Today the music is Alkaline Trio's brand new album My Shame Is True. Recommended to me by my friend Steve. Great new music that somehow brings back memories of old. Check out, 'She Lied to the FBI.'

Rust Removal Using Electrolysis

These are before and after images (well technically after and before images) of the rear cylinder exhaust manifold on the Virago. I built an electrolysis 'tank' out of an old rubbermaid bin to remove rust from the old manifold. I left it 'bake' for about 5 hours and saw really great results. I plan on using this method on other items such as that stubborn subframe pin, motor mount bolts, etc. Here's some pics of the tank setup.

Basically you use 4 pieces of rebar as the 'collecting' rods. Those are charged with the positive lead from a battery charger. The piece to be de-rusted is connected with steel wire to the negative lead. The water is filled with Sodium Carbonate to make it more conductive. The passing of electricity extracts the moisture and rust from the steel and moves it toward the rebar.

Today it's the Spin Doctors. Never listened to them before but I decided to this morning because it's just been announced that they will be headlining the concert series at this year's Petunia Festival. The Petunia Fest is the annual carnival/community festival that Dixon, IL hosts. This year it's moving downtown after the success of the Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road stopover last August. Should be a fantastic time, as it will be the only weekend all year open containers are allowed downtown! Check out www.petuniafestival.org for more info!

Cardboard Subframe

Last night I made a little progress on the Virago. Cut up some cardboard scrap so I can see what direction I'm going to go with the subframe. I recommend doing some version of this to anyone doing a garage build. Reason being, I thought I had the exact design of my subframe thought out before I started. Turns out, the final product will be entirely different.

It's nice to have my measurements/angles figured out so that I can start to cut and bend steel. I basically have two sets of measurements. One leans more towards the flat cafe racer spectrum, and one leans towards street fighter. I want my build to be a blend of both so we'll see what happens during fabrication. Progress, progress, progress!

Also, after the 3rd or 4th evening of trying I finally got the lower shock pivot rod to break lose. It had previously been rusted to the insides of the subframe holes and wasn't budging. After a lot of PB Blaster, blood, and hammering, it came lose. Of course, I didn't take a picture for you before I cleaned the rust off. Whoops. Here's the cardboard mockup:

Today's easy listening is that of The Dirty Guv'nahs; serving as great Monday music. As we speak, I'm hearing, "Don't Give Up On Me."