parts needed:
a tioga 1" threaded headset
3 rings of verry small ball bearing headset bearings
a regular un sealed headset size 1 1/8" ( the kind that has caged bearings that can come loose from top and bottom race ya know ? a headset with sealed bearings is not going to work.
we want the lower and upper races from them mostly. I doubt the ball bearings from it will
work with the crazy headset we are building as the ball bearings are probly too large.
here is a pic of me gathering parts. note- do not use any aluminum parts for a race. they wear out
with in minutes of riding. I had tried using aluminum races for integrated headsets, and they worked out in thery, and fit nicely going together - but the ball bearings cut deep grooves in the soft aluminum and did not work out at all.
use the 1" cups in the frame.
use the 1 1/8" race on the fork.
take all of the little bearings out of the 3 rings of them.
apply tons of greese to the headset cups in the frame.
then fill the headset cups up with ball bearings like this.
in that pic there is a green arrow pointing to a small spot where a last bearing could possibly fit in there, but it would leave NO room at all for the bearings to freely roll with out mashing eachother,
this is the amount of space you want in there. any more will lead to failure, any less will lead to bearings wearing out way too fast.
so once your bottom cup is all full of bearings like that,
slide the fork in.
and do the same to the top cup.
then slide the rest of the 1 1/8" headset parts in
and your shims for the headtube and your stem.
tighten it up so that it spins freely sort of
but has no slack or wobble in it.
ride it around for a day or so,
and re ajust it
my guess is it will come loose a little as every thing gets seated in properly. - or at least it did on mine.
but once it all finds its groove nicely - I havent had to ajust my headset at all in a long time. its good to go.
edit -
o good, I found a picture showing the bottom race I used -
and my pair of tioga cups, and the 3 rings of bearings I used.
I found this fsa orbit headset top race to work out awesome also.
starting to slide the fork in.
picture of me removing the ball bearings from the cages.
here is a picture of me doing the top ball bearings in there.
its a pain in the ass - so find a spoke or some other pointy tool to use
to help pack the bearings in there
notice on the above pic ^ that was the aluminum top headset stuff I was trying to use
as a top race. it worked for about an hour before getting all tore up by the bearings.
and there you have it. plenty of info on how to do it.
here is the 1987 gt performer I put tanaka forks on with a suelo stem and sick child bars.
it rode awesome and is apart right now for getting a dope neon green or pink paint job.