Lil Indial Split Frame Resto with my 7 Year Old Daughter...

[ianashton]

I've found many answers on these boards over the last few weeks, so I figured it was time to register and share a little project I'm working on with my 7 year old daughter.

I'll eventually have a full build video on my YouTube channel, but being that will be a few months down the road, I've been sharing pics and words on facebook, so I'll get y'all up to speed on our build so far!

Kater and I started teardown of the Lil Indian mini bike!


She got the throttle and brake hardware removed from the handlebars and broke loose the front axle nut all by herself, and with some help from dad got the kickstand and foot pegs removed.




She learned the joy of rusty old bolts when we found the front axle had rusted to a spacer, preventing us from removing the front wheel, but dad’ll get the proper tool for the job (a BFH) and then we can move on to removing the fork and rear wheel.



She also bagged and tagged everything we removed (something dad never does, and ALWAYS regrets!)


My heart could not be more full with this project, huge shout out to Steve Atwell, Sr. for the bike and the inspiration!

 

[ianashton]

We broke some rusty bolts but got the fork separated from the frame; found a cracked weld, so I’m going to take it to a shop today to get a quote for fixing just the weld (and we’ll attempt to extract the bolt ourselves) and also to replace the head tube entirely.


Doing this not because I have any interest in keeping the original metal or trying to get that sumbeeeotch bolt out, but because I’m trying to teach my girl the importance of managing a budget on your projects (yet another thing dad fails miserably at!) once we have the estimates I’m going to let her decide which route we go.




We also started making a cardboard template for what will become our seat, and have been brainstorming colors.


So stoked with this project, and even more with how into it Kater is!

 

[ianashton]

As we saw in the other post, Kater traced the frame onto some cardboard as a template for our seat base. I got it cut out, and we test fitted it to the frame, and we also removed (cut) the rusted axle bolts:


Had to give it a 'test sit' too, haha;


I took the frame to a local welder and got the head-tube replaced (was originally going to get an estimate and have her decide if we were going to extract teh rusted bolt ourselves, or pay to have the head tube replaced, but when they told me it would be $50 to replace I made the executive decision to get it done!)


New vs. Old:




Today I picked Kater up from school a little early and we hit the CRM Powder Coating to pick out our color and drop everything off! Frame and Fork will be “Dirty Magic” and the foot pegs and kickstand will be Bright Silver.


The best I can tell, this thing is circa 1969, as that is the datecode on the Briggs & Stratton engine, although our good friend Kevin from Burketts Antiques in Hillsdale, Michigan has a super cool and ultra retro Tecumseh 3.5 horse that he’s donating to the cause that we are going to use instead (something about an already running donated engine sounds good for the budget, lol!)

This week the plan is to transfer the seat base template to wood, then get some foam to cut to shape. Once we get the frame back we’ll hit up an upholstery shop to get the seat done up, thinking some glittery silver vinyl with a nice accent color piping.
It’s going to be a looooooong “7-10 days” waiting for the frame to get back!

 

[ianashton]

I'm dialing in a parts list on OldMiniBikes that should get us the rest of what we need to put this thing back together, then we can really get to work putting it back together!

 

[Lizardking]

Welcome to oldminibikes.com.

Looks like you're on your way to a good start! Keeping the wee one involved is a plus and looks like its
got her attention!

Keep up the good work and keep sharing!

 

[markus]

The best I can tell, this thing is circa 1969, as that is the datecode on the Briggs & Stratton engine, although our good friend Kevin from Burketts Antiques in Hillsdale, Michigan has a super cool and ultra retro Tecumseh 3.5 horse that he’s donating to the cause that we are going to use instead (something about an already running donated engine sounds good for the budget, lol!)

Looking good! that is actually a later series bike (they didn't exist like that in 1969) About 1974 they started with that version that was morphed from the Mini mate bikes. They sold them like that for years, I want to say sometime in the 1990's they started to laser etch the frame info on the motor plate so if it doesn't have that etching I would say its closer to late 1970's-1980's made due to the type of kickstand it has. This is a mid 1970's catalog shot, Note it has a bolt on kickstand. they always used a square shroud Tecumseh in that timeframe so a little newer Tecumseh than your briggs would fit the bill nicely! I cleaned up a 2000 year built one of those awhile back. It was a fun little bike This thread shows some of the things they were doing at that time and the laser etching to look for etc.. Best of luck with it! 2000 Lil Indian short frame build

 

[Broke Joke]

Awesome Dad!!

 

[RobertC]

Hello @ianashton , and Kater... welcome to the Oldminibikes.com forum !

What a great project. You both will remember this build forever.

Keep us posted on you all's progress.

 

[ZR9B]

Welcome to mini bikes!!! Great project, great color. Should look amazing... but... what are ypu going to ride?..

 

[manchester1]

Great project. Awesome to kids the kids involved to learn a few things.