Vintage Open - 2018 JackScat Project

j57little

Active Member
#1
Scat2018-1.jpg

I bought this bike two years ago and basically gave up right then and there. It's a Scat Cat SC214B, commonly available in the early 70's through mail order. Because of the mail order thing they were much cheaper than typical mini bikes. And when you consider that the rolling frame was imported from Taiwan, that made them really cheap. Some higher Scat Cat models came with a two-stroke (maybe Hodaka?) engine, but I believe most came with a 4 horse Tecumseh.

What I found notable was the very high quality components. The brake hubs are die cast. The shocks are also die cast. Now as for the 10-inch knobby tires - with white walls - OK that is totally wrong on any planet, but that's how they came. The big attraction for me was the awesome gas tank. It was chrome and this one looked great until I realized that it had deep creases from the tripe tree on both sides (design flaw #1). I put a black primer on it to slow the rust and that was the end of that.

After researching I noticed that Scat Cats came with an awesome muffler, but that will likely be impossible to find. Going back to chrome on the tank will be difficult because of the deep dents. So I think it will have to be paint - and a frame modification to stop the dents from the triple tree. The seat looked really good, but on close observation it has holes and tears and will need to be rebuilt.

Now as for the engine, I have rebuilt a few vintage flatheads, but I'd rather have a root canal than rebuild another one. I'm thinking Predator, thus, the Vintage Open Class. I want to make this a fast one, so a 6.5 horse Predator with a few engine upgrades should make this a screamer. With a frame mounted driven member this could be a real challenge.

The biggest expense is going to be chrome. Even if I paint the tank I'll still need lots of chrome - wheels, struts, handlebars, among other parts.

Any advice is appreciated, especially if you have any information or experience with a Scat Cat.
 
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j57little

Active Member
#3
Strut Spring-1.jpg

Day 1 and I've just hit the first snag - broken strut spring. If anyone has one or any thoughts that would be great.

Brake-1.jpg

The front brake has a lever, but the rear brake - not so much. Looking for a brake shoe lever.
 
#8
Very cool! Love them scat cats! I have the same bike, I had dents in the tanks as well. Actually had a local powder coat guy take the dents out and it looks fantastic. He had it for a month or so but it worked out well. Good luck!


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#10
View attachment 102079

Day 1 and I've just hit the first snag - broken strut spring. If anyone has one or any thoughts that would be great.

View attachment 102081

The front brake has a lever, but the rear brake - not so much. Looking for a brake shoe lever.
I may have the brake lever you are looking for, I'll have to look :thumbsup:(Post a pic of the rear drum) As for the spring, I would ask about the length of Speedway or Bonanza springs??????? They might be close enough :thumbsup:
 

j57little

Active Member
#11
The springs themselves are 12 inches long with a three-quarter inch OD. Every place I've seen millions of fork springs they are always listed by model number, never by size. At this point I'll take anything I can get. To make matters worse, it appears the springs anchor to the bottom of the lower strut tube with a rubber slug. it takes the form of the bottom lower tube and has a half-inch protrusion on the top that fits into the ID of the spring - one side was complete - the other side was missing the slug and the spring was broken. Any 0.75" OD springs at least 12 inches long would work _ I just have to find some.
 

j57little

Active Member
#12
IMG_1791.jpg

Strut Spring-1.jpg

The original tank on the Scat Cat was chrome, but with serious dents, getting the chrome right and at an affordable price will be difficult. Besides I want to change the color and include the color on the tank. But that's not to say there won't be plenty of chrome. The above picture includes parts that might get chrome. I plan to lay them out, in order, and we get to the dollar cutoff point I'll stop. Wheels, handlebars and upper fork struts are the priorities.

OK, my favorite theme - fork springs. In this photo you can see in the top spring a rubber piece on the left side. That feeds down into the bottom of the outer fork tube (you can see the lower fork tube in the lower left of the photo). You will note that the lower spring is broken and does not have this rubber slug. So...I need a set of springs, 12 inches long by 0.075" OD (three quarter inch diameter). Any leads are most appreciated.

And finally, I used to see ads from time to time about seats. My Scat Cat seat pan is in great shape, but the seat needs to be recovered. Any good leads on getting a new seat cover and foam would also be most appreciated.

Scat-Cat-example-3.jpg

This photo is an SC215 (I think) - similar to the SC 214B, but with bigger wheels and lights. My bike was not in bad shape, but with replacement parts so hard to find it's turning out to be a challenge. Thanks to Chipper for a pipe!
 
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#13
Hey, [MENTION=18286]manchester1[/MENTION] makes a great seat, she did one for me. And for the dents on the tank, even if you don't want chrome, I had a few "serious" dents on mine and a local powder coat guy got them out and he powder coated it for me. Cost about 125 but in my opinion it was worth it. Tank looks great now



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#14
That rubber slug could be turned from a bar of Delrin and it probably would work just fine, for the springs you might Google to find a spring supplier or surplus center and just order by size and stiffness to find something useable.
 
#17
Well if you find yourself in need of selling a really nice tank I think I know a buyer (me!).
Your tank is in better shape then when I started building my bike!
I only have the picture of the one side, there was 4-5 dents in that tank. The guy who fixed it had it for about 6 weeks, he got all the dents out of it, looks really good now. He didn't use any bondo on it either, heated it up, used air pressure and a few tools to push dents out from the inside. It might be worth it for you to ask around to local people to see if they can do the same thing


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#18
Hey Jack, I'm thinking outside the box here for your spring issue. It looks like you might be able to make 2, couple inch long plugs then cut the good one down to match the broken one so they both have the same amount of rebound and also leaving both of them the same original length.

I don't know how it all goes together, but it if it's impossible to find a replacement, it may be a simple option.
 

j57little

Active Member
#20
Hey Pat,

This message proves that great minds really do think alike. That's exactly what I'm planning to do. I'll make some plugs/extenders and cut the long spring to the same length as the short one!

Thanks for the sanity check!

Jack
 
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