Decided to work on some of the smaller items for the 84 chop, things that would be the same regardless of what I do to the frame, as that project is waiting on some materials to build a frame jig.

The sprocket cover has been bothering me, everytime I look at it I get annoyed. I decided the day I got the bike that I was going to move to forward controls (at 6’1″ the mids are just a wee bit uncomfortable for me), so the rear master cylinder no longer needs to be bolted there, nor do the brake lever, foot peg, brake stop bracket, etc. Combine this with the plan to hand engrave the rocker covers, primary, sprocket and cam covers and a nice big blank area just sounded right.



As removed from the bike, crud and all

The inside was even prettier



Years of road gunk

Little bit of wear from the chain





The chain wear will be repaired before being put back into service.

So I started out with a sawzall, cut the big chunks off

Big chunks cut off and set back in place:



Then it was time for some grinding



A little sharpie to outline areas needing welding


All but the three recessed holes will be filled in.

Not the prettiest welds (the first pass impressed even me) but it’s welded up and ready for grinding back down. I was really surprised how well it welded, until I noticed that a little more heat to even things out brought up some bubbles like farts in a hot tub. We’ll see when it gets ground down if there are any voids that require additional filling, but I think I worked all of them out.



All but the bottom front corner got welded from both sides



Just can't get me enough of that cast aluminum!