Project Lockdown

Rick Stringer’s turbocharged Night Rod Special is a boosted beauty

- David Cohen

“A lot of the high-performance work was already done when I purchased the bike,” Rick began when we asked him about this wild-looking Night Rod.

“It had 8000km on the clock and had been to West Side Customs who built the motor with a Trask Turbocharger, intercooler and Carlini internals.

“They also fitted a Vance & Hines exhaust, highcomp pistons and tuned the engine,” explained Rick. “It had over $20,000 spent on it but was completely stock cosmetically.

“So, I pulled off the complete turbo setup and re-did all the seals, ceramic coat, gloss trim, fitted a new air filter and finished the motor off with custom paint on the Trask filter trim and clutch cover. I also installed a Pingel electric shifter for a flat change gearshift at the push of a button!”

MAKING IT LOOK RIGHT

From there he set about upgrading the aesthetics. “I went with a DGD Customs Systems Pro Street rear fender and seat pan but they needed some modification. It was re-fabricated to fit tighter and I frenched in a Custom Dynamics plate frame with numberplate light. The custom seat was made and trimmed, the sub-frame was chopped, and the major electrics were relocated to suit.

“Then a Night Rod Special RS front cowl was modified to fit against the fork and to hold the headlight grill and I made custom brackets to suit,” he continued. “I then added K/C tank frame inserts and a custom shorty front fender on fender extensions. Then the NRS airbox cover and side vents went on. It really started to look the part.”