Bdav's Nightster Hardtail Build
 

Hey all, I'm currently getting everything set up to weld on this hardtail ass end I picked up from Bitter End Old School Choppers. For now, I'm posting pics of things being removed from the bike and a couple pieces getting fabbed up. Were welding the hardtail on next week no bad luck so I'll post more pics up then.


Here I'm marking a few lines where I need to cut. The reason I'm marking more than one is because I always cut long first. Theres a point where the frame stops coming down at an angle and starts to kick back straight to go out to your fender struts. That point is eventually where were gonna get to.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild001.jpg

The other place that is getting cut are these two massive tubes. Thats gonna leave us a hole in each tube that we can fill up later with end caps.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild013.jpg

Here I'm getting all of the wiring out from under the seat area and rear wheel area and sitting it up near the motor, out of the way for now. Later on once were all welded on I will move them back.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild005.jpg

Im just adding this pic to show people where you can drain your oil out in case you dont already know. Right up under the bike and toward the back theres a drain line hanging down with a plug. Just remove the plug and drain away. Also, this piece of frame is where the bottom part of the new frame will weld to, just in front (or behind, however you wanna look at it) of the master cylinder.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild004.jpg

The oil tank, battery and battery tray are all gone. Now, with where I will mount the new oil tank a few of my lines are gonna be a little short so I'm just adding some fittings that will help me extend up to the new tank once I get it on.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild010.jpg

Heres a pic of the new oil tank from the manufacturers site. The tank hasnt gotten here yet. I needed one a little wider than what they usually sale.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...OEKclKg_12.jpg

Got the wheel dropped down and the fender off.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild007.jpg

Removed the wheel here and set it aside a long with the rear brake. Were gonna be using all of it for the new hardtail. No new wheel.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild008.jpg

Now you can do this at any point and even at this point it isnt necessary really because Im not fitting anything up yet, but I like to check levelness of the bikes a million times throughout a build. Ive got the bike held up on a lift that lets me adjust the angle that the bike is sitting in case I need to compensate for an un-level floor. I recommend checking levelness at different points on the bike also because once the hardtail gets slid in to place it's gonna be really important for everything to be level.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild011.jpg

And heres where the old frame has been removed. Were basically just taking it off and putting it in the trash. The two monster tubes at the bottom are a little tricky when youre about to go through the wall at the end of the cut so we had to just slow down a tad to keep from hanging up. Later on I'll come in and weld on a couple end caps just to cover the hole and clean up the look a little. The frame itself will be welded on where the two top cuts were made and then up under the bike right where the rear master cylinder sits, so were gonna clean up those areas to give us a nice surface to weld to.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild014.jpg

Another thing we needed was a battery tray. Now you can buy one, reuse the stock one with a little modification, or make a new one. Now I made a new one and it's just a little bit wider than the battery because I'm gonna be sitting the ECM beside the battery there. Now Ive got the battery and ecm sideways here so you can see the bottom and one side of the battery tray. Ill be fabbing up a clamp to hold the two in later on.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...ilbuild015.jpg

Heres the hardtail itself. It doesnt look like the pic is gonna be near as big as the others but I cant get it to adjust so sorry about that. Like I said, this will be getting welded on next week and if I can get my ass in gear the thing should be rolling again by next saturday. Ill post more pics then. Thanks for viewing.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/...s/hardtail.jpg

praises to ya...good luck on getting her ready as soon as possible...keep us posted with the progress, like pics and descriptions....

Nice! Keep the pictures coming!

Awesome stuff, I'm looking forward seeing how the weld comes out. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Good Luck hope it all works out well for you

aw man this is gonna be gnarly. i must say, i used your old pics for a lot of reference when i was chopping my struts, fender and what not so thanks. this is gonna be bad ass though man, can't wait to see it finished.

Next Saturday? If you get your ass in gear? If I got my ass in gear it would take me a year to finish a project like this. Amazing work.

Can't wait to see the final product!

Looks like you have a good plan and doing it right, can't wait to see her done.

Yeah, what he said...

Hail to you guru chop
 

Wow - cant wait to see the end result, your so lucky you know how to do stuff to your bike, when i tell people here i wanna go hard tail they go "Hugh" lol - cant wait for this 1 :D