A tribute to my Dad and Billy Mays

My goal from the start in this venture was to see if I

could get this thing running without spending a lot of money, which means I wasn't going for cosmetics beyond what I could accomplish inexpensively.  

Sometimes the line between cosmetic and esential blurs a little.  Take for example the piece shown to the right.
It is called the "upper fork cover." (The section of the part illustrated doesn't actually cover the fork but still it is part of the fork cover and there are two of them.

Most of the surface rust cleaned off but as you can see they are kind of pitted as well.  Not the problem.  See the verticle line to the left of the hole?  That is from flexing and is very weak, and both the left and right side are cracked.  This crack is even more evident in the middle photo if you click on it and zoom in.

So now it becomes a matter of having the headlight securely fastened as opposed to nice chrome.  I find that These parts are available on e-Bay in the $20 to $35 price range but that those parts really don't look much better than the ones I have, so I'm not too excited about that. 

I keep looking and actually find some brand new ones on e-Bay.  Great.  Unfortunately the "buy it now" price for the pair is $200.  This might be OK if I were into the 'full restoration' stage, but a little steep for the 'let's see if this thing will run, and if I can ride' stage.  So I just put away the tools, clean up the mess and step back for a while.  I just know something will occur to me.

If only there was a way to reinforce the parts I have that would be not too noticeable until I'm into the beautification process....

Now the part around the hole in the photo that looks like a washer is part of the original part, and appears to be soldered or welded through holes under the chrome...if that had been bigger or if the whole thing had been thicker metal...

Well now I'm guessing you know who the late Billy Mays was, right?  You remember. the guy who was all the time hawking amazing products on the tube that did unbelievable things.  One of his things was Mighty-Putty.  Mighty-Putty can do everything from fix a broken coffee cup to pulling a tractor-trailer.  I know because Billy said so.

Well if it can do all of that, surely it can reinforce this lil' ol' motorcycle piece.  (If anyone reading this a motorcycles purist, I think I hear you groaning.)

So I cut a piece of sheet metal I had laying around to fit the back side of the headlight bracket, knead me up a hunk of Mighty Putty, which if you have never done that and don't know creates a chemical reaction and doesn't smell nice, and slap it all together.  What you see to the right is the inside of one of the brackets (which isn't going to show) after the repair.  as you know Mighty-Putty can be painted, sanded, drilled, tapped, and even machined when fully cured.  (Says so on the package.)

Ok, I know that's like only two steps ahead of duct tape but it actually looks like it's going to work.  It does kinda remind me of that e-mail my brother sent out last week titled "guys can fix anything, but what the heck, Billy Mays would approve...and come to think of it so would my Dad...who hated to see any thing go to waste.

By the way if you aren't following this blog, you should be.

And there it is.  The headlight is secure, (more secure than before) neither the Mighty Putty nor the sheet metal is visible, and I still have the $200.