Dyna Rebuild 2

This past week I have completed the tear down of the bike to the point of just the engine and transmission. The front end and rear wheel was removed after taking it down to the shop for some pipe work...

I am doing some changes to the rear swing arm which are mostly just visual more than functional, but they lend to how the eye meets the bikes design and blends the swing arm into the frame. With a Dyna Model, this is difficult. I hope it works with the under-swingarm rear brake system I have chosen from Wilwood.

I purchased a new pipe for the bike but I wasnt happy with it's fitment. The design is almost exactly what I wanted so I brought in a local exhaust shop guy that has done a few exhausts on some bikes. The Hooker Fourbidden header is a great looking design but it is made for a SOFTAIL... as usual.

He was interested in working on the project and I gave it to him to go forward. The bike came back with a totally custom exhaust system with heat shields and baffle. I think that I may do a black ceramic coating on the basic pipe and then have the shields chromed instead of chroming the entire pipe. This will match the black and chrome motor design to a "T". Thank You goes out to Specialized Exhaust in Elk Grove, CA.

Next I received some of the parts from the suppliers that I chose to deal with. I didnt received some from others... more on internet parts later. I got the new 18" 60 spoke rear wheel and the new 150 tire and had that mounted. I got the new front end and put that together and got it onto the bike and got a look at the new stretch and rake.

Next will be the braking system and the drive system to make sure everything fits before the final tear down.

Wilwood has always been connected with auto racing brake products and I have used their products on my race cars with great satisfaction in the past. I was extremely grateful to find out that they now offer motorcycle brake components. In fact I connected up with a good ole friend from my racing past to connect up with Wilwood again at Davis Motorsports. Rich Davis Sr. has been in the industry since it started many many decades ago. He got me all setup with new Wilwood products for the Dyna.

Next will be the fitment of the tins... the new gas tank, the new rear fender and front fender. I will have to find a way to blend the tank into the new solo seat and then into the fender. It shouldnt be too difficult.

Stay Tuned

DYNA WIDE GLIDE MAKEOVER

Well it has been a long time coming in the decision making process for me to take on a new project. I have wanted to build a ground up bike for about the past 7-8 years, but the 'design' has never really come to me. I have recently really been enthralled with the idea of doing a pro-street makeover on a Dyna series bike. The Dyna models have kinda taken a back seat to the Softail models over the past decade because... well I dont know why actually. The Softail model is certainly not 'soft' for those long road trips but they look good. Thats probably why you see so many of them on trailers going to bike runs. Silly Biker, Trailers are for Boats!!!

Anyway, I scoped out the use of a brand new Softail rolling chassis from a few different places and the costs involved with doing it that way. It came out just a bit more than I wanted to spend right now. So I have decided to take my perfectly good 1998 Dyna Wide Glide (FXDWG) and strip her down and give her a whole new look. She is after all more than 10 years old and still running strong. I love this bike! Here are some "Before-the-Makeover" pictures of Dyna just taken recently for a record of where we started.

THE IDEA: Take a Wide Glide and stretch the neck about 6 degrees and rake out the front about 4" over stock to give it that low slung pro-street look. Install a bigger rear tire and wheel set which involves totally re-doing the final drive. Update the wheels to 60 spoke all chrome hubs, spokes, rims. New tins with a stretched flat top gas tank and wide rear fender and of course new custom paint... Im hoping to do the fender over the struts for that hidden euro frenched in look. Hiding all the blinkers too. (I hate Blinkers) Im doing a bit of work to the rear swingarm, new billet brakes front and rear, billet forward controls, billet open primary belt drive, Carlini Bars (already on the bike), new headlight and LED turn and brake lights just to top it all off. The engine is going to get a freshen up by pumping it out to 96 inches with an S&S kit, S&S carb, and a radically custom designed ground pounding exhaust pipe. It has to be custom made because no one makes parts for the Dynas!... More Softail parts buyers out there I guess.

Finally a totally new dimension in electronics for a bike, with Navigation and a GPS speedo, tach and trip meters all together in a bar mount billet setup. Custom again of course...

So the stage is set, the bike is apart and in a few different boxes all over my garage at the moment and new parts are arriving daily. I will keep up with some updates here and there so you can see whats going on.

Getting Dyna undressed...

More to come....