PK forks,...not my best post

[tzsteve]

the work for the last couple of days has been sorting a mudguard that would fit on the PK forks and still look like it`s an almost standard primmie item.

i didnt take any pics during the ealy part of this job so i will just give the most detailed description that i can

so got a little advice from Glassplies in southport (the local fiberglass wholesaler) some of the advice was a little wrong
but i managed to get some more info from youtube.

1st thing was remove the side of the old mudguard where the damper would be, easy with a hacksaw, the rotozip and a file or two. then fit the mudguard to the forks and using a load of playdoh make a patern of the shape that i need the mudguard to be in order to clear the damper. this was just a csae of putting loads of playdoh around the damper and trying to get a pleasing shape.

put the fork and mudguard back in the frame with all the playdoh still in place to check that i still had some clearence between the frame and what would be the new mudguard where the damper would sit ( i have about 3mm ). with the forks at full lock.

forks back out leaving the mudguard where it is on the forks and put a little fiberglass and resin over the big sticky out bit of playdoh where the damper would be.

then remove the mudguard from the forks. i now have my pattern for the new mudguard.

the mudguard and the fiberglass i had already stuck on was then covered in a release agent (bad advice about this from the wholesaler meant i wasted about £12 buying two types when i only needed one type ).

then a coat of gelcoat and light weight fiberglass tissue followed by a couple of layers of a heavier fiberglass matting. this gave me a mould for making the actual mudguard. the fun then was removing this mould from the mudguard as the standard item has a little bit of a curve at the back and front of the mudguard,  this meant that i could not get the mould free.

so out with a little wizzer with a slitting disk fitted, i then cut along the middle of the mould from front to back leaving a couple of little parts holding the mould together.
then using a little resin i fitted a couple of blocks of wood to the mould, by drilling these and adding a couple of small captive nuts ( T- nuts ) in the blocks i could guarantee that the two parts of the mould would always line up correctly, then cut the three little parts of the mould that held the two halfs together,

due to a lack of experiance with fiberglass i had a number of small air bubbles in the mould ( these were later filled with some body filler any subsequent jobs with this mould will be a lot neater).



the two halfs of the mould were then clened up and treated with the release agent and bolted together.

next came the making of the actual mudguard, a little light weight fiberglass tissue and gelcoat. followed by some heavier fiberglass matting and finaly a little bit extra round the edge of the mudguard for strength and a bit extra where the bolts would go.



the mudguard came out of the mould easily however as i had rushed into this job, at this stage i was not aware of the air bubbles in the mould, these showed up as a few dents in the finished mudguard, no problem a bit of filler and wet flatting and it`s ready for painting.

it fit`s onto the forks as it should and has a couple of mm clearance above the damper.

a good weeks work.

.........................................

the next job is to do a little porting on my barrel while it`s off the scoot awaiting a replate ££££££££ LOADS of these. i know a good lambretta man who i hope will share his wisdom with me over this porting work my plan is raise the exhaust by 2mm and the transfers by 1mm

[3 speed Gareth]

I reckon you could shift afew of those mudguards if you fancy making a batch? I could do with two.

[tzsteve]

i`ll post a few pics after the scoot is back together and work out the cost, at the moment this one cost a few bob as it`s a one off but it does save all the welding that others have done on there mudguards

[henri]

Aah ,a week playin with glass eh . now ive a clue as to why ya lungs aint feelin to hot ,that an all the tree pollen floating around . does look good tho,better than my 1st/few efforts with glassfibre .i'm guessing if reversed an re-shaped a tad might go nice on et2/et4 forks with wrong side leg .might put my name down for 1 to experiment with . H

[tzsteve]

no mate the glass aint the problem i`ve had a lung infection for 7 weeks,
as for back to front and upsidedown.. jesus h.c. you do like things complicated

[henri]

not really likin it ,just born "awkward" ,an have learnt to live with it , take it easy tho, no fumes/fags/beer n fast women them lung infections can be bastards to shift .H

[tzsteve]

so continuing with the mudguard this was the prototype so the finish was not too good and it took a fair amount of filler and primer to make it look ok. as it is it would not be any good for a show scoot but it ok for me



this is how the damper lines up with the forks ie. off to one side so i needed to make a plate to hold the damper.



due to the length of the damper the plate that supports the damper needs to go over the bracket and not under it as on a pk. so these spacers hold it in about the right place.


this plate was made from 5mm steel with a recess of about 2.5 mm in the top for the top buffer to sit in



heres my little plate fitted over the spacers



i needed to trim the plate a little inorder to get it all to fit inside the mudguard, so out with the rotozip and job done
the dome head bolts are needed as the mudguard is a very close fit



the space indide the mudguard is good enough round the sides of the damper but it is very close at the top where the damper nut is.



with the stearing at full lock i only have 1mm clearance between the frame and the lump on the mudguard, but it is clearance and it aint rubbing.






and how it looks fitted. from the curbside it looks like a standard front end.

so now it`s just simple assembly of the bits not yet fitted and alter the wiring a little to suit the new rev counter (Koso no more) also get the master cylinder fitted

and thanks to shaggy for giving me the details of how much to shorten the fork leg by

[dazzz]

Very nice job Steve

[tzsteve]

thanks mate

[henri]

from the side that has a very nice line ,its only when ya spot the bulge the games given away .very nice . H

[pugwash]

10/10 Steve it Looks very good with the paint on it you didn't waste much time getting it sprayed 

[Juan]

That 'guard doesn't look too bad at all sprayed up. Which shock did you go for in the end?

[tzsteve]

standard PK shock, it would be better if i could cut the thread 20mm further along the damper rod that way i would not have needed the big lump at the top of the mudguard. also if the damper was then mounted under the damper mounts as it should be. with the shorter rod i would have more preload on the spring if you follow my drift

i could not find a damper of the length that i wanted, but i`m sure it`s out there somewhere

[vader19]

I think you did an amazing job Steve.. That's a lot of work.. well done.

[nick121170]

that's fuckin sweet as

[vinrouge]

Very smart looking and do like the walk through with photos, great work Steve

[me]

A Sportique mudguard fits without any mods - well a few holes to drill to line up.

Also use a Et2 front wheel.

[vader19]

What would it take for you to mold one for me Steve?

[ttscshaggy]

Plc's Christiaan very kindly sent me a pre production mudguard last year that is not far off a straight fit.
Looks cool too.

[tzsteve]

shaggy, that looks nice, what damper is on those forks