While my tank gently weeps

Finally finished up the tank. You can see what it started out looking like HERE. 

Finished the first of the patches after hammer and dollying some life back into it. This patch had four different curves to it took some time just to make.

Next of the patches. I wanted to get the nose of the tank to sit a little lower. You can see my pie cut to achieve this. Lowering the tank however created some clearance problems with one of the bolt heads on the motor so I shortened up the bead on this side of the tank. I love the little mods you see on bikes and cars that 99.9% of people would never notice until you parked it next to a stocker.

Next up. Eliminating where the original tank mounts were mounted. 

After some hammer welding.

When I tore a part the tank the inside was covered with rust after years of neglect. I got rid of a lot of this with a wire wheel. I then let it soak in a molasses bath(1 part molasses/5 parts water). It cleaned it up really well and I definitely recommend it. I will line the tank with a tank liner so the rust won't come back.

Welded up. You can see how the bead on the right is about 2" shorter than stock and the new mounts.

Mounted up

During the surgery I lowered the tunnel about 3/8" and took about another 1/4" off the bottom of the tank to get it to look "right" in my eyes.

Still playing with ride height.

Lowered 2.25"

Updates

I have been spending the last few weeks taking care of all the small parts and trying to sell some more stuff to keep the ball rolling on this project. 

Welded in the mounts for the oil bag.

Started working on the foot peg mounts. I started with two bent original Harley mounts. Here is what is left of one of them. Then I bent up some 5/8" solid rod to mount the pegs off of. 

Here is my jig to make sure each side was level before I tacked them in place.

Here is one side all done. I will have more pictures later.

 Then came the tank. I stripped the paint not knowing what I would find. I could tell there was a little bit of damage but I never figured on this much. There was lead and thick bondo all over. And where they used the lead it was warped. So I figured if I was going to put some life back in this tank I had to do it the right way. So I preceded by cutting out the bottom of the tank so I could access all the damage better.

Looks like they were chasing a leak here? There was a bunch of lead, brass, and porous welds right here. From the inside it almost looks a factory outlet here? Did they ever come equipped with a fuel gauge?

Looks like they were chasing some leaks back here with some MIG weld and some brass.

Can't make sense of this one. There is a bunch of porous welds and brass back here after I stripped the lead. This will all be cut out.

Melting all that lead out.

This is after I did a lot of work on the tank. It still needs some metal finishing and some patches welded in. The exhaust mounts are done and I reversed the lever for the rear brakes so I could mount it on the bottom.

I also mounted up the Triumph front end after some machining. I am looking at lowering it around 2".

I am looking at lowering the tunnel on the tank slightly to get the tank to sit a little lower.

I finished the backbone and mounted the oil bag along with some gussets. 

Fender mounts are coming up next and finishing up that tank.

Pipes!

I have been working on the pipes for the bike. I made a few sets but I think I nailed it with this last set. They still need to be hit with the file and sanding block.

Motor In!

Degreased the motor pretty good and muscled it into the frame.

More

Some More Pics!

I still need to figure out the down tube from the back bone. I can figure this out after I figure out the placement of the oil bag. I am planning on using a horseshoe oil bag.

To give you an idea of the stance, I am about the 5'10".