RaTsberry Buffet ....What's cookin' ?....pg 9

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Lol here in Canada too. If it wasn't for weather, most people would have nothing to talk about. Until hockey season.
 
Still raining and cold in the BACK40. Sunday - Wednesday we have highs in the 60's and mostly sunny. Rare occurrence in our part of the world this time of year. So, tomorrow I begin pulling parts, prepping the frame, and then painting. Need it done by Wednesday night. Bottom falls out after that.

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Got the bike taken apart this afternoon. Tomorrow I will strip the rust and old paint (what I can anyway) and prep for paint. Tuesday looks like the best day for painting the frame. Got a couple ideas for color / style.

The twin top tubes were tweaked a little under the shift box. Probably the same accident that broke off the cover on the right side of the shift box. I put the end of a 2 x 4 on the tubing, and with my 3 lb hand mall, was able to 'persuade' it back into place.

You can also see the original color under the shift box. The part that's not covered with grit and cobwebs, that is.

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A few taps here and there with the board / hammer combo and the tubes are parallel again!
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This photo shows the opposite side raised up higher. My first bike with one of these center mount shift consoles. Pretty cool how they configured this using the double canti tubes.
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You can see in this photo how the right side cover next to where the shift lever is, got snapped off in the blow to the frame that caused the 'bump'. The rest of the housing is in decent shape, with a couple of gouges and scratches and faded plastic.

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Tomorrow, it's out to the BACK40 'paint booth' to strip and hopefully prime the frame~!
RaT oN~!
 

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Great progress in the glorious sunshine of the BACK40 yesterday!
Got the frame all stripped down on Sunday, so yesterday was dedicated to getting the rust and old paint off.

I tried a new product, that was a little safer than my usual go-to Zip Strip. This worked pretty well. Maybe not quite as powerful, but for sure, not as toxic as the Zip stuff.

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It goes on as a gel, and then I used a dedicated brush to move it around on the frame. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then washed it off with a green scrubbie and water.

The frame hung in the 'paint booth' ready to begin.

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And with the product applied, doing it's thing.

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After three applications, I got it down to mostly bare metal. This frame has quite a bit of oxidation, so unless I want to spend hours of sanding and smoothing (no time to do that, or energy) I'm going to call this good.

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It is a 'rat rod' bike, after all! :bigsmile:

Today is primer and paint day. Supposed to hit mid-60's again with full sun. Should be perfect!
 
Well, @MattiThundrrr , how do you like me now?

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Got a coat of the Rustoleum Rust proof Primer on the frame. This stuff really covers well and is supposed to inhibit any rust from coming through over time.

Then I put down a coat of Rustoleum Flat Black primer as well. Why you say? Well, I wanted to try something new, and keep a certain 'rat rod' style to this build. What says 'rat rod' better than some flat black primer?

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I taped off the lower portion of the fork and the rear drop outs / stays to keep those areas black when I apply the top coat this afternoon.


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As you can see , the leaves are beginning to fall here. And they are changing colors daily.
 
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Don't get any of that on you Mr Rust....you'll melt like the wicked witch of the west....:p....with no rust you'll need extra "Oddjobery"

Tuned in....bring it on....:thumbsup:

Good project. Glad you're not leaving it purple. That's almost all you see on these.
 
I took every advantage of the near 70 degree sunshine and nice strong breeze this afternoon.

Presenting: RaTsberry!

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I used two coats of a new brand of rattle can that I found at JoAnn Fabrics. Never heard of it before, but the color name intrigued me...
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"Speeding Ticket"...for a muscle bike??
OH YEAH!

Then I took another brand new color, from my old standby Rustoleum, and sprayed the bottom of the tubes and some of the front of the seat tube and the forks and head tube, for kind of a 'flip' look. It's very subtle, but if you blow up the photos you can catch it. Here's the color....Ultra Matte Harvest Grape.

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The BB area shows off some of the two-tone the best.

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Yes, it's a little bumpy and heavy looking. Those bumps are the texture that RaTsberrys have naturally. Think of it as RaTsberry jam! :21:
And then, later this afternoon, I peeled off the blue tape, and put the bike in the stand for the first time.

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My big parts order came in to the bike shop today as well, so I picked those up on the way home from driving school bus. Tomorrow I hope to throw some of this on the bike and see how it looks!

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I got this NOS 'naner from a guy on our local craigslist. Original plastic and label. Probably not real old, but a repop from maybe the late '80s or '90s. It was cheap, and in new condition, so I bought it! :bigsmile:

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When reassembling the bike, I came upon a problem I have encountered at least once before.
The headset bearings that were original were rusted completely and pretty much fell apart in my hands when I pulled the fork after painting.

I checked with our bike shop, and we did not have any bearings in retainers that were the same size as these. So option two is to go 'loose ball'. I thought the bearings were 5/32, they looked close; but I was wrong. After a three attempts with the loose ball configuration, I couldn't get the headset to seat properly.

So I fell back on a trick I used when I had to make a custom headset for my Faded Glory build; a men's Monark frame with a woman's Monark springer fork which had a longer threaded steer tube.

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The bearings didn't match up with this combo either. So I thought about what would provide a smooth surface, fit the 1" O.D. diameter of the steer tube and the inside diameter of the cups, and could be 'conformed' enough to fit the curved cups of the headset? This is what I ended up using.

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A 1" inside diameter nylon washer. I had to grind off a little of the outside to make the circumference work with the inside of the cup.

Then add copious amounts of grease to the two 'bearing washers'.

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The beveled surface of the top nut and crown race just naturally conform the washer to the desired shape. What I have found is that I turn down the top nut to a tight feel, and then ride it and when it feels like it's loosening up a bit, tighten it down again, and after 3 or so rides it settles in to the proper tension. The beauty of this is the steering is very smooth, no rattles or grinds because it's not metal on steel bearings, and the washers are really cheap! :grin:

Here's the front end installed with the wheel and fender in place:

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This shifter unit is pretty cool. There is a bracket made of formed steel that clamps around the twin cantilever top tubes, with a bolt running through it to hold it in place. Then the top and bottom halves of this quite durable plastic housing, come together around the clamp and two screws hold those two pieces together. There is also a spring loaded cable stop built in to the housing for cable tension adjustment at the shifter.
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The shift mechanism itself is a simple lever, with a spot for the ball end of a shift cable to pop into, and then the cable follows the course around and out the back end of the shift box. The one thing I have found is this, like a couple of other old school shifters, take a 'pill' shaped cable end that is only found on special cables that provide both ends; the standard 'barrel' shaped one on one end, and the 'pill' on the other.

The original shift lever had more of a "Hurst" style handle on it. Mine was missing completely when I found it in the barn.

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I have had good luck finding ball end shifter knobs (that's what I call them, anyway :grin: ) at my local Ace Hardware. I found this one that with some modification will fit nicely and is in proportion to the lever.

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There is a very specific cable, with another spring mechanism that is housed in an interesting tube that runs to the rear derailleur. I'm reasonably sure this stuff is not in current production, and I have a more expedient and easy option with modern cable and housing I will use.

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That spring ^ was inside the tube, attached to another cable that ran back out the tube, through housing, and stopped at the rear der. The cap on both ends of the tube is aluminum, and threads into the tube. There is a built in cable stop (see photo above) for the housing in each cap end. Pretty ingenious !

The housing is missing the right hand/top half / lever side portion. Snapped off quite cleanly from the bottom piece. So I needed to find something of around the same circumference, and size, and design. How about this?

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"Re-cycling" at it's best! :bigsmile: The bottom third of a 'beverage can'.
Now, to match up the shiny can bottom with the dull, aged plastic housing, I painted both pieces to match with my trusty Rustoleum Hammered paint.

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I used the Hammered spray on the cable tube as well, after cleaning it as best I could. It was a really mild steel, and the rust had embedded itself into the surface. So it's bumpy, but adds a little more to the vintage look.

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And with the custom piece drilled and screwed into place.

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I kept the spring loaded cable stop tension adjuster on the shifter end (see photo above) and then after removing the old spring, cables, cobwebs, and grit from the 'tube', I painted it and used it in-line with my new housing as a cable stop for the front and rear sections of housing for the rear derailleur.

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I took a step in the 'modified' direction and matched up my new derailleur with a 6 speed freewheel in the rear. The original was 5 spd.
This Sunrace rear der mounted up nicely to the frame, and is virtually the same design as the original Shimano Lark, with the short cage and pull ratio for the stock friction shifter.

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Finally, in the waning moments of our last glimpse of sunshine for the foreseeable future; I got one shot of the bike put together in front of the garage! I rode it around the block and it shifts well, brakes well, and has a nice feel. The seat needs to be higher ( I plan to ride this, as I do with all my builds) and the seat post is locked up tighter than a drum. But, that will wait till next week. Her she is...

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More mods and design elements coming in the next couple weeks before Winter sets in. We went from 68 for a high on Wed afternoon, to 37 degrees this morning. Saw our first snowflakes in the breeze as we tried to get the first few cart loads of leaves off the front lawn for the Fall. You have to move fast up here in the North country. Weather waits for no one!
 

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Wow this looks cool!! Love the white seat on there. Is that a modern seat? Looks really good.

I'll bet the headset is nice and smooth but I wouldn't expect it to withstand a whole lot of miles. Guess we'll find out right?

I think that spring loaded tube is similar to a Schwinn "overload tube". Just and added thing so some little moron can't damage anything by yanking on the shift lever while the bike is stationary.

Do I spy a Vee Speedster tire on the front? Those are some fast tires. Should be a good roller with the rear Powerblock.
 
Great work on the shifter console beer can mod!
Cool paint color too.
Looking sweet!!!!!
 

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