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1971 Huffy Slingshot 3 touch-up
- Thread starter CRASH
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Usually I’ll polish as I build. But since the 442 has been hogging up my stand I’ve been polishing all the pieces getting them ready for the assembly. So… here’s most of them.
The new place has a fabrication shop that works for me. I’ll have to see what’s going on and get a feel for “outside work” being done.
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We had a similar problem with a fork last night. Needed an 8-pound sledge + drift to knock the rusty (and broken) wedge free. Ended up running a dingleberry hone inside the steerer to remove the crud and restore the surface. This one is made for wheel cylinders, so it's small enough for the job.
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That sounds like a reasonable excuse for a second stand.
I’ve kept an eye out of a cheap used one that I can use for paint only. Haven’t found one yet.
Shifter time!
This is a bit of a pain in the rear because I have to assemble the shifter with the shift handle through the console. Here it is all laid out after I polished every piece.
The console was held on with tape before. No good. So I had to recreate the mounting doo-hickies. Luckily I have a set from the other build. I use 14g spokes.
And done.
It’s not one and done. The spokes don’t have the “springiness” of the originals. Honestly I don’t know how the make them like that. So the repo’s have to be shaped and bent a bit here and there to create a issuable “grab” in between the top tubes. Here is the whole thing mounted.
For the 3-speeds, you can barely see the Shimano click-shifter, but I couldn’t not fully restore it.
This is a bit of a pain in the rear because I have to assemble the shifter with the shift handle through the console. Here it is all laid out after I polished every piece.
The console was held on with tape before. No good. So I had to recreate the mounting doo-hickies. Luckily I have a set from the other build. I use 14g spokes.
And done.
It’s not one and done. The spokes don’t have the “springiness” of the originals. Honestly I don’t know how the make them like that. So the repo’s have to be shaped and bent a bit here and there to create a issuable “grab” in between the top tubes. Here is the whole thing mounted.
For the 3-speeds, you can barely see the Shimano click-shifter, but I couldn’t not fully restore it.
Old chain / New chain. I doubt it was original. Plus I think the previous owner used WD-40 to “lube” it, which only attracts dirt and crap. So not worth trying to clean up. Plus, he used two master links. I hate master links. They aren’t original and look tacky on a show bike. I use brown chains for my restorations where I’m trying to look original. They didn’t use chrome back then, so it just looks right.
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Enjoy the new job crash, one door close's..many more open! I will now never use WD40 for chain lube, been doin it for....well I cant remember!
those brakes came up better than new! im sure your new employer will enjoy the expertise your gonna bring, regardless of the trade your about to enter!
those brakes came up better than new! im sure your new employer will enjoy the expertise your gonna bring, regardless of the trade your about to enter!
Wheels are tensioned and trued. Set up and adjusted the 3 speed.
Waiting on the front tire, which will let me put together the rest of the bike.
Waiting on the front tire, which will let me put together the rest of the bike.
Front tire came in today. It was NOS, but the RWL looked more like Raised Dirt Letters.
So, I lightly took 400 grit and brought out the white again, then scrubbed the whole thing with Wesley’s Tire Bleach.
With the front wheel mounted, I could set up the brakes. The original shift housing cleaned up nicely, which is good because you can’t just make 3-speed shift cable set ups like you can 5-speed.
But the brake housing was both in really crap shape and cut too short. So I made new housing. For those who haven’t seen me do this to my builds, for some reason guys really like this, so I’ll walk you through it… I cut the length of housing and I have ferrules for the ends.
I set the ferrule on…
Then I have this old set of cheap housing cutters that don’t cut very well.
I just gently squeeze as I rotate.
And I think they look good set in.
And I did something I haven’t done before. The brake levers shined up really nice, so I thought I’d shine the cable end to match. You can’t see if really well in the picture, but they came out shiny.
Before
After
And here is the bike all set up, but before the seat and sissy. It’s getting a period correct sissy, so I need to get some hardware tomorrow.
So, I lightly took 400 grit and brought out the white again, then scrubbed the whole thing with Wesley’s Tire Bleach.
With the front wheel mounted, I could set up the brakes. The original shift housing cleaned up nicely, which is good because you can’t just make 3-speed shift cable set ups like you can 5-speed.
But the brake housing was both in really crap shape and cut too short. So I made new housing. For those who haven’t seen me do this to my builds, for some reason guys really like this, so I’ll walk you through it… I cut the length of housing and I have ferrules for the ends.
I set the ferrule on…
Then I have this old set of cheap housing cutters that don’t cut very well.
I just gently squeeze as I rotate.
And I think they look good set in.
And I did something I haven’t done before. The brake levers shined up really nice, so I thought I’d shine the cable end to match. You can’t see if really well in the picture, but they came out shiny.
Before
After
And here is the bike all set up, but before the seat and sissy. It’s getting a period correct sissy, so I need to get some hardware tomorrow.
Attachments
I do love how you crimp the ferrules.
It’s getting a correct 48” sissy bar that’s been freshly chromed. It came off the other Slingshot which also had a silver sparkle sissy bar pad that didn’t match anything. So, I got some Duplicolor Metalcast in yellow. This is essentially a candy paint, so the pad would keep the sparkle.
I may add some black to the indent lines. We’ll see.
I may add some black to the indent lines. We’ll see.
All done!
Great work, as always, Crash!
Incredible.
