"Popeye"

Well I've had one of these in my head for quite awhile and when this one popped up I couldn't pass. It's a 1950 Chevrolet 3100 (1/2 ton) short wheel base built in Baltimore in May 1950. It has a clean title and good trim tag (getting to be a rare occurence on these barn finds).

The Sportster build is almost done, the tins are at the bodyshop being painted right now. Unfortunately it will have to be sacrified to make room for this new obsession. I justify my short attention span by realizing that a motorcyle can only be enjoyed by me and only on select days. An old pickup can be enjoyed with the whole family any day and will be lots of fun. So here we are. It will have to be set aside for awhile until the new baby comes and the bike is finished and sold but I will get built.

My plans are to go with the "R" word theme which is "Rat Rod" for those unaquainted with the style. The term is being overused and kind of gets under peoples skin including mine so I won't use it again. But the style is original paint, anything goes looks but functional and COOL. This truck is a perfect candidate because it has a nice original patina which is also hard to find and can't be recreated. Right down to the old rusty, torn in 1/2, Kansas licence plate from 30 years ago clinging to the tailgate.

I plan to fully build the chassis including a Mustang II IFS with rack and pinion steering, 4-link rear, 10-bolt differential with air bags. The drivetrain in my head right now is a 5.3L Vortec from a 2002 Silverado complete with fuel injection and possibly an NV3500 5-speed transmission to replace the original 216 inline and 3 speed Saginaw. Power disc / drum brakes will provide the stopping power.

The interior will be freshened up including rubber, glass, gauges and wiring. The exterior will retain it's looks except maybe some small rust repairs and a clean, painted engine bay. I'm thinking of adding some Marina blue metalflake paint on the dash, wheels and firewall. Of course the whole truck begs for some nice pinstriping and/or vintage style lettering. It will roll on steel wheels and wide white wall tires.

The name "Popeye" comes from my Grandpa, he was short and had huge forearms so people called him Popeye. He also liked these trucks and I can remember him telling me he wished I had one. So here's to My Grandpa.

Here is a good example of my vision:

getting there

Here's a quick update. It's just mocked-up for the time being.

New stuff:

- new tank, traded on Craigslist for the fatboy wheel
- road6customs 16" apes, EBAY
- 2" black risers, EBAY

- Lepera solo seat, EBAY

- 2" black exhaust, EBAY
- HD texture painted cases, rocker box covers. This took lots of sanding and prep but was worth the effort, looks just like factory.

All the tins will be gloss black, with some very light custom work probably ghost flames in dark grey. Shocks will be black too. I'm not sure about the seat, I may have it re-worked or swap it out later. I have all the extended cables, wiring extension, grips, etc. Right now I've got about $1200 into all the above stuff including a bunch of fasteners and stuff, everything has come from Ebay, Craigslist (several trades) and the local Indy shop. Still need forward controls, signals, brake light and paint supplies.

I'm modding all of the tins. The rear fender has been chopped, the holes will be filled. The front fender will be lowered by sectioning the mounts. The tank will be raised 2" in the front by cutting/re-welding the front mounts.

Progress...sort of

Painted the front end stuff last weekend - forks, trees, speedo mount, headlight ring and headlight. Also prepped the engine cases and rocker box covers for paint. Some of my nuts and bolts from HD arrived yesterday, allowing me to mock-up the front end. Oddly one of the wheel spacers is on backorder. I ran into a snag though, I mistakenly thought that the front axle was 1", but it is in fact 3/4" so I have to swap wheel bearings. Minor setback. Also I have a set of lower fork boots on the way...Soon as the spacer and boots come and I get the bearings swapped I can permanently mount the front end.

The bars will probably be my next purchase, right now I'm thinking about these from road6customs:

Another Craigslist score

I've been all over the map about what to do with the rear shocks, from one spectrum to another including riding struts, road king shocks, cutting down the stockers...one thing's for sure I want it low. As with everything else "Harley" you have to pay to play in a big way. Lowered Progressive shocks are about $300 (can you say overpriced/overseas junk???). Seriously there's a piston and a spring that's it. I was dilligently searching Craigslist and came across these:
They're 10.5" which is about as low as you would care to go on a Sportster (some go 10" but remember I'm a big fella). At $70 I consider them a bargain, now just have to decide how to address the chrome-ocity issue. I'm thinking about smoking them so they look like black chrome, stay tuned. By the way, PASTOR AL and TOM WILLIAMS if your reading this you'll be happy to know these came off a HONDA VTX. It's my peace offering to you Honda lovers. Big thanks to Jessie's cousin Grant for picking them up in Eldorado Springs, MO.


Still waiting on some parts from HD to put the front end back together but here's a teaser shot I took to keep me motivated.

Chasing parts...

Collecting parts is going to be the hardest part of this project. I'm all about the deals mostly on Craigslist and Ebay which saves money but also takes time. The first week I was able to find a take-off sportster front end on Craigslist and I just happened to know the guy because he built me a transmission a few weeks back. So we struck a deal, I traded my ugly old fatboy front end and big seat plus $100 for nearly new forks, trees, headlight, axle and speedometer. Not too shabby considering that's about $1K in crap from the dealer. I also picked up a stock rear fender from EBAY for $36 plus shipping last week. Nice little score considering most go for at least $100. I used a program called snipeswiper for the first time which proxy bid for me at the last minute.

It took another three weeks to find a matching front wheel because they just can't be found and my new forks are for a 1" axle...meaning I had to use a later front wheel. Found one in Oklahoma City from an '05 Dyna with tire for $100. Luckily my buddy Kenny runs through there weekly so he picked it up for me. Last weekend I did this little project with the wheels:

Hopefully I don't regret using rattle-cans on these. I spent alot of time on prep and I am capable of spraying auto paint but it would have been another pretty good investment in materials. The duplicolor wheel paint I used gets some really good reviews so we'll see. I can always have them blasted and painted or coated if I'm not happy.

I took them to get mounted back on the tires today. My back tire is nearly brand new and the one that came with the front wheel has some good life left in it. I got lucky and they are both identical HD Dunlops. I stopped by the dealer and spent $46 on a small handfull of nuts and bolts, mostly for the front end. It was really tricky because the year of the front end is unknown so the parts counter guy had to help me look at every possible year till we found the right one.

This is a milestone because I am closer to getting the bike back to "roller" status. I just have to paint the front forks/trees and assemble the front end and mount the rear wheel and fender. So I'll probably be back when that's done, just have to remember to take lots of pics!

ALMOST FORGOT! Scored a HD service manual for $8 today from some web service. I downloaded it then printed and found the perfect heavy duty binder. So HD can take their $60 manual and go have a bonfire for all I care. It also came with the bonus electrical section complete with all the wiring diagrams. All of the maintenance, assembly procedures and specifications are in the manual with detailed photos and blow-ups. ROCK!

So I'll be back when the front end and wheels are on. Sorry for the crappy formatting I did used paragraphs but they don't post like that for some reason?

Let the games begin!

I made quick work of tearing it down, but I agonized over which direction to take the build. I really like the old-school bobber style however it seems that it's getting played out. Just like rat rods this too shall pass. The lastest family of "dark customs" by HD including the Nighster 1200 and Iron 883 caught my eye. I made the decision to go with and anti-chrome look inspired by these bikes. The theme will be black/black with painted 13 spoke wheels, 14 or 16" ape hangers, chopped rear fender, blacked-out engine covers, solo seat and short LOUD black pipes. The only thing I'm still up in the air on is the seat, no sure if I want a simple solo seat or thin springer type seat. Here's a couple good examples of the look: