While I waited for Dad to come back to the shop to help me finish the fork, I spent a little time fixing some dents and dings on a couple chain guards I'd like to use. Neither turned out perfect, but they were good enough for me.
Once Dad got back, he slowly drilled out the hole in the fork to 13/64" (using PB Blaster as cutting oil,) then he gently tapped the hole for a 1/4" 20 bolt.
SUCCESS! I can now mount a front fender on this fork, no problem! Stick a bolt in it, because this fork's done!
But now I have a new problem: the respirator I got earlier was too small for me, so I had to buy a larger one from Amazon this morning. I payed a little extra for it to arrive tomorrow, because I've got a few things coming up that will keep me from working on this bike over the next few weeks.
First, I'll be going down to Arlington, Texas again this Thursday to look after my brother's and sister-in-law's home and dogs while they're on vacation, and I won't get back home until the 29th. I can't work on my bikes down there, so I want to make as much progress as I can over these next few days.
Next, my brother and sister-in-law are coming up to Oklahoma on July 3rd, so I'll need to spend at least a day before then getting the house cleaned up. I might have some time to work on the bike before then, but not much. Once they're here, I don't know how that will effect working on the bike, but odds are I probably won't have time to work on it as we'll be doing a bunch of stuff together the rest of the week.
Finally, I'll be going up to Missouri with the rest of my family that weekend to celebrate July 4th and my brother's and sister-in-law's gender reveal party together. We'll all be up there until Sunday, so I won't be able to make anymore progress until after all that is said and done.
So basically, time is not on my side here! I'm only going to have about 3 weeks of July plus a few days before then to get this bike rolling, and I still have a ton of work left to do! The good news is, there's still plenty I can work on these next few days even without the respirator. I might not have the bike fully sandblasted, wire-brushed and clear coated before I head down to Texas, but I can at least carve out a few new tanks, rebuild some wheels, shine up some chrome, and hammer, dolly and bob some fenders before I leave. I'll just have to see what happens.
Once Dad got back, he slowly drilled out the hole in the fork to 13/64" (using PB Blaster as cutting oil,) then he gently tapped the hole for a 1/4" 20 bolt.
SUCCESS! I can now mount a front fender on this fork, no problem! Stick a bolt in it, because this fork's done!
But now I have a new problem: the respirator I got earlier was too small for me, so I had to buy a larger one from Amazon this morning. I payed a little extra for it to arrive tomorrow, because I've got a few things coming up that will keep me from working on this bike over the next few weeks.
First, I'll be going down to Arlington, Texas again this Thursday to look after my brother's and sister-in-law's home and dogs while they're on vacation, and I won't get back home until the 29th. I can't work on my bikes down there, so I want to make as much progress as I can over these next few days.
Next, my brother and sister-in-law are coming up to Oklahoma on July 3rd, so I'll need to spend at least a day before then getting the house cleaned up. I might have some time to work on the bike before then, but not much. Once they're here, I don't know how that will effect working on the bike, but odds are I probably won't have time to work on it as we'll be doing a bunch of stuff together the rest of the week.
Finally, I'll be going up to Missouri with the rest of my family that weekend to celebrate July 4th and my brother's and sister-in-law's gender reveal party together. We'll all be up there until Sunday, so I won't be able to make anymore progress until after all that is said and done.
So basically, time is not on my side here! I'm only going to have about 3 weeks of July plus a few days before then to get this bike rolling, and I still have a ton of work left to do! The good news is, there's still plenty I can work on these next few days even without the respirator. I might not have the bike fully sandblasted, wire-brushed and clear coated before I head down to Texas, but I can at least carve out a few new tanks, rebuild some wheels, shine up some chrome, and hammer, dolly and bob some fenders before I leave. I'll just have to see what happens.
I pretty much did everything I wasn't supposed to do when I drilled into this fork! I'll have to remember all of this the next time I drill into metal, Thanks.
