1978flh05

1978 H-D FLH BUILD: PAGE 7

At this point mock up was complete, actually it was done three or more times getting the parts with the correct look and fit to make me a happy camper. Paint is complete and now it was time to iron out a few more details to be ready for final assembly. First I had to finally break down and drop the cash on my engine which I chose a factory new 80 cubic inch silver and chrome Evolution. Purchased from a reputable dealer it was drop shipped directly from the Harley Davidson factory.

SHINY NEW EVO SILVER & CHROME ENGINE HITS THE DOOR

The H-D silver & chrome Evo crate engine is turning a Revtech 6 speed tranny to complete the power train. For those of ya'll that think a Evolution motor or a six speed won't fit in a 4 speed frame you just cut, stretch and weld until it does. If you missed how that happened, just follow the links back to the beginning of this build. The fact that the powertrain combo does not want to marry each other doesn't matter either if the builder is a total freak. Effort and desire will overcome impossible everytime.

MY CUSTOM FLOORBOARDS

Before final assembly a few more parts had to be built or modified to cut time on the lift. I made the billet aluminum floorboards and oil coolers in my shop using my CAD/CAM C.N.C machine. Being able to do in-house CNC work doesn't hurt when you are building a bike. The design on my floorboards pays homage to the town in which I live. Gainesville, Georgia is nicknamed the "Chicken City" due to the tremendous influence the poultry industry has on our economy. According to design, these units sell in the 450.00 to 950.00 range. May be expensive but how many skull and flame designs can you see before they all look the same. A true custom bike should look custom down to the smallest detail.

MY HOME MADE OIL COOLERS LOOK GOOD AND FUNCTION

When it came time to choose oil coolers the aftermarket choices were just not that great. Everything either looked like a scaled down radiator or the billet units all looked the same. These oil coolers were made on my personal CNC machine tools. I have a full machine shop just for personal projects such as these. To machine these items was a three day process followed by a day of assembly and final finish. I have had several people request copies. Every set I make is different down to the mounts specific for the bike. I want each job to be totally unique. There is a significant amount of machine time and labor in custom item like these. If your interested, according to design and complexity, you are looking at 800.00 to 1,300.00 dollars per set.

THE BIKE IS BROKEN DOWN TO GO TO FINAL ASSEMBLY

For the job of final assembly I had two of the best men on the East Coast help me. The final build was done at Hartman Top Fuel Cycles in Canton Georgia. Greg and Shane have a full-on shop with a complete machine shop, in-house powder coating, dynamometer and everything a person could need for building a bike right. To oversee the build Pete Minor of PM Fab, a custom Top Fuel car and bike builder, came down from South Carolina and spent two weeks making sure everything was done to perfection. With Greg and Pete both lending their expertise there was no way this bike was going to turn out other than perfect.

The entire shop lent a hand on this build with Shane doing all of the powder coating, Josh feeding us parts as fast as we could bolt them on and Travis helping anytime he could. It was a real life version of the "Build or Bust" television show. I got to build my own bike but had a shop full of experts assisting me and taking the reigns whenever I got in over my head. This was not a cheap process. To lease shop space in a busy shop, bring in one of the countries best builders from out of state to manage the project, along with the 9 1/2 months I already had in the job, other work that had been outsourced before we got to this point like powdercoating put me deeper into this bike than buying a new one and it was still nothing but a pile of unassembled parts.

DREAMSICKLE BUILD PAGE 1 DREAMSICKLE BUILD PAGE 2

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DREAMSICKLE BUILD PAGE 5 DREAMSICKLE BUILD PAGE 6

DREAMSICKLE BUILD PAGE 7 DREAMSICKLE BUILD PAGE 8

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