Building the Rack, Phase 1

I'm a member of a great forum called MotoredBikes.com.  There are tons of smart people there who are eager to show their work and help you with yours.  I've had many great suggestions from them regarding this project.  Earlier this week, I picked up an engine from Harbor Freight (97964).  It's a 2.5 hp.  I documented on that forum how I got this $129 engine for about $76 out the door.  You can read about it here.  When you get to the page, scroll down to comment #15.

I'd like to have had more time for this project today, but there were too many other demands.  However, I was able to un-box the engine and see if it would fit inside the bike frame.  A member of the forum has done it and told me it would fit if I were to remove the fuel tank and the exhaust system.  Assuming I was willing to go that far (I might be willing...some day), there's the added complexity of adding a jackshaft to get the power to the back wheel.  For this build, that's a little more customizing than I want to do.  So I'm going with the rack mount and I've made a little progress on the rack.

Of course there are more elegant materials that I could use, but I'm just using up my scrap pieces of steel to make this work.  I picked up some U-bolts from Fastenal because Grainger didn't have them in stock (huh?).  I held the steel pieces up against the bike frame and marked the steel where holes needed to go and drilled them out.  I then attached the steel to the bike frame with the U-bolts.  Whoa, it's sturdy!  Here are a few pics:

In the next phase, I'll be adding offset rails to the rack that will allow the engine to be positioned in alignment with the rim-pulley on the bike.