82 Nighthawk 650 bobber project...Its Done !

[bully bob]

Picked this up for $ 150 last weekend with the intention of building a bobber. It was rear ended by a car but really wasnt too bad. Most of the damaged parts I planned on cutting off anyway. I mocked it up the way I want it  now Im tearing it down to make it right.

[Zugzug]

Looks like when spring gets here we are going to have to start a nighthawk bobber thread so we can see them all together.

[Hangster]

  to the forums and good luck with that , seams like you and Scrappy have a lot in common so far 

[hockeyhawk]

Looks like when spring gets here we are going to have to start a nighthawk bobber thread so we can see them all together.

Definetly going to be fun to watch all those transformations take shape. Hope you guys take lots of pics. Have fun.

[Zugzug]

Yeah, the 82 has a few advantages to it. Its chain drive and the steering head has more angle to it. I think its gonna look pretty good when ya get done. And it looks like your working faster than me.  Ill catch up as soon as I get some parts and my welder delivered. 

[BlackLabel82]

I have to say I'm starting to really liking the nighthawk bobbers - they're growing on me more and more - each time I see em'     

[Custom82Hawk]

just remember, if you convert a soft tail chain drive to hard tail (which it looks like you're doing seeing those struts you got on there), that you're going to have oil leaking problems ;) i speak from experience on that.  the countershaft can't take the torque that the rear shocks used to take so it's going to leak.  i'm actually considering swapping my rear wheel with that from something like an 82 cm250 that was belt drive and switching my front sprocket with the belt sprocket.  belts stretch slightly under torque, chains don't. 

[bully bob]

Thanks for all the comments. I have been working on the tank a bit lately. I was going to replace it with something else but decided to give it a new look myself. I cut the portion the kinda hangs down in the rear of the tank and pinched it back together and rewelded it. Im also smoothing out the top of the tank to get rid of the lines in it.

[Zugzug]

Dayyyummnn!

[Hangster]

That's sick    ...You should have expanded the sides of the tank out to hold more fuel  , you just gave me a good idea to tinker with.

[teamnaptime]

nice. another chop !!! lookin good.

 

[Bocephus]

Cool man, I will be definitely watching this one with bated breath and greasy fingers....  Damn I've gotta get a charger for my camera so I can put up some pics.  Keep up the good work!

[teamnaptime]

any updates bullybob

[fishball]

Very cool project.  Your skills are impressive to me.

[OriginalHawk]

Please make two of every part so I can bolt em up to my 82 650!
I've always wanted to bob mine but don't have the means.

[bully bob]

I had to put the project on the back burner for a bit...deer season here and thats where my free time is going lately. I plan to start back in a week or so and finish the body work on the tank. I'll post some pictures of the tank when I do some more. Thanks for the compliments !

[rapta619]

my buddy called me up. if i bought a harley hard tail frame for 400$ him an i were going to make a hard tale night hawk. to bad i don't have the money. or my nighthawk would be a bad ass hawk lol

[bully bob]

Finally getting back to work on my bobber project. I got the body work on the tank done the other day. Trimmed the bottom of the tank,rewelded, filled and smoothed out the  body lines in the tank to give it a more rounded look and coated the inside. Also fabricated up some rear struts to replace the shocks and give it a lower look. Im liking the stance it has  so far ! Hope to get the tank primed and painted this week.I also refinished the lower fork legs in black and painted the rims black too but left the outter ring polished aluminum. I think im going with a dark charcoal base and a matte finish clear at this point. I'll have to take some more dtailed pics with my good camera...these are just ones i took with my phone.

[Custom82Hawk]

that looks awfully familiar, just remember, if you hard tail, you're going to have an oil leak around the counter sprocket.  you might consider switching to a belt drive using a counter sprocket and rear wheel (or rear sprocket only) from a different model that is belt drive.  chain drives don't make good hard tails due to the torque from the drive pulling on the counter sprocket so much that it kills both inner and outer seals and makes it leak.

[bully bob]

Made some more progress this week. Made some bar risers so I can use a one piece handlebar,made a sissy bar..which I wasnt planning on doing but I got playing around and liked the way it came out so its gonna have one lol. Also got my exhaust fitted and exyensions put on. FYI ... 1 1/4  steel conduit fits perfectly over the factory pipes,nice tight fit. I posted a few pics of my recent work.

[bully bob]

few more pics.

[hppants]

Nice looking welds.  Is that 4340 (chrome moly) or just mild steel for your sissy bar.

[bully bob]

Thanks.....its just 3/8 steel rod I got at home depot.

[bully bob]

exhaust is wrapped and i made some tips out of 1 1/4 in copper tube...i like the look !I made some baffles too out of steel mesh...not sure if it will make a difference but we'll see. Also decided to use a peanut style tank instead of the factory one i spent hrs on...it just didnt look right on the bike, oh well lol.

[JB1290]

Nice work Bully. I thought the stock tank you modified looked really good. The peanut tank looks cool too. Looking forward to seeing more progress. Keep up the great work.