My First Build: ROLLFAST (formerly REX) gets a motor!

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Wellp, its been a long few months since I've had the time to visit this site, or to even sit down with my own projects... but wouldn't you know it, necessity being the mother of invention... my car is on its last leg, and with a commute thats too close to drive and too far to walk (at least, not considering I get out of work at 3AM), we've decided to become a one-car family... so I'll FINALLY be going the rat rod gasbike route.

And, of course, I could use some pointers... mostly with silly little things that might help save me a buck here and there.

I've decided, since its the most rideable of my projects, to just charge through rebuilding my Shelby Rex.

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Right now its got these impossible-to-replace 26 x 1.375 wheels. On a whim, and knowing nearly nothing (haha!) I thought I'd try to pop my Rollfast 2.25 wheels on there, but its just too narrow. S'okay... I found a pair of 1.75" wheels on ebay, should be here in a few.

Then... tires? There's a new one on me... I haven't really bought anything more than Bell replacement tires for my road bikes. Any suggestions on brands? (Or aesthetics, even? I'd love to get something that looks boss, white walls or something, especially for this ol' piece, but right now I need to settle for utilitarian; something that will last a while.)

Handlebars are my next piece...

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You can see that a large portion of the original handlebar is completely corroded away.

Here's where I've hit a snag. Being a first-timer and knowing not-so-much about what I'm doing, I thought it wise to just replace the bars, not the stem. So on a suggestion from a friend I snagged the Origin8 "Tiki" bars with a 26.0 clamp diameter. Unfortunately it is too wide for the stem.

Now, it fits my Schwinn Speedster bars perfectly... would anyone know offhand the correct clamp diameter I should be looking for?

(I'd keep the Speedster bars on there, but there's just something so classy about the mustache bars.)

Here's the fun stuff, I suppose...

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My recent ebay scores... two chain guards and a rack.

No idea what they're originally from, but, well, they were cheap! haha...

The black guard to the far right was on my Rollfast when I got it... I'll probably put that one on for now... but I think I might strip, sand, and rattle-can the green one instead once I have some time.

Down the road, I just spotted this fella on ebay... With the pinstriping a near-perfect match for the rest of the ride, I think its a must (although by not pinstriping myself, I kinda feel like its cheating)...

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I have a friend bringing me a front cargo rack (in exchange for some guitar repair work haha). I'm really tempted to find a pair of old wine crates, lacquer them, and mount them for cargo.

Finally... the engine.

Okay, its not here yet... but I'm just souped on this project (moreso on ditching my car!).

I've done some two-stroke work in the past when I owned a Lambretta, but I'm rusty as hell. So I thought I'd go the easy route and just get a BoyGoFast kit. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm prepared to take hell for it... but whatever, I'll slug through it. I've got some buddies that run their BGF no problem, and I know a little more about two-cycle engines than they, so I'm not TOO too worried.

So, thats the start. I hope I'm making this post correctly... I'm really excited about FINALLY going gung-ho with this build!
 
Re: My First Build: 40's Rex gets a motor.

NABBED

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Though I would have liked a black set, I really just want to get this piece on the road already. (This old car isn't going to last much longer!)
 
Re: My First Build: 40's Rex gets a motor.

Nice build for your first.Once ya get hooked its hard to stop! :mrgreen:
 
Re: My First Build: 40's Rex gets a motor.

Man, you said it!

If I had the time, It'd tear through the Rollfast build, too!
 
Re: My First Build: 40's Rex gets a motor.

Its here......

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And tomorrow is my first day off in two weeks. One guess as to what I'll be doing...
 
Re: My First Build: 40's Rex gets a motor.

Sweet! 8)
 
Re: My First Build: 40's Rex gets a motor.

Blaarg. Change of plans. Ran into problems with Skiptooth chain and sprockets, and I'm just not technically adept enough to tackle that one, so I decided to press forward with my plans on my Rollfast gasbike build...

trekking along... swapped the handlebars in from my 24" Speedster (which I'd initially put on the Rex)... mocked it up with tires, fenders, etc.

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The crank I had on there turned out to be too narrow to accommodate the engine, so I've got to dig up a new one. Any suggestions? (Its a BGF engine, if that helps...)
 
dragn91 said:
Could you heat it with a torch and put a double bend in it to make it a little wider or move the motor up a bit?

I was gonna say I hammered mine out in a cave with a box of scraps, a hammer, and an acetyline torch (propane'd work too) Pretty easy. If its actually the gear on the crank rubbing the engine then thats about the mounts on the motor. which there's hundreds of ways to skin that cat. Although I think I found out a VERY effective one while working on a friend of mines. Involves some welding though.
 

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