Bringing a Pre-War frame into the 20th century.

[sandmangts]

After my last project was completed there were a few things about it that I was not satisfied with. Another forum member mentioned that the cable guides took away from the bike so I decided with my next build I would braze on cable guides. So I found the next victim. Rescued from the scrap yard. A late 30's Elgin.

Lets find out how far I can take it. I have been practicing brazing so this should be fun.
Here are my plans:
1. Sandblast off all that rust.
2. drop some hot brass in around the joints to smooth them out.
3. Flatten and trim the drop stand tab, drill and tap a derailler hanger.
4. Cold set the rear to 135mm spacing, re-align the dropouts.
5. Braze on cable guides/stops for brakes and deraillers.
6. Braze on a disk brake adaptor on the rear.
7. Ream and face the headtube.
8. Powder coat.
9. Custom Brass headtube badge.

The build will consist of mostly parts I already have. Mavic wheels with King ISO hubs, Fox F-80 Talas fork or a Fox f-100 RLC (Depends on how slack it ends up). XT cranks, Sram X.0 rear derailler. Thomson stem. Easton Monkey bar. Hope Mono Mini brakes.

 

[sandmangts]

The frame had some pretty heavy pitting but it is structurally sound. After sandblasting I filled the bad areas with hot brass and I cut out the chainstay brace, cold set the frame to 135mm and brazed in a new brace. My first time brazing was a bit ugly as you can see. I have since re-done it and it came out much smoother. The key is prepping the metal and getting it red hot before hitting it with the brass so the molten brass will flow into the seams.

 

[sandmangts]

I brazed in some braces for the rear end. I used the same tube that I used for the chainstay brace, heated it, hammered it flat and mitered it to fit the shape of the rear triangle by hand. Lots of file work. I brazed it in and then hit it with the angle grinder to get it shaped right. I had to coat it with primer because my garage is so damp that everything flash rusts practically overnight. Next step is the disk brake mount. Not bad for a guy that learned to weld watching YouTube. I also tapped and shaped the drop stand tabs into a derailler hanger and trimmed the non drive side dropout.

 

[sylus]

looks like quite an enjoyable learning tool and haveing some fun at the same time..cool

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

Signing up for this one, looks very interesting.

 

[Bullpup]

Looking good.

Can you fasten your disc tab to the rear triangle brace?

 

[twain]

was gutted to see this thread only started today!
will keep an eye on this

 

[sandmangts]

Looking good.

Can you fasten your disc tab to the rear triangle brace?

No, due to the spacing originally being only 114mm and cold set now to 135 the chainstay is too close to the rotor when the wheel is mounted. The disk tab will have to be mounted over the dropout if it will work at all. I have the disk mount on its way. I could have made my own but the steel ones from Pacenti are only $6 bucks. Once it gets here I will know.

 

[sylus]

looks an ideal candidate for some black sheep forks

 

[lae]

Hey, brilliant work - I'll be watching this closely.

Just a word of caution - I don't know what kind of primer you're using, but most primers are porous; they'll soak up moisture over time which may cause problems later on when you come to paint over them - only if you leave it for weeks or months, though.

On car/bike restoration projects my personal preference is self-etch zinc primer for bare metal - it's much less porous. Red oxide primer is pretty good too, IMO it doesn't give as good adhesion as self-etching zinc.