Shadow Build

[Lotus54]

Certainly looks nice! Even the factory ‘standard’ polish on the Borannis I got for my Benelli Enduro project are quite shiney.

[John H]

They do polish up nice and stay nice longer than some brands. I had these polished several years ago. The rear wheel had a light film of oxidation that took about 3 hours to remove. It was wrapped in plastic while the front was wrapped in newspaper and was fine.

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[John H]

Wheels are finally finished as well as the brakes. I still plan on finishing a set of cast aluminum brake plates. They were originally cast in magnesium and fitted on Lightnings. Since mag castings have a short life span I had a batch of them cast in aluminum. They are more rigid than the stamped steel plates. Now just finding the time to machine them up.

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[John H]

I have been debating on going with new stainless steel mudguards or trying to massage the original burmabright alloys back to life. Stainless is nice but just doesn't have that vintage luster. Well, alloy it is. They will require several holes being filled as well as bumps, dips and scratches removed. Once that's done much sanding and polishing will finish it off.
I'm putting an order together so focusing on the rear frame hardware. I'm trying to use as many original parts as possible. This means stripping then refinishing with files and sanders. Some pieces will get chromed, some cad plated and some painted. It's a slow process but I'm slowly getting there.

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[Lotus54]

If you want to vaporhone the inside of those, give me a hollar. It should fit inside my machine and leave a nice satin finish.

[John H]

I'll take you up on the offer. Still a lot of massaging before getting to that point. I borrowed a mini english wheel from George. One he made for a special project. It will be perfect for smoothing out those little pimples caused by rocks and such coming off the tire. These alloy fenders were made from a special alloy (Burmabright) that has a high percent of magnesium in it. That's good for rigidity but bad for corrosion. Consequently the mag oxidizes out quicker than aluminum leaving a rough surface. To bring the finish back to a shine will take several hours.

[John H]

The holidays are over and it feels good getting some grease under the fingernails. I'm waiting for the tumbler media to arrive so I can start cleaning all the nuts, bolts and small parts that get cad plated. A satin finish makes the cad plating sparkle. Today I focused on the footrest parts. The 2 major parts had to be heated to straighten. The 4 foot pegs were easy to bend without heat. I'm going to experiment with stripping the chrome off these parts, then I can sand and deburr all the nicks and wrench marks in preparation for new chrome. Lots of little pieces here and they all take time to get them looking nice.

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[John H]

Still working on the rear frame member (RFM). The seat stays pivot between the swing arm and the seat. The stays also have an adjustable damper built in that supposedly dampens the action like an adjustable shock. I'm missing the knobs so will make them from some material from the pile.

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The steel insert gets threaded and the 8 small holes are detents for a spring loaded plunger thats keeps the knob at the correct tension.

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[Lotus54]

It is aluminum with a steel insert for threads?
Making it all out of steel seems like it would take quite a lot longer to cut. (Sure would on my tiny little machines)

[John H]

The original knob was cast aluminum with the steel insert. I would have saved time buying them from the UK club but made them instead. Also made the inserts with 304 stainless steel. Time consuming but fun making them.