Osmethae
Active Member
I've been working on this for the past few months to 'finish' in time for Boomerjinks' 5 year Colorado Movie Cars photo shoot. We'll start off with what it looks like as of 11/2/13 while my girlfriend and I pose with it.
I realize that the one that they used in the movie was a 1988 Dnepr, but I've had a CJ-750 since 2007 that I used for WWII reenactments. It isn't 100% screen accurate because some of the things they did don't make a lot of sense. It's more like an accurate WWII version meshed with the one from the movie.
Alright well here's the whole history. I bought the thing on ebay scared out of my MIND wondering if I would actually receive it or not, since it was going to actually come from China. I can't quite recall how long it took to show up, but one day a few giant crates finally arrived and I was the most excited human being on Earth.
It was a lot of work assembling, even if it doesn't look like it, but at the time I hadn't ever even been on a motorcycle let alone assemble one. A few weeks in and everything started coming together. Getting the engine in at just the exact angle was one of the biggest pains I've encountered.
Fast forward a few years when I decided to make it into a WWII machine. The first things that had to go were the obnoxious blinkers on the front and back, easily removed.
Detail time! I ordered a plate kit and started attaching all the german plates to their designated areas.
Next up was replacing the gas tank, I ordered a new unpainted rough welded one, but didn't take pictures of the process at the time.
Fresh paint.
Gas tank knee pads and emblems added.
Looks good! Except a few things. My family and I were hit by a drunk driver on my birthday in 2011, he was travelling at 116 MPH when he hit us and it's a true miracle that we're even alive... but obviously there were damages. I only took the motorcycle to one reenactment but was unable to reenact anymore from injuries.
And then all of a sudden it clicked one day that I could turn this thing into an iconic movie moment from one of the best trilogies ever, and finally get more enjoyment out of my extremely fun motorcycle. Indiana Jones time! Plus, in the movie the gas tank is completely blank with nothing on it, so I had to switch back to the one that originally came with the bike.
The first thing that caused lots of trouble and brain damage was figuring out the symbol on the side of the sidecar.
I asked all of my WWII reenacting connections and not a single person could tell me what the hell this symbol was. Just as I was about to give up because I couldn't quite figure out what was in the shield crest, a random internet hero told me exactly what it was. It belonged to the 93rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division. Time to get to making a stencil! Except I have never done so before, and was afraid of having overspray around the edges of the symbol. So I did it the hard way. I masked the whole shape out with hundreds of pieces of tape.
Kabooooooooom!
I aged the whole bike with too many methods to list, but did it all in the shade which I regret doing... colors look different in sunlight derp derp. So the brown looks more like rust, but that gets fixed later on. The symbol on the other side now painted on.
I painstakingly created the sidecar symbol AGAIN with the worst method ever, but on the back this time.
Next up is creating the MG mount that they had. I did plenty of research and couldn't quite find one to buy that matched the movie one. Plus MG mounts are around the $600 range and I just could not do that.
The sides of the mount were cut long, bolted to the sidecar, and then measured to be shortened.
Rounded out the edges of the sides so no one would ever cut themselves on it, and tacked on the horizontal bar.
Vertical bar added, and bent a U shape out of some steel I had laying around.
And here's when I realized that the paint I weathered with was awfully dark.
Easy fix for the most part, just time consuming.
And now for the weird clamping knob that is on the sidecar that serves no purpose at all!
The main thing here was I couldn't find a knob that was big enough with the right shape. After spending hours at the hardware store I figured I could just make one with a sink handle.
This'll do.
Getting rid of the top ridges.
BUT WAIT. BIKE MALFUNCTION, ALERT, ALERT. Out of no where a wild short appeared, zapping my fuse every time I tried to turn it on.
Hours later after stupidly going from the most complicated to the most simple, it was my brake light. FIXED. Moving on.
It's getting late and I'm tired so the explanations will get lazier and lazier. Hey look, a picture.
There was a car/motorcycle show in town that I randomly decided to enter this into to give me a weekend break.
The tail light on the CJ has driven me crazy since the day I saw it. It's huge, it's bright, it's obnoxious as hell. Hello new sexy petite tail light!
The rear license plate wouldn't fit on it because of the blinker brackets. All it took was some sparky fun time with my angle grinder and those were gone. And my new ammo box arrived to go under the seat! Other than it wouldn't fit where it needed to go. ALSO FIXED BY THE ANGLE GRINDER
Ahhhhhh what a difference it all makes.
And there we have it! Had an absolute amazing time with Boomerjinks, and accidentally broke my motorcycle in the process. Apparently when you do this:
The seat will break off upon landing.
Anyways, there is still quite a bit for me to do with this thing and I'll just keep updating as it goes!
I realize that the one that they used in the movie was a 1988 Dnepr, but I've had a CJ-750 since 2007 that I used for WWII reenactments. It isn't 100% screen accurate because some of the things they did don't make a lot of sense. It's more like an accurate WWII version meshed with the one from the movie.
Alright well here's the whole history. I bought the thing on ebay scared out of my MIND wondering if I would actually receive it or not, since it was going to actually come from China. I can't quite recall how long it took to show up, but one day a few giant crates finally arrived and I was the most excited human being on Earth.
It was a lot of work assembling, even if it doesn't look like it, but at the time I hadn't ever even been on a motorcycle let alone assemble one. A few weeks in and everything started coming together. Getting the engine in at just the exact angle was one of the biggest pains I've encountered.
Fast forward a few years when I decided to make it into a WWII machine. The first things that had to go were the obnoxious blinkers on the front and back, easily removed.
Detail time! I ordered a plate kit and started attaching all the german plates to their designated areas.
Next up was replacing the gas tank, I ordered a new unpainted rough welded one, but didn't take pictures of the process at the time.
Fresh paint.
Gas tank knee pads and emblems added.
Looks good! Except a few things. My family and I were hit by a drunk driver on my birthday in 2011, he was travelling at 116 MPH when he hit us and it's a true miracle that we're even alive... but obviously there were damages. I only took the motorcycle to one reenactment but was unable to reenact anymore from injuries.
And then all of a sudden it clicked one day that I could turn this thing into an iconic movie moment from one of the best trilogies ever, and finally get more enjoyment out of my extremely fun motorcycle. Indiana Jones time! Plus, in the movie the gas tank is completely blank with nothing on it, so I had to switch back to the one that originally came with the bike.
The first thing that caused lots of trouble and brain damage was figuring out the symbol on the side of the sidecar.
I asked all of my WWII reenacting connections and not a single person could tell me what the hell this symbol was. Just as I was about to give up because I couldn't quite figure out what was in the shield crest, a random internet hero told me exactly what it was. It belonged to the 93rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division. Time to get to making a stencil! Except I have never done so before, and was afraid of having overspray around the edges of the symbol. So I did it the hard way. I masked the whole shape out with hundreds of pieces of tape.
Kabooooooooom!
I aged the whole bike with too many methods to list, but did it all in the shade which I regret doing... colors look different in sunlight derp derp. So the brown looks more like rust, but that gets fixed later on. The symbol on the other side now painted on.
I painstakingly created the sidecar symbol AGAIN with the worst method ever, but on the back this time.
Next up is creating the MG mount that they had. I did plenty of research and couldn't quite find one to buy that matched the movie one. Plus MG mounts are around the $600 range and I just could not do that.
The sides of the mount were cut long, bolted to the sidecar, and then measured to be shortened.
Rounded out the edges of the sides so no one would ever cut themselves on it, and tacked on the horizontal bar.
Vertical bar added, and bent a U shape out of some steel I had laying around.
And here's when I realized that the paint I weathered with was awfully dark.
Easy fix for the most part, just time consuming.
And now for the weird clamping knob that is on the sidecar that serves no purpose at all!
The main thing here was I couldn't find a knob that was big enough with the right shape. After spending hours at the hardware store I figured I could just make one with a sink handle.
This'll do.
Getting rid of the top ridges.
BUT WAIT. BIKE MALFUNCTION, ALERT, ALERT. Out of no where a wild short appeared, zapping my fuse every time I tried to turn it on.
Hours later after stupidly going from the most complicated to the most simple, it was my brake light. FIXED. Moving on.
It's getting late and I'm tired so the explanations will get lazier and lazier. Hey look, a picture.
There was a car/motorcycle show in town that I randomly decided to enter this into to give me a weekend break.
The tail light on the CJ has driven me crazy since the day I saw it. It's huge, it's bright, it's obnoxious as hell. Hello new sexy petite tail light!
The rear license plate wouldn't fit on it because of the blinker brackets. All it took was some sparky fun time with my angle grinder and those were gone. And my new ammo box arrived to go under the seat! Other than it wouldn't fit where it needed to go. ALSO FIXED BY THE ANGLE GRINDER
Ahhhhhh what a difference it all makes.
And there we have it! Had an absolute amazing time with Boomerjinks, and accidentally broke my motorcycle in the process. Apparently when you do this:
The seat will break off upon landing.
Anyways, there is still quite a bit for me to do with this thing and I'll just keep updating as it goes!
