1976 Schwinn Typhoon "KLUNKENSTEIN"

[davemoneysign]

I needed a new project to work on and I haven't done a "restoration" in awhile so I thought it would be a nice experiment. I work part time at a bike shop and full time at a custom fabrication shop. My main whip is a SS 29er and I love it for our local trails. Nobody in town really runs a Klunker so I thought it would be time to build one. After searching the town, I came up with a June 1976 Schwinn Typhoon at a pawn shop. The style I'm shooting for is Rat Rod, Klunker, Bomber, Flat Tracker, BMX, Mountain beast. It has been disassembled and I am ordering parts including:
26 x 1.75" Alloy Coaster wheel set, Black/Black/Black
22.2 mm, 7/8" BMX stem, Polished
26", 1" threaded cruiser fork, Chrome
4.5" rise x 7/8" x 34.5" wide Flat Tracker Handlebar
26 x 2.2" XR2 tires

I have an older Bontrager SS crankset that will hopefully work out on it and a few other parts I can use to finish out the build but there are going to be a few custom items including a number plate, tank insert, rear fender and seat post.

 

[davemoneysign]

In the process of making tabs to weld on for my tank insert. Also, putting some speed holes in the chain guard.

With some help from a friend, we tackled the seat post situation. The frame uses a 13/16" post and I didn't like my options for upgrade posts and I did not want to use traditional seat post guts so a custom seat post was created. I started with a solid 1" aluminum bar and a 27.2 mm Bontrager post I had laying around. We machined the 9.5" long post down to 13/16" for about 7". Next, flipped the stock around and machined it so the OD of the bar would fit the ID of the Bontrager post and machined grooves in it to help with glue adhesion. I glued the post together with Easton Hot Melt adhesive, formulated for aluminum arrow inserts. Next it was chucked back in the lathe and turned down to be one, cohesive piece.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

This will be cool! Love the seatpost work!

Luke.

 

[IB57]

Looks like you're off to a great start! This should be a cool build when you're done.

 

[Araya51]

I like that idea on the seat post mod you did.
Nice work.!!
Keeping and eye on the build..

 

[davemoneysign]

Thanks for the comments, this forum is a pretty rad place!

Alrighty, so the next task was to strip the frame and chain guard to bare steel and begin modifying the frame.

That pesky kickstand mount needs to go....

With it removed and cleaned up, I needed to reinforce the area with something less.... hideous. A step in the right direction!

Needed some refining and got welded on, I'm not bad for a self taught welder but I can definitely improve!

Now on to the tabs to hold the tank sides in place. I didn't want to use pipe clamps so I made 3 tabs with 1/4" holes in them and welded them on.

The frame and chain guard are raw, burnished steel now but I think I will use a gun bluing solution and finish it with a high gloss clear after I get everything mocked up. The tank, number plate and fender will probably have a different finish to make them stand out.

Parts are on order, in the mean time I will refine the tank sides and since the new drivetrain will be substantially smaller (going from a 46t to a 32t up front) I might modify the chain guard to drop down over the drivetrain more....

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looking really good!
Looks like you have some nice bike building skills there, great work on the welding and speedholes, nice chamfered edges and all!

Luke.

 

[Araya51]

Nice.!!
I like the bottom gusset mod, I remember back in the 80"s doing the same thing to my cruiser to stiffen up the lower section.
Nice welds and clean work.!!

 

[davemoneysign]

Some goodies came in today! I got the fork (already has speed holes in the dropouts), headset (pieced together from a few in the shop), 7/8" BMX stem and Bontrager 26 x 2.2 XR2 tires. Wheels will hopefully be here tomorrow and I can really mock it up. I also picked up some Birchwood Casey gun bluing solution to play with for finishing.

 

[Araya51]

Gun bluing huh..??
This is going to be an interesting look..
It's coming along nicely..

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looking good, looking forward to the gun bluing!

Luke.

 

[davemoneysign]

Yeah, Araya51 I picked up some Birchwood Casey bluing solution and sampled it on a piece of scrap steel and applied a high gloss clear.

So today I went back into the lab and worked on Klunkenstein a bit. I started by installing the bottom bracket convertor and crankset to check my chain line. It's going to need some tweaking but I'm in the ballpark. This crankset is off of my 2008 Gary Fisher Rig, its an awful mountain crankset but will work perfectly on this bike.

Next I wanted to beef up the seat stays much like I did the chain stays.

After coming back to my tank setup, I realized that it looked a bit odd not having a mount on the tail end. The ends of the two sides hit each other and clanked around too so I needed to add another tab.

Next up to fabricate was a number plate, the plate needed something to attach to so I made a bracket.

Paper templates always help rough in shapes.

From paper to steel.

And installed.

I love this hardware!

 

[Araya51]

That bluing looks pretty cool.. Going with a flat or gloss clear coat finish.??

 

[davemoneysign]

I'm thinking high gloss clear on the frame and chain guard. For the number plate, tank sides and potentially fender I am going to try to have a local artist friend do some custom graphics and finish them with high gloss clear as well.

 

[Araya51]

Huh.. Can't wait to see how it's going to come out..
Trying to picture it but I guess I'm going to have to wait till it's done..

 

[LukeTheJoker]

This is rapidly becoming one of my favourite builds!
Really nice work!

Luke.

 

[davemoneysign]

Araya51, Handsome Cycles did their prototype Dirty Harry frame in gun blue, I saw it in person at the Handsome store in Minneapolis a couple years ago. I think they just did a wax finish on it but I'm not too sure.

 

[us56456712]

Some goodies came in today! I got the fork (already has speed holes in the dropouts), headset (pieced together from a few in the shop), 7/8" BMX stem and Bontrager 26 x 2.2 XR2 tires. Wheels will hopefully be here tomorrow and I can really mock it up. I also picked up some Birchwood Casey gun bluing solution to play with for finishing.

I have used BC Gun Metal Browning and I saw another bike on this site that was browned. Came out nice. I always wanted to try bluing so I am interested to see what you get. Thanks.

 

[davemoneysign]

At the fab shop I work in, we use a lot of patina finishes. Mainly they are Sculpt Nouveau products. The Birchwood Casey Gun Blue is very similar to Sculpt Nouveau Slate Black Patina. A beautiful rust patina can be achieved with Sculpt Nouveau Japanese Brown applied to a hot metal surface. Here are a few examples of patina finishes that we have done.

Japanese Brown, Hot, Satin Clear

Deep Brown, Cold, Satin Clear

Slate Black on Copper, Cold, Burnished, Satin Clear

Blended Mix, Cold, No Clear

Blended Mix, Cold, taped off the patina area first, cleared the deck, removed masking, patina applied, Satin clear over the entire surface.
Skateboard deck made with 1/8" mild steel.

 

[Araya51]

To bad you live to far away. I could have used your talent..