# Western flyer x53



## STOUT (Jun 4, 2013)

I am having a hard time putting together the headlight for this project. I bought a repro western top and repro rocketray but I am having a difficult time getting the top to fit the bottom, Any help/input would be great!


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## Freqman1 (Jun 5, 2013)

Mine also has a repo top and it required a little filing to get a decent (not great) fit. V/r Shawn


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## STOUT (Jun 5, 2013)

Good to know! I thougth I had better check before I went to town on the casing. I feel like its the side metal brackets from the base that don't have enought room.


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## then8j (Jun 6, 2013)

I have done a couple of the repro headlights and I found that a dremel and a load of bits work the best. You will have to shave down the base also. 
What happen is when they make the part, they use a mold from the original, but in the casting process the metal shrinks smaller then the original. This is a natural thing. 

When your done grinding it down, bring it to a chrome shop and have them polish it, since it's made of zinc and tin it will polish to a chrome like shine. Then just put a clear on it. That's what I did with this one.





Untitled by then8j, on Flickr


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## Tim the Skid (Jun 6, 2013)

Man, that looks awesome. Is that a reproduction part?


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## then8j (Jun 7, 2013)

The picture show a reproduction from Jerry peters off of eBay, they take some work getting them to work but turn out nice.


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## STOUT (Jun 20, 2013)

then8j said:


> I have done a couple of the repro headlights and I found that a dremel and a load of bits work the best. You will have to shave down the base also.
> What happen is when they make the part, they use a mold from the original, but in the casting process the metal shrinks smaller then the original. This is a natural thing.
> 
> When your done grinding it down, bring it to a chrome shop and have them polish it, since it's made of zinc and tin it will polish to a chrome like shine. Then just put a clear on it. That's what I did with this one.
> ...




THAT LOOKS AMAZING! I will definitely take it to get polished! Good to know I have to grind down the bottom as well. I really wasn't sure where to start and I was worried I would grinnd off too much. What kind of bits are you referring to directly with the dremel?


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## STOUT (Jun 20, 2013)

*the before and almost finished after pics.. w/o headlight*


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## then8j (Jun 20, 2013)

I'm referring to metal grinding bits for your dremmel, get a variety of them and figure out which ones work the best for each area.


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## CeeBee (Jun 20, 2013)

*Lookin' good my friend!*



STOUT said:


> View attachment 101278View attachment 101281




Hey that bike looks familiar!  Good work, it looks better here than the text picture you sent me!


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## STOUT (Jun 25, 2013)

Hey good to see you on here! Thanks! I wasn't sure how the pic would come across on your cell phone!


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