Decade Long Project

[Cyclone14]

Thanks for taking the time to make up those diagrams. I'm in agreement with you that side guide lines would have been a asset. Regarding the diagrams of the bolts not being able make contact with the top of the hole, this situation, had it existed, would have resulted in the fender sitting HIGHER than if the bolts made full contact with the top of the mount holes. My question here is trying to figure out why the fender LOWERED so much. And its not a problem, I like the new fender position. I'm just trying to satisfy my curiosity.

"Besides, the OEM hole is bigger than the bolt.
Means there is a fudge factor in OEM install where the bolts could have been in the bottom of the holes.
Loosen and push down may have revealed a built in 3 mil fudge factor.
Then you widened that."

No, that wasn't the case. Still mystified.
Prior to grinding the fender was fully pushed DOWN onto loosened mounting bolts, if pushed UP in the slightly oversized factory mounting holes the top of the fender made contact with the bottom of the fork brace well before the slop in the mounting holes was taken up. When pushed down and all 4 bolts were firmly in contact with the top of the fender mounting holes (if you read the full post you will see I had the entire front end removed from the bike and was re-installing it piece by piece.) and confirmed visually, and it yielded approximately .006" fender to fork mount clearance.
After grinding the mounting holes the now elongated mounting holes measured from bottom to top EXACTLY 3 mm longer in the now enlarged vertical dimension than the original factory mounting holes.
Once again the fender was fully pushed DOWN onto loosened mounting bolts and all 4 bolts were firmly in contact with the top of the now lengthened fender mounting holes and this was also confirmed visually. This yielded just over 6 mm of fender to fork mount clearance.
OK, I'm moving on from this subject now, we have beaten it to a well deserved death!
The new clearance is fine and I'm leaving town for work.

[Cyclone14]

Thanks for taking the time to make up those diagrams. I'm in agreement with you that side guide lines would have been a asset. Regarding the diagrams of the bolts not being able make contact with the top of the hole, this situation, had it existed, would have resulted in the fender sitting HIGHER than if the bolts made full contact with the top of the mount holes. My question here is trying to figure out why the fender LOWERED so much. And its not a problem, I like the new fender position. I'm just trying to satisfy my curiosity.

"Besides, the OEM hole is bigger than the bolt.
Means there is a fudge factor in OEM install where the bolts could have been in the bottom of the holes.
Loosen and push down may have revealed a built in 3 mil fudge factor.
Then you widened that."

No, that wasn't the case. Still mystified.
Prior to grinding the fender was fully pushed DOWN onto loosened mounting bolts, if pushed UP in the slightly oversized factory mounting holes the top of the fender made contact with the bottom of the fork brace well before the slop in the mounting holes was taken up.
When pushed DOWN and with all 4 bolts firmly in contact with the top of the fender mounting holes and confirmed visually, it yielded approximately .006" fender to fork mount clearance.
After grinding the mounting holes the now elongated mounting holes measured from bottom to top EXACTLY 3 mm longer in the now enlarged vertical dimension than the original factory mounting holes.
Once again the fender was fully pushed DOWN onto loosened mounting bolts and all 4 bolts were firmly in contact with the top of the now lengthened fender mounting holes and this was also confirmed visually. This yielded just over 6 mm of fender to fork mount clearance.
OK, I'm moving on from this subject now, we have beaten it to a well deserved death!
The new clearance is fine and I'm leaving town for work.

[Hippysmack]

Of course, I don't know for sure what happened.
You would have to compensate up top for the holes not being completely vertical was my thinking.
A thought was maybe the compensation thru off the cut measurements.
But all in all, you could measure from the lip under the fender down to the holes and scribe from there as a different way to get there.
Anyway......

[Cyclone14]

ya know, hindsight is a wonderful thing..... if I could do this over I'd have Randy make a little template from some harder material like stainless that those bits wouldn't cut and clamp it to the fender mount and let that guide the grind....oh well, too late

[Cyclone14]

Due to many factors almost a year has gone by since I have done anything with the Sportster. Wanting to touch up the small damage that I had inflicted on the front fender mounting bracket, I called Color Rite and asked what I should have on hand for fixing the fender and any future minor accidents to my paint.
Thought I'd better buy some before my factory color "Jade Sunglow" was dropped due to age. This is what they sent me:

Tack Cloth
Surface Cleaning Prep Wipes
4 different grades of abrasive paper
Primer
Clearcoat
Light Cut Polishing Compound
Colorcoat #1168 Base
Colorcoat Jade Sunglow

[rejeanprimeau]

My favorite touch out paints: nail polish or model plane paint. With the young painting their finger nails the choice of color is almost without limit. 2$ and it's not like it's in full view like a gas tank.

[Cyclone14]

imgbb stopped working for me
I reviewed the sticky(s) here just to be sure I wasn't making a mistake and tried several more times with the same result.
doesn't seem to be any point in posting without pics
don't know why this website isn't set up to allow pics to be uploaded directly from a users computer