Threaded Fork Problems
 

So I've got a bit of a problem.

I gave my 53cm Univega frame to my girlfriend so that she could put together her own bike. The fork had been damaged in an accident, so I picked up a new one off ebay. The measurements stated in the auction made it seem like it would fit but... it's about 3mm shy of being able to have the locking nut(?) thread on. Now, her dad machines drag racing engine blocks for a living, so we're thinking that maybe he can just cut down the top of the steerer tube with one of his neat cutting doo-hickies by a few millimeters and have everything line up. However, I was wondering if maybe a threaded to threadless adaptor might solve the problem provided I got a threadless headset.

Could this work? I think that he could cut it down and have enough space to still fit the headset cup, but if not... I don't know. It seems like a lot of work, but she likes the fork a lot.

if the only problem is the steerer tube being too long, you can toss in a spacer or two.

Ahem, make that head tube. Steerer tube is actually the thing that's 3mm short.

You might have some luck with headset with smaller stack height, depending on your current one.

It's a semi-recent Shimano 105 headset. It looks pretty slim.

I'm not sure i see a problem here.

you could face the head tube down about 3 or 4 mm so that the headset stack is lower. take it to your lbs

that was the OP's plan, his GF's dad has a machine stop.

and it is a good idea. just make sure you go down far enough to get plenty of thread engagement. and make desperately sure that the top and bottom faces remain perfectly parallel. maybe even have the LBS re-face it once you grind it down.