XF650 Honda/Bobber . . .

 Dylan has got the tank finished and fitted to the frame and the new headlight has also been positioned further back and down a little from the old mounting position. . .

You can see here the neat fabrication work required to fit the tank into and around the existing furniture of the bike. Perfectly executed semi-circular cut-out surrounds the bikes original oil filler. There is a lot of extra little things on this bike that have to be pointed out or they could easily be missed  and that is a shame as Dylan has done a superb job so far with the Bobber conversion. . .

'34 Pick-up . . .

 Well the boys have done it again. This motor flatly, pardon the pun, refused to go into the small engine bay of the old pick-up but Dave and Andrew had other ideas.  .  .

Fitment required that a rather large piece of the firewall had to be removed to allow the motor to be set back far enough for the harmonic balancer to sit in the bay behind the steering and front cross member. Job is still not over though with the inlet manifold still sitting approx 1cm forward of its mounting holes. . .

Visitors . . .

 Shane showed up with his latest aquisition from The Squids's collection. Shane had previously told us that he wanted to buy a nice 'ride' that he could share with his lovely lass, the beautiful Miss Jade. However as these events are carefully orchestrated by outside influences, we won't mention his name a second time, Shane ended up with a rigid frame with a single seat, so, looks like it is sorry Jade? It will probably take up a fair piece of the available carpet space in the loungeroom too?

Bayden dropped by with his lovely girl Lily in tow and she loves driving with Daddy everytime the Tudor comes out to play. Nice ride, but wait till you see the five inch roof chop . . .

Danny and Chris . . .

All revved up for the luvved up couple. Still moving forward we have now got the motor and box sitting neatly in their custom mounts and next in is the steering and column, the rack is already mounted and awaiting its mates arrival.
The boys can then turn their attention to the rear end and the diff assembly is going to need some serious changes to hold and house the massive wheels that have been sourced for the big Pick-up. The wheels are one of those items that can make or break a build and these things are certainly ready to stamp their presence when mounted. . .

XF650 Honda . . .

 XF650? Yep those numbers certainly mean that this used to be an off-roader. Hodgey, in his wisdom, handed this one to Dylan and said "Make me proud son!" As you can see the arse end has been cut free and new long rails fitted and everything is now in place for a well proportioned 'Bobber'. . .

 Have a look at the work carried out to position the small tank really low over the motor and still allow access to the forward mounted oil tank filler. Top marks 'D' this is an amazing transformation and just shows what can happen when a young guy is given his head and let loose with encouragement and supervision. This is a winning combination and what puts our blokes at the ehad of the field in custom fabrication. . .

This shows how the tank has to fit in and down to mount over, around and down into the frame of the off-roader.  .  .

How cool? These bars lift this bike to an even higher level. This thing is taking off in all FN directions and I can't wait to see what's next for the 'Bobber'. . .

'34 Pick-up . . .

 Dave has had the Pick-up up on the hoist and cutting out the old cross member and some of the rails so that the new cross member can be made up and mounted further forward to house the wishbone ball joint from previous pics and also for the rear mount of the auto gearbox . . .

Have a look at this beauty, nothing better looking than an old Flat-top done-up and ready to rumble. As soon as Dave gets all the new mounts made up and installed into the Pick-up's front end, this great lump is going to be added for a nice counter-weight, plus a bit of grunt. . .

'55 Mercury . . .

And after a bit of welding and then a bit of loud grunting followed by a few choice words and we have the motor and gerbox all mounted up and looking the goods. Motor is being used for temperary purposes until the real-deal arrives. I love the way the new mounts wrap around the motor and blend in with the front end and the custom sump, top marks for this one Dave. . .

'55 Mercury . . .

 Dave has cut out and tacked up these new engine mounts for the new motor going into the big Mercury. Classis looking mounts that could've been real ugly if not for Dave's artisic eye; We think that his artistis eye is the left one?
BTW, he also made up a matching crossmember and mount for the gearbox. . .

The big fella steps in to finish welding up the engine mounts, still severely restricted from his op, he is reduced to light duties. . .Don't worry about the colors in the pic, it is just the welding flash playing buggery with the camera's sensor. .

HJ Prem . . .

Tried to get a nice new pick of the HJ for all you bloggers who are following its journey through these pages, but there is now that much dust covering it that it looks like the sand pit in a kid's playground. Looks like I'm gonna have to go done there and blow sand and dust everywhere just so that I can remember what it looks like? Anyone feel like doing some panel work for free advertising in this column please contact me, I have to get this project moving again. . .

Danny and Chris . . .

 Four link rear end with diagonal track locating rod for the big Pick-up. As can be seen Hodgey has done a great job with the nothched rails and the big 9inch diff is also temperarily in place. Wheels arrive this week so measurements can be taken to finish diff construction. . .

How's this for a quick look and see. The boy's hunted around for the right type of motor and gearbox and picked it all up and dropped it into place for a dummy fit so that measurements could be taken and mounts made up. Nothing sits still for long around here. . .

Is Voodoo phat. . .

 Finally had to let Voodoo down off the hoist because the darn thing is that fat that it's making the hoist make creaking noises, so good old Voodoo has been stuffed full of all new goodies and she's now got a waist-line like Artie after three months of eating cream cakes in the states.

Voodoo lifting her skirts a little and showing off her new mags and white-walls. Dunno if Artie will be able to bend down that far to clean the white walls after his latest binge, err I mean trip, to America. . .

'34 Ford Pick-up . . .

 Dylan has been working really hard on this one and with Hodgey looking over his shoulder the front end is coming together. As you can see all the old material has now been removed and they are up to connecting the steering system. . .

 This is the ball mount that had to be hand made for the end of the Wishbone and will eventually connect to the cross member. It's madness that you can buy the rubber segment new but you can't buy the metal cups anywhere? Doesn't matter the boys worked out a way to make a new one anyway. . .

Tub is on, brakes are hooked up and the arse end is looking great. . .

No more updates, he's back!

And doing exactly what the Doctors have ordered, he is sitting back with his feet up. Yeah right! By the way, in a cryptic message to all you mothers who have had your abdominal walls stretched, strained and destroyed by pregnancy, the big fella said "Toughen up." He's back on a daily march to overcoming the most excruitiating pain that he has ever had to endure. Silly buggar doesn't even like the quality of the meds he's been given . . .

'94 Harley . . .

Dunno, I said this one was in for a hamburger with the lot. Right now I'm not sure as to whether this is the meat pattie or the bread roll, but it's certainly been taken back to the sarting point. . .

'34 Pick-up . . .

 After finalising all the rear end work apart from new brake shoes, the tub has been bolted back into place. . .

There's a lot going on here with a 4inch drop front axle in place with the new cross-member welded in that also hides the front spring and the stubs, shocks are in place as well as the wish-bone, but the boys will be having a few problems with the ball mount on the end of the wishbone.

Update on Hodgey . . .

In a word, grumpy as all hell. Dave tells me that he's finally met pain and his sooking like a two year old gettin teeth. Don't bother ringing him coz he'll either abuse you or won't return your calls. . grumpy bastard. Get well soon mate we need you back at the shed.

'94 Harley . . .

What can I say about this one? She's a '94 Soft-tail and it's in for a "Hamburger with the lot."
Front and rear ends are going to be removed today and then all kinds of 'Snake-water' and 'Chicken-head' voodoo shit is gonna be hung from it's frame. Owner wants a 'hot' custom and I'm thinking geez, just set fire to the fucker, how hot can it get?

'34 Ford Pick-up . . .

 Rear end is structurally sound and new ladder bars fitted up. The whole rear assembly now looks like it was built for the job at hand and not look like an accident waiting to happen. . .

Trying to get a rearward view for all you punters of where the ladder bars tie in up front. The big 'U' shaped cross member will also add structural rigitity to the pick-up as well as the front mounting point for the ladder bars. It also gives the tailshaft somewhere to run through and fall if ever a uni-joint should fail. Tub goes back on tomorrow/today. . .

Voodoo or Voodon't . . .

The boys checking out the final touches on the front end of Arties big behemoth. After a quick discussion, they've decided not to do any more work on it until Artie gets back from his holidays, after all 3months away and the car won't even remember him. . .

Great News Fellow Bloggers. . .

The good news is that the big fella has gotten through the surgery successfully and is now on the long road to recovery, it was great to hear his voice on the phone.
Now as you would obviously realise, not all things run smoothly and in this case there were a few hiccups also. Firstly the Hospital now has 3 female nursing staff off on sick-leave, all with abdominal hernias from trying to roll the big beast from trolley to operating table and back again.
Now because of the delicate nature/location of the operation, there was a certain amount of manscaping to be undertaken before the surgeon was able to locate the general area and begin prodding and poking. Now this 'small' briar patch could only be described as unkempt and overgrown and there was no posibility of anything short of a McCulloch chain saw required to get the area trimmed back. After about 15minutes of heavy manscaping the male orderly started to giggle and when asked as to why he promptly pointed and stated that he had found a little red-headed toad stool growing in amongst the undergrowth.
After such a successful result, you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone would be full of happiness and good cheer? But there is one individual who isn't quite so excited by the result, because now he will have to pay his bill. . .Hahahaha pay up Gazza!

Good Luck and Best Wishes . . .

Good luck and best wishes to the big fella for his operation tomorrow. The big fella has been keeping things pretty low key lately but he is in for some serious treatment from some serious quacks and it's going to be a long and difficult recovery, made worse, obviously by a naughty patient who is always inpatient, so we'll see what comes out the other end. Stand tall and be a good boy big fella . . .

'34 Ford Pick-up . . .

 '34 Pick-up in for a major re-shuffle. When it arrived it came with a Mustang II front end, V6 and Buick auto. Down back was a 9inch with an ugly US styled ladder bar fitted.

 The plan for the pick-up is a standard front cross member with drop axle and wish bone with a very angry Flat-top motor mounted up front. Word is that it's likely to be super-charged as well. Down the back, the 9inch diff housing will be retained but instead of the ugly old ladder bar system a brand new Pete and Jake's ladder bar kit wll be mounted up and ready to burn rubber.

Rear tub is already off and Andrew and Dylan have done some prep work for the suspension mods. A quick look down the front and you can see that Dylan has worked his skinny little arse off removing the old front end. . .the saga continues!

Danny and Chris . . .

 Dave doing a bit of photo bombing while Hodgey gets the front end back onto the F100 . .

Close up of the front end as it's being installed after the rear end rails/chassis had been remade and strengthened. This is the classiest front end assembly that I have seen out of the States!

Voodoo . . .

Twin system has been modified to accept the twin engine pipes instead of the old single system. Dave at his best again. . .

Swiv's cyccle's final check . . .

Finally finished and ready to be driven home. Peter Fonda eat your heart out. . .