With the exhaust figured out I decided to address the issue of how/where to exit it. I decided on using the 'standard' connector that came on the VFR750 stock exhaust, which would give me some flexibility because it does allow some rotation/movement of the exit pipe to the muffler. I welded it onto the collector and had it exit just above the bottom tubing of the engine subframe.

It looks like an 18" muffler/spark arrester will fit if you locate it close to the engine subframe, the end of it will be approximately at the rear axle. I have some concerns about properly supporting this length/weight though as you can not support it from the swing arm.

Below shows the completed exhaust as well as the exit location.

I took some time and 'unbundled' the electrical wiring for the Honda engine. I will need to extend some of it so that it can go to the instrument panel and assorted relocated components.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on removing the steering column, clutch, brake and gas pedals from my donor vehicle (1996 Isuzu Trooper), along with clutch hydraulic cylinder and assorted linkages. My Honda engine uses a hydraulic clutch so the clutch setup in the Trooper will come in handy. I also stripped out some interior lighting for doors as well as a bunch of the switches from the dashboard for later use.

I found that I also had to increase the size of the hole where the steering rack coupling entered into the passenger compartment as with the 1-1/2" hole I could not get the bolt in that held the coupling onto the steering rack, and had to increase it to 2-1/2" for sufficient clearance. You might be able to get by with a 2" hole, but I did not have that size hole saw... The stock coupling is not a typical u-joint connection and does not allow for the column to be to far out of alignment. So you pretty much have to angle the steering rack so that the coupling points pretty much towards the column before locking it down. Here are some pictures:

I also previously assumed that I might have some clearance problems with the gaiters and the front subframes, as I used 3" steel instead of 2", and had to provide some clearance. Finish grinding/smoothing will be done later.

I modified the steering column from the Trooper quite extensively. The column has a tilt mechanism and with some adjustment was able to get about 50% more tilt from it! I figure that it will come in handy in entering/exiting the vehicle. There is a pin that rotates in a slot, I used my milling machine to increased the length of the slot so that the paul mechanism was fully utilized (mechanism is shown on top of the column). The red arrows show the modifications:

Next estimated the approximate mounting location and then shortened the column so that it would fit into the space, finally I cut and welded the original Triumph steering shaft onto the column so that it would connect to the steering coupler. You pretty much have to dummy up the seat and sit in it to figure out exactly where you want the steering wheel. It would have been nice if I had a telescoping column as well, but adjusted it so that it was a comfortable distance for me, since I am the primary driver.

The controls on the steering column are: horn, turn signal, high beams as well as cruise control. It would have been nice to have the wiper/squirter control on it, but this is what I had to start with. Anyone know of a electronic cruise control for motorcycle? Here is the completed steering column:

Next I cut out a portion of the dashboard from Trooper that had originally mounted the column and welded it to some 1x2 tubing, drilled and plugged some mounting holes. Here is the mount for the column:

I decided on starting with locating the brake assembly, and shortened the brake pedal by 5-1/2" as well as bent it to go around the column better. Once the brake pedal was mounted I also located the master brake cylinder and got it connected to the pedal. I am using an original Triumph master brake cylinder and the original plunger/linkage did not allow for adjusting the length so I cut off the Trooper plunger/linkage and welded it onto the original. This adjustment came in real handy as it can be difficult to gauge the exact length required.

Next in line was the clutch assembly, I also shortened it by about 5-1/2" and straightened it out a bit and mounted the assembly. Then located the hydraulic cylinder for the clutch and connected it as well. The cylinder already had adjustable length plunger/linkage.

Finally tweaked the gas pedal and got it installed as well. The Trooper used a cable to connect to the fuel injection so it should help as the Vortex will also use a cable.

Previously I had also removed the entire wiper motor and wiper mounts from the Trooper. The part that retains the wiper blade was not long enough to mount under the plywood so I had to make a surface mount for it out of some sheet metal. I am not using the headlights in the trunk area and instead initially allowed about 5" depth for the wiper motor, which was a bit tight but sufficient.

This plate will eventually be covered with foam so the studs needed to be welded in place as they will not be able to be removed afterwards and there is no way to get a wrench on the top of the bolts... I cut out an area in front of the windshield and temporarily clamped the wiper mount to where I thought that it might go so that I could do some testing to see the coverage area on the windshield. My wiper motor uses a shaft to connect the motor to the wiper assy and I had to relocate the mounting ball (2 times) to get the proper amount of rotation from the wiper blade.

Next I cut and shortened the connecting shaft and re-welded it back together. This was not easy as it was covered with some galvanizing material that was tough to remove and made it real difficult to weld.

I then made a mounting plate out of 1/8" steel to hold the wiper motor and ovaled out the mounting holes so that I could do some final tweaking once in place. I am using 2 of the top bolts that retain the brake pedal assembly to hold the mounting plate. Finally I dummied up everything, finalized locations and secured everything and did a final test and happy with results.

You have to try to use as long a wiper blade as possible to get the best coverage of the windshield. You want maximum sweep (about 90 degrees) but also careful to not to 'over-wipe'. You might be able to accomplish this using simply a motor and not wiper mount/connecting rod, but this is what I had to work with and decided to go with it.

When vehicle is completed I will probably make a cover for the wiper so that fingers don't get tangled up in the connecting rod as well as making the compartment looking more finished.

I still need to find a suitable blower motor and will be eventually installing it to the left of the wiper motor, pulling fresh air in from the front of the vehicle and directing it into the passenger compartment as well as providing some capability for defrosting the interior of the windshield.

Here is picture showing layout of components in the front trunk compartment as it currently stands:

There were a number of loose ends with the rear suspension that needed some attention, so I disassembled the rear axle. First order of business was to complete the rear axle adjusters, I took some 5/16"x24unf stainless threaded stock cut off some lengths and inserted and pinned them into the adjusters. Next I made some end plates for the tubing, using some 1/4" steel plate and milled one face about .60" so that they would fit into the tubing to self-locate, then drilled hole for threaded stock to go through. I think that I will also be drilling a weep hole so that any water that gets into the tubing can exit easily. I will be using a nylock nut on the threaded rod along with washer to finish them off. Here are a couple of pictures showing them:

Up until now I did not have the rear brake rotor on the axle and did not know if I would have clearance to use some hex-head grade 8 bolts, and it turns out that there is just enough clearance for them. I also discovered that I could not use the brake calipers that I had from an older motorcycle that I had, as they would not fit into the area between the brake rotor and rear pulley, there is only about 1-1/4" clearance between them. The caliper is the dual piston style with a piston on either side of the rotor, will have to check other bikes for something suitable.

Onto the rear fender. Previously on eBay I had purchased 2 steel trailer fenders and needed to cut and splice them together to make a single 11" wide fender. I took a piece of 1/4" thick wood strips and clamped them onto the fenders and using my plasma cut them both. The resulting cut came out very nice and I am extremely happy that I have this tool! Next I brought the 2 pieces over to the welding table and then clamped them together and tack welded them at about 4-5" intervals along the length. Finally I went back and welded them together, alternating between sections so that I did not distort the steel and then ground down the welds so that they were flush. Finally I shortened the fender by bobbing the end about 8" and putting a nice curve on it. Here is the resultant fender:

I took some 1/8" thick 1x2 tubing and cut off so that I had a 1"x2" angle mounts and drilled for a 1/4" bolt. I then put the fender in place and using some 2x4's to hold in place located the mounts and welded them onto the rear swing-arm, and finally bolted the fender in place. Here are pictures showing the mountings and installed fender:

After looking at everything for a while I decided that I will be setting up this shift cable so that it is parallel with the shift mechanism on the engine, and mounted to the rear engine mount. This design should considerably reduce the flexation as well as eliminate the adjustment issue, since it is mounted to the engine mount it is always at the proper distance from the engine, regardless of moving fore or aft. Hopefully I will be able to work on this a couple of nights this weekend and will provide pictures of final design.

I felt that maybe I was over-designing this, the plans call for using the original gear shift lever and shortening it to 2-1/2" in length, so I am going to try that approach.

The original front drive sprocket has 16 teeth and this one has 15 teeth, the sprocket on the intermediate shaft has 18 teeth which will give me the final drive ratio of 2.796:1 which is pretty close to what I wanted.

I finalized the design of how I am going to couple the V-rod drive pulley to the sprocket on the intermediate shaft and having my local machine shop working on it. Here is picture of original pulley/hub for the V-rod

Here is drawing of modifications to the V-rod hub (on left) along with new rough adapter (on right):

Once I get it back I will weld it up and then bring back to machine shop where they can finish machine up the inside/outside diameter, face with landing and drill the bolt circle. Keyway is optional and would be used for driving the intermediate shaft in case you wanted to add a reverse, alternator, etc. If you do not use a keyway then you need some other way to attach this to the intermediate shaft. Finish dimensions are as follows:

Essentially the adapter on the right spaces the sprocket away from the pulley and is used to mount the sprocket. Depending on your setup you may need to increase distance between the hub and the right-most side of the adapter for proper sprocket spacing, you really don't know what it will be until you mount the engine and the rear axle/pulley. Care should be taken when you locate the engine in the subframe so that you have enough clearance between the drive chain and the flat pulley that mounts onto the intermediate shaft!

Here is the drawing for the sprocket modification, the adapter has a small landing in it to help center the sprocket before bolting onto adapter, again keyway is optional:

This sounds like an easy task, but the harness has to be completely un-bundled, connectors to the engine have to be located and connected and then decisions have to be made where to split the wiring. It should be obvious by the color coding, but mark them with some masking tape to make this easier. This actually took a number of hours to complete this task.

I ordered all foam (plus a little extra) to make body today from Aircraft Spruce & Speciality Co.

They did not have the 3" urethane foam available, so additional 2" foam was ordered to compensate so if necessary I will might to glue together layers to get the proper thickness. I also have some 3" mini-cell (closed cell) foam from my kayaking days, and I might be able to use it in place of the 3" urethane foam.

They also did not sell any 1/4" foam so instead I will be using 1/4" plywood for the rear deck area. I am hoping that by using plywood I can get the back deck as flat as possible without having to deal with the possibility of foam sag.

Previously I had purchased a set of 1981 Honda brake calipers and realized that I had made a slight mistake in that the mounting was different than what was required. After a little research I found out that the 1979-1980 (maybe more) Honda calipers should have the proper mounting angle to fit better onto the rear swing arm.

Below is pictures of Honda front brake calipers, 1979 (on left) and 1981(on right).

The last couple of weekends (and the next couple as well) have been spent helping my best friend move into his new place. Lots of work to do helping him get major work started not to mention that I am having a large 4-bay garage (50' x 30') built for me and I am doing outside staining as well as inside electrical work.