DANG IT! I had this whole thing typed and I went to hit "back" on the other tab and didn't notice that I had it on this one so I'm again a bit frustrated about loosing my writing. ARG! Ok... So this is my first build-off and actually the first bike that I am doing "by myself". My future husband (Elias St.Septum) is assisting and I have to remind him at times that I want to "do it by myself" and then throw a 10 year old tantrum til he lets me do it. I'm worried that what I have in my brain isn't going to be able to be duplicated. That makes me sad.
Here goes nothin'.
Before...
Day 1- Saturday: May 16, 2009
*Removed the seat and tried to remove the seat post. The biggest problem is that I have a quill style seat post that won't move since it seems to be so rusted in. We will continue to tap that out and see if we can get it to move.
* Removed rack, chain guard & fenders. Fenders caused problems and ended up grinding off two bolts. Will need to buy a dremel of my own... this seems like a great investment. I'm sure that Elias has one but why not have two? I LOVE the fact it already has a rack and very cool fenders. I thought about doing a skirt guard mod for this bike but not sure how exactly. You don't see tons of skirt guard mods... but the one way I know how to do it would mean that we need to drill lots of holes in the fenders. Bah, I'll just put military bags on the rack and zip tie it to the wheel stay. Very ratty.
The bolts were rusted so bad I had to cut them off. This is cleaning up the "mess" I made.
*Removed back wheel. Needs to be trued and the coaster break needs to be checked. Elias mentioned that he would like to talk to Eric about watching how he pulls it apart, etc. Always a chance to learn. I'm thinking that a nice set of cruiser wheels would work as well, but if I'm going to go with flat black instead of chrome - do I want to bugger up a set of new wheels? There are so many things that I'm thinking about painting when we get to that step. So many amazing ideas floating around in my head... *evil laugh*
*Removed pedals - which is usually a horribly hard thing to do... not a problem. Will be replacing them.
*Removed crank. Very cool chain ring that I will be photographing soon.
*Tried to remove the stem. The bolt sheared off and we were pissed off so we put her down for the day. Tried to tap the steam to loosen the quill. DID NOT WORK! Soaked with WD40. Tried again. Fail. Soak longer. Tried again. Fail. Threw the wrench across the yard.
*Removed front tire. Ended the day a little bit pissed off. Will think about burning the thing down tomorrow.
*Elias being the level headed gentleman that he is headed over to "Rat Rod Bike Forum" to see if anyone else is having this problem. It was suggested heat, tapping, etc. I think this will be our plan of action.
This is where we basically ended for the day. A little angry.
Day 2: Sunday, May 17, 2009
We didn't even look at the bike other than spraying the b^$&*h down the WD40 for most of the day. Taylor (my roommate) returned home. We all headed outside. It was suggested that we use a nice large set of channel locks and a breaker bar... this as well did not succeed. Taylor tried. I held things. Elias tried. Humans fail. Bike wins.
This is the metal bar we were using... To break the stem loose. It broke.
Removed handlebars. Elias brings back his torch and we all learn a little bit about burning down a bike. Heat the metal to make it expand. Cool it down to make it contract. This breaks the rust seal and it should work. Elias set my bike on fire twice doing this. It makes me giggle just a little bit.
Got the handle bars off... Trying to still break the stem out...
We now need to replace the stem and almost all of the parts going into the head tube. Seems like lots of fun, eh? *...., I just lost all of the stuff that I wrote a little while ago. .... it* So the story really is that we heated and cooled, cussed, bitched, heated and cooled again until the seal broke and we were able to get the big nut off. Elias and I then tried to get the stem out - still wouldn't budge. We tapped and cussed and tapped some more, looked for longer bolts, etc and really weren't able to do much more that night. Taylor and Naomi were watching NCIS and that seemed like a better idea since my hands were starting to hurt from the cold. I'm debating about setting the whole thing on fire to see what will happen.
Day 3: Monday, May 18, 2009
The morning after.
So... Good morning. Today is a day that I have to go to work, so not alot will be done with my bike. I photographed her this morning so we can see what happened from day one until today. Do you notice something? I do. The rust (that I like) is coming off because of the WD40 we are using and she's turning more BLUE. Yeah. Ok. This kind of annoys me since my goal is a barn quality rat rod, not somethng that actually looks nice. LOL. This will be a zombie bike! I'm going to take more pictures of the cool stuff on her - but most likely not do "anything" other than well, move her from one place to another if she is in the way. I need to get ready for work. Pax! Will write more on Day 3 when I get home!
Day 4: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
So that writing about the rest of Day 3 didn't happen. We had MAJOR issues at work and I came home, crawled into bed in my clothes and slept for about 9 hours (which is VERY unusual for me). I figure that since today is going to be crazy as always (Elias and I work in a residential center for behaviorally interesting teengirls) that I might just post here and call the build-off day done. *Does a happy dance that she got the iamges to work* Well... that is about it for today I think!
Here goes nothin'.
Before...
Day 1- Saturday: May 16, 2009
*Removed the seat and tried to remove the seat post. The biggest problem is that I have a quill style seat post that won't move since it seems to be so rusted in. We will continue to tap that out and see if we can get it to move.
* Removed rack, chain guard & fenders. Fenders caused problems and ended up grinding off two bolts. Will need to buy a dremel of my own... this seems like a great investment. I'm sure that Elias has one but why not have two? I LOVE the fact it already has a rack and very cool fenders. I thought about doing a skirt guard mod for this bike but not sure how exactly. You don't see tons of skirt guard mods... but the one way I know how to do it would mean that we need to drill lots of holes in the fenders. Bah, I'll just put military bags on the rack and zip tie it to the wheel stay. Very ratty.
The bolts were rusted so bad I had to cut them off. This is cleaning up the "mess" I made.
*Removed back wheel. Needs to be trued and the coaster break needs to be checked. Elias mentioned that he would like to talk to Eric about watching how he pulls it apart, etc. Always a chance to learn. I'm thinking that a nice set of cruiser wheels would work as well, but if I'm going to go with flat black instead of chrome - do I want to bugger up a set of new wheels? There are so many things that I'm thinking about painting when we get to that step. So many amazing ideas floating around in my head... *evil laugh*
*Removed pedals - which is usually a horribly hard thing to do... not a problem. Will be replacing them.
*Removed crank. Very cool chain ring that I will be photographing soon.
*Tried to remove the stem. The bolt sheared off and we were pissed off so we put her down for the day. Tried to tap the steam to loosen the quill. DID NOT WORK! Soaked with WD40. Tried again. Fail. Soak longer. Tried again. Fail. Threw the wrench across the yard.
*Removed front tire. Ended the day a little bit pissed off. Will think about burning the thing down tomorrow.
*Elias being the level headed gentleman that he is headed over to "Rat Rod Bike Forum" to see if anyone else is having this problem. It was suggested heat, tapping, etc. I think this will be our plan of action.
This is where we basically ended for the day. A little angry.
Day 2: Sunday, May 17, 2009
We didn't even look at the bike other than spraying the b^$&*h down the WD40 for most of the day. Taylor (my roommate) returned home. We all headed outside. It was suggested that we use a nice large set of channel locks and a breaker bar... this as well did not succeed. Taylor tried. I held things. Elias tried. Humans fail. Bike wins.
This is the metal bar we were using... To break the stem loose. It broke.
Removed handlebars. Elias brings back his torch and we all learn a little bit about burning down a bike. Heat the metal to make it expand. Cool it down to make it contract. This breaks the rust seal and it should work. Elias set my bike on fire twice doing this. It makes me giggle just a little bit.
Got the handle bars off... Trying to still break the stem out...
We now need to replace the stem and almost all of the parts going into the head tube. Seems like lots of fun, eh? *...., I just lost all of the stuff that I wrote a little while ago. .... it* So the story really is that we heated and cooled, cussed, bitched, heated and cooled again until the seal broke and we were able to get the big nut off. Elias and I then tried to get the stem out - still wouldn't budge. We tapped and cussed and tapped some more, looked for longer bolts, etc and really weren't able to do much more that night. Taylor and Naomi were watching NCIS and that seemed like a better idea since my hands were starting to hurt from the cold. I'm debating about setting the whole thing on fire to see what will happen.
Day 3: Monday, May 18, 2009
The morning after.
So... Good morning. Today is a day that I have to go to work, so not alot will be done with my bike. I photographed her this morning so we can see what happened from day one until today. Do you notice something? I do. The rust (that I like) is coming off because of the WD40 we are using and she's turning more BLUE. Yeah. Ok. This kind of annoys me since my goal is a barn quality rat rod, not somethng that actually looks nice. LOL. This will be a zombie bike! I'm going to take more pictures of the cool stuff on her - but most likely not do "anything" other than well, move her from one place to another if she is in the way. I need to get ready for work. Pax! Will write more on Day 3 when I get home!
Day 4: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
So that writing about the rest of Day 3 didn't happen. We had MAJOR issues at work and I came home, crawled into bed in my clothes and slept for about 9 hours (which is VERY unusual for me). I figure that since today is going to be crazy as always (Elias and I work in a residential center for behaviorally interesting teengirls) that I might just post here and call the build-off day done. *Does a happy dance that she got the iamges to work* Well... that is about it for today I think!
