May 6, 2002. Final update: the Tracy Hawk is done!

At long last the bodywork is finished, and the paint is spectacular. Still needs color sanding, but it's bright and shiny and gorgeous. Final test ride yesterday was great fun; it barked to life instantly, then prowled through the neighborhood growling through the Muzzy pipe. Out on the road, up through the gears, and beyond highway speed way too quickly. Down Highway K a couple miles, then slowing to turn onto a secondary road; mmmmm, sounds even more beautiful on deceleration, popping just a bit as I snick down the gears. Arc through a corner, up to third again. Stop sign, turn left, roll off in first gear & snap it back, and the front wheel is lofting itself with relative ease. I love this bike.

I will be handing over the keys to Tracy this week. MANY MANY thanks to all the listers who provided parts and/or advice, we'll see you on the road!

THE LONG VERSION:

The purpose of this site is to track the progress of the Tracy Hawk. I'm Robb, your tour guide; Tracy (aka "T-Bone") is my cousin & best friend, a motorcyclist who's owned a variety of inferior (i.e., "non Hawk") bikes, and this is the story of how we're putting one together for him.

I've spent a fair amount of time rambling on to Tracy about the virtues of the Hawk and the support community surrounding them. Tracy's actually met a few Hawkers, but he decided to join the group anyway. Heh. It took a ride on one earlier this year to convince him; I further convinced him that we could put one together on a budget. Plans were made, and he finally made the decision to part with his vintage CB550 showbike to raise the capital for a GT of his own.

We decided to get together for a ride and figure out our plan, and so he drove out one rainy Fall morning and we went ridin'. Undeterred by gray skies, steady rain, and wet leaves, we splashed around the Holy Hill area for a while before stopping for breakfast at a nice warm cafe with gawdawful coffee & passably good hashbrowns. The two bikes I had at that time were a study in contrasts; the '88 gray was all stock but for a Corbin seat, and the '89 red I'd recently bought from Ross W had been massaged nicely. A Supertrapp pipe & jetting so linear it might have been fuel injection, a Fox shock in the rear, and RaceTech forks made it the clear favorite of the two. What we want to build him is very close to the same; a mostly-stock bike with a few mild upgrades. He's got a painter lined up to shoot the color, which will definately be yellow, unless it's red, or possibly some other color.

On the way home, arcing carefully through the wet leaves, it suddenly occurred to me that if I went into a corner too quickly, and he followed me in, I could essentially crash both of my running bikes at once. I slowed even further. Ironically, the gray '88 sold the day following our rainy ride.

The build started in earnest, as most Hawk builds do, with an email to Dean Thimjon. "How many parts you need, and when do you need them?" were his only concerns. A bit of money changed hands, and a week later a delivery truck backed up & disgorged two huge boxes of parts. Frame, solo tail section, modified subframe, an entire electrical system, fuel tank, radiator ... lots of little bits & pieces. The rest of the parts are coming together from other listers and my own modest parts stash. We'd also find ourselves making frequent trips to www.partsfish.com for small bits, and www.bikebandit.com to make use of their excellent schematics. Barry Munsterteiger's offer of a cheap service manual, found in a used book store of all places, has been an invaluable resource as well.

All right, so I forgot to snap a "before" photo of the parts we started with, so I dragged the carcass outside & tried to make it look pitiful. Even against a rusty barrel, the shiny frame & forks look good. The frame was already polished when purchased from Dean, and the forks cleaned up without too much effort. Before slipping the forks on, Tracy & I opened them up & dumped the fluid, then cut the requisite PVC spacers & put in fresh oil. Naturally, we managed to mangle one of the fork caps during removal; lister Steve G stepped up with a pair of replacements which he shipped FREE OF CHARGE. Thanks Steve.

The signature Hawk hardware, polished to a brilliant luster. The swinger I received in the purchase from Dean had its' cush drive eliminated, and came with an assortment of aluminum sprockets; we wanted the full cush for ours, and rather than piecing it out, I worked a trade for this one. No sprockets included, but the cush drive was there, the polish job was better, and it already had the nifty through-the-arm stainless-steel brake line installed. Half an hour with the Mothers' polish had it gleaming. A swingarm isn't much use unless it holds the wheel on, so Jay Nemac & Frank Santorella stepped up with a rear axle, nut, collar, and misc bits to make it all work. Gary Bourgeois shipped a wheel in all the way from Canada, along with a bit of cash, in exchange for the used race tail & chopped subframe.

The headers were in great shape structurally, but were badly discolored. A few minutes with the d/a sander was followed by rubbing compound, then polishing compound; header on the right is nearly finished. I'm hopeful that they'll turn a nice blue after having a bit of heat through them. We'll see.

Certain things are MUCH easier if attacked in the proper sequence. Case in point: adding electrical components, inner fender, and the fuel pump system to the subframe BEFORE attaching it to the frame makes the job much more pleasant. The subframe itself, by the way, came from John B and looks great. I found the inner fender assembly, already trimmed, hiding in my garage rafters.

The red cowl was in great shape, excepting one broken front prong; the blue cowl was pretty well beat up, and so it sacrificed a foreward tip for the cause. The tip was cut off, and then the material outside the tab carefully ground off with an angle grinder until just the shaft was left. The prong was carefully aligned & bonded to the cowl, then allowed to set up. A layer of reinforcing fiberglass was then bondo'd to the inside for extra peace of mind. Don't forget to lightly grease the grommets on the subframe periodically; it's good preventative maintenance, and should reduce the stress on your prongs when removing your cowling. Speaking of bodywork, the fender came from Dean's parts too; it had a chunk missing from the rear edge, but a bit of trimming with the grinder smoothed that out nicely; it was still missing the inner metal brace, until Jim "Swiss" Schneider offered one up (along with a cush drive).

I couldn't resist putting together what we had accumulated so far. Note the gen-u-ine Mitch stand supporting the whole works; I traded a PitBull standard-style rearstand to Chris Porter for this one; Chris is resurrecting the design, by the way, and starting production again. There's a non-stock shock on the bike in this pic, which accounts for the 'tail dragger' stance. A Hawk shock has since been sourced from Will, along with a mint tail light assembly & a front master cylinder w/braided line in mint condition. The stock shock will be used until we find a suitable 900rr unit; we're actually looking at another alternative as well, more info to come on that.

Miscellaneous bits: we're mounting a stock tach front & center with the very last LoBuc tach mount I have in my possession, which has been hanging on my wall for a couple years just waiting for a project to attach itself to. I've sourced a Buell Cyclone windscreen, and am prepping it for paint; the center 'bulge' in that piece should conform around the centrally-mounted tach perfectly. We're using stock rearsets, and debating about whether to go with black F2 bars, or some silver SV650S clipons, both of which I have on hand. The SV units seem to move the bars about an inch further forward than the others. We don't have a motor lined up yet, but are hoping to find a stock(ish) mill closer to Spring. We do have the exhausting figured out however, and have purchased a Muzzy pipe from Dave Riffle (of RiffleHawk fame) that ought to add a nice bark and do an adequate job of alienating T-Bone from his neighbors.

PARTS NEEDED: Fuel pump in good working order. Tach wiring (we've got the tach, but the wires on the rear were clipped by a previous owner). Misc bits for the radiator asm, specifically the bracket(s) that connect the fan to the radiator, and the one that connects the radiator bottom to the frame. Sidestand assembly. Rear brake lever and related hardware (already have pegs/mounts/mc). Left side switchgear. Clutch lever/perch assembly. Shifter w/linkage.

AVAILABLE TO TRADE: Turn signals. New windscreens & aluminum chainguards. Centerstand.

QUESTIONS: How's the best way to tighten the large (45mm? 46mm?) nut on the left/rear side of the swingarm?

UPDATE 11/20/01: we've secured a motor! A wounded Hawk in the collection of J.D. Hord himself has given up its' heart so another may live, and so the great circle of life continues. J.D. is among the nations' foremost authorities on NT650's, and has proclaimed the low-mileage mill to be strong & complete. Needless to say, this is a much-needed boost for our project.

Tonights' progress: received a box of little goodies from Powersports Pro today, including the swingarm pivot spacer and a variety of specialty hardware. Assembled swingarm, stock shock, and rear m/c to frame. Bolted on subframe assembly with new hardware. Assembled top triple clamp, headlight assembly, tach mount. Test fit the Buell screen - that's gonna look snappy for sure. Conferred with client re: handlebars, will be going with F2 bars above the triple clamps. Found a front caliper in the parts bin, cleaned it up a bit, and bolted to fork. Attached fuel drain bracketry.

Well I've found one surefire way to bring a project to a screeching halt; put up a website & promise your friends you'll update it every night! Not much progress in the past few weeks, but a couple nice developments. Wally has retrieved our motor and says it's in pristine condition; we'll be picking that up immediately after the new year. Meantime, Santa hasn't been making the rounds yet, but Joe Hillygus is making like an elf and delivering some vital goodies. Today a box arrived containing a lock set (key, ignition, fuel cap), a sidestand, and a clutch lever/perch assembly (already mounted). Not flashy, but indespensible items, and all in perfect condition. Another box is on its' way, can't wait to see what goodies Joe has found this time :)

THE WORKSTAND

The T-Hawk has some company to keep it warm on these cold midwestern nights; I've started a Hawk project of my own, to replace my dearly departed red '89. I'm fitting an alternate tail section, and the first order of business was to knock together a workstand to make working on the bike a bit easier. Below is what I can up with, using some 3/4" plywood I had lying around, scrap 2"x4"s, and a bunch of drywall screws. A simple aluminum rod through the front engine mounts holds it in place, and the bottom of the frame rests on the rear of the stand, just ahead of the centerstand lugs. It's working out great so far, and provides plenty of stability; I may extend the horizontal members on the bottom, we'll see. As it sits, it's stable enough that I can climb on & check ergonomics of the frame/pegs/seat/bars as I go along. I built the stand to approximate the stock position of the frame on a complete bike, ie, the frame sits at the same altitude/attitude as a functional Hawk. Sliding a 2"x4" under each end will give me the ground clearance needed to slip on the forks, swingarm, and wheels when the time comes. Click the first image for a dimensioned .pdf drawing.

UPDATE 1-28-02. Well, we made some good progress this weekend. Tracy came over & helped to bolt the motor into the bike, an eerily smooth process. MANY thanks to Mike Pescetto for his suggestion to install the coils & coolant reservoir prior to putting in the motor. Good advice. With motor in place, we stood around in the 55 degree sunshine and drank a half case of beer to celebrate; well, we'd have done that anyway, but having the bike to 80% completion justified the celebration. With the motor in, we've just got a few major components (carbs, for instance) and a few dozen minor, fiddly pieces to source. This is the fun part of the project; each wire that I'm able to route & connect, each little bracket, brings us a step closer to having a whole, running bike.

UPDATE 1-31-02. Last night I cleaned up the wiring harness, pulling off all the brittle, useless, dangling tape, then cleaning the wires & carefully rewrapping it. I'm anxious to get the harness in & see if we're missing any components, but I'd like to wait until it's warmer out, as they get pretty stiff in the cold. I don't think we're missing anything electrical, the last batch of goodies from Joe Hillygus contained most all the electrics. A complete ignition switch without a key was mated to a half-switch with a key, and bolted into place. Still need the hook up the radiator (missing lower bracket, will bend a new one), and the fan (same deal, got a fan but no fan-to-radiator bracket). Need switchgear. Still got the stock shock on the rear. Bodywork still not painted, otherwise we're in pretty good shape. Carbs have been sourced & will be here shortly.

UPDATE 2-6-02. Wiring harness is installed, just waiting on the switchgear and a couple pieces of routing information for some of the remaining stuff. I don't think I located the connector for the rear coil to plug into yet, stuff like that. Got a package of small goods from PowerSportsPro last night, including a new shifter shaft and nuts, some new acorn nuts and exhuast gaskets, a bolt & sleeve for the tank, etc. Haven't decided whether to go with the Big Dick style exhaust right away, or put the Muzzy on for tuning purposes first. At least I can get the headpipes on later today. Carbs are on the way. Tracy's (supposed to be) contacting Wally about a 900rr shock. Need to order the tires. No big stuff left, just a lot of little fiddly parts to be sourced or made, like the radiator bracketry, the thermostat, oh geez I'm never going to finish this thing :)

UPDATE 2-7-02. Nice & warm yesterday, the perfect time to unwind and work on the bike. I spent an hour, half of that getting the rear exhuast header on. Yeah, you think that's funny? Well BITE ME, put a stopwatch on yourself next time YOU have to install one. Whoa, sorry, didn't mean to lash out. It's a bit tricky to reach that one - take your time, use lots of lubrication (I used Leinenkugels' Red, three bottles), and be sure to put the rear header on first. Might be good to leave off the clutch cable until it's on, too. Once that was on, I installed the front pipe (3 minutes), midpipe, Muzzy can (after a few more minutes at the buffing wheel). The rear coolant pipe came in yesterday (thanks John!), and that plugged right in.

UPDATE 2-14-02. Stayed up late on Tuesday night, and made some progress in both positive & negative directions. I got the front brakes bled easily, usually an hour-long job for me, and then found that the caliper was dragging badly, so off it came. Disassembled, found and removed the usual spooge from inside the bores. The pistons cleaned up nicely on the buffing wheel. Additional grime found beneath one of the inner seals. Reassembled, remounted, and it's half bled again; the trick about zip-tying the brake lever to the bar and leaving it seems to help, so each time I go past it, I tap on the line a little & give it a few squeezes.

Steve from the list is sending up some parts. Nothing fun, we're down to the essential-but-dreary stuff now; radiator hose, coolant tube, rear brake pedal and reservoir, etc. Oh, and a fan. Funny thing, I've had a fan all along, but it had a mangled mount; a replacement shroud arrived yesterday, and after trying to fit it, it became apparent that the fan I have isn't a Hawk fan, and doesn't fit. Leslie Neilsen was right: irony can be pretty ironic sometimes. Carbs are on their way from Greg Dunn, that's the last major component that we're missing. I got some wiring for the tach too, which needs to be trimmed & rewrapped, as we're only using the tach & two idiot lights. Switchgear arrived from Joe Hillygus, and it's in BEAUTIFUL shape. Definately owe Joe a couple beers for his help with this bike. The right side cluster is mounted, haven't done the left yet.

2/20/2002. What a great day. I had more fun in the first 10 minutes after I arrived home than in the 10 hours I spent in my office today. Two boxes were waiting impatiently on my doorstep when I got home; the first held a set of carbs from Greg Dunn, and they were gorgeous. (Note: I also purchased a set earlier this month from Frank Santorella, which are tagged for use on Long Term Project Hawk #2). Many thanks to Greg for these ultra-clean carbies (complete with choke cables, and allen-head hardware), I can hardly wait to get that other coolant tube so I can install these things. The second box, from Joel, contained a beautiful Regina gold chain, brand new. I love those things. Also included was a perfect fan assemblage, which bolted up to the radiator much more nicelier than the non-Hawk one I previously wasn't using. Many thanks to you two fine fellows, and the rest of the list. I'm in a warm/fuzzy mood now. Oh, that left-side switchgear is mounted by the way. Life is good.

2/25/02. Received a brand new 15T 520 sprocket today (thanks John), which was installed. That inspired me to install the rear also, another brand new aluminum unit from Len, if I remember correctly. The beautiful gold Regina chain purchased recently is 1/2 a link too short; I knew that when I bought it, but figured with the smaller front sprocket, and the adjuster all the way forward, it would fit. It doesn't. Still no package from PartsFish yet, which is holding up my carb installation. Still need a thermoswitch, Mike P says he's got one. All switchgear is mounted, guage wiring is finished (need bulbs). Rear brake reservoir is mounted, got a lever, need springs & clips. Getting down to the really small stuff now.

3/5/02. Got the box from PartsFish a couple nights ago, and despite being so tired I could barely stand up, I just had to install SOMEthing. Put the coolant tubes on, then decided to wait with the carbs until I was better rested. Bolted the sidestand on. DAMMIT, it's BENT! It sticks out WAY too far forward when it's extended, and ... wait a minute, it's on backwards. Removed, reattached, much better. Spent $70 on a cooling system on Ebay, just to get the thermoswitch - sounds like it might take a while to get it, seller's waiting for the check to clear before shipping. Still need a battery, some bulbs, the thermoswitch, clips for the rear brake pedal, and if we don't have painted bodywork soon, I'm going over to Tracy's house with a can of Krylon myself. Oh, almost forgot about the wheels; we're not powdercoating, instead we decided to paint (semi-gloss black), then polish the rims. I did a bit of the dented rim I've got under the workbench, and it looked damned snappy. Oh, and we've got the modified 900rr shock from Wally (thanks man!); the reservoir cleaned up nicely with some polish, and it's already got the spacer & correct spring, so we're looking forward to sliding it into position. No work on the bike the last two days, it's below zero here and I'm not about to crack the carb boots by trying to install them until it warms up at least a little bit.

3-13-02. Still no thermoswitch, so we can't try starting the bike. Tracy got tires mounted at the local moto shop; both are mounted backwards, so they've got to go back. This will be the first time I've ever asked a shop to rotate my tires. Carbs are mounted (thanks Greg, they're beautiful!), throttle/choke cables hooked up, grips are on, etc. Shock is mounted, need to fab a reservoir mount this week. Another batch of insignificant little parts has been ordered. Tonio supplied a fuel switch relay, Kelly sent an airbox (note: still need the airbox-to-carb boots, anyone have a pair to sell?). Bodywork is finally at the painters along with some correct stickers, should be done in a week. Can't wait to fire this thing.

3-14-02. I love coming home to see a package waiting on my doorstep. Tonight, it held the cooling system I bought from Ebay a few weeks back. Rather than shelling out $50+ for the thermoswitch, I bought the whole enchilada (radiator, fan, switch, hoses, coolant filler) from a fellow on Ebay (Gino?) for around $60. It arrived carefully wrapped and in very nice condition. I gleefully unscrewed the switch and threaded it into the radiator already mounted on the bike, plugged in the wire, and dumped in a quart of coolant. Half a quart, actually. See, I didn't see much point in dumping in the last half, after watching the first 1/2 quart POUR OUT OF THE F&*$ING RADIATOR, onto the F$^&*ING FLOOR OF MY GARAGE. Yeah, it seems (heh heh!!) the radiator's got some "integrity issues", so I guess we'll be pulling that off & replacing it this weekend. Good thing I bought more than just the little piece I needed, eh wot? Always an adventure, isn't it? HAH!! I love working on old bike, no, seriously I do. Ohhhh, it's just so exciting. Seriously. Okay, going to bed now, g'night.

3-21-02. Things looking much brighter now. For starters, I replaced the radiator with the one I had to buy to get the switch, and that one leaked too. Hmmm, helluva coincidence. Turns out some idiot (that would be me) overlooked a sensor on the bottom of the thermostat housing; once that was installed, things became magically water tight. Got the last box o' parts yesterday, put on the fuel line, and well, we're not pumping fuel. HOWEVER, dribbling a little fuel into the open carbs had the bike firing up immediately, oh HAPPY DAY!! I nearly wept with relief. Bought some fuel line, a clean funnel, and some splices today, planning to jury-rig an I.V. for the bike & run it some more this weekend, then investigate the fuel pump, and why it's not. Pumping fuel, that is. Very little to do now but wait for the bodywork to return from the painters'. Drive chain should be here today, I've located the carb snorkels, need to fill/bleed the rear brake system, one final torquing of the critical bolts, some turn signals need to happen, and we'll be on the road.

May 2002, the bike is done, at least in the sense that any Hawk can be "finished." Obviously lots has happened since the last update, sorry I haven't kept on top of things better here on the site. Fuel pump cleared itself up, the jetting is sorted (thanks again to Greg Dunn who supplied the super-clean carbs and post-sale jetting advice), Buell signals were sourced and mounted, basically everything's done. I'm sure more tweaks will follow, but other than mounting the speedo sensor ("No, officer, in fact I DON'T know how fast I was going"), it's officially complete. Many thanks to all who helped with parts and/or advice, you're too numerous to mention but you're not forgotten.