older drag bike modifications

[turboglenn]

Here's a few things i did on a new customers drag bike.. the welding to the frame and paint grinding is not an issue because once it's finished he's gonna have it repainted, which he'd have too because we've got lots more to weld and change on the frame (but i doubt i'm gonna do it - more on that later)

Here's what i made

1.) Billet shift light mount

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2.) milled/cut and welded stainless tubes under seat and raise the rear d'zeus seat/body fastner. The tire the frame was built around is no longer available and all the new ones are in a size where they were rubbing the rear fender when balloned up on the strip. He didn't want to remove the oiginal tubes and replace them, so this was the best way to fully support the seat/fiberglass body with his weight at the final height (the rear fender is the seat and we went from maybe 1/4 inch clearnnce to about 3 inches by only adding 3/4 inch to the height of the seat tubes

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YOu can see in these welds above where the gas flow was messed up badly, he was happy with them, I wanted to cut it all off and start fresh with some 1/2 - 3/4" chromolly pieces

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in the last one above,The hole and d'zues was put in the bodywork off center so the tab was cut and moved, the leftover piece in this was removed but i deleted the wrong pic off the camera

3.) machinied the adpater section for the front mount of the old kawi steering damper.
4.) made a cheap temp chain gaurd to get him through tech in about `10 minutes (their on their way to the track now)Tonight I was going to mill one from a 28" piece of 2 x 1.5" solid 6061 stock but not for what he wants to pay
5.) cut and welded a piece of 1/8th wall HR steel rectangle stock to the frame to make the rear damper mount (tacked the nut inside so the heim joint could be screwed intom it directly, the mount the damper to the heim

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5.) Cut new wheely bar mounting tabs from 1/8th inch hot rolled steel to accomodate the "new" wheely bars he bought used from some one at the track. The old ones are mild steel solid round, and heavy as hell. - The new ones are 4130 but whoever welded them together warped them so badly i will have to completely build a new set using the hardware and the salvageable material that wasn't heat effected byt the welds from these to save on costs per request. I'm much rather start over with new 4130 3/4" tube

here's ther bike when it was brought over assembled in the sunny day yesterday

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IT's all little simple stuff, but it was time consuming. Especially until i discovered that my hose from the argon tank had a hole in it, i was barely getting any gas at all to the first welds on then seat bars and went through a brand new Q tank mounting those and the rear d'zeus tab .


A little side rant and why i might not do anymore work to this bike.
The reason i say i doubt i'd be doing any more work on this bike is that he knew my hourly rate as the worse case scenario of doing this before i started, and I supplied all the materials) And when i gave him what i felt was the deal of the year and said 150 bucks (because i deducted 2 hours time for the bad argon line giving me fits, and he grew up with all the people i run with that i met when i moved here 14 years ago and races with my good friend) I even said i'd still weld on the wheely bar tabs for the new setup free when he's ready for em, he goes into "oh, i didn't think it was gonna be that much, i've only got like a 100 bucks"

God i'm sorry to ramble but that pissed me off for the day, you don't come in knowing my labor rates and then ask "what you owe", the tell me "what you have" and expect me to take it happily like i am homeless guy with a welder and a bunch of scrap metal. That paid for the materials, argon & TIG rod, end mill wear, and electricity at the most. Not even counting that i let him be there so everything was fit tailored to him, did it on my FRIDAY EVENING when i consider myself "off work", then because i ran out of argon with the bad line i woke up extra early to get it finished intime for tech inspection to race today.

Broken down to it say i made 2 bucks because he bought me a coke yesterday) Apparently the guy who brought him over must have told him about all the times i've helped him slave for hours and hours making him parts for his bike and never asked for more than enough to cover the materials and such and get me a lunch, which that guy also runs my company name huge on his bike, his starter cart, and also tells everyone he knows about the work i've done and makes sure they get a card when he's talking about bikes and stuff at the track, i haven't known this guy 2 days. I've never had some one try and cheap out like that on meI'm not looking for more "friends" to help out by laboring hours for free and having them just cover what was used and a few bucks on top, i got plenty of those already.

I swear, Every since i had to move out of my retail space I CONSTANTLY have people wanting me to do nice high quality work for hand outs... Yet when i HAD the store front, 60 bucks an hour + materials was the the cost of everything,and no one ever tried chipping me down on work i already discounted and it was never questioned, well all the same tools are being used to to all the same work by the same person, it didn't all the sudden become some guy witha ton of scrap metal and welder looking for projects to play with (which is now what i say will be the most,. and i'll take off a little to help them out ) which doesn't hurt not paying rent in a shop anymore and people like to feel like they got a deal. And if this guy wasn't brought to me by a close friend and in the same circle with me, I wouldn't have let him take the bike outta here, but i chalked up the losses and he can pay full price or find some one else to do his fab and welding

 

[spoonman]

I know what you mean exactly, so many a$$ holes thinking that just because i like cars and racing I am super willing to help them with welding and fabricating parts for free. I have spent over $7000.00 for my Tig set up and all the tools that I require to lay good beads. And yeah people consumables do cost alot, tungsten, argon, filler, diamond TG grinder wheels, cleaning alcohol. They always forget that metal/material cost me money, just because I have a crap ton of aluminum sheet and tube but does not mean it is worth the same as a Coke can to me.


And when you dont want to pay me a fair price! I would rather be spending time with my wife than working on my own car. So working on someone elses is even less than appealing to me.



Nice parts and good work Glenn

 

[turboglenn]

Man, exactly... I don't think it could have been put any better than how you said it

And yea this stuff is by no means cheap and gets raised in price at least 3 times a year at least at linweld and airgas i have to use... I have about the same in my TIG setup alone (well the main unit and contractor package was 4101.00 new) but add filler and all the extras like argon and such and there's at least 6 in that alone, but then there's the mill, plasma, MIG, lathe and I didn't buy it to do favors for people i bought it for ME and so I could make MONEY with IT to PAY FOR IT when i'm not using it for MY needs..

I bet you probably get it the same reason i'm starting to think i get it, it's probably because you're nice and friendly to them , probably try and get their input to make sure it's exactly what they want and because you want to make sure they're happy as hell with the money they spent when they leave

(at least that's been my main goal along with doing quality work first) ...And most definitely not just some one who says.. "this is X amount of dollars, no you can't come in the shop, i'll call you when it's done, take it or leave it, i don't care". Because i doubt anyone pulls that crap on shops like that, cause they know from the tone and attitude they're not gettin any favors. Or maybe it's customers like these that made those types the way they are. Maybe they got so sick of people trying to come in and get "buddy deals" or "free help" just because you're nice, and think you're just glad to be busy, so they have just come to hate people and be mean and short about business...

God i hope i don't have to be that way to keep growing but, i guess if i have to put a sign that says "just because i'm friendly, doesn't mean i'm your friend" OR "because i want you to be happy with the work I provide doesn't mean i'm doing it for free" or something right out in the open, i'll do what it takes i guess.. Good luck to ya on avoiding them out there on your end bud, and thanks for the kind words.. I guess we're our own worse critics like most people that work with their hands and such, so it's always good to hear it from some one else in the trades especially


, i'm sure there's tons of us out there that get the same thing happening.. OR, maybe it's just a nebraska thing i don't know but if any one has the answer on how you stop them before they get through the door, or even how to spot em ahead of time,. I"LL PAY for that knowledge (cause i'll save in the end )

 

[Imback]

I just got fed up with people shit and just tell them up front what it is and if they don't like fine go some were else.