14 March, 2010

Storage "Box" and Speedholes

This afternoon's projects were pretty small, but fun. I had been thinking about a little storage box of some sort on Ratty. I'm not sure what I'm going to store on it, maybe a little tool kit? Who knows. Anyways, I wanted something round, and a specific size. As it happens, Susan keeps all the old coffee cans for me, so I can store random little bits in them out in the garage. Lately, I've collected a bunch of them ad haven't used them. I've been eying one of them, that seemed just the right size.

I peeled off the label, then gave it a quick brush with the muratic acid. I had no idea if this would effect whatever material the "tin can" was made out of. Maybe it really is made of tin afterall, as it was very affected by the acid. It started to change color almost immediately. I then gave it the salt water spritz bath, and I could see this was going to take on the same look as the rest of the frame. Long story short, I made a little bracket mounted and used a large stainless hose clamp to secure it to the bracket.





While the can was drying, I also decided to give the front hub some cooling holes. Especially important on a 4.5hp monster like Ratty.




Sideview, showing location of can. I intend to find some stickers of some sort to put on the end and lid of the can. Not sure what yet.


Better view from the front, showing the final location of the headlight and bars:


C'

No comments: