpg

 

And most of the wiring is done in the headlamp shell, pretty tight in there but if you route things right it comes together...
2bwp0q2s.tpe.jpg

 

 

Also reconditioned the starter motor and generator. Machined new insulated bushings, rewired where necessary and new brushes etc. These things are fairly well made and decent manintenance should keep them operating ok...
ppqponko.woy.jpg

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Seat

 

Made a bolt-on seat frame out of an old Honda I had taking up space. As I don't have a pipe bender I made the rear hoop out of a lawn mower handle, just cut and welded to suit, and cost $2 down at the recyclers... :-)

 

tmycipkg.d2n.jpg

gce5hwq2.c14.jpg

 

Made the seat base from MDF. The rear hump was scored for $30 off tardme, I just cut it so the angles mimic the shape of the rear of the tank...

 

igyvvxnk.kkr.jpg

 

Sandwiched some layers of MDF for strength, cutout sections fitted other parts...

 

gwlcd5vh.n12.jpg

 

And bought a gel insert from ProPad as I wasn't sure about sitting on a plank on top of a shaky old iron...

 

vtq5catc.hay.jpg

 

Glassed up the MDF for strength and waterproofing reasons, added some black to the resin to see how it went. Looked ok till I sanded it down...

 

gkgbaqb1.3aq.jpg

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So painted it once done. Underneath there are metal locating plates that slot into recesses I cut in the steel frame, these are screwed in and glassed over as well...

 

j5zdk1ll.m3y.jpg

 

And just cut closed cell foam to suit, glued with contact adhesive and left recess for the gel pad...

 

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And topped with finishing foam to smooth out...

 

xpldk0df.nje.jpg

 

Sanded foam to nice contour and took to upholsterer...

 

tpxi425u.svp.jpg

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Oil Filter

 

There was no filter on this when I got it, I could have used the drop-in type that sits in the oil tank, but I prefer the automotive style spin-on jobs, plus at the time I was looking at making a new oil tank...

 

I bought a 3/4" x 19 tpi bolt and some BSP connectors and spun up a mount that would bolt up to the front engine plate, just turned a lump of 100 x 10mm m/s plate...

 

5nomps2f.vsq.jpg

 

And drilled and tapped the 3/4" bolt, and turned the barbs off the hose-type connectors...

 

xtbsvipi.fyy.jpg

 

There was no easy way round this, just used cutoff discs and files to shape the thing...

 


ji5utjl4.z5w.jpg


jf3ov1zm.rd5.jpg


0was2psc.fcx.jpg

 


 

And finished the surfaces on the old Myford...

 

 

uqqt4izu.jno.jpg

l10z2vbp.0sv.jpg

 

 

Welded in the centre piece, tapped the inlet/outlet connector tubes, and cut some recesses to fit around the engine plate bolts...

 

htwma0rb.tbd.jpg

 

and painted...

 

nyfq15xf.ipk.jpg

 

I use a Bosch 3300 filter, has the right pressure settings for the old ironhead (a low pressure, high flow system). Pretty pleased how this turned out, but took a bit of effort...

 

g3hjy3cb.dud.jpg

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