The engine

Just realized I didn't have a pic of the engine yet. Well, that's pretty much it.

Skeletons in the closet

If I was building this for Jack Skellington it would be almost done. 

There it is

Got it out relatively smooth. Had to open one left handed bolt holding the wheel of the secondary drive. This because there was a chain guide so close to drive that I couldn't pull the chain off from the wheel. Could have broken the chain as well but I'm actually glad I opened the bolt because it was way easier than trying to do it now that the whole thing is not attached to anything.

Loosen the axle, loosen the thingy holding it in place and the chain came off. Have to break the chain at some point but didn't have to bother quite yet.

Removing start and gear

There she sits. Let's see if it comes off nice and easy.

Eagle fly free

Bird is the word - or at least it used to be somewhere in time. As a not American I think I see it in a very different way than maybe many of the US born or raised people do. I do know what it represents but it doesn't represent the same thing to me - to me it represents something foreign. And bikes.

 I don't remember seeing many of these logos in modern bikes but older bikes used to have plenty of these. I think I'll do some digging and let you know if I can find something about when they became popular and when they ceased to be the standard decoration.

Feeling it

It's not that hard to strip it to skeleton piece by piece. As always it's getting the djinn back into the bottle that's difficult. Next thing after taking the loose parts out is to dismantle the transmission. There is something weird about it. There is a washer between the two halves of the cover making sure that they don't fit right, why the hell? Probably it has been opened and the cover has just been put loosely back together but I still have on idea what's the point of the washer there in between.

Trying to picture what it could become

Friend here got an extra pair of these. The height seems right. It's definitely along the lines I had in mind. The oil tank was cool also so maybe I'm able to use many of the parts I didn't come to think I can recycle. Of course it's too early to tell - I just have to keep on going and I believe the plan will reveal itself.

I think I'm going to use this pretty thing.

All sorts of parts - there are actually plenty of parts I've no idea what they are supposed to be doing. But more about that when I get to the engine and the clutch.

...and here.

Here it is...

I've had a bike that I bought as a new for some years. I really haven't done modifications to it and I have no experience in building bikes at all. But it just so happened, that yesterday I bought couple of boxes full of parts and a rolling frame. Together, what is in the boxes and the frame should make up -73 shovelhead.

I've no idea what I'm doing here but exactly for that reason I decided to share the story. I'm expecting some embarrassing wtf moments but hoping for end where I can ride to sunset with a bike that looks like me.