What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Swarfcut]

 GB's wondering...Well the truth is I have messed with bikes for many years, and never ever trusting so called "professionals" had my basic skills tutored by my dear departed old fella who had been an Engine Fitter on Merlin Engines.

 Over the years I've made the usual greenhorn mistakes, but hopefully by contributing to this Forum I have saved you guys some mental anguish and kept bikes on the road. Other Forum members no doubt know more than I do, but maybe do not feel inclined to post.

 All I know is that the mental exercise of posting keeps the brain active and keyboard skills up to scratch.

 And yes, the bike may have had a sidecar, along with the dinner plate 49 tooth sprocket. I ran my solo  Plunger for a couple of years in the early '70s without realising it was on sidecar gearing.....Not too cute huh? Bet there will be  a few counting teeth later today.

 Swarfy

[groily]

  . . had my basic skills tutored by my dear departed old fella who had been an Engine Fitter on Merlin Engines  . . .

Bit o' nostalgia for your old fella's sake then swarfy.
Repurposed bits of Merlin (or just maybe Griffon) knocked up as side hustles by fitters at RNAS Yeovilton back in the day, who worked with my old fella in the engineering shop there. Those cylinder studs  make superb tyre levers, and the piston makes a fine ashtray. Austin 7 or bike ones for roll-ups, but a proper job is called for for pipes.
(The Griffon was developed for the Fleet Air Arm originally - but I think the engines in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight aircraft are, some or all of them, the 37-litre Griffons rather than the smaller Merlins).
Precious valueless artefacts these are, to me anyway!

[greybloke]

Thanks, Swarfy, GB - all advice gratefully received.

I'm a bit of a completionist, gotta plat games, etc. So it's coming apart for the shot blaster to get into every nook and cranny, ditto enamel. Got the front sleeves out, mostly lube and to-and-fro rotation until they ease up. Top one drive side is binded, timing side free. A touch of heat methinks which worked a treat on the pegs. l/h thread on drive side, how we laughed. Likewise saddle spring studs and the timing side pillion peg adaptor. No drive side adaptor, defo lugged a sidecar at some point. Frame seems straight enough. It used to go in straight lines and round corners and everything without making my ringpiece twitch. Anyone got the specs for a frame jig?

[Swarfcut]

 This may be useful. Old Thumpers/Tech

 https://oldthumpers.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/tech/

 Scroll down to the BSA Section, there are frame dimensions plus a whole lot of other useful stuff to offer further distraction. Main site has a link to this very Forum. International fame, indeed.

 Swarfy.

[greybloke]

This may be useful. Old Thumpers/Tech

 https://oldthumpers.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/tech/

 Scroll down to the BSA Section, there are frame dimensions plus a whole lot of other useful stuff to offer further distraction. Main site has a link to this very Forum. International fame, indeed.

 Swarfy.

Obliged again, Swarfy, great resource. Got the sleeves out. Top one took a lot of wiggling/lube with a sideways assist from a stout screwdriver. Frame then came apart like pulling a wobbly tooth. Seems OK, a bit of torsion on timing side, no force required to align holes. Right, time to assemble a big pile of metal for blasting and stoving... once I've sourced those missing bits... and finished stripping the forks... and swapping out that 46T for the dinner plate on the rear QD hub. All the bolts are peened on. I shall prevail.

[berger]

went out on betsy 2 to show a mate i haven't seen for about 5 years he loved the tick over and the loud sound she makes  ,came home and went out on urma yonda with the mate who sold me betsy the original  back in the 70's , he has one of those 1200 BMW things and urma is more comfortable for me on a long ride trying to keep up with him . a good day was had apart from muck spreading in the fields and a fly attack  and now the bar is open

[greybloke]

Carrying on pottering, stripped rear mudguard even unto the suppliers plate, Redhill Motor and Cycles, about 30 miles away (if still there). Was hoping to punch out hinge pin but geometry wouldn't allow, so drilled out the two upper rivets to free hinge. There were two blanks (likely for rack attachment?) that may well substitute for rivets (and use holes for bum pad?) - although I've found a blacksmith a couple of miles away - in Sarf Lundun? What are the odds? Very basic Wipac tail lamp, looks like a battery torch bulb under that tin foil mod. And as I was drilling out, I coaxed off those peened over (and locking tab) nuts to swap a 46t sprocket onto the rear.

Used some chinesium M42 bits. Not too shabby with a drop of lube, low revs and a steady push. Produced proper swarf, so I included some in a pic, for Swarfy.

[Swarfcut]

  GB2 Thanks for the kind thought.  When I first signed into this Forum, I needed a handle. Looking at my right hand there is a scar between thumb and first finger, you can guess, from a swarf cut, razor sharp, don't mess, learned the hard way. So that's the back story.

 Unless you already have a 46 tooth sprocket, go for a 42 for more relaxed cruising, and an aftermarket 20 or 21 gearbox sprocket. These are easy to fit with the bike in bits, it's an engine unit out job later on. Bear in mind speedo is calibrated to suit original model spec gearing.  Japanese practice solved this by driving speedo off the front wheel, far simpler!

 Big Scar on Right Hand.....

 Additional. Instead of mudguard hinge rivets I have used round head coach bolts, threaded as set screws, polished heads. Look kosher, with none of the violence neede to form a rivet.  New Hinge to replace rusted out example was a cut down garden gate/shed door type, looks the part.  Remarkable survival of your tinware (considering the long term storage conditions) together with a relatively unworn rear sprocket.

[CheeserBeezer]

Regarding the nuts and bolts you have removed from the rear drum to remove the splined ring.....don't throw them away!!!! The pattern ones available are absolute cr4p! The nuts are sloppy on the threads and the bolts are soft. I had stock and chucked them all away.

[berger]

i went to see nice man who has changed a magnetic 4 to 1 rev counter into a 3 to 1 for betsy 2. he showed me all the internals of the chronos and magnetics and explained how they work, by eck those chronos are weird man , by the time i got home i had forgot and the raging tooth ache kicked in again now taking antibiotics because my face looks ugly for the first time in nearly 66 years no beers for berger for a bit

[Worty]

Funnily enough, I've got the toothache too, which is why I didn't ride today  

Don't worry Bergs, you'll be 'fetchin' ducks off watter' soon enough

[CheeserBeezer]

Just returned from a 350 mile round trip to the North York Moors. Fabulous roads, not great weather. There were 6 A10's on the trip and we never had to get the spanners out!

[Angus]

Sent the A10 off to the Haynes Museum near Yeovil with my son Luke.  They are having an exhibition of vehicles that have appeared in their books and manuals. As said before the A10 is on the cover of the super profile book and there are many pictures of her inside and she looks just the same now. If anybody is going then say hello to Luke 

[Worty]

Just returned from a 350 mile round trip to the North York Moors. Fabulous roads, not great weather. There were 6 A10's on the trip and we never had to get the spanners out!

Was that in one day CB, or did you break it up a bit?

The North Yorks Moors are pretty much my backyard, I think I've gone down most roads up there at least once.  I  also have the Yorks Dales, Derbyshire Peaks (where I went today), North Lincolnshire and the Forest of Bowland within a day's ride out. 

The start to my riding today was packed with intrigue.  First up, I rode the GF to a petrol station about 5 miles away to discover the clutch was slipping a bit .  The clutch plates are the ones I've had since I had the bike, and have covered 13000m.  I've no idea how long they'd been in the bike prior to that, but the plain steel plates did have a bit of surface rust on them.  Methinks it may be time for a new set (or can I tighten the nuts a bit more for extra pressure??)

So, I returned home to get the Kwaka out (detemined that my riding day was not thwarted by temperamental GF).  I got round the corner and was filtering along the outside of a queue of cars waiting at lights, when one decided to suddenly turn into a shop entrance.  I clipped the tyre (maybe also the bumper) very slightly, and carried on past the lights down the road only to discover that the gear lever was bent at a right angle.  I parked up in a side street out of sight, bent it back into shape, went back home via a different route for a bit more bending, then went back out again.

Going up the bypass at about 65 (50 limit), cars started to flash me!  I slowed down in time to see PC Rozza waiting at the side of the road.  Phew, I thought!  Got into the Derbys Dales down Snake Pass, round a corner and PC Rozza was there too.  Fortunately, I was at the limit and they were getting more doughnuts from the boot of their Canyonero as I went past.

The rest of the trip went well, with the Kwaka running sweetly.

Have told the family to act dumb about the mishap just in case PC Rozza finds out.  In fact, what mishap - nothing happened

[berger]

worty tighten your nuts, joking aside is it the four spring , i think it should be so take it to bits and inspect the plates and spring lengths then go from there .