The Traditional Build (THE FIREBALL EIGHT)" Moved to Finished BIkes Thread"

Advertise with us
Bike Wall
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
white_cross said:
Thanks.

Last night it was about 1 in the morning when I went inside from painting the tank on my bike. Once I get into something I can get lost in time on it! Well here is how one of the tank sides turned out and I am very happy with how it went.

So I had a bunch of left over paint from my own cars so I did not have to buy any paint for this and the colors were exactly perfect for this tank. So the sheet steel was first primed the other day with epoxy primer so it will not rust. Then I applied the E4 red (Ford Focus and Escort Color) where the Road Master stencil will be applied I also masked of the exhaust and painted the inside of it the same red:


Then I applied the stencil over the red:


Then Some black base coat (used also on my Ford Ranger):


Next I masked off the checker pattern:


The White was shot (Ford Performance White used on my Ford Contour) and unmasked:


and a close up:


Just for curiosity I placed the exhaust on the tank (they still need to be unmasked so you can see the stainless:


So now I just have to finish painting the white on the other half and clear it which should be happening after work today.
Click to expand...

And you still had the time to clip your toenails before taking the picture! That´s well done!


:cool2:
 
Cleared the frame, forks, exhaust and tank parts and they look
fabulous!

Here are the parts right after clearing:


A mock up of the tank sides with clear on them and exhaust unmasked:


Here is a quick mock up of the frame with the tank sides:


Ok time for vacation I will be checking on this build page while I am out, but will be setting the build aside for 10 days while I visit friends in Washington DC. You guys can look forward to the build up in 11 days when assembly begins and fenders and chain guard get the paint treatment as well! I also have a sweet light set up coming in the mail!
 
So I checked out a bike shop in Asheville, North Carolina today while getting our stroller fixed there. I found a Mechanical Speedometer for the Fireball Eight and picked it up It should be a nice addition for the bike.
 
I got to go to the Smithsonian today on my vacation and checked out the Wright Brothers exhibit there. I got to see one of their bicycles, a super old bicycle from the 1800s. It was pretty cool.
 
Last edited:
Ok I am home from holidays and got right into some assembly.

Here are The handle grips and speedo going onto the bike. The grips are a brownish grey with brass colored metal ends. They are quite comfy! The speedo is the one I picked up at the bike shop in Asheville on my holidays.


So I installed the seat handlebars and front forks onto the frame:


Then the speedo:


I also test fit the front wheel and tire assembly:
 
So today I managed to get the rest of the parts that were ready for installation onto this bike and take it for a test drive. I need to adjust a couple of things and then it should ride really well.

Tank is installed with brass screws which complement the handle bar grips nicely:


Crank and sprocket is installed:


The rest of the parts to make the bike ridable are installed here is my "mandatory" garage door shot. There are a couple of adjustments to do now and finish up the head badge and install it. The chain guard and light assembly are still not here and the fenders need to be body worked and painted yet so this may be very close to the final look of the bike:
 
Did my adjustments on the bike today and it rides real nice. I also did some other work on the bike like add the head badge and bell and some paint details also:

This heavy duty kickstand was on the bike when I bought the bike but was quite rusty so it was disassembled, powder-coated flat black. Here is the assembled kick stand and then it was installed on the bike:



The bell is a new unit made by Schwinn It was all gloss black with their Schwinn decal on the top. I removed the top of the bell and as well as the Schwinn decal. I then shot the bell top primer grey and gave it a coat of semi gloss clear to protect the primer from turning chalky. So the bell has a nice 2 tone black and grey look.

The bell is fastened and I wrapped the handle bar where the bell mounts with electrical tape which protects the bar from scuff marks if I ever decide to go with out it. It also keeps the bell from sliding around:


I decided last minute that the crank arms would look better in matte black:


Tomorrow I get to pick up the light assembly and chain guard So I will throw on the light assembly and go out and take some pictures for the finished bike thread if all goes well.
 
Ok I was able to get my bike to the point where I feel good with entering it in the finished builds forum. I had planned on using the chain guard and fenders but the look with out them looks pretty awesome to me so for now I am calling this one done. I also picked up my chain guard and light assembly today.

Here is the light assembly prior to polishing:

I modified the Head light mounting bracket to make it mount nicely under the front forks by flattening the bottom and angling it at a 90deg. Here is the bracket after modifications:

Then I painted the bracket:

Here is the head light polished up and the bracket tying it all together:


I also modified the generator bracket to shorten it I did not like how long and bulky it was. The bracket was then painted matte black and installed with the generator:
[/URL
Here you can see the generator and tail light installed. I was able to hide most of the wiring in my tank so it keeps it nice and clean:


I tested the Speedometer against my GPS and it is fairly accurate. I had the bike up to about 20mph so far. You can see the milage driven on the bike since restoration in this picture:


I also went out to my planned photo locations today for the completed bike photo shoot. So you can look forward to those pictures on the finished bike thread tomorrow evening!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top