Shelby Hiawatha Arrow 'Regrestoration'

[Rat Pilot]

Wow! Awesome work!

 

[léocwc]

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got the front fender mended.
First, someone had drilled a hole at the rear. Maybe for a mud flap. Who knows? Anyway, it's gone now!

Next up is that dime size hole where it bolts to the fork.
I cut a plug from an old scrap piece of another fender to get the same guage metal. I went ahead and shaped it to fit the slot also just to have a better way to hold it in place.

Used some tape to hold it long enough for a couple of tack welds.

Bead blasted it one more time before welding it in. TIG welding requires very clean surfaces.

Forgot to stop for a picture after it was welded in. The extra hole was welded up also.
Here it is after sanding and cuting the slot.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Word to the wise... when dealing with 80+ year old parts, check everything closely before assuming everything is fine!

I got very lucky that a mounting bracket gave up it's secrets well before any paint work and final assembly began. While contentedly sanding away on one of the tank halves, the front mounting bracket casually and without a sound simply fell off! I'm thinking this was initiated by the shipping damage and finally let go with a little pressure and shaking back and forth during the sanding. At first I was upset that it broke but quickly changed to grateful that it broke now and not later!

You can clearly see the original spot weld. This was very helpfull later to locate the correct placement.

I carefully transfered the mounting holes from the left tank half and made a jig for welding it back in place. Having three mounting points made it simple to line up.

Took it to a professional to have it brazed back in.

Back to where it started!

Now I can resume paint prep.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got most of the parts in the first coat of primer yesterday. More sanding ahead.

 

[arty dave]

ok NOW I have to make one of these. You built these to paint rims/wheels I think, but I love this idea for frames, I am always frustrated with trying to spray at different angles successfully. Has a certain egyptian look to it with that frame in the triangle...eye of horus

 

[The Renaissance Man]

ok NOW I have to make one of these. You built these to paint rims/wheels I think, but I love this idea for frames, I am always frustrated with trying to spray at different angles successfully. Has a certain egyptian look to it with that frame in the triangle...eye of horus
View attachment 118575

That does look reminiscent with the frame in it.

With the bike frame, I also added a couple of small things that you'll be interested in. To keep the baling wire from interfering with anything on the outside of the frame, I made a little spreader bar to go through the BB.

Also, the seat post has a slot on the back that the wire wanted to find, so I slipped the wire through a small piece of tubing to create a barrier.

In the end there is no surface (including the edges where bearing cups fit into the frame) that the paint is blocked. And you can handle it while it's wet to turn it to most any position and also immediately walk it inside if you paint outside like I sometimes do.

 

[arty dave]

Cool! Yes, well thought out & still keeping it simple additions. And I guess just remove one bolt to fold it down into 1 bundle.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I finally got all of the parts together to make sure there are no issues or surprises.

Everything checked out without any problems! Time to take it back apart and get it ready for some paint.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Wow. That all fit together nicely, didn't it? Great job

 

[The Renaissance Man]

In the final stages of primer and wet sanding. Paint coming soon!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Had a set back on painting this week. Thankfully I caught a potential big mistake before it happened.

I'm learning a little more every day about Shelby bikes. (Something I knew nothing about before starting this project.)
So it turns out that the front fender must have came from a Shelby Supreme. The mistery of the large hole was apparently the first clue. After someone over at the cabe suggested that it was there for a shockease fork, that seemed to make sense. But that's not where the story ends.

Even though I had assembled all of the tin on the bike to check for any issues before paint, it didn't occur to me to bolt up the fender ornament. Then while giving everything a final wet sand I luckily noticed that the holes were in the wrong place. They were located further back for a headlight. A quick google search confirmed that it had to be a Shelby Supreme fender.
These are the holes in question...

Anyway, being that this is not one of those anal retentive type of builds where only an exact match is acceptable, it just meant that more holes needed to be drilled and others welded shut. (That would've been much easier when I took it to my welder the first time and before any body work.) Doh!

So off with the primer, weld the holes and start body work over again.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The saga continues...

When I marked the center line for the fender ornament holes, it measured correctly but looked off center. I double checked twice and the measurements were dead center but still looked wrong. Then after closer inspection from the underside the problem was revealed.

Maybe this fender was made on a Friday near quiting time or maybe Shelby had very liberal tolerances. Either way, it somehow made it out of the factory with the nose profile cut extremely out of alignment!

This tape marks where the sides intersect with the nose radius.

I taped off the correct radius copied from a good fender.

And proceeded to cut it off.

...and finally got it back in primer today.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I spent the holiday weekend painting! Got all of the parts painted front and back. Next up will be masking and painting the graphics.

I took everything thing outside to lounge around in the sun all day yesterday.

It's all nice and shiny ...for now.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I still have to mask-off and paint the graphics on the frame, fork and fenders this weekend.
But meanwhile I have been studying some patina to get a feel for where the paint is heading next.

Here's some inspiration pics.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The graphics are done.
Barring any unforeseen problems, I'm hoping that I have cleaned my paint gun for the last time on this project!

Pinstripes are next on deck.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Started pinstriping the graphics.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Sharp!

 

[Starnger]

Started pinstriping the graphics.
View attachment 123892View attachment 123893View attachment 123894

Are you laying the stripes freehand with some enamel?
I love the way paint looks, neither gloss nor mat, but something in between. I guess it is going to be different after final clear coat though.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

@Starnger it's a combination of masking and freehand using OneShot enamel with a small lettering quill. The paint is gloss single stage automotive paint but has been scuffed with a Scotch pad. It will not get a clear coat.

From here it will be time traveling to acquire a 'seasoned' finish!