I got some photos of the current version of my old Triumph Bobber project yesterday. It’s very cool, and I kind of regret selling it… Oh well.

I sold this on eBay in 2004 to help with buying my first house… It wasn’t this far along, but some of the key items that I am responsible for are: rebuilding the motor, lacing the front wheel, adapting the harley bars to the Honda CBR600 triple-trees. I also Shortened the forks about three inches.

I started working on getting the new axle ready for installation today. I only worked for an hour or so before my last cut off wheel grew too short to use. I’ll have to get more, but I’m done for today… I have band practice later!

Anyhow, I got a little ways, and even did some cutting. Here is the old axle, still in place:

Here is a view of the relationship between the tire top and the fenderwell, and a jackstand for total height reference.

Here are some photos of the new 8.8″ ford axle, getting ready to start cleanup on it.

I’ve found a site that say I need a Spicer 2-2-1369 flange yoke (Inland Truck Parts $28.30) so that’s cool… I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for a yoke (other than going with a stock one) until I found that. Hopefully before this next weekend, I’ll have the new axle cleaned up a bit, and have the old leaf spring perches cut off.

Last nite I was able to get the old rear axle loosened up, so today I decided to work on getting the U-bolts together, and U-bolt plates made, that I’ll use to put the new rear axle in the truck. I helped Michelle paint the entryway right away this morning, then about 8am or so, I wandered out to the car. I headed up to Pine City, and stopped at the parts store to get U-bolts… turns out they don’t have them catalogued, so I would have to go back home to measure them. But first, I went to Stan & Gene’s and got a four foot long chunk of 6″ x 1/4″ steel to make motor mounts, and the U-bolt plates out of.

I then went back home, played “Simon Says” with Jessie for a few minutes, then measured up the U-bolt size that I needed, and ran back to the parts store. Before going back home, I stopped out to Tuck’s shop? and picked his brain for a while about lowering the front end of the truck. I’ve pretty much decided on moving the front leaf springs from under the frame, to inside the frame. This will allow me to move them WAAAY down, much lower than either a mono/dearched/reverse eyed spring and drop axle.

Tuck and I talked about his really cool shoebox project (he calls it ‘Eve’), and about how he’s going to be able to get it to have some ability to raise and lower, based on driving conditions. Here are a couple of photos of Tuck and his car:

I also found that my rear axle came with a complete sway bar setup, so I’m going to figure out how to install that and get it to work, rather than buying a new one from Mid-Fifty… it only makes sense! :)

Hopefully tomorrow I can get started on removing the various unneeded brackets from the new axle, and get it ready to mock up in place. I’m pretty excited!

Well, tonite I was able to get both of the rear shocks unbolted, and loosened all eight u-bolt nuts so the rear axle is ready to come out. Now I just have to get the new u-bolts, etc. for the new rear axle, and cut off the miscellaneous brackets from the new rear axle, along with cleaning some of the rust off of it, before putting it in place, and tacking the new spring perches in place.

I also put the new drivers front fender in place… there are a few holes in it that I hadn’t noticed before, but for the price we paid, I’m not complaining, and either way, I can fix them easily enough.

I also removed and measured one of the factory motor mounts, so I can start designing and fabricating my new motor mounts. I’m thinking this will be fun. Tomorrow I’m hoping to run up to Pine City to pick up some 3/16″ and/or 1/4″ plate steel to make the mounts out of. I am planning on cutting them out, tacking them together, and having my uncle Don Ramberg, or Tuck weld them up for me.

I spent the evening in the garage cleaning up after the engine pull… I hadn’t really had a chance since Sunday to do anything out there. The floor dry is working, but I put some more down, and hopefully that will pull the rest of the oil and coolant out of the concrete.

I was able to get things moved around so that I could get the truck pulled straight inside, rather than at an angle… this way it takes up MUCH less room. My next project is to make motor and transmission mounts, and do a trial run of installing the motor.

I introduced the engine to it’s new home… I think it’ll be happy.

On the Jalopy Journal message board, there is a post regarding workbenches… I think mine is pretty messy, yet very sturdy, and well built. It cost about $15 to build, and took about two hours.

Also, I’m going to put some pistons I have on the classifieds, I’m thinking someone can use them for shifter knobs. They are out of a Honda CB400 race bike, three of them are fine, but one of them had some issues:

One last thing… I forgot to take a photo of the steering column I pulled from the van. Here it is… it’s nice, no shifter, just a bare column with turn signal.

Well, the van has taken the long drive off the short pier. I sent it home to be recycled today . I got a lot of use out of it, and am going to use it’s parts to get a lot more, so I’m actually quite happy. Plus it’s no longer sitting at my grandmother’s farm rusting away.

Last night Michelle and I went to get some floor dry, as the floor in the garage is still a mess from pulling the motor. Hopefully this will pull the last bit of oil out of the concrete. Tonite, we’ll probably watch a movie (we are trying out netflix, it’s pretty cool, and MUCH faster delivery than we expected!), and then tomorrow nite I’ll probably work on getting the garage organized, and putting the truck back inside.