Maybe no tailgate mod...

So I was looking under the bed (of the truck, not in my room) and seeing just what I needed to beef up in order to hold the weight of the bike in the 3100 truck bed. I only installed a few horizontal braces when I made the wood bed, and need to make 4 more additional steel brackets as soon as I can get the material and drill the holes. Then I also stumbled across this pic of a 3100 with the tailgate just down, and thought that would work too. I ordered my ramp ends, but they were on back order, so for now I'll just continue to ponder the idea.

3100 Tailgate Mod

The motorcycles do not fit in the small bed of my '52 Chevrolet 3100 pickup, but I was thinking that if I modified the tailgate, I could work out a solution. Well, look what I found! Some other genius also had the same idea back a few years ago, and since my tailgate isn't perfect anyway, AND a new one is less than $200 from Brothers, I might try this little mod.

My thought is that now I could take the truck out to a few shows or cruise nights with the '42 WLA in the back, which would look cool, and I could save on some much needed garage space too! If I ever needed to haul my bike to a show or a new home, that was an added bonus as well. I asked my friend Cathy if maybe she could help me letter the tailgate, she is a great artist.
The drawbacks would be that I need to make some ramps that I can keep in the bed too, and that I would also need to take the bike out every time I need to refuel the truck, as the gas tank is under the bed, and it lifts up with the linear actuators. I'm going to give this some thought for a few days before I make a decision.

Garage Cleaning

 I guess technically I didn't clean the garage, but I did take everything out and sweep the floor. The real goal of this "spring cleaning" effort was to  fuel up the flathead, get it running, and adjust the new clutch that I installed over the winter. Well the bike started right up (posted a video on Facebook here) but then I needed to adjust the primary chain (here) to take out some slack. This of course required a rear chain adjustment too after that. I pulled the carb bowl off and cleaned the inside with some carb cleaner, then took her for a little ride... and all was great. Threw the primary cover back on her, and she is ready for another year of fun, as soon as we can start that.

Butter Wet Wax

Yesterday, after a long and hard day of yard work, I gave the Camaro a quick wash with the new products I received for Christmas. The new sud-gun was pretty cool, and then I hit the car with the clay bar. After, I tried my new Butter Wet Wax from Chemical Guys on the hood (although I should have tried the polish first) and man was that smoooothe stuff. We will see how long it last and if it beads up well.