GHOST SHIP: Custom Chingaderas

A little work on the shop trike today. Got the little guy running. All it took was rebuilding the carb, cleaning out the rusty tank and chasing an electrical gremlin that ended up being a faulty kill switch. I also cleaned the points, changed the oil and cleaned and lubed the drive chain but they were in surprisingly good condition. I’ve posted in another thread but so far I’ve rebuilt the two piece wheels, added new tires, painted the frame and skid plate and cleaned the engine with a wire wheel. Today was all about getting a new seat on and freshening up the appearance of the sun damaged rear plastic. New upholstery, new seat cover, fresh paint on the rear plastic and reproduction stickers. It’s looking almost brand new. I did a quick and dirty paint job on the plastic but sanded and used plastic primer/adhesion promoter to hopefully make it last a bit. I couldn’t bear to leave the sun damaged plastic alone.



This was the original condition of the seat foam. The sun had eaten away portions of the top layer that were exposed once the original cover had deteriorated. New foam isn’t readily available so I’d hoped to just add a new cover and be good but it left a lumpy appearance and that was a no go. My solution was to cut off the top 1” of foam and add new foam.





being the resourceful fellow that I am, I had one of these gardening kneeling pads laying around and the density was perfect.




Glued it to the original foam and shaped it with a flap disc on and angle grinder.


Here’s the original plastic with peeling factory stickers.




And here’s the whole thing put back together with fresh paint and new upholstery. I wanted to save the dealer sticker from where my dad bought the ATC back in ‘84. I think they’re still around so I might take it there and see if the have a new sticker I could add.

Edit: the Pasadena dealership is long gone so I’m glad I saved this sticker.



And nerding out in full warning label regalia And reproduction tail sticker.



I’ll be doing the same to the tank and forks since now they look dingy by comparison. The paint on the tank is in good enough condition that I may just buff it out to bring it back to life rather than repaint it. I have new tank stickers to replace the faded ones.

 

@BartMaster1234 this is right up your alley

 

I see you also have the OCD decal issue I have haha. Nice work.

 

Thanks! Nothing like the street fighter arcade build but I try. Haha. Not doing a full on numbers build but I am trying to keep it as original as possible. The only thing that’s bugging me is the clear red vent lines on the carb. That last all they had in stock at my local hardware store In that size or I’d have gone with black lines.

 

The seat looks fantastic. How did you get a cover for it?

 

The seat cover was actually easy to find. They’re still being made apparently. There’s different livery out there in terms of logo size and placement but I went with the one that came originally on this model year. The foam on the other hand is out of stock on a few places I checked but even then it worked out with my repair. Feels firm but still comfy enough to bounce around on. These bikes don’t have suspension so the balloon tires and thick seat do all the work to keep it somewhat comfortable while riding.

 

Awesome. Let me know when you order yours so I order mine and we can split shipping hahahah

 

I front end freshened up. Rebuilt the bearings on the steering stem and gave the forks and fender a fresh coat of paint to cover the oxidation. All I need to do now is remove the tank stickers, buff out the paint that’s still in surprisingly good shape and put new decals on the tank that I already have. It might bug me a little the first time I roll this thing but that’s what they’re for.

 

That’s awesome. I remember the first time I rolled one of those, I was flying downhill on a dirt road. Such good times. Scared the shit out of me, but got up, Flipped it over, and kept going. Such death traps. Love em’

 

Tank decal removal/replace today. All the various chemicals I used to try and get the feed lines unclogged wore away a lot of the ink from the original decals. They weren’t in horrible shape but were definitely sun damaged.




Their age made them super brittle so they wouldn’t just peel off. I wanted to limit damage to the paint as much as possible because I didn’t plan on repainting it. So I used a plastic scraper and a heat gun on low to slowly work the decal off. This left the adhesive residue behind.


After that, I used Goof Off, paper towels and the plastic scraper to work the adhesive off slowly. The paint underneath was in really good shape but had some checking and the halo of the sticker was visible and totally expected.


You can also see the hazing on the paint in the light reflection.


To revive the paint I used the three products in succession on a foam pad on drill. I didn’t use my larger buffer because the size of the tank made the drill a better option.


Here’s the paint after the three step process. Brought the color back to life and added some shine while removing minor surface scuffs and scratches.




I could’ve gone a bit longer and got it even better but I think this level of shine matches the condition of the rest of the bike. There are a few pits in the chrome and some surface rust here and there so I wanted the bike to look like what it was: a clean survivor.

New decals applied and I’m going to call this one done. I’ll ride it till something breaks and then I’ll think about upgrades.







Not bad at all considering what I started with a month ago:



edit: I brought it home Oct 21st

 

nice!

 

That looks like fun to ride around fish creek

 

I love it, excellent work as always Sergio!

My kids had Honda 50's when they were wee and their buddy down the street had a small Honda 3-Wheeler. Those kids had more fun tearing around the woods and fields, it was hysterical.

 

Thanks Bob! I’m hoping to get my niece and nephew hooked on motorized transportation with this. I remember riding it as a kid and it always scared me but I always had fun.

 

Sliders installed on @kevinnnn ’s 1st gen today.

 

lol i guess i should have washed my truck first...thank you @GHOST SHIP !

the sliders are fantastic, and sergio is so easy to work with and thoughtful about his design. love it. here’s one of the man himself zapping away:

 

Been a long time coming but I wanted to give an update on the rack @GHOST SHIP fabbed up for me a few months ago.

I'd been running a mid-height bed rack with a tonneau for a few years but wanted more space for hauling stuff in the bed, so I started the search for a rack that would fit a cap/topper. Short of a standard lumber/contractor rack there weren't that many options, and those options were expensive and lead times were lengthy. Then my attention was turned to Sergio and lucky for me he was 100% into this project!

I didn't really have a lot of specific requests aside from wanting to fit a Softopper under it, but after messaging back and forth I realized Serg was really open to custom ideas so we moved the support bars higher to allow easier bed access with the Softopper sides rolled up and added mounting tabs for my RTT.

The entire system is super easy to set up and break down; the Softopper has to be deployed externally then slid inside the rack on the bed rails.


Smooooooove lines...




The middle utility rail tabs of the rack sits just outside the pivot points of the Softopper's canopy bars; no issue sliding the topper inside the rack though.

My only regret is not adding a set of crossbars up top that are smaller diameter than the main tubing; the claws on my Thule roof box don't properly clamp so I have to use cam straps for added security

Basically, I have zero regrets supporting Sergio and making the drive from SF, and I'd totally recommend him and his work to anybody! He's a super solid dude with meticulous attention to detail, he charged a fair price, and he busted this thing out in a fraction of the time other guys quoted.

 

Made it down to see @GHOST SHIP 2 weeks ago for a cab mount chop on my new (to me) 2020 Tacoma. I had my 285/75/16 tires installed 3 days before and I slapped on some 1.25" spidertrax wheel spacers the day before I paid him a visit, so I was in bad need of some trimming. I can't say enough about this guy.... what a class act all the way around. Super helpful and informative for a Toyota noob like myself. I learned so much about my rig and options during the 90-ish minutes that I spent in his garage, and the CMC looks like it was done at the factory. Definitely an A+++ experience. Thanks @GHOST SHIP !!