So it starts: Mod Season - Nightster Edition
 

So I winterized the Nightster Tuesday. Put it over in it's corner

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...9/Black006.jpg

Today is Friday, and so it starts, slow n steady.

On the docket:

Springer Seat abt $500 due to needing a ECM relocation kit.
Tank Rise ($15) Already have riser brackets. HD beer bottle openers
Gloss black powder the engine guard & highway peg brackets
Speed holes in the exhaust heat shields
Ceramic the exhaust pipes, heat shields, and mufflers

So today I decided to start the mocking for the speed holes. It's a theme carried on by the speed holes in the front fender struts and rear belt guard.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles004.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles003.jpg

The chrome stock form
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles001.jpg

up close
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles002.jpg

So the rear pipe was easy. I used a 24mm socket and tried to keep the spacing even, while minding the hose clamp locations
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles006.jpg

I did the front, minding the clamps, that ended up screwing with my spacing. That seemed to be too many holes in comparison to the rear, which I like.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles007.jpg

The clamps were really in the way, but I tried again. This was 7 holes in each heat shield.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles009.jpg

But the 2 holes right at the muffler didn't match up with the rear, even though both heat shields are equal in length, the rear looks longer. So I re-did the bottom section, last 3 holes.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles010.jpg

I think this is the balance I'm looking for. Agree?
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...edHoles011.jpg

My plans for color is/was/is matte black heat shields against the gray of the motor, matte silver pipe underneath, and matte black mufflers. WAS because with the contrast of chrome mufflers against the blue tape. It makes me think I should go heat shields different color than the mufflers.

silver pipe/black shields/black mufflers
silver pipe/black shields/silver mufflers
black pipe/silver shields/black mufflers

?????

here's another example (right in my own garage) a poster of a chrome/black setup on a nightster.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...TgxNi5qcGc.jpg

Spoke it over with the wife, who would have tunk; it is her bike after all. She thinks the heat shields HAVE to be black to off set the motor. But then, perhaps carry the silver pipe into a silver muffler. My option #2 above.

...And he's doing this loaded up on pain killers from having his wisdom teeth yanked out. My poor bike. Tommymac, please stop telling him he can make cocktails with the meds.

What is the finish under the heat shields ? If it is Chrome I'd go with black on the shields unless you want to black out the entire exhaust under the shields...for contrast. Also, you seem to be getting "off plane" with your holes which is causing some of your perspective problems...you might also want to start with smaller holes.

Currently the pipe under the heat shields is raw metal. So it will have to be coated.

I might be off plane but it's a tight fit in the garage current situation and if I get to far back you won't be able to see my drawn circles.

I thought about hole size changes but that's not in common anywhere else on the bike.

No chrome, no blacking out.

Yeah... no all black. Definitely want contrast

Yea so the pipes get coated black and the already chrome shields get some holes... Are the mufflers shielded as well? If not, you could black coat the exhaust and have the Chrome shields for contrast. I still think several quarter sized holes would look better than a few large holes but that's only an opinion... Besides, we have saying in construction , small holes can be made bigger...

:boobs:

No chrome. Say it with me. N O. C H R O M E ! ! ! ! ! !

okay...shiny parts then,,, yeesh. the shields look shiny, ie chrome. whatever. black coat under the shields and blow holes in them

I think someone is cheating on us....

http://www.aimag.com/forums/harley-s...r-edition.html

you know what? throw the shields out and wrap the exhaust. much cooler.

or he could just throw the whole bike out :lol:

I'm for this. Speed holes......Meh. I much prefer the raw look of the wrap. Just be sure to epoxy or varnish the ends so that they don't come undone from hot, cold, hot, cold, rain, and other road poo.

Not my thing. I hate those holes.

But you hate everything :lol:

No I really don't.

They are chrome now but we are anti-chroming the bike. Why is this so hard to understand?

Wrap looks good when wrap looks good but then it doesn't. Plus she doesn't want wrap.

Yes I post on many other sites... I never claimed to be exclusive.

Try the black wrap, it would look good on her bike.

Shes a woman, her opinion is not important for 2 reasons:

1. It will change every 5 minutes
2. She's a woman, nobody cares about her opinion

Nope... no wrap. You guys have been zero help....

and you expected more from us :lol:

Seriously, something constructive from this group?

I actually believe this to be an unfair assessment... I tried to be helpful but all he wants to do is nitpick about chrome... I'm sorry I didn't understand that you are taking chrome off the pipes... Yeesh... So you don't want it to be all black and you don't want it to be shiny. What exactly are the choices Chris? Where is the "contrast" coming from? Are you putting the ceramic on the insides or on the outside? Have her name cut into the shield with holes on either side, coat the shield black and the pipe white/some other color....

Well it beats the one response you got on the Harley forum...:lol:

I guess I should have noticed that he stated that he was coating grey and black....:lol:

So did you figure it out on your own???

All the forums have been slow... those that are slow normally are dead slow now. This seems to for all forums, car, bike, etc...

Good Luck with your project.

Unlikely :lol:

Actually this reminds me of something I saw on ls1tech

Ok I'm not sure why I'm going to torture myself by putting this here. However, here's an HD accessory done Sporty. They both have the speed holes in the heat shield.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...-2-813x517.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...3N-813x517.jpg

However, I don't like the smaller holes they used and the fact that they didn't continue on the horizontal section closer to the mufflers. I think larger holes will make it look more custom.

That first one, the forty eight? Would look x291764628202!7774903 billion times better without the bass boat tank. Other than that I like it

Yep. Black tank on that bike would look sharp.

But that style is coming back... honest.

Anything sparkled belongs in a lake. Floating or otherwise

Perhaps to some... but that is coming back along with 3/4 helmets with similar paint.

And the mockery will ensue...

qft

Don't do it.

My first helmet was a large flake glitter bell 3/4 with a yellow snap front shield... that was 1970-something. Some things are best left as vintage on a shelf.

I think your idea of blacking that entire bike out is awesome. Though, I think those holes should be a bit smaller if you're going to leave it as raw metal underneath.

Since it's your wife's bike - what does she think?

:scratch:

Does she even know what wrap is? Knowing women, she probably thinks it will look like a dish rag.

IMO customizing your wife's bike is a no-win scenario. Make her do it, that way she has no one to blame but herself.

I haven't even gotten thru the other posts on this thread yet, but until you meet the minimum height requirements, I will continue to give you your opinion.

:lol:

Excuse me, I'm Mrs. Gasman. Of course I know what wrap is. Hater. :lol: ...and he can do all the mods he wants to my bike as long as I like them. If I'm home when he's working on it then I help or try to do as much as possible myself (with supervision of course. Lol).

Dayum! Uma said if you can't stand the heat stay out of the oven :lol:

/not serious

I think I love you :rofl: :lol:

/serious

I liike your bike and the mods you guys are working on....but....it cries out for a drag bar IMO. Gas said in another thread that drag bars are not your thing....what gives? Are the apes that much more comfortable?

Lol! To be honest, I haven't ridden it w/the new apes on that much. However, I like to sit up straight vs leaning forward. I know drag bars would look great, but I wouldn't like the ride then. Love you too! ;)

I don't have one, nor am I planning on painting her tins in heavy flake, I'm just stating it's back in style. Say what you want, it's back and I like it.

Cough... not leaving the pipe underneath raw. WOW... I'm sorry sweetie... I can't believe you all can't pay attention enough.

I think I've spent 2 pages explaining the basic idea in colors...

It's like this...

No more chrome. The bar in the front aka crash bar aka engine gaurd & the highway peg mounts which are chrome will be black.

The no chrome heat shields & mufflers will be a TBD color aka NOT chrome.

Color choices...

Exhaust pipe aka underneath pipe that you will see thru the holes
Heat shields will have holes in them exposing the pipe
mufflers, there are 2 of them.


-Gray Black black =all black with gray holes
-Black Gray gray =all gray with black holes
-Black Gray black =gray w/black holes&black mufflers
-Gray Black Gray =opposite colors as above

I originally though all black with gray holes (#1) but seeing the mix match of heat shields to mufflers makes me think differently. I do think the heat shields should be black for sure to contrast the gray motor. Question then is... black mufflers or gray?

You guys got to understand why I married this women by now... don't ya?

Sure, but considering her "height requirement" I'm not sure why she's with a nasty tempered runt like you...:lol:

On what, and where?

I still can't figure that out either!

The heavy flake is back in style. I promise

He's right, I saw some on some Ed Hardy pants yesterday...:lol:

That warrants an, "OH SNAP!!!!"

I know she knows what that stuff is, she was there when I suggested it to Gas. and, yes, I have seen her working on her own bike before. Only problem is that with Gas and my schedules being on the swing shift we are sometimes wrenchin on the bike when she is at work. So then she comes home and sees that the work on the scoot is done, gives one of those, "Huh, you already did the work on the bike, well, I WANTED to work on it myself, but since its done, oh well." looks and moves on into the house to change and relax after work. Oh well, she likes it anyhow. so its all good.

Yeah what he said...

uma sounds like a nice gal, vic would remove my limbs if i worked on her hawk without her :lol:

Yeah, what he said. Oh, and I can't figure out which way I want the gray and black to go yet either. It'll just come to me one day :5

All black pipes with gray underneath

That was the original plan.

I think we're pretty set on the black heat shields and gray pipes (underneeth). Just being that the black heat shield against the gray motor will look better.

So it's to black or gray the mufflers?

Can you get someone to photoshop to help you decide?

What about chrome?.....





















.:lol::scared:

Chrome wont get ya home LOL

I get that....enjoy YOUR ride and post more pics as the work progresses! :dthumb:

She said after looking at it some more today... definitely the original idea and like you said.

This ^ I think that would look the best. nice smooth black to offset the grey of the engine and yet have the grey pipes underneath to keep the theme going.

Only question is what will you be using for the black and grey powder coat or ceramic-coat?

it's on the exhaust so it will be ceramic coating.

Back on course....

Started on the Ultra


Off with the engine guard, highway pegs, mufflers and exhaust
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project001.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project004.jpg

It's parts layed out aren't so bad
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project005.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project008.jpg

But when combined with the Ultra parts... WOW
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project025.jpg

Worked on drilling out the heat shields. Picked up a real nice irwin bi metal hole saw chuck & 1.25" hole saw and busted out the big boy drill.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project027.jpg

Drilled out a piece of cardboard to help with using the center punch
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project032.jpg

The heat shield jig or backing plate
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project028.jpg

Took a few tries to get the right technique and the drill bits paid the price.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project034.jpg

Got the first one done
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project029.jpg

the 2x4 is working well
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project031.jpg

Did the 2nd one and cleaned up the metal burrs with a flat & rat tail file. All ready for powder.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project035.jpg

I can't wait!!!

Been working on the tank rise. It's suppose to expose the top of the motor more and give it a bit of a chopper look.

Most guys just use flat powdered steel plates. But that seems lame... so I picked up these bottle openers.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project046.jpg

This is the stock setup. The plastic under the tank holds all the wiring and just eats up that space.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project048.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project050.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project051.jpg

Ditch the plastic garb & expose the wiring situation
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project052.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project053.jpg

Mock up the "brackets"
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project054.jpg

After a trip to the hardware store
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project057.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project058.jpg

Wire loom to cover those wires, and zip tie them together a bit.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project059.jpg

Finish up holding the wires above the backbone where they now go.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project061.jpg

The wanted space
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project062.jpg

Close up. The bottle openers work well for holding the wiring in place.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project063.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project067.jpg

Finally done
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project069.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project065.jpg

I picked up some of the powder tonight that I need to find time to mount up.

You gonna have a coronary when someone pops their brewsky on that thing?

Lol. I don't know honestly. But I'm sure it will get lots of looks. I guess it depends on whether or not they keep the beer in the bottle or dumped on the motor. Lol

This really should have been posted last week, but was busy with my buds wedding and doing best man stuff for that. But...

Got some stuff back from powder.

Detail cleaned that stuff, and light wax job on it.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project078.jpg

Only thing I was able to bolt up on the nightster was the engine bar
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project093.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project094.jpg

and it looks so much better black
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project095.jpg

So to continue the disappearing act of the chrome...

The highway peg brackets gone powder
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project096.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project097.jpg

Then I was looking at the Mustang seat and how it doesn't fit.

So I called on my buddy Seatmaker Scott from www.badassbikeseats.com

The front nose of the seat also needed to be trimmed due to the tank rise. So I figured I'd get a headstart on it.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project070.jpg

Have to remove the front & rear brackets, held on by these weird rivits
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project071.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project073.jpg

Then I drilled out all the rivits holding the leather down.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project072.jpg

You get this
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project074.jpg

Nice fiberglass seat pan... sturdy too.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project075.jpg

Need this much trimmed off
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project076.jpg

I sent him the seat and he sent me some swatches... we picked the colors and he did his thing.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/IMG_0758.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/IMG_0759.jpg

Damn it looks good! The colors match perfectly and the silver/black/silver and black/silver/black depending on which way you look at it... works well. Plus it seems cushier (think the leather gives better) and it is definately softer/gripier material.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project102.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project100.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project101.jpg

It's really coming together and I can't wait to get the exhaust on. Just waiting on the ceramic. Bike is really going to look different when we roll it out.

Okay, I really, really like the custom seat!:drool: Of course, I'm a custom seat person. I had a Corbin color co-ordinated seat on my '88 V-Max.... Beautiful and personal statement imho.

The whole thing does tie together really nice.

Like a nice rug.

Looking really great Gas!

Thanks Gents... and zoom!

It's ostrich & "hammered metal" (silver). The color matches perfectly. Even the ostrich is flat in color besides the bumps that are shiny which helps tie in the shiny frame and other shiny black bits. Just looks so much better than the old seat cover.

So I finally got the ceramiced exhaust pipes back. They looked oh so nice.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project152.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project153.jpg

And color matched to the tins perfectly
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project155.jpg

Put on the flanges and re-install the O2 sensors
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project156.jpg

Get the pipes & mufflers mounted
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project157.jpg

Another shot that shows you the color match
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project159.jpg

Then the satin high temp powder heat shields installed.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project160.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project161.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project162.jpg

They will flatten out a bit after some miles... but it all looks good. I think the satin is a nice blend between the gloss back frame and other pieces and the matte finish paint
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project163.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project164.jpg

Each of the mufflers interfered with the last hole as you might be able to see. But there's nothing I can do about it now. I'm still happy with the look and the completion of the bike.

does look good.

This calls for a quote from one of my favorite movies;

"Tits, Huah!!!!," Al Pacino
-Scent of A Woman

Looks great

Thank you gentlemen... and Cave. :D

Looking good.

Well after some concern about the bottle openers being either too soft or too hard (brittle) I decided to go with some brackets behind the openers. Just to be safe.

Drafted up this little thing
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...isebracket.jpg

Ended up going with 1/4" stainless steel due to what we could find at my buds shop.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project167.jpg

Grinded one end down to a more of a taper and cleaned up the edges from the band saw. Then took the tarnish off it (shown above and the lower bracket in pic below) because it looked a bit un-even after the bench grinder...
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project169.jpg

Installed. Put wires & throttle cables between this bracket and the bottle opener. Then used a grade 8 bolt on the bottom due to it's 5" length.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project170.jpg

damn, dude. That's some nice work.

I think the brackets behind the bottle openers is a pretty cool idea as well and it seems to allow for some better routing for the cables.

well done

Thanks. I do try.

Why is there a bottle opener on your motorcycle. And you don't even drink beer.

No but his wife does drink beer and it is actually her bike:dvrofl:

Crack open a bottle while riding? SMART. FUCKIN SMART!

It's for bottled soda... calm down. I can even prove it... wait till later I'll get a picture.

Who's not calm. I'm saying the brewski popper is SMART! FUCKIN SMART!

Looks better without the Hole-y heatshields.

Bone... you mean with the all silver no heat shield pipes? I admit, it looked good that way.

Yeah, I like it that way...

That is some quality work.....well done!

Yeah it did look nice. Remember back in the begining of this thread I thought about doing the silver/black combo... opposite of what I did with the pipes. So that the end result was different. Oh well...

Thanks. I'm going to fix one thing that is buggin me. The muffler clamps. Going to have those high temp black powdered this coming week, same as the heat shields & muffler. Can't stand looking at them!

So due to an error I had these raw metal muffler clamps showing thru the last holes...

Front:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project217.jpg

Rear:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project216.jpg

Well I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so that wasn't going to fly... 2 new muffler clamps coated with the same high temp powder the heat shields & mufflers were done with.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project215.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project230.jpg

Front:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project231.jpg

Rear:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...Project232.jpg

Now I feel a bit better about it. Plus the new pipe/muffler setup draws more attention to that area and the weather/water was bound to start rusting the old raw metal clamp anyway.

Well the old setup just didn't have that "finished look" to it and you should all know me by now...

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc001.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3.../reloc003a.jpg

Remove the old coil setup
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc004.jpg

Remove the key in its bracket
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc006.jpg

Setup the new DK custom coil relocation mount
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc005.jpg

Pull my old backbone wire loom apart to fish the wires backward to where needed.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc007.jpg

Get the DK Six Shooter key relocation mounted
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc010.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc009.jpg

The results
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc012.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/reloc019.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3.../reloc017a.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3.../reloc021a.jpg

Now it looks 100%.

I admire your work but I'm not into it.

I understand....

I think what bothers me is the tank. It looks strange.

Maybe to you. It's a common mod

Well sure it's me. Just not a look I'm into.