Article And Photos By: Chris Callen
Originally Published In The January 2019 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine
C’mon man! Of course the day I realize that the motor mount position on the frame for Something Wicked will not accept a stock but nicely chromed motor mount would be a Sunday. Of course, I would also be out of both pre made bungs and steel rod to make any bungs from to make my own damn motor mount. Isn’t this the case, but I decided to stop bitching and consider myself lucky that I did have a full tank of argon and all the rest of what it would take to weld the items once I figured out what to make them from.
As it turns out, in addition to built in air conditioning in winter, the added bonus of having a 1970s era gas station as a garage is the fact that there are many, many items left around to make things from. After searching around for a bit I found some old Plumb Bobs that the old boy who used to own this place left behind in his ancient ass tool box.
They weren’t much to look at but, they were the right diameter and they were good old fashioned hard ass steel. Once I got a few hundred years of surface rust off them I chucked them up in the band saw.
I got them chucked up in the lathe and making several bit changes I soon got the size for the bolts that I would use to mount them to both spots on the heads and the third location on the frame itself. I recommend using cutting fluid and taking your time, Mark prefers the destroy the drill bits method.
Since I didn’t have any counter bore bits I used a technique I can’t show you here as I’m sure it was dangerous but it was Sunday and I had to have everything ready to ship to the chrome plater the next morning so I threw caution to the wind. I would recommend you using counter bore bits to create the socket for your socket head bolts.
I did have some sections of small diameter steel rod that with some help from my Weld Table and fixtures I managed to create the sections to go from mount to mount with.
With my bung created and my rod bent into shape it was time to get them welded together.
With the bungs bolted into place, I tacked the top two rods in place. Remembering that the nature of a weldement fixture is to move with heat, I took my time and didn’t try to weld it all at one time.
Finally I tacked in the cross bar, again welded it a small spot at a time and then sanded and polished it to make ready for chrome.
In the end it worked out for the best. Not only did I get a hand made part for the build, but the old boy and the shop are forever part of it!
