1963 BSA | Oil Tank Cover

Well the battery sits in the oil tank. It was previously exposed, but I think it will look better covered. I made a simple template out of paper. I transferred it to steel, and cut out the holes first because it’s easier that way. I cut the rest out with tin snips. Placing the plate on the frame I marked where I wanted the mounting holes, and drilled out the plate. Bringing it back to the frame I then marked the holes on the frame. After drilling and tapping into the frame I mounted the plate using 6×1.25mm bolts. I then used a hammer and dolly to roll the edges over to contour the frame. It looks a lot cleaner now!

1963 BSA | Inner Taillight

So my customer Joe had a old microphone set up as a taillight when I picked up the bike, It just needed a little refining. So I found some bright LED’s from Custom Dynamics. They are the perfect size for the microphone. The interior of the mic was like it was set up for this. There were already holes to bolt the light plate I made to.

Starting with paper templates, I cut out the shapes I needed. After transferring the design to steel I drilled out the holes for the mounting bolts. It used the smallest hardware, which keeps it clean. Then I welded in the light separators. There was not a lot of space to work with put the LED’s fit perfectly. I plan on running two brake light in the center and a turn signal on each side. It’s by far the coolest taillight I’ve had the opportunity to modify.

1963 BSA | Oil Tank Mount

This is the oil tank that came in on the bike. Its pretty cool. There was no real reason to change to mounting position. However it was only secured at the rear of the tank, and the front was just resting on the crossmember thats in front of it even though the tank has a mounting point for the front. Also the front of the tank was rubbing on the frame. So I set out to get it done proper.

I cut out the old rear mounts, I needed more room to slide the tank back to get it away from the frame. I also cut out a notch in the frame, for the front mount of the oil tank to secure to. Using a 1″ solid stock for the front mount, I drilled it out for the hardware to pass through. Using “L” brackets for the rear mounts, I notch them slightly to accommodate for the width of the frame. I tapped the oil tank rear mounts so I could bolt the “L” brackets to.

With all the brackets bolted to the tank I placed the in position. I held the tank in place with a bottle jack. This allowed me to still maneuver the tank in to place while freeing my hands to weld. Once the tank looked good and was in place I burned it in. Now the tank is mounted properly in the front and rear, and is no longer rubbing on the frame.

1963 BSA | Headlight Bracket

Well I made a simple headlight bracket for the BSA. Remember the front end is now a Harley Davidson sportster set up. I started out with 1 1/2″ tube for the fork sleeves, and 1/2″ tube for the clamping point. I weld the 1/2″ tube perpendicular to the 1 1/2″ in position about half way up.

Then it was on to the struts. I used 1/2″ solid stock. I heated them up an bent them following a rough template I had made. At the apex of the bend I drilled a hole for the mounting point of the headlight. Then I mounted the struts to the headlight and held it in place on the forks. A couple of tack welds held them in place. Then I took them off the forks for final welding.

The bracket lends itself to the overall look of the bike. The original brackets were generic “flat strap” chrome universal things.

1963 BSA | Handle Bar

After converting the front end to a Harley sportster set up, I made some bars. The bars that were perviously on the bike hit the tank, leaving it looking rough. So I bent up some simple nineties out of one inch tube. I tied them together at the bottom with 1/8″ plate. Then I welded in a 3/4″ bolt in the ends of the tubes to mount to the triple tree. And they don’t hit the tank anymore.