Detailing out the 1974 CT70 Dax Custom

A million details. Going down the checklist of each job, working out the electrical, mechanical, and cosmetic details. Most everything is done, aside from starting and tuning the bike.

Always interesting to see the color scheme playing out. Trying to find the right balance between chrome, black, wild cherry, and gold colors was challenging. There is part of me that would like to see the gold stripe on the fairing and tail section, but it might make things a little too busy.

Always close to the end, the badging has to be done. There are two locations on the sides of the bikes, where the original foil sticks went, that are perfect for some badges, This is on the right side, largely concealed behind the muffler. The logo at the top was made like the badges on the CT117, piercing the metal plate to make the letters. The rest was done with simple letter stamps. A more refined one was made for the other side.

This badge was done by Master Engaver, Wade Oliver Wilson of Mansfield, Texas. He has done engraving for quite a few of my builds, and always knocks the ball out of the park. The “Dino” script is from the Ferrari model by the same name, but meant as a nod to the owner of the bike who goes by Dino. The purple paint matching Dino the Dinosaur’s color was a coincidence, but it works!

A scoop on the side of the stock airbox was a last-minute addition. Using another component reminiscent of the CT117 build was part of the reasoning, but the truth is I have been thinking about this mod for years, just didn’t have the right bike to try it out till now. The CT70 is a challenging bike to customize, in my opinion, because of the unique frame, swingarm, and oversize tires.There are clearances with the chain, rear fender and wheel that do not allow too much variation.

Prior to going to the chrome shop. The scoop fits tightly with the screw from the center of the airbox, and the bracket that goes to the usual airbox mount.

The design of the scoop was influenced by the curves of the frame. Though the angle of the scoop opening looks a little sharp and angular, it appears to be more vertical from the front.

A brass insert with mesh filter was added to complete the design. It is a friction fit and can be removed easily. once again, a little more of the gold color to accent some of the darkness.

Another detail from the CT117, the filler neck of the tank, poking through the seat.

Just needing the front fairing to be complete up front.

Some of the more mundane parts of the build, the rubber packing in the original carb needed to be replaced. This is a common place for leakage. Glad to catch it now. The rest of the carb was cleaned with ultrasound and vapor honing.

Another detail that needed attention was the battery box. With the engine’s electrical system being changed over to 12 Volt, a larger battery was needed. The closest size was slightly too large, so the box was bent and cut to accommodate the larger size, plus some cushioning.

The corners of the box were rounded off on an anvil, making it wider, side to side, and longer on the bottom. The mounting brackets were also re-formed to make the wider box fit inside the frame. The overall effect was to lower the battery 3/4”, to clear the seat pan.

The first look at the seat cover. Still some fine tuning to get it just right, but liking the overall look. The gray color is an optical illusion from the lighting. It is actually a traditional black.

The shot from above shows the smooth transition between the body and seat lines.

Painting the 1974 Honda CT70 Dax. Chapter two.

Read somewhere that successful people are not those who never fail, but the ones that keep trying after failure. That being said, I am trying to be successful. Still working on paint. This has been a master class in misery, reapplying paint for a third time, and still not quite sure its done. Thinking the end was near at the first of December, I went to clean out the holes on the body of the CT70 prior to the last coat of clear, and noticed some separation of the clear. Realizing it was also affecting the other body parts, everything was stripped back to primer by hand. The cause of the separation is still not completely clear, but probably has something to do with me using too much reducer, interactions between the House of Kolor and PPG paints, and cool temperatures in the shop.

This is early December. The graphics are done, and getting the body ready for the final coat of clear.

The separation was between the candy red and black base coats. Everything peeled off in a similar fashion on all the pieces, leading me to believe the incompatibility of the base coats, and too much reducer in the candy layers could be the culprit.

The amount of time that went into blocking out the clear three times, only to rip it off still smarts a little, but it had to be done.

At least it all came off uniformly. At this point, the guys at the paint store were advising to take off the base coat layer, and spray again.

Still in need of some detailing. After a lot of hand sanding, there were places where the sealer was sanded through, so I thought it best to re-seal the parts.

Here, the remainders of the sealer coat, tinted pink from the base coat, is seen. Every bit of it was sanded off before the black epoxy sealer was applied.

The front fender, also dyed pink.

When the bike was painted the second time, the black base coat was switched from PPG to a House of Kolor black base coat, to reduce the chance of interaction. After the sealer (black epoxy,) base coats and a couple layers of clear were applied for the second time, it was blocked out to start on the graphics. While peeling some masking off, an area below peeled off, all the way to the old primer.…sigh.

A closer inspection shows some of the pink that penetrated through the original gray sealer to the primer. Out toward the edges, the black of the sealer can be seen, where it was adhered to the primer layer. The remainder of the paint was tested with tape, and this seemed to be the only place the paint peeled off. Nevertheless, it was stripped down, and re-sealed one more time. While stripping it down, the remainder of the paint was confirmed to be well adhered. Why it peeled in this area only is still a mystery.

This time, every last bit of pink was sanded off.

The black epoxy sealer was given extra time to cure before topcoat, with the cool weather we have been having here in Denton.

After color and some clear, here is the third round of graphics getting underway. The graphics are all done by hand, and take some time. Hopefully, the third time is the charm.

We’ve been here before.

The gold and a couple layers of clear were blocked out before the Wimbledon white trim was added to the lettering.

“Feels like deja-vu all over again.” Another couple layers of clear, and it will be on to cut and buff!

Fortunately, the other pieces look fine after their re-paint. They were also tested with tape for any lifting, and passed. These pieces have had a couple weeks to cure in the heated upstairs room of the shop.

The 1974 Honda CT70 Dax custom gets painted.

Painting time at the shop! The 1974 CT70 Dax custom bike received a coat of a rich, deep purple House of Kolor “Wild Cherry” over black base. Still stacking on some layers of clear and blocking in between, but the color is starting to get deep. The original plan was to paint the lower part of the bike white, like the CT117, but the color is so sleek, it is giving me second thoughts. There are still graphics to be added: a “Honda” logo will be going on the neck. The guy who owns the bike picked this color to match his early Ford Bronco. Good choice!

The color really accents some of the contour nicely.

When the sun shines directly on the paint, it takes on more red to pink shades. The metal flake in the candy coat really pops out as well.

In lower light, the color goes to a dark wine color, even looking black in some instances.

The paint chip was ever present, to keep the match as close as possible.

With a single coat of clear, it looks a little less rich.

A little orange peel on the first clear coat. Each layer is blocked out smooth before the next coat goes on.

New chrome, powder coat, zinc plate and custom parts for the 1974 CT70 Dax Custom.

The saying is: the last 10 percent takes 90 percent of the time to do the job. That is an exaggeration, perhaps, but a lot of little details have to be done, and in custom building, some of that means making parts. A set of fork spring cups for the top of the springs was turned on the lathe to finish the fork assembly. The powder coated parts are back, and look great. Sub-assemblies are going together like the fork components, wheels, muffler, and footpegs.

The spring cups were turned out of aluminum, and in addition to being a place for the top of the spring to rest, it has a groove that secures the top of the fork gaiters

Honda makes a part that holds the top of the fork gaiters, but they are made to be used with fork covers. Without fork covers, they do not look quite right, or at least they don’t look as clean as these pieces do.

Most all of the aluminum polishing is done, the parts are back from chrome and zinc platers as well as the black powder coated parts. One of the jewels are the chrome plated thumb screws for the seat hold down. The muffler was painted with high heat ceramic paint, and looks really sharp with the fresh chrome plating on the heat shield. The heat shield was attached with Honda screws and heat insulating washers. Even though the bike is anything but stock, when it comes to assembly of these parts, a lot of care goes into using as much of the original style hardware as possible.

Another sub-assembly getting attention was the handlebars and fork top clamp. The headlight assembly uses the bolts coming from the bottom of the handlebar clamp to hold the top of the bracket in place. The throttle was rebuilt using all new parts from Honda. A set of aluminum knobs were used in place of the original rubber ones.

The chrome plated wheel rims are from TB Parts, and look perfect! I tried out the aluminum rims, but the polish on those rims was nowhere as nice as these chrome ones.

Several sets of shocks are on hand to find the best match with all the final finishes. The yellowing gold reservoir shocks used in mock-up could still get the nod, but I am leaning toward the chrome ones.

Another 330mm shock, this DNM brand set will be an interesting one to try. More an off-road shock than street, it will probably end up on another build.

Some of the Honda bags, saved and photographed to keep track of supplies.

Inching a little close every day.

A set of Heidenau K-38 tires and some Michelin S-83 tires were considered for the build. I have used the Heidenau tires on multiple builds, and love their performance and looks.

It was hard not to pick the Heidenau’s. They look great with the assembled wheel rims and hubs. Even though there are stainless steel fasteners used on other parts of the build, I went with new OEM hardware when it came time to mount the hubs to the rims.

All ready for assembly!

In other news, some brass covers were made for the horns on the Tijuana Trike. With all the stuff going on on the front of the trike, it was more about safety than the need for another ornament. Brass discs were punched, domed, and soldered together to make the balls, and a simple cone was made from the same sheet, and soldered to the balls.

The finished product, safety-wired on with stainless wire.

The fire scale and excess solder were left alone for the patina.

The 1974 Honda CT70 Dax Custom gets an engine rebuild.

With parts still out for finishes, attention was turned to the engine. The plan was to give it some more power with an 88cc bore kit, and race head and cam. This is a familiar upgrade, and delivers the extra punch needed to move a full-sized adult. Some bling was added as well, with polished engine cases and chromed side covers. The stator was upgraded to a 12Volt system with CDI ignition. A high volume oil pump and heavy duty clutch round out the internal upgrades. Wear items, seals and gaskets were replaced, and all hardware was either new or replated OEM.

The 88cc big bore kit and race head are from Hondatrailbikes.com, as are the heavy duty clutch and high volume oil pump. The chromed clutch and magneto covers were ones I had saved for a personal build, but decided to let go for this one. With the black of the brush guard, chain guard, footpeg assembly, and exhaust, and the deep dark tone of the paint, something was needed to balance it out. The heat shields on the muffler and brush guard are being chromed as well, to keep the dark colors from dominating too much. The extra wires coming out of the engine harness are for the CDI module.

Without a doubt, the dirtiest oil filter I have ever seen on over sixty rebuilds of these small Honda horizontals. Normally, this screen is see-through, and often with little or no debris even on high milage engines. This almost impenetrable screen would have been starving out the clutch and head portion of the engine…good thing they were replaced. This kind of debris is likely to be gasket scrapings, left inside after previous work done on the engine. The center case of the engine had an aftermarket gasket, and the clutch had been removed as well, indicating the engine was completely split open at some point.

Everything on this bike had been thoroughly painted, and required stripping. The engine was no exception, having a thick, partly peeling clear coat-base coat job. Normally, the case halves are unpainted from the factory, and the side covers are painted. The glued-in neutral contact switch can be seen in the upper left corner of the picture.

Just waiting on body parts to be painted. A lot of times, I build linearly, stopping at various points to do the polishing or engine building. It is nice to have these jobs done and waiting. Hopefully, final assembly will be quicker because of it.

A lot of work to get to this point, the center cases were extensively cleaned and polished, using hot ultrasonic degreasing done three times, to get the built-up sludge and polishing compound removed. Although it is hard for cast aluminum to take on a shine equal to chrome, it is shiny enough to see your reflection.

The HondaTB Race head is similar to the original domed head of the 1974 CT70, but the cam upgrades make it superior. The cam cover is like the later Honda type, with different castings that allow the use of a two-hole cam sprocket. There are round ones like the original, but this type head allows use of this cool finned one still available from Honda. A correct pristine magneto inspection cover was found to replace the one that came with the bike.

The engine case halves starting to be reassembled. They are sitting on the engine board, a tool for assembly and disassembly, made to hold the parts securely, with minimal marring. Some of the internal wear parts replaced were the transmission ball bearings, and shift pins. A replaced kick-start shaft was substituted at this time, as well.

All the take-off parts. With the oil starvation to the head, there is a chance the cam bearing surfaces and valve guides received excess wear, making it suspect for use without complete reconditioning. In the end, the new head is cheaper, and uses a ball bearing on the cam ends, an improvement on the flat journals molded into the aluminum on the original head. There were other small surprises, like a glued-in neutral contact switch, and a busted c-clip on the kick start shaft.

Other busy work. Stainless steel hardware for the body parts were high-polished after sanding off the numbering on the bolt tops.

Some more of the ugly. This is the oil slinger inside the clutch, packed with debris. The clutch uses centrifugal force to push impurities to the side recesses of the center cup, which are full in this picture. The clutch nut is chewed up by removal with a hammer and screwdriver…certainly not indicating it was work well done. The new clutch has stronger springs and heavier weights on the centrifugal clutch, for improved hook-up.

Adding to the polished parts on the “Bling Table.” Some aftermarket Webco-style valve inspection covers were used. In addition to dissipating more heat, they can be removed by hand or with the socket head on top.

Back from the North Texas Norton Owners Land of the Pines Motorcycle Rally

The North Texas Norton Owners Fall rally at the Yellow Rose Canyon Camp in Mt Enterprise, Texas was a great time. With this being the first time for the club at this location, we weren’t sure what to expect, but the YRC turned out to be a very pleasant venue for the event, with plenty of space, a bar and restaurant, cabins, showers, riding trails, and much more. The club held field events on Saturday(more comical than serious,) the bike show, and the awards ceremony (with lots of door prize give aways) to keep things interesting. There was an area of the venue far away from the RV park and cabins, designed for tent camping, for anyone wanting a quieter camp, but most of the night time action was at the cabins or RV’s, and people would migrate from one to another.

Packed in tight and strapped down well, headed for East Texas. This time, heading out with the 1970 Trident, 1967 Mountain Cub, the trike, and of course, the 1999 Z50, known as the” Hater.” There have been various plans to build out the interior of the van, but getting all these bikes in comfortably make me reluctant to add any partitions that would keep it from hauling as many.

In addition to the Cub, the Norsaki 1955 Norton/Kawasaki 400 was there for the bike show. In the same “Custom Street” category as the Mountain Cub, they placed first and second, with the Norsaki taking the top spot. I was really satisfied with the result, but there was more to come…

The 1970 Trident drew some looks, but no prizes. There was a single category for Triumphs in the bike show this year, opposed to the four or five of previous meets, and it was well represented. There were a couple “Bathtub” 350’s in the show, one of which won first place in the category.

An old friend, the “Red Baron” bike showed up for the fun. Owned by my buddy, Ben, it was in good form, and the perfect bike show pit bike. The 1999 Z50 Hater is nearby.

The Tijuana Trike took top honors in the Minibike class. For a club dedicated to Norton Motorcycles, we have a plethora of minibikes showing up for our meet. The bike show was held down near the main stage in a huge grassy bowl, with the cabins and restaurant on the edges of the upper rim.

…And the biggest surprise to me was the Peoples Choice Prize, awarded to the 1967 Mountain Cub. The trike winning would have surprised me less. I was honored to receive it, especially given the quality of entrants. Perhaps the small, light nature of the bike is what people find appealing, but whatever the reason, thanks to everyone who voted for it.

In the field events, the trike bent the rules slightly, as the requirement for eligibility in the slow race was “anything on two wheels.” We took the gold medal on this one, but it was based more on pity than performance.

One of the last details done on the Cub before the show was the seat logo stenciling on the back. My buddy, Mobtown Mike Smith’s custom seat cover was well appreciated, keeping some of the vintage British vibe with the color scheme of the original seat.

The famous pinstriper, Alton Gillespie, was camped next to me in the trees, on the road I dubbed “introvert’s lane” (by next to me, I mean a good thirty feet apart.) Alton is an old friend, and laid down the missing stars on the red, white and blue panel of the trike. My intention was always to place stars in this space, just didn’t think they would look as nice if I did them. When Alton offered Sunday morning, I delayed leaving for home by some hours, to take the rare opportunity. The job was cut short halfway into the process, by an emergency call to pick up a trailer and driver from his company with a dead truck turbo, stuck on the side of the road. Alton and I reconnected a few days later, and he finished the job.

The finished product is a real throw of the eye, making the stars appear to rise out of the background. Amazing work! This seat is another Mobtown Mike creation.

My buddy Chris, riding in the distance, letting loose of the checkered flag and his hat, on his victory lap following his drag race win.

Getting four bikes in the van was a new thing. So happy with the longer, larger space. This was the before picture. The van was even more full on return, with swap meet finds filling all the empty spaces.

Polishing aluminum parts for the 1974 Honda CT70 /Dax custom.

With the tins out for bodywork, the focus has been on getting all the aluminum parts polished out. When it comes to final finishes, there is always a balance that needs to be struck between the powder coat, chrome, paint, and polish. Keeping the chrome and polish on this build down to a few key components, going for tight and classy, and letting the lines of the bike bring some of the bling. In addition to these parts, there are some wheel rims that will be high polished.

All the shiny parts…when you are staring at the same set of parts prior to finishing, there is a slight feeling of dread, as the process is a lot of messy work. Nice to be on this side of it.

Stripping paint off is the first of many steps. After this, bearings will be removed, and the sanding and refinement will be done. There are small stubs around the nut recess on the tips of each spoke, that will be removed. They are a remnant of the casting process, and serve no purpose as far as I can tell. The finished wheel looks better without them.

With the sprue stubs removed, they look a lot cleaner.

The recesses took a lot of effort. Sometimes they look okay until you start buffing, and realize there is an oxide layer that needs removal. A combination of wet sanding, rotary abrasive wheels, and polishing wheels of all different sizes were used to get them done.

The rear hub used during mock-up is a one-piece type, and did not match the front wheel very well, so an original CT70 hub was sourced in decent shape. The other big plus with the original hub is that it has a steel tube cast into the hub for the rear sprocket retainer ring to fit into, opposed to the one on the one-piece wheel, which is machined out of the aluminum wheel casting. While not something you might think would be subject to much force, side to side, the rubber cush drive the sprocket tabs fit in will push outward on hard acceleration and braking. If the thin lip of cast aluminum holding the retainer C-clip in fails, the sprocket can come loose from the hub! I have seen one case of this exact wheel failing in this manner on an online forum. Since this one matches the front style, it gets the nod.

The after on the wheel hub. The parts all were cleaned in a hot ultrasonic tank after polishing. The steel brake lining was also freshened up on the lathe.

The fork leg on the left has just started to undergo the first polishing steps. The bungs on the upper part of the forks for the front fender mount will be ground down a little, to make them more rounded.

After machine polishing, everything gets a hand polish with some Mothers brand polish.

My buddy “Mobtown” Mikey Smith is smoothing out the tins and laying primer down. There is some thought being put into making some molds off these parts for fiberglass reproductions. Mike and I have worked together in the past, doing some silicone mold making on a “Dragula” clone coffin body, being made for a Munster’s star.

A House of Kolor paint color called “Wild Cherry” that matches the bike owner’s vintage Ford Bronco, was chosen for the finish. The bike will also have the white lower section, similar to the Honda CT117.

Getting excited to see these tins getting done.

Thanks, Mike!

Also sorting hardware to take to the zinc platers, and the parts for the chrome platers. All the hardware will be stripped and wire-wheeled before plating. There is a fair amount of stainless hardware that came with the bike that will get polished and re-used.

Breakdown and Refinement on the 1974 Honda CT70/Dax Custom

With the main parts of the bodykit worked out, now comes some refining of each part. The edges of the fenders, seat pan and front fairing have all had rod welded around the edges. The side plaques on the swingarm were brass brazed in place, and the swingarm was ground down and smoothed out. The frame was stripped and work done on the swingarm pivot, and fork stop, along with some dent repair and bracket removal.

The parts table is filling up with finished parts, waiting to go on to finishes.

In addition to getting the edges of the rear fender done, the mounting system attaching it to the swingarm was worked out. The screws holding it are hidden underneath. A lot of attention went to the swingarm, getting everything brazed on, smoothed out and thinned down.

A few rounds of stripper were needed to get through to bare metal. Only one dent is apparent. The rear fender mounts will need removed, the forks stop repaired, a spacer welded in for the swingarm pivot, and the lower frame boxed in around the pivot.

With a new custom plate welded in, this, along with the spacer, will strengthen the lower body in the critical motor mount/swingarm pivot area. The boxing plate is similar to the Honda ST90, which has a very similar frame, with the external swingarm pivot. The rear frame channel looks better with the fender mounts stripped out.

A little bit of brass is visible around the edges of the side plaques on the swingarm. Brass was chosen for its ability to flow out nicely, and its ease of finishing. Shaving down the ears of the swinger also made a big difference.

A thin line of brass is also visible along the edges of the swingarm. The brass is soft and makes a very nice fillet.

The openings in the seat frame were enlarged primarily to get rid of extra weight, but the visual effect is better as well.

A badly gouged fork stop before…

…and after.

In addition to the seat frame and seat pan, a third component, a seat pan for the upholstery was finished. The mounting bolts pass through to the back of the seat frame, sandwiching the seat pan in between.

Finishing up the brass brazing. It takes a few rounds of brazing to get the brass flowed into all the joints just right.

The rod being added to the fairing edges, with only the bottom edge left to finish. All of the new body parts had some 1/8” rod welded to the edge. Besides stiffening up the piece, it makes it safer, and less prone to chipping. Sort of tedious to get all the bends just right, but it looks so good once it is done.

The mounting ears of the swingarm, with one before, and the other after grinding.

The foam has been formed for the seat.

Breaking out the small files and tons of emery cloth to get a nice smooth transition on all the welds. There were cracks on the rear of the engine cradle, near where it bolts to the bottom of the engine. Some previous repair booger welds were ground out, and the repairs made to both sides of the cradle.

Even parts that look stock are not. This is an early fuel neck yoke, from the first couple years of the CT70. It was used because it does not have the longer front portion that extends over the seat mounting holes, under the seat hinge. Since the hinge is now in back, that portion of the sheet metal was not needed. The problem was that the early yoke fits the plastic tank, with its smaller filler neck, and the bike now has a metal one with the larger neck. The hole and ring that the grommet mounts on were enlarged to the correct portions.

A final addition to the fuel neck yoke was this extension, that covers the top trim strip.

All bead blasted and ready for powder coating. The exhaust will be painted with high-heat ceramic paint.

The handlebars after some smoothing and filling. Some unneeded holes were filled. The bottom of the seat pan and the rod on the edge can be seen below.

There were a lot of small repairs made on parts like the brake pedal. This looks like some deep riding gouges on the underside.

The gouges were ground out, welded back up, and…

…all that time to make it look like you never touched it.

There was only one bondo-filled dent on the body. Burn marks are barely visible around the edges of its former location. It was pulled out with weld-on posts and a slide hammer. On the upper part of the frame, the holes for the helmet holder lock have been filled, and new holes for a side grab handle have been drilled.

All the pieces going to paint are done. Starting to sort and prep the parts for chrome and powder coat. When you are looking at a pile of flat sheet metal, some paper patterns, and your ideas, this table full of finished parts seems like its miles away. Very satisfying to be here.

The mounting screws underneath the rear fender were one of the last jobs I did during the fabrication stage of this build. With no significant injuries during the process to that point, a broken tap delivered a nasty little slice to my thumb tip. A reminder of how dangerous all this metal cutting, drilling, and grinding can be.

Finishing Fabrication on the 1974 Honda CT70/Dax Custom

Getting some details worked out on the 1974 Honda CT70 custom build. A front fairing, exhaust system, engine cradle, and the rear brake assembly were finished, and the front fender was mounted, along with a footpeg assembly. Soon, the bike will be broken down for final welding and then go on to finishing.

With the front fender mounted, and front fairing built, the body kit is complete. The fairing is made from a single piece of .050” steel. The footpeg assembly is from a Honda CRF50. The kickstand was lengthened an inch and a half. The CRF50 assembly was chosen because of the folding pegs. The original CT70 pegs fold upward, while the CRF50 style folds backward…a better design should your peg ever catch on something.

The original brake arm was modified to clear the swingarm. A brake stay and brake rod were also made up to finish the job. The lower edge of the rear seat shows some of the “whittling” of the lines: slowly removing excess to please the eye. Sometimes, instead of drawing a simple cut line, the excess part will get inked in with black marker to make it disappear. The new line will not be cut until it has been looked at for a while, usually several days. Getting the original design was done with paper forms, which can only go so far in representing the final form. The lower line of the rear seat was drawn to echo the rounded tail of the frame, but when formed, the more geometric flat rear panel and shaved lower line were more pleasing. The picture below is with the mods.

My version of the CT70 K0 muffler. Using a thinned-down stock heat shield, the rest of the system was fabricated to resemble the original, but with a slimmed-down muffler can. The stock mounting points were used. The early model muffler and shield has always been a favorite of mine. The slits in the heat shield match the lower shield on the brush guard, and it all fits well with the rectangular touches on the build.

Two cones of .030” steel, and the narrowed heat shield.

An internal baffle to tame some of the noise.

Still in need of some finish welding, the engine cradle/brushguard was modified to give it a “wishbone” shape, and a new yoke. The lower heat shield was reshaped slightly to accommodate the larger exhaust pipe.

Getting close to done on the big stuff, but a lot of small details remain.

Detail of gas filler neck.