Pre-weld mockup with engine

Did a new set up with the frame, engine and front and rear wheels.  I did some modification to the hardtail frame.  It was not fitting very well so I cut the cross support and seperated the frame into two pieces.  I was able to line up one side of the frame with the original swingarm in place and clamp it right where it needed to be.  Then I removed the swingarm and installed the other side of the hardtail and clamped that into place, then installed the tire.

 By cutting the cross supports I was also able to widen the tail and fit the original Honda wheel in much better.

Some light cleaning..

Did a little bit of cleaning on the triple trees today.  Basically just cleaning the paint off, not finished yet but looks a lot cleaner than the old black paint all ready.

Welding prep and alignment.

Did some work on the CL this weekend, started getting the frames ready to be welded together.  Cleaned off some of the old paint and primer.

This is how I will fit the two pieces together.  The hardtail will slide right into the original Honda frame and will weld the two together on the inside of the Honda frame.

But I could not stop there...too much fun!

So I added the front tire as well.  I tried it two different ways, with the front forks clamped in the usual way.   Then I pushed the clamps down a bit to get a lower stance.  I love the way it looks so far, I really like how is is shaping up.

Coming together...(slowly)

Just for fun I started doing a mock up of the build.  I clamped the frames together, threw the front forks on and added the rear tire to see how it is looking.  Just this little bit of assembly made me very excited to continue.

Frame pieces.

After much contemplating, I decided to go ahead and make the cuts to remove the rear frame from the front.  I just strapped the frame to my work bench and grabbed the hacksaw and started cutting.  The first cuts on the bike actually felt pretty good.  It felt even better when I matched the original frame to the purchased one and they lined up fairly well.

More work done!

The build has moved inside, better light and warmth.  The propane heater I have in the garage ran out of gas so I snuck some parts inside.  I have removed everything from the frame, and have a good idea about how I want to connect the two frame parts together.