Aussie A10 engine builders

[UncleD]

Now this is a long term but inevitable question...

There will come a time when my engine will need a complete rebuild.  I have seen enough of the prior'restoration' to know that the internals would not have been to the standard I am happy with.  Hopefully, it will not be an immediate need but nonetheless it will be an inevitable need.

So who are the best Beesa (A10) engine rebuilders in Oz?  Living in Darwin, I expect that I will need to transport so any state (except perhaps WA & Tas) will be as close as anywhere else.

I understand the costs...it is quality that concerns me...any suggestions?

[muskrat]

G'day uncD
I don't want to nominate anybody who may not want to publicly. There's 1 in WA, 1 in SA, 1 in QLD and 2 in NSW.
Why not have a go yourself. Crank grinding, main bush reaming and cylinder boring could be done by a good engine shop up there. The rest you could do with the collective help of the forum.
Cheers

[UncleD]

I do have a friend who is a quality motorcycle mechanic and keen to learn more about Beesa's so probably should go down the local path as I could save quite a bit of money doing some of the legwork.

My main concern is having the inside info on the idiosyncrasies of these engines.  I understand the oil feed to main bearing issues (pump and sludge trap)...but don't know what I don't know.  I guess if I search 'main things to look for when rebuilding an A10', I'd probably find more than enough reading!

[Greybeard]

You have a living encyclopedia on these machines in this forum.

[BSA_54A10]

An engine is an engine is an engine.
Nothing particularly difficult with an A10 engine or not SOP with any modern engine apart from the nescessity of double checking that each & every part actually fits before it gets bolted on.
It is basically clean , inspect, measure then replace.
back in the 50's these engines were rebuilt on the kitchen table with a couple of bent forks.
The trick is knowing just how sloppy a lot of the fits are and remembering that the engine is not a modern sewing machine so it will rattle & clang.
A lot of the "problems" that appear on these pages are from people over thinking simple tasks.
Back in the 50's no mechanic owned a tension wrench, loctite had not been invented and faces were sealed using lacquer & a silk thread.
When finished the bike leaked oll & blew smoke because it was acceptiable .
Now days we seem to think that a 60 year old bike should be as quiet & oil tight as a brand new one.
Back in my youth a neighbour 2 houses away had a square 4 & I could hear his tappets rattleing from my bedroom

[hdawson]

I thought exactly the same when I fell in love with and bought my SR.

Over time you will inevitably have to repair minor and  major problems that will arise and thus get to know your bike intimately.
This forum has been an invaluable source of information however you will discover that most of our machines have been modified by previous owners so no two are alike. No doubt when I become a  PO in the distant future some poor sod will be scratching his head over my mods which made practical sense to me when confronted by niggling problems.
I am in no way a rivet counter and consider that my bikes should be as practical as I can make them to maximise the enjoyment I get from them.
Worry about problems when they arise and in the meantime, ride and enjoy.
Cheers, Hadrian.

[olev]

Gday mate,
Sending an engine away is asking for trouble.
I suggest you do it with your mechanic mate.
If he works on modern engines he will probably be horrified when he opens her up.
It will pay you to buy a set of whitworth spanners and sockets before you start.
Anyhow a bike doesn't have character unless it blows smoke, rattles and squirts oil over the place.
cheers

[Steverat]

Returning to your original question, the one facility which I found difficult to locate even in the UK has been line reaming for the timing side main. I went on the phone to every (it seemed like) engine reconditioner within 30 miles of Bristol but couldn’t find anyone with a piloted reamer. In the end Hurleys of Bath did it with some guesswork, reaming to a tenth or so undersize then putting the crank up between centres and looking for eccentricity- which they found- and correcting it with some very fine scraping. The result is perfect but it took a lot of labour.

Sorry I know this doesn’t help you directly in Oz but if you can locate someone with a set of piloted readers and the skill to use them it will save you labour.

[BSA_54A10]

A mate bought the correct size range piloted adjustable reamer from L & P Tool makers in Victoria.
It was over $ 400.
You do not need to line bore the main.
You can set the cases up in a mill
Dial in the crank case mouth  then dial the outer race of the primary side in.
Remove the primary side and bore the timing side


There are details in a thread on  britbike http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/762502/1928-ariel-model-c#Post762502.
MM is a bit anal and an Physics professor so working in .00001" is second nature to him and not necessary or even desireable on our steeds.

As for our one, I cast up a plug of fiberglass body bog in a spray can lid.
This was then turned down to be a tight push fit into the primary side main outer race.
A word of warning here, the new bearing race was a lot bigger than the old one , so do it first.
A hole was then drilled then finish bored in the plug to give < 0.001" play between it & the reamer pilot.
Note the plug was mounted in the lathe and the case offered up to get the outside dimeter.
The plug was then drilled & bored to size.
We did this to avoid having to accurately remount the plug to account for the run out in the lathe chuck.
When pressed home into the bearing race, the pilot hole did close up a bit tighter which made the reaming a little difficult but the end was a main bearing with .0005" running clearance on the very first time we did one.
Fiberglass plug was chosen because I had a big tin of filler going off & it is dead easy to machine to a fine finish by a dirt driveway mechanic.

The offical BSA tool, indexes the bush from the out side of the timing side crank half and  you could not set up a system more prone to operator error than that.

[Tomcat]

An engine is an engine is an engine.
Nothing particularly difficult with an A10 engine or not SOP with any modern engine apart from the nescessity of double checking that each & every part actually fits before it gets bolted on.
It is basically clean , inspect, measure then replace.
back in the 50's these engines were rebuilt on the kitchen table with a couple of bent forks.
The trick is knowing just how sloppy a lot of the fits are and remembering that the engine is not a modern sewing machine so it will rattle & clang.
A lot of the "problems" that appear on these pages are from people over thinking simple tasks.
Back in the 50's no mechanic owned a tension wrench, loctite had not been invented and faces were sealed using lacquer & a silk thread.
When finished the bike leaked oll & blew smoke because it was acceptiable .
Now days we seem to think that a 60 year old bike should be as quiet & oil tight as a brand new one.
Back in my youth a neighbour 2 houses away had a square 4 & I could hear his tappets rattleing from my bedroom

Now here is some good advice.

Gday mate,
Sending an engine away is asking for trouble.
I suggest you do it with your mechanic mate.
If he works on modern engines he will probably be horrified when he opens her up.
It will pay you to buy a set of whitworth spanners and sockets before you start.
Anyhow a bike doesn't have character unless it blows smoke, rattles and squirts oil over the place.
cheers

And here is some more.