Let's start on the engine plates. I drove to two places looking for some 6061 plate as my 3' piece is now somehow 24". Second place I found some decent drops. $26 later I ended up using what I had left - sharing the diagonal cut helped.
I will remove an inch or two off the bottom of the plates as they would drop well below the hypothetical "loop" of the frame plus they will look a little bulky below the engine block - I want to keep that pretty low slung in the frame. There will be four mounting holes(narrower than scribed) that will mate up with bungs on each of the tubes. I'm not sure if I'll wait on those till I get the frame tacked up or if the plates would help align the tubes. I will also add a tube to bridge the down tube and seat tube for added strength - it will be concealed under the plate. The Dykem wasn't really necessary at this point but the flashback to model airplane dope days alone was worth it!
I also mounted the stock 26" forks just for kicks. I knew I would have to widen the crown and add an upper triple tree and trusses but I didn't think they would be
that short. I'm beginning to see why many of the "replicas" look so awkward.
