Your garage is full! But, isn't it rewarding to make-room for things that you want to-keep?
Hillbilly engineering on the old-work stamped-steel box for the truck cab. But, it works, and it probably will last, even-if you don't do anything-else to it. Man, am I glad I moved-out of the Rust Belt! I recall as a new driver, seeing my parents' bought-new VW beetle cabriolet turn-into a seriously-damaged structurally, vehicle in only six years. I recall having to change a flat tire, putting the OEM rocker panel socket car jack in-place, and watching the rocker panel just collapse as sheets of rust were dislodged during my attempt to raise the vehicle for the tire/wheel change. The wheels/tires on that side stayed on the ground, and the rocker panel collapsed like stepping on a shoebox.
Here in south Florida, I had a bought in-Florida a used, '93 Chevy WT long-bed (8') V6 & auto ******, like yours in the model year body series, I also used it for hauling my motorcycles, among other things. I had it about 10 years. I never had those rust problems, though. It was at about 140K miles, and it needed paint, work on the AC, and who-knows what-all else, I was going to spend about $3K on it taking-care of things, and my wife told me, "go look for a new truck." I went to a couple Miami area dealers looking at Chevy's & GMC's, and I bought a GMC Canyon crew cab w/the inline-5 engine, which made it a rocket, compared to my anemic GMC Sierra WT 1500. I had a friend's GMS Employee Discount code, which the dealer I was at, kept trying to tell me, "that code doesn't work, 'the computer won't accept it.'" I had to threaten to walk-out the door to get him to give me the employee discount. I called a Chevy dealer close-by and he had the Colorado crew cabs spec'ed the same (inline-5, SLE-2, tow package, etc) on the lot, while I was in the salesman's office, before he "went to speak (again) with the sales manager" about getting the GMS Employee Discount code accepted.
Now that truck has 120K miles on it, and it still looks great, it's much more fun to drive compared to that V-6 WT 1500 that might be capable of doing 79 mph, downhill. No rust repairs needed, thank god.
It's been many decades since I was living in a Rust Belt area, and I don't miss at-all the issues of a vehicle slowly disappearing as oxidation disappears the car.
I didn't start at the beginning of the thread, I see it's a Sportster you have, I have a friend who has a couple awaiting work, a '70 and a '76, he has a set of S&S stroker flywheels/crank for one, I keep telling him, "sell those, and put it together stock." He is a HVAC contractor, and has been accumulating parts for the two of those bikes for literally decades. He rides a Shovelhead LowRider he bought new in Palm Beach County FL when we go to Daytona Bike Week in the spring. My advice for years has been, "put at-least one of those Ironheads together so you can ride it to local shows, to enjoy it, and maybe someone will make-you, "an offer you can't refuse." After-all, he has another one.
What are your plans for yours? How has it been modded?
I had a 18 ga. steel cabinet I modded recently, I got it off a scrapper's truck, it was a cool roll-about w/a neat curved door and inside shelf. I added a back piece, a backsplash, another shelf, different casters and sold it. A bit bigger than your Rem Line sidebox. I need the space. I only have a 2-car, and one side is occupied by my Handy-Lift for my bikes. I sold the cabinet on Offer-Up and put the $ towards a TIG torch.
Maybe I'll start from the beginning of your thread, reading.
OK, I just breezed-through the pics, two-pounds in a one-pound container. Stuff on-top of stuff. And, I see you also have a Handy-Lift. Why I waited so-long to get mine, I dunno (maybe because I didn't have a good place inside for one). It looks like your Sportster is about a pre-1975? Not really-sure of the differences by years, I see it's got a front disc, and right-hand shifting. From my limited knowledge of Ironheads, that would make it a '73 or '74. I see it has aluminum fork sliders too. I had a roommate who had just bought a brand-new '72, the first year of the 1000 cc engine, and he had steel fork sliders, and a drum front brake. He wasn't happy that my older Kawasaki Blue Streak two-stroke triple 500 cc could walk-away from him in pretty-much any contest of acceleration, leaving him in a blue-cloud haze of two-stroke oil and gas fumes.
Being a 'motorman,' I'm sure you are familiar with the biker gangs. South Florida is Outlaws' territory, and a long-time ago, back when I had that Kawasaki 500 two-stroke, I was on I-95 and ahead I spotted a double-row of Outlaws, their jeans vest rockers indicating they were the local chapter. I dropped-down a couple of gears as I came-up behind them, and passed the lot of them in one fell-swoop, notching it up a couple of gears as the triple wound-out. About the time I got-by the lot of them, I looked in my rear-view mirror (not much-use if you were running-hard, as the mirror head shook furiously due-to the high-frequency, low-amplitude vibrations from the two-stroke triple) and saw some movement. I turned my head and saw one of the boys from the front of the pack, break-free and begin to pursue me as I rapidly was opening distance between the double-file and me. I did see that the Outlaws were having to ride-through the characteristic blue haze of two-stroke internal combustion. That probably gave them something to curse-about then and later.
I kept the throttle pinned, and it wasn't very-long before I noticed that the Outlaws member seeking to pursue gave-up, backed-out of the throttle, and re-joined the pack. I soon left the interstate, and didn't wait for some outraged Outlaw to notice the &^^#!!* two-stroke had turned-off the interstate, and was fair-game, waiting at the off-ramp intersection. "AMF," and I am-not referring to the owners of The Motor Company in the 1960's/'70's/early '80's!
