This starter diagram is for a starter circuit using a starter relay and button.

Yah I know…not that impressive. Well it was to me. I loved that mo fo!  I was my first Harley and my first stab at customizing  a motorcycle. It started life as a 1987  FXST Softail. The front end and fenders and tank were taken off a wrecked 93 Heritage Softail. I’m not sure what make the wheels are. They look just like Centerlines. …No they’re not Fatboy wheels. All the rest of the stuff like the bags, driving  lights,  seat, and the cool ass Fish-tail exhaust were bought at swap meets. I sold that bike over a decade ago, but I’m happy to say I still see the old softail around town every once and a while.

Even though the machine I was looking at was made China, I did take some comfort in the fact that the company Ramsond, which was importing them and stamping them with their company colors and logo, was from the good old USA.  And even though they aren’t actually making them, they were covering them with their warranty, and promised to fix it promptly should something go wrong.

So to make a long story short, I bit the bullet and laid my money down. A couple weeks later, the machine arrived at my doorstep. I eagerly opened the box and started going through the parts. It came with all the accessories. Tig torch with cups and collars, Plasma torch with extra tips and cups, and an argon regulator which was totally useless. The odd-ball fitting and thread on it wouldn’t fit on to any kind of argon bottle I’ve ever seen. Obviously made for some sort of Chinese bottle.

After assembling everything, I put it through the test.  The plasma cutter worked great, The tig set up, with the high frequency start worked better than expected, as did it in the stick welding mode. I really liked the fact that it worked off either 110 volt or 220. All though the arc seemed more stable using 220, it did work pretty well on 110.

I was actually  happy with it…. even pleasantly surprised. I used it again a few times, then sort of put it away and forgot about it. Then one day, about six months later, I pulled it out to cut a piece of 14 gauge plate. The first 6 inches of the cut went fine then…nothing!  I looked over at the machine and noticed a red light labeled ‘OC’ was on. (I’m not sure what it stands for…maybe ‘Oriental Crap’) I thought, “OK maybe it reached the end of it’s duty cycle or something…  I let it sit for a bit”. A few minutes later the light went out and away I went cutting again. A few inches  into the cut, it died again. This time though, the light never went out, and it hasn’t worked since. I didn’t know who I was more pissed at, the company that sold me on it, or myself for buying a piece of crap Chinese welding machine. Yah…I know, my own damn fault.

That evening I jumped on my computer and started searching forums. I wasn’t surprised to find others with the exactly the same experience which described the exact same symptoms. I emailed Ramsond , and they replied with a pdf file of testing procedures to do with a multimeter. They told me to let them know what the problem is and they’ll send me a new part…at my expense. My expense??? I used the f**kin’ thing all of 4 times for a total of about 20 minutes total. Oh well…lesson learned. Moral of the story… Don’t buy cheap shitty Chinese welding machines off Ebay!

Update: Here’s a link to a thread with  reviews of others who were sucked into buying Ramsond Tig Plasma inverter  welding machines  Check it out here

If I could have my way I wouldn’t have even put any blinkers on my bike at all.  Not only did it mean  more wiring to try to stuff inside the frame, but,  to me putting big stupid looking blinkers on my otherwise clean looking bike,  just plain looked the shits. Unfortunately the guy who was doing the DMV inspection said he couldn’t rubber stamp it unless it had functioning blinkers.  So with that said, I set out on a quest to find the smallest set of turn signals in the free world.  I did find some fairly small bullet LED blinkers on Ebay but at 1 1/2″ inches long they were still too big for my liking.  A guy on Club Chopper’s forum recommended mini LED blinkers made by Big Bear Choppers. The weren’t bad but they wanted 140.00 a pair little bastards ….screw that!  Then one day I happened to run across a little Web store called  AutoIllumination.com. They have these really nifty little blinkers that measure in at a mere 7/16″ in diameter (They also offer 5/8″ dia). I did have my reservations about them but I at 4.99 a piece I thought…”What the hell ” and bought a set of 4. Two amber colored ones for the front, and  a couple of red ones for the rear.  The glass lamps are actually clear regardless of the color they are when they light up. The only way to tell the colors apart without power on them is by the label on the bag, so I took care not to mix them up.
Another cool thing about them is that they have resisters build right into the base of the bulb so no need to have to wire them in.

To mount them I went down to the local hardware sore and bought 4 small L brackets that came pre-drilled with a hole on each end. The only thing I had to do was drill the  hole that light was going into a little bigger, then give them a shot of black with a rattle can to match the black frame and trees. I mounted the front ones under the lower triple tree, and the back ones I put on the frame under the axle block. It was amazing! They were almost invisible. I challenged everyone who came into my shop to try and find them. Not – a -one person could find them. I had to show everyone where they were. I hooked them up to a solid-state blinker that had a self canceling function built it…Found that on ebay for I think it was 24 bucks..When it came time to test them, my expectations were really low. I didn’t think a set of LED bulbs that small would be very bright, but holy shit was I wrong. I was totally blown away by how bright they were. I was pretty amazing. In fact the inspector looked at me and said (and I quote) “Where the fuck are the blinkers…I can’t pass this prick without any blinkers.” When I walked over and hit the switch on the hand control, the whole site of the shop lit up. The look on his face was pretty funny.

So for those of you that want to make the big clunky turn signals  on your chopper disappear I highly recommend these little mini blinkers. You can check them out at http://autolumination.com/indicator.htm

250 wide tire Mutant About a month ago Alan sent in some photos of his 250 tire, Redneck Mutant rolling chassis. Now, about a month and change later, he has transformed his Redneck roller in to one badass looking hotrod Mutant Buell

Here’s the before picture of Alan’s 250 Mutant roller.

The one thing I don’t like about Buell and Sporter engines is the big dorky looking cam cover. As you can see, Alan has taken care of that by giving the one on his Mutant a trim job. Looks much better if you ask me.

A little while back I sold my Mutant Buell to a really good guy named Marc. While he really dug the look of the Mutant I built, his girlfriend wasn’t too happy with the fact that she couldn’t ride on the back. The stock Redneck fender is just too short for carrying a passenger . To make a long story short, Marc bought the Mutant from me with the promise that he would extend the fender so there was enough room for the little woman.
Marc being a man of his word, made good on his promise  and sent me the pictures to prove it.
Check the before and after pictures….

Before the Mutant Fender Modification

After the Mutant Fender Modification

Lots of guys write asking what year and model of Buell makes the best donor bike for a Mutant or any other custom. Here’s the basics to get you going. Most manufactures of custom Buell frames are made to mate with Evo style Buells 1991-2003. Some do carry frames that will work with 2003 and newer XB models, but they are less common and usually a little more expensive.

Should I go Fuel injected or carburated?
Buell tube frame models from 1996 to 1998, 1999-2002 M2 Cyclones
were equipped with carburetors and standard dual fire ignition systems.
1999-2002 X1 Lightning and the S3 Thunderbolt models were fuel injected. One of the biggest issues when building a custom chopper of any kind is hiding the wiring. Given that, you’ll want to minimize the amount of doodads on the bike that require power, switches as fuses. Fuel injection systems require a fair amount of wiring which is the reason why most guys opt for a good old fashion carburetor. If your donor is fuel injected have no fear…It’s pretty easy switch it over. All you need is a carburetor, a manifold, an ignition module and some fittings.

Which models have the best engines?
If horsepower is important to you, you’ll want a Buell donor with a Thunderstorm engine. The Thunderstorm engine made it’s debut in the 1998 limited production S1 White lightning. The high flow heads, 10:1 pistons, hi-performance cam, and hotter ignition had the Thunderstorm engine producing 100 plus horsepower right out of the box.
The Thunderstorm engine became standard in the 1999-2002 in all three models ( X1,S3,M2 ). So how do you know if the Buell your looking at has a Thunderstorm engine? The first thing to look at is the heads. All factory Thunderstorm engines came with black powder coated heads.

Front Ends
All 1996-1998 S1 and S2 as well as 1999-2002 X1 and S3 models came with the Showa inverted front ends. while all 1997-2003 M2 Buells came with the regular tube and slider forks you see on a stock Harley.
Both will work fine. It’s a matter of choice. Some like the modern aggressive sport bike look of inverted forks, while others like the old school look of a regular front end. Either way, both will work fine.

Wheels
All Buell models from 1996-2002 came with cast aluminium wheels. While most were powder coated to match the color scheme of the bike, some models like the 1997 S3 had polished aluminium instead. Not a big deal but something to consider.

Part one of a two part tutorial on padding and covering your mutant buell seat.
When working on your Mutant Buell project (or any chopper build for that matter), you’ll find yourself constantly looking for ways to save money in one area, in order to be able to spend a little more in another. Padding and covering your own bike seat is a good way to save some coin. It cost me all of about $50.00 to pad and cover the seat on my Redneck Mutant build. Not bad considering the quotes I got ranged between $200.00 -$ 400.00.

My first task was to find some good material to pad the seat pan with. I needed something that not only felt good on the ass cheeks, but was going to be easy to work with and shape. As luck would have it, I found exactly what I was looking for at Walmart in the form of a foam rubber camping mat. It’s just a 1″ neoprene rubber mat used to lay your sleeping bag on . It turned out to be the perfect thickness and density for a motorcycle seat, and, at the fraction of the price of what they wanted for the same chunk of 1′ closed cell neoprene rubber at a supplier. Now on to the business of padding the seat pan.

Start off by cutting the 2 pieces of neoprene rubber that will make up the first course of padding on the seat.
Cut them out so that there is a good inch overhang around the edge of the seat pan.

Before we go any further, make sure your seat pan is clean and free of any grease and oil. Give it a light scuff with a brillo pad and wipe it off with some brake cleaner or acetone to get rid of any oil or grease.
Now grab a can of spray on rubber adhesive, and coat the surface of the seat pan, as well as the bottom
of the two pieces of padding you cut for the first tier of padding. After applying the glue, let it sit for a few minutes until the glue becomes tacky. Now lay down the bottom part on the pan so that the edge of the rubber pad butts up against the back section of pan that sits against the fender. Now lay the back section of padding down. Because the back section of the pan is curved to the contour of the fender, the back section of foam tends to lift up. To remedy this, I took a couple of short bungee cords and wrapped them tight around the the back part, and let it dry for an hour or so.

Next, I cut the two pieces of neoprene that will make up the next two layers of the seat padding. Again, be sure to cut them so there is 1″ of excess material over the edge of the seat pan. Grab your spray glue and coat the top of the first layer of padding you applied, and the bottom of the piece you’re about to lay on top of it. Once the glue becomes tacky, lay it down on first layer of foam, pressing it down firmly making sure that it’s laying on top nice a flat. Now do exactly the same with the third and final piece.
It’s really important that all the layers are glued down tight and you have a good bond between them. To ensure that happens, I wrapped 4 bungy cords nice and snug around the whole works and let it dry for a couple hours before continuing on with the next step.


Padding your Mutant Buell seat pan continued

Using a knife with a long serrated blade, trim the excess padding off flush to the edge of the seat pan, using the outside edge of the pan as your guide. (As pictured below)

Sculpting the contour of the seat
Time now to put your artistic skills to the test. This is where you’ll carve out the shape of your seat. The goal is to make the seat flow with the curves of your bike, while at the same time, making it feel comfortable on the old keester. To achieve that, you need to approach the job like a sculptor. Chiseling a little, then stepping back for a look, chiseling a little more, trying it on the bike, taking it off, repeating this process over and over until you’ve got it just right.


As I said, you’ll approach the job like a sculptor, but instead of a hammer and chisel, you’ll be using a 4″ mini grinder with a sanding disc on it. I find that a 120 grit sanding disc works good. Start off by rounding the sides then work your way to the center. Keep your disc as flat as possible to avoid the disc grabbing and slicing into the neoprene. The key is to take your time, taking small amounts off at a time until you get the shape just right. You want the surface to be smooth with fluid curves. Any lumps or ridges will stick out like a sore thumb once you have leather stretched tight over it.

By the time you’re finished sculpting your neoprene seat padding, it should look something like the illustration above. The next step is to cover it with some leather, which will be part 2 of this tutorial.