During the time I was rebuilding the motor, and assembling/modifying the frame, I also purchased a Harley-Davidson Sportster gas tank, which I intended to modify and use as my gas tank.

I also found a really cool, funky ‘coffin’ style tank at a swap meet, that I couldn’t pass up, but I sold it with the bike (kicking myself!!).

I continued on the motor, putting the head back in place, after doing a basic valve job.

I also worked on putting the transmission back together.

Buttoning things up…

I also bought some Kawasaki ZX-11 inverted forks, thinking they would be sweet, but when I got them, they were bent… so much for ebay parts. Worst part was the seller wouldn’t take them back. I ended up selling them again on eBay as damaged, and made my money back, but just barely. They sure are cool looking though… I would have loved to use them!

About this time, I had the frame sand blasted at LNE blasting in Harris, MN… on a side note, Curt Peltier, the guy who bought my parent’s house in Harris back in 1996 or 1997 acquired LNE blasting in December of 2005. He’s a really good guy, and I’m sure I’ll use him to do a bunch of my blasting in the future!

Back to the triumph, here is a shot of the frame, and misc parts after blasting.

I assembled it (with a Honda rear wheel I had laying around), and rolled it into the daylight (or twilight as it were)…

Wow I just found a cute photo of Michelle and Jessie! It must have been Halloween… maybe 2003?

I tried the Sportster tank on for size, and realized it looked really… well, bad.

So I decided if Jessie (James) can build a tank from scratch, so can I! I started by making a cardboard template for the top and side, and taping them on, to see what I thought. Looks good.

I borrowed a powerhammer from Richard Kleinschmidt (shopdog powerhammers)about this time… didn’t have a good place for it, so it sat pretty close to the floor… oh well. It worked so good! I wish I knew how to use it better, and had more time to play with it. My wooden buck is in the foreground.

I got the buck covered in bondo, and pulled a ‘flexible shape pattern’ from it.

About this time, Richard also had a get together at his shop in Minneapolis, where I got to play with some big boy metalshaping toys… pullmax, e-wheels galore, planishing hammers, more shopdogs, and some other brand power hammers. I also got to play with TIG welding for the first time. Oxygen Service Company borrowed a Miller 180SD for us to play with, and I spent about 12 hours over three days doing just that.

And then my Jeep was broken into, and my digital camera stolen.