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I had been putting
off the drilling and installation of the rear fender for a while.
Don’t know if I was thinking that it would install itself or if
someone who just happened to know how to do it would stop by and do
it for me. Anyway, being just about ready to paint, I needed to get
the holes drilled in it, so that I wouldn’t be taking it on and
off the bike and trying to drill it after I had it painted. So on
New Years Eve 1999, I went for it. It’s done now, but I bet I had
the thing on and off the bike about 15 times before I was done!.
 First
I observed that I would need to drill four holes to mount the
fender. There are little tabs that sit at the back of the frame,
just over and on each side of the rear axle. They contain holes used
to bolt up the sides of the fender. There is a cross piece in the
frame that has a threaded hole in the center (5/16”). It is
located near where the rear section bolts to the front section. Not
knowing any better, I figure the fender will get bolted from the
inside through this. The last location is a hole in the casting that
supports the center and side (jiffy) stands. This appears to be just
a way of stabilizing the lower portion of the rear fender.
There are three
pieces of sheet metal that interact when they are being fitted here.
They are: the rear fender, the chain guard, and the battery tray.
The chain guard is original. The battery tray and the rear fender
are reproductions. I decided to use the chain guard to locate the
other pieces. The chain guard was in decent shape when received. It
has two mounting flanges (upper and lower front), and three holes
(rear) to fit over studs on the fender. A while back I had gotten
the upper flange brazed on (it arrived broken, but some thoughtful
soul had wired the broken piece to the chain guard). I did not
particularly trust the hole in this flange to be located properly,
but knew it was close. There was also a line worn into the chain
guard, which I found matched up perfectly with the back of the
battery tray. I decided that the lower flange could be bolted
loosely to the motor, and sat the fender on the bike, placing the
studs through the chain guard. Then I moved the fender around while
standing over it to try and get it centered. It did not work.
First of all, the
battery tray was stopping the chain guard from moving freely. It
came off and was set aside for last. I’m not much of a metal
worker yet, but I knew I could modify or make a new one if need be.
The chain guard can pivot up and down (but not move much from side
to side) when the bottom flange is bolted down. I centered the
kickstarter crank stud in the hole where the kicker lever comes
through the chain guard. This moved the front of the fender around a
little. I got 2 bolts, two spacers and 2 C clamps and clamped the
fender where I thought it ought to go. The right side was pretty
well located based on the chain guard position. After clamping,
loosening and adjusting a few times, I marked it by outlining the
spacer with a marker. Then I removed the fender and found the center
of the circle I had marked. Drilled a pilot hole and used that to
center the final hole. I actually started with a 1/8” drill bit as
the pilot, and used every other size till the final size of 3/8”.
Replacing the fender
and chain guard, I bolted up the chain guard, top and bottom, placed
it over the studs on the fender. The new hole on the right side was
bolted the frame. The second hole would go in the middle of the
fender at the crosspiece. It appeared that the mounting on the
crosspiece was exactly centered in the frame. Since this was brazed
in when the frame was built, it needs to be checked for centering.
The fender was firmly fixed in position on the center of the right
side, and pretty well fixed at the front of the right side. I used a
couple of handy screwdrivers for wedges to force the fender into the
best position, and clamped the left side at the axle location. The
spot I would have to drill was marked using a pencil through the
mounting.
The fender came off
and it was time to drill. But I wimped out. I wanted to be sure that
the hole was in the center where I wanted it to be. Took a framing
square and laid the long end lengthwise on the top of the skirt
where it bulges out. It was easy to scribe a line three inches in.
The line was centered in the fender. I scribed a line from the other
side as well, for a test. They were off by a 16th, but my original
mark was centered there, so I drilled it (5/16”). The fender and
chain guard went back on the bike. Now I was able to bolt up the
front as well as one side, and things were lookin’ good!
Spotting the
left side hole was easy, but I had to mark it twice. I marked it
once, and checked the location by measuring from the rivet at the
top of the fender support to the proposed center of the hole (11.5
inches) and from the edge of the fender to the proposed center of
the hole (1/2”). Then made an adjustment. Drilled that one and put
the fender and chain guards back on. Looked nice. I had to bend the
chain guard a little to get it to fit the way I wanted to, but it
was not very much. The final hole was the bottom front of the
fender. I thought I could just drill through the fender to match the
hole in the casting. This did not work out because my fender was a
little warped to one side. As it was only a half inch, I was able to
persuade it into better alignment before drilling.
CHAIN GUARD AND
BATTERY TRAY
In “Rebuilding the Indian”, Fred
has some trouble with his chain guard and ends up cutting part of it
off. I did not have to cut it up, but I did have to open up the top
of the three bolt holes, and bend the top mounting bracket a little
to get it to fit. The way the bike is put together there is a rub
point all along the seam where the chain guard bolts to the rear
fender. I got some rubber washers and reamed them out to fit over
the bolts, causing a small gap to eliminate the rubbing. Time will
tell if this is a good idea. When the chain guard was on the battery
tray was put back on. They touched right where the long gone
original tray had rubbed a mark in the (original and still with us)
chain guard. Something needed adjustment. With a body hammer and
dolly I adjusted the top of the chain guard down a bit. This was not
enough, so I egged out the holes on the battery tray to slide it up
a little. I also cut a bit off of the corner where it rubbed the
chain guard. Fred was right about that area of the bike. But I was
glad that the repro battery tray took the brunt of the punishment…it
is much less visible than the chain guard. If you get into this area
make sure you test fit everything and look at it from all angles
before hacking and beating the recalcitrant sheet metal into
submission! It sometimes felt like I was working in more than the
usual four dimensions.
FENDER TRIM
A 1940 Sport Scout
has trim pieces that separate the valenced side portion of the
fender from the curved upper area. There are also shorter trim
pieces located on the upper area. These items need to be located and
fit and the holes drilled before final painting is done. Otherwise
you are sure to screw up your paint. I did this work after the first
coat of primer on the back fender, and during the body work on the
front fender. The front fender being original had mounting holes for
the trim. The requirement here is to actually install the trim and
bend it to fit the contour of the fender. As received, the trim fit
fairly well, but there were still adjustments to be made. The long
pieces had eight mounting points per side and the short ones four.
On the front fender there is a lamp. It is a good idea to go ahead
and mount it at this time. In my case, the original holes needed to
be filed out a little so that the reproduction lamp would fit. The
center hole is important because too tight a fit can ground out the
feed to the lamp. I made sure there was plenty of room and am going
to make sure that area is well insulated before I finalize the
wiring. The last item on my front fender is a chrome fender tip.
When I got the fender it was a little mashed up in this area. Looked
like someone parked it halfway through a cinderblock wall. So I put
the fender tip on to stiffen the area (and I like the looks!). The
fit of the tip to the fender can be improved by adjusting the
contour of the fender to fit the fender tip. Hammer, dolly,
patience. Also if you look at a lot of pictures of bikes you will
notice that the trim strips can be seen in many different places in
relation to the fender tip. My fender tip is set so that the trim
strips point right at the points on its outside rear. The rear
fender needed a little more thought. The holes for the lower trim
were established by laying the trim on the bike at the point where
the valence is tacked to the upper part of the fender. Then I
measured the width of the trim. The holes would be offset half of
the trim width (3/16ths for me) up from the valence. Next I went and
compared what I was going to drill with the holes on the mangled
remains of the original fender. The first hole is at the rear of the
bike about a half inch from the end of the trim. The rest of the
holes are spaced about four and three quarters inches apart except
the last two holes. These are located an inch apart near the frame.
I added an extra mounting point to help adjust the curve of my trim.
It was straighter than it should have been at this point. For these
pieces I used 9 mounting points per side. The smaller trim pieces
were located by checking the front and back original fenders holes.
The left and right holes in all cases were about 4 and 1/16th inches
apart center to center. Used my framing square to locate the center
line of the fender and then offset the holes from the center. There
are 5 mounting points per trim piece. A rear fender tip is
installed. It is a bit smaller than the front tip and fit well
without any body work to the fender. Again I set it so that the ends
of the trim point at the tips of the fender tip. The tailpipe has an
attachment tab that bolts to the rear fender near the fender tip.
This bolt is sometimes used to secure a rear bumper. Bought one, but
could not get a fit that I liked. The fender tip and the bumper
together looked too busy for me.
SADDLEBAGS
I
was lucky enough to come across a set of kidney bean shaped
saddlebags. They were originals in a black or dark brown so dark it
looks black. They were pretty dry. I put a 7.5 oz. bottle of Kiwi
neatsfoot oil (not from Kiwi Indian Parts - from a shoe repair store
$2.95/bottle) in each one and that softened them up pretty well.
Then I cleaned up the outside with saddle soap. The next day I put
Snow Proof Weatherproofing (original formula since 1904!) on them.
They are lookin' good! I had my local leather outfit replace the
zippers which were beat. One of the old ones still had the original
Talon pull, so I’ll stick that back on. The mounting can be
handled by drilling into the fenders, or suspending the bags from a
package tray. I plan on using the package tray.
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