controls and whatever else. just a little bit more to go but only 72 hours left!

Thanks to Ralph at Mesa Cycle for the advice and to John at Banzai Machine for dropping everything when I walk in to tap or turn down something holding me up. Rodney and Stretch are always standing there to lend a hand or pull off some fabrication miracle. Mason hooked me up with some banjo adaptors for the police oil bag. He had them sitting right there on the bench like he knew I was coming over for them or something. Here's a few shots of my progress today. You think I'm stressing? Never. Back to the shop. This will be an all-nighter. 

John Candy working on the paint and a sneaker of the finished product

I'm on the home stretch but damn! The little things kill ya'. It took all day to hunt down the correct belt drive components since the primo stuff isn't interchangeable 64 to 48. Rivera discontinued the front tapered shaft pulley I needed so instead of just buying a pulley for 40 bucks, I had to buy the whole 400 dollar pulley-basket-belt updated system. I'll just go get that money out of the bushes here. Just a sec. Candy did a great job on the oil bag and fender. I took some shots of him working and here's a good one. Vid is a quickie of the parts together. 

some photos of the ship I will be sailing on across the Atlantic Ocean

Stretchy Stretch, in his search for obscure photos, has come across these gems. Here are studio shots from 62' when the Bounty was built for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty, starring the late, great Marlon Brando. This is the actual ship I will be on as we make our way across the pond to the land of red hair and freckles. Check them out! 

jun odashima dealing with the clutch basket

Jun and I dealt with the transfer of the Kill Yourself clutch basket and belt drive to the panhead. Here's a photo of Jun looking for the odd bolt to make the puller pull. Thanks for the hand Jun.

here's a mock-up photo

Here's the panhead at The Kennedy's shop the day I made the sissybar and cut down the bars. Pokey helped me figure out the hidden fender and tank mounts. Gettin' there.

Certification for international ocean voyage completed

I'm back from San Diego where, on the Navy Base, I took the Coast Guard Certification course that allows me to sail into International waters. It was a five day course that covered firefighting, emergency medical, disaster at sea, abandoning ship, etc. Let's hope I never have to use this stuff. I also got to go onto the Star of India, which is docked in the bay. It is an incredible square rigger from the 1800's. A "cape horner" some would call her. She is the oldest working ship of her kind. I wish I were born back when those ships ruled the seas! Brutal! Also, I threw in a video of my sleeping quarters for the last week. I drove the 1947 Chevy Panel Truck from Huntington Beach to San Diego and back. Not a problem whatsoever. This truck is a trooper! Comfortable, too!

Close-up of master cylinder and video of Rodney's contraption

I wanted to eliminate the stock master cylinder commonly used on Harleys and I wanted it to be as small as possible but still stop the P.M. 4 piston caliper that Roland gave me. I have never liked the fact that the front down tube and part of the cam cover is covered by this part. Those frames are so cool looking. I wanted to open that up. Rodney suggested we go with something off of a sportbike so we checked out a couple laying around the shop and went with this. I think it came of a GSXR. I could be wrong. What is not wrong is the placement of this thing. Sideways and tucked under the transmission. Is that ruling or what? Also, here is a video of this crazy contraption that Rodney built. It is battery powered and you use a toggle to direct it where to go. Pshhht. 

Setting the motor into the frame.

Sheesh. Had to take the motor to the shop in the 34 today with no way to tie it down. Hang on! Literally. So these aluminum rocker boxes are a bit bigger than the stock pan covers and I tried to put the motor right into the cradle but no-go. I took off the front head...no-go. I took off the rear head and it fit right in. Cock the rear head a bit and it slid onto the barrel. Slide the front on and uh-oh. The third mount for the stock gas tanks between the front legs is in the way! Shoot. So out comes the cut-off wheel. Slice and on it goes. A little semi-gloss and good as new. Took all day but the motor is in the frame. Get everything cinched up on the motor tomorrow and put the inner primary on and hopefully get the brake sorted out. Got to get it moving. Only a week of working time left. UPDATE: I got the bike over to Rodney's shop, The Nest yesterday to sort out the engineering of the brake and clutch arms I bent up. We put a sportbike master cylinder under the trans so we had to work out a cable and attach it to the arm. There's a photo of Father Stretch installing the exhaust and of Rodney in contemplation over the brake assembly. Also a photo of Pat checking out the finished product. I'm off to San Diego for a weeks worth of Coast Guard Certification so when I get back we'll get this bike started. Just need to install the throttle cable, clutch basket and pulley, wiring and oil bag, fender, and oil bag mounting bracket...and oil lines...and fix all the stuff that is going to go wrong, right? I'm off to San Diego in the 47'. 44 mph down the 5fwy. HA. Sad but true.

Rocker boxes back from Tay

Here are pics of my rocker boxes before I bolt them on and set the engine and driveline. Again, Tay did incredible work. The lids were the finned aluminum but I had John at Banzai Machine face them so I could throw some engraving on 'em. The Klan image is by muralist Thomas Hart Benton. It was part of a mural done for the 1933 Chicago Exposition in the Indiana Pavilion. The title of the mural is 'Parks, The Circus, The Klan, The Press'. I added it because it reflects the lack of minority representation in the club.

Video of Harpoon blasting off.

Here's Harpoon on his Pan doing what he does best. He is out every night crushing the pavement till all hours. Splittin' lanes and takin' names! Do it Poon!

Picked up cam cover from Tay today.

Here is the cam cover for the Panhead. It has elements of The Heathens stories from the documentary slipped in here and there. Tay Herrera is the best engraver out there and I didn't have to sit there and try to explain the whole thing. I drew out some ideas, told him what elements I wanted and he just got it. My most important request was that it be traditional colt/remington gun style engraving, which he has 20 years of experience at. My Pan lids are still there with him and he will be done with them tomorrow. The craftsmanship speaks for itself. Between Tony and Maryann at Hidecore Leather and Tay Herrera's engraving, my head is going to explode just from the great artwork on this machine!

Artwork at HoSumBistro in Newport Beach, CA

How cool is this? A local artist painted on a HUGE canvas an image of my car in front of the Avalon Bar in Costa Mesa. It is hanging in HoSumBistro in Newport Beach, CA. The guy is a great artist with an excellent choice of subject matter, obviously. 

Finished gas tank for the panhead

Here's the finished product. The tank was an original Hap Jones that I had Pokey lower the tunnel a few inches on. John Candy shot it in fine silver flake. I then took it and adhered recycled glass to it. After that I covered it in surfboard resin and then 5 layers of clear. It is crazy. I got the idea from an old David Mann painting. I'm not going to give the exact painting away but it's a good one. The story behind the seat is this: Duster, member of The Heathens now but in different clubs thru the years since the late 1960's shared this priceless tale with me in Sturgis while we were filming the documentary. Duster is no nonsense, loud, funny and has lived the club life and only the club life the last 40+ years. I'll try to tell the tale but when you watch it it's gonna be a thousand times better. So Duster has just gotten home from Vietnam. It's 1968 or 9 and he's around 20. He's out putting around on his panhead and pulls behind a local bar, midday, just looking to kill some time. The entrance is around the front so he puts the bike out back and starts off around the corner of the building. Down the sidewalk towards the front of the building, two cops are ratpacking a Satans Slave who is handcuffed and on his back on the sidewalk against the wall. Duster casually walks towards the scuffle and kicks one of the cops in the face and knocks him out. The other cop grabs his gun but is too close to the slave's boot. The Slave kicks him in the face and knocks him out. So now it's Duster standing there, a Satans Slave on his back in handcuffs and two unconscious cops laying on the sidewalk. Duster grabs the handcuff key off of one of the cops and unlocks the Slave. They split to the Slaves clubhouse and Duster doesn't come out for three days. That's three days of chicks, drugs and what else. Why did he get involved? "Two on one," he says. "It wasn't a fair fight." Sweet.

songs written on The Bounty

On the front page of this blog I have installed songs that you can download. They are songs I wrote when I was last aboard The Bounty. I plan on playing these and others that I write as we cross the Atlantic at bars in the ports we stop at in Ireland and the Netherlands. I have a good amount of Lemonheads songs under my belt now and will mix those in as well. 

two friends taking off on skinner lake run

I dropped by John Candy's house as Grant was pulling up for their skinner lake run. The 47 Chevy Panel in the background is my latest find and one of my dream cars. 

Pasadena City College Swap Meet with Stretch

Stretch and I went to the P.C.C this morning.  I took two of the lamps I made in the hopes of being mobbed with buyers fighting over the chance to own my handiwork. No. I did score a Harbour "Trestle Special" 9'11" longboard! $50. A little new glass and I'll be in the water at uppers displaying some fancy footwork. I also got a photo of Stretch with the Hamburglar. I thought he was living in Uruguay.