OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)--FINISHED!!

[jats]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

hey, would love to see some more pics of your progress!!! love the pics :lol: :lol:

Troy

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Friday morning a week ago I popped my back out, and I spent all last weekend and this past week hobbling around...so nothing doing on any bike work. But, yesterday I felt a lot better, and today I'm probably at 99.5% -- I did about four hours of yardwork today, because the grass has exploded in the Florida afternoon rains.

But y'all don't care about THAT, now! :mrgreen:

hey, would love to see some more pics of your progress!!! love the pics :lol: :lol:

Troy

WISH GRANTED!! :lol:

My son and I pulled out the parts that have been soaking in vinegar. I hit'em with the wire-wheel, and he sanded down the rough edges and scuffed up the chrome that remained, so we can prime and paint. Sorry for the blurry pics, the camera didn't want to really focus on anything.


Cleaned Parts by sunliner500, on Flickr

We cleaned up the back fender, kickstand, cranks and chainwheel.


OCC Cranks by sunliner500, on Flickr


Chainguard w/o Sticker by sunliner500, on Flickr

And I peeled the big vinyl sticker from the chainguard. I tried to stick it in vinegar, but we'll probably just be wire-wheeling and sanding the heck out of it. This sticker was thick and came off in big pieces. Easy-cheezy.


Fork Tubes w/o Stickers by sunliner500, on Flickr

The stickers on the fork tubes were a pain...razor blade to peel off the plastic film and pine-oil-solvent cleaner to wipe off the glue. Jeez. And then a standard-issue Florida afternoon thunderstorm moved through (still kind of rumbling out there) so we can't really paint anything, but next we need to get some primer and some black on the bits, so they don't re-rust.

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Gabe (my son) and I got some more done on the OCC bike tonight. I sanded the rust off of the fork tubes while he was finishing up his after-dinner chores, and when he came up I hung up the cranks and bars and coached him as he primed them.


Cranks in Primer by sunliner500, on Flickr


Handlebars in Primer by sunliner500, on Flickr

He's got the basic idea, and just needs to practice. He put down a pretty good, smooth coat of primer, and I think he'll do fine. He didn't feel good, and had to go inside, so I pressed on. It's a hot night in Florida, and my garage was 10 degrees warmer than outside, even with the door open. And the lights were drawing in thousands of bugs, so I had to shut things down. Not before I had a flash, and found some supplies in the house.


What are These For? by sunliner500, on Flickr

Yard sale stickers? Maybe I decided to chuck the whole project and sell it on Craigslist...


.50...Is That Significant? by sunliner500, on Flickr

...or maybe not. I'm sure some of you can see where I'm going with these.

 

[kingfish254]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Brilliant work machine gun Kelly!
Great idea and what a bargain at fiddy cents.

 

[jats]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Brilliant work machine gun Kelly!
Great idea and what a bargain at fiddy cents.

:lol: yes it would be this is getting cooler and cooler

Troy

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Brilliant work machine gun Kelly!
Great idea and what a bargain at fiddy cents.

:lol: yes it would be this is getting cooler and cooler

Troy

Aw shucks...I'm just following suggestions from SOMEbody 'round here. :mrgreen:

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

And the prep and priming just keeps going...


Primed Parts by sunliner500, on Flickr

Felt kind of silly scuffing the black paint, to prime it so we can paint it...black again. But...it needs done.


Primed Forks, Fender, Kickstand by sunliner500, on Flickr

We made good progress tonight. We got the fork tubes, fender, kickstand, pedals and triple-tree parts primed.


Primed Fender by sunliner500, on Flickr


Primed Fork Tube by sunliner500, on Flickr


Black Cranks #2 by sunliner500, on Flickr

We also got some satin black on the cranks and chainwheel.


Black Cranks by sunliner500, on Flickr

And...my son did all the painting...


Son Painting by sunliner500, on Flickr

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

We're getting there. Today we got color on pretty much all of the little pieces.


Black Parts by sunliner500, on Flickr

Fork tubes, fender and kickstand...


Black Parts by sunliner500, on Flickr

Brake calipers, reflector mounts, triple-tree parts...


Black Seatpan by sunliner500, on Flickr

Seatpan.


Straightening the Chainguard by sunliner500, on Flickr

We straightened out the wavy chainguard.


Primed Chainguard by sunliner500, on Flickr

And primed it. Not sure if it'll be black or olive on the finished thing.


Fifty-Cal Fork Tubes by sunliner500, on Flickr

And we peeled the annoying stickers off the fork tubes. I'm going to have to spend time getting the sticker-goo off them, but I'm worried that the solvent cleaner that dissolves the glue will also dissolve the new paint. I see tedious-time with Q-tips in my future. :roll: Still, Gable and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

We don't really have that much to do before we start reassembling. We need to get the stickers off the frame, scuff it up and paint it. Also hang the ammo carriers. It looks like I have a garage full of parts, but we're really pretty close to having a bike again.

 

[pkh1974]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Cool build. I look forward to seeing the finished bike.

 

[jats]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

will be watching!

Troy

 

[kingfish254]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Those turned out pretty sweet!

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Those turned out pretty sweet!

Thanks! And thanks for the idea, we were just gonna make 'em black, and now they *pop.*

I spent some time this morning with Q-tips, a rag, and Avon Skin-so-soft bath oil to take the sticker-goo off. That stuff does everything -- bug repellant, oil-remover, hand-cleaner. Still smells girly, though. :roll:

Hot out there right now -- like 90-ish and humid. Maybe we can get in some work on the frame this evening.

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Ugh, nothing doing tonight. Today was one of those Florida days and evenings when you work up a sweat just standing there. And my garage is even hotter than that. So, I'll see what we can get done after dinner this week. Not sure if I'll have any time next weekend -- I've got a job interview coming up either next weekend or the one after...up in Michigan, so whichever weekend it's on won't see any RRBO work. (I've got a good job, but we hate it here and want to move back north)

And if I get the job and we have to pack up our house and move 1400 miles...great for our family, but bad for the RRBO.

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

So, I got back home from my job interview at 2 a.m.; The company flew me to Michigan on Thursday, interviewed and flew me home on Friday. Detroit was closed to all air traffic for 1 1/2 hours, so my flights in and out were delayed, and I didn't land back in Tampa until after 1am.

But y'all don't care about THAT! :mrgreen:

Today's work brought to you by:


Project Beverage by sunliner500, on Flickr

We went to work on the frame, really the last piece that needs refinishing. First we needed to scrape off all the stickers.


Gabe Scraping Stickers by sunliner500, on Flickr

And while Gable was doing that I went to work with a sanding pad to scuff up the paint and smooth out the scrapes from removing the stickers.


Scuffed Frame by sunliner500, on Flickr


Sanding The Imperfections by sunliner500, on Flickr

And for fun I did a really rough mock-up of a "saddlebag." I tried it down low on the chain stays:


Mock-Up #1 by sunliner500, on Flickr

But I think I like it up higher. I stuck the seat post in, and I'm pretty sure it won't interfere with anything like a leg.


Mock-Up #2 by sunliner500, on Flickr

As an aside, I bought that top ammo can when I was about my son's age, 12 or 13. I've used it as a lunchbox in high school, and for holding my shotgun ammo for the past couple of decades. I'm donating it to the build.

But, we couldn't put in a bunch of time, as it started with the standard-issue Florida Afternoon Thunderstorm, and we had to pack in. The garage is about 1100 degrees, so working inside isn't really fun.

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

We went back at it after dinner, got all the stickers off and the glue removed, and scuffed up the whole frame with a 150 grit sanding block.


DSC02380 by sunliner500, on Flickr


DSC02381 by sunliner500, on Flickr

And I threw together a little more quick mock-up.


DSC02383 by sunliner500, on Flickr


DSC02384 by sunliner500, on Flickr

Hopefully tomorrow we can get the saddlebags mocked up, then start painting the frame.

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

Saddlebags today. We ran to Ace Hardware for hardware and some more primer. We also browsed handguns because we can.


Holes. Drilled. by sunliner500, on Flickr

First we placed the brake caliper on the frame, and the chainguard to make sure we wouldn't have any clearance issues. We drew the outline of the seat stay, and test-fit the U-bolts. Then we drilled the holes. For the other side we just put them next to each other and traced the holes.


Gable Attaching Saddlebag by sunliner500, on Flickr

We had to add 5 washers per side for spacers, so the nut would have threads available to tighten down on.


Mounted Saddlebag 1 by sunliner500, on Flickr


Mounted Saddlebag 2 by sunliner500, on Flickr

And we mounted the first saddlebag.


Saddlebags Mounted 1 by sunliner500, on Flickr


Saddlebags Mounted 2 by sunliner500, on Flickr

Both saddlebags mounted. There's a handy ridge where the dropouts are welded to the stays that will keep the bags from sliding down the frame.


Saddlebags/Rear Wheel Mockup 1 by sunliner500, on Flickr


Saddlebags/Rear Wheel Mockup 2 by sunliner500, on Flickr

I mocked up the rear wheel and chainguard to doublecheck for clearance issues, and we're fine. The U-bolts are way far away from the tire and the chain path. (Gable looks totally confident that it's going to work. :mrgreen: )


Mounting Detail by sunliner500, on Flickr

Drawback...the U-bolts were wayyy too long and took up a lot of space inside the saddlebag...


Shortened U-Bolts by sunliner500, on Flickr

So I used up a few cutoff wheels on my Dremel tool (they break like saltines!) and resorted to the hacksaw, and cut down the u-bolts so they only have a few threads past the nuts and washers.

Now we just need a day without any $%^(*$# Florida thunderstorms to start really slinging paint around!!

 

[kingfish254]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

It's so good to see a kid working on a bike!!!
He'll remember this build for a long time!
The machine gun barrel forks look great. I think there was military themed OCC that had a big gun sight on the bars. I'll look for it.
Ammo saddle bags are fitting licely with the build too.

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)

It's so good to see a kid working on a bike!!!
He'll remember this build for a long time!
The machine gun barrel forks look great. I think there was military themed OCC that had a big gun sight on the bars. I'll look for it.
Ammo saddle bags are fitting licely with the build too.

Thanks, K, I appreciate the compliments!

It's tough for me to stand back and let my boy work on the bike, 'cause I'm kind of a perfectionist, and I love working with my hands...not to mention accepting that he's not 5 years old anymore and that when *I* was 13, I was shooting things and using all my dad's power tools -- heck, at 13 I built a sidecar out of 2x4's for my BMX bike. (it was a horror to try to ride, BTW)

So...I'm stepping back and letting Gable do the painting, which he likes, and the tedious scraping and sanding that he doesn't like so much. I'm also letting him use the power tools -- talk about making dad nervous.

 

[Kroozerdave]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)--Saddlebags Mounted

As hard as it is for you to stand back and not jump in to make it perfect, you are building something more permanent than just a bike.

My dad was absolutely brilliant with both designing and building stuff.
Unfortunately not so brilliant at teaching or mentoring us to have a go or learn for ourselves with his assistance.

I did learn a heap by watching from a distance. However could have gotten more (especially about electrics and hydraulics)

This bike your son is building will set the pattern for his confidence as a adult.
It is great to see you spending guy time with your son just messing about like this.

Hope that job and move north come off at the right time for you and your family.

 

[noodlenoggin]

Re: OCC Army Stingray (Father/Son build)--Saddlebags Mounted

As hard as it is for you to stand back and not jump in to make it perfect, you are building something more permanent than just a bike.

My dad was absolutely brilliant with both designing and building stuff.
Unfortunately not so brilliant at teaching or mentoring us to have a go or learn for ourselves with his assistance.

I did learn a heap by watching from a distance. However could have gotten more (especially about electrics and hydraulics)

This bike your son is building will set the pattern for his confidence as a adult.
It is great to see you spending guy time with your son just messing about like this.

Hope that job and move north come off at the right time for you and your family.

Thanks, K-Dave. It's easy to "know" all of this...much harder to apply it.