Cody's A10 Warthog Belly Tank Racer

[Cody F]

Hey all! I've been lurking the forums for going on 4 years now and am on my second major build; both precursors to building my own Superlite SLC. Still gathering funds to build my own SLC but in the meantime I've needed to get out in the garage and build cool stuff. I have previously completed a full custom build on a 1991 Honda Shadow VT600C I've dubbed "Outlaw".

I finished the Shadow last May 2022. 95% of the build was completed in 3 months following my 7 year career in the USCG as an aircraft mechanic for HH60 Jayhawk Helicopters. Before I started building the bike, I had never before ridden a motorcycle and knew absolutely nothing about them. I picked up the soon to be chopped up Honda Shadow 2 days before riding lessons. There were a couple oil leaks, the main being the left fork leaking into the front brakes, so I decided to start the build before even learning how to ride. I ended up getting really busy in my personal life and ended up finishing the build 9 months after I started. Naturally, my first time riding my bike was hard-tailed on a car tire! I have since been itching to get back out in the garage and build something else. My opportunity showed itself when I found an awesome WW2 aircraft external fuel tank for sale on Facebook Marketplace in great condition. One thing on my list of potential builds was a belly tank racer / lakester and have only seen 2 total in my lifetime, so of course me being me, I just had to go pick it up (with some help, the thing is huge). After much research I have determined the tank to be from the legendary A10 Warthog.

Looking forward to sharing my progress here with you all. I plan on catching up the build blog to match my progress on this forum here, but have also started a build blog over on the H.A.M.B here : https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/a10-warthog-belly-tank-racer.1284656/#post-14756017

 

[Joel K]

Cody,

Very interesting project. I checked out the build on Jalopy Journal. Nice work!

 

[DaveC]

Cool project! Decided on an engine?

 

[Neil]

Cody, If you plan on running your bellytank at Bonneville or on the dry lakes, get an SCTA rule book and study the requirements. You don't want to put all that effort into building something that will only become a museum piece.

Also, watch "The World's Fastest Indian" for inspiration!

 

[Randy V]

Very cool project!

 

[Cody F]

Cody,

Very interesting project. I checked out the build on Jolopy Journal. Nice work!

Thanks Joel. Should be a fun and relatively inexpensive build to tide me over until it's SLC time. Excellent work so far on your SLC. It's come a long way since you've started and I've enjoyed watching your progress over the past couple of years. Keep up the great work!

 

[Cody F]

Cool project! Decided on an engine?

I picked up a 1950 Mercury V8 Flathead and a Ford F1 3 speed trans in the shop for it already

 

[Cody F]

Cody, If you plan on running your bellytank at Bonneville or on the dry lakes, get an SCTA rule book and study the requirements. You don't want to put all that effort into building something that will only become a museum piece.

Also, watch "The World's Fastest Indian" for inspiration!

Appreciate it Neil! I don't plan on racing the belly tanker, however I do plan on making it street legal. The plan is to be able to street the tank and drive it to local car shows.

 

[Cody F]

Very cool project!

Thanks Randy!

 

[Neil]

Appreciate it Neil! I don't plan on racing the belly tanker, however I do plan on making it street legal. The plan is to be able to street the tank and drive it to local car shows.

While I appreciate your ambition, I wouldn't do it. That is a LOT of effort, time, & $$$ for very little in return. Why not put the effort into building something that is practical yet semi-spectacular?