New member, 1957 A10 GF Plunger

[Steveba10]

Hi, new to this forum with a 1957 A10 GF Plunger.
Just bought the bike that was taken fully apart 30+ years ago and left in a shed.
Acorns in the crank and pistons a pile of dust, you get the picture I’m sure.
The good side, it had a V5 and the tin work had a coat of black Dulux that protected it.
A nice retirement project and hopefully a good community of fellow enthusiasts and committed vendors.

Got it home, laid it out on the floor, made a list of missing items and items to be replaced.
Estimate £2k+ to put right, including stainless rims, spokes, pistons etc.
Googled venders and selected a couple.
Fecked and Dragonfly, and what a difference! Dragonfly were excellent.

But Fecked have really upset me. I gave them all the correct info and they sent me a wrong inlet valve.

First they claimed I had given them the wrong part number, I hadn’t, I just copied it off the valve I was replacing and it matched Dragonfly’s part list for A10 so I knew it was right.

Feked then said I needed a valve with a different part number, I looked it up it was for an A7!!!!
I sent a very detailed table of sizes I required, what they had sent me in error and what they recommended to me in error.

Their defence to this was to blame their supplier.
So I looked at the packet, Hepolite trade mark, nothing else just blank, the same with the valve, no identification.
I looked at Hepolite’s website to see how elaborate and detailed their genuine packaging really is.
Where has this valve come from? Any ideas? Answers on a post card?

To be fair Fecked offered to refund but only if I paid the return postage for their mistake.
No explanation, no apology!!!
Another wrong item sent is a clutch cover, they cannot supply one for a A10 plunger so sent me one suitable for another unidentified bike.
Why?  Again if I want a refund I will have to pay for the postage.

So, as you can tell,  I’m fecked off. I tried to get Gordon Williamson, the owner, to intercede but have heard nothing from him. I was hoping to hear, after all their website tells me how good they are.

Apart from that bad experience, the bike will come together, the crank just needed 10thou off, the bores cleaned up ok and eBay supplied std pistons.
I’m tempted to spray it Gold after all it’s in the name. But I was thinking a modern bright gold with lacquer, not the sandy original gold.
I’m not sure though and I do like them in black with a bit of chrome. Would it be a mistake to use a modern paint?

I think the mag has suffered, especially as the capacitor is inside the windings.
Electronic ignition is expensive and I like a challenge, so I’m thinking of using the mag points as a trigger for a Sparkright type electronic box powering a wasted spark dual coil unit. I’ve got a couple of Sparkright units and one would fit in the tool box, this solution would also maintain the auto advance.  Alternatively, for classic cars there are comparatively cheap hall-effect sensors that replace the points in a distributor and again could power a dual output coil. One might be made to fit replacing the mag points. Has anyone thought of this cheap solution before?

Ok, it’s stopped raining, I feel a bit better having ranted a bit, time to get up and back into the garage, who said retirement was easy?
Thank you for reading.

mod edit: edited title. For supplier comments, best to use the "Services, Parts Suppliers, Manufacturers" board.

[Butch (cb)]

Nice intro - with plenty of bite.

As you've noticed, there are good and bad purveyors of parts, just as there are good and bad repro parts themselves. Folks around here will be popping up with their own thoughts before long.

One problem I've had with Draganfly is that anything I wanted that was on back order never showed up.

[Greybeard]

I've had no problems with Fecked, but I ordered much of my rebuild items from Draganfly. I had a couple of incorrect or badly made items but overall very good service. Their website is really useful. One nice thing about DF is that they will take back unused items at the end of your restoration. I visited them and took back several hundred pounds worth of bits that I had incorrectly ordered or were just not used. No problems getting my money back, not the postage costs though.
I never choose 'Put on back order'. I go looking elsewhere.

I think we ought to step back and appreciate that we have a choice of suppliers in this niche market. The last BSA parts supplier standing will no doubt treble the cost of parts. I think SRM may already be doing that.

[Swarfcut]

Hi Steve. Assuming you are in the UK. Just googled "Who distributes Hepolite Products in the UK?" and up came

https://www.hepolitepistons.com/Hepolite_A4_digital_brochure_2020.pdf 

  Right at the very end you will see that all this stuff is distributed through Wassell's who have a nationwide network of local dealers. So in plain terms anything you need from Hepolite can be sourced directly from your local Wassell dealer, rather than some outfit miles away. But it's not all goodness and light, more of an unholy alliance. Are you thinking Fecked are doing a little repack of their own?

 The  Hepolite valve references  are the same as long established  Alpha Bearings, so this may be the source  http://www.alpha-bearings.com/

  Alpha valves (at least the ones I have) come in a plain polybag with a identifying plain label,  eg V17. The valves themselves are unstamped.

   The only thing genuine about the rest of the Hepolite range is the name. The products have no relation quality wise to the AE/Hepolite of yesteryear. Even the simulated greasy hand packaging to give the idea it is "new old stock" must be some marketing guy's idea of a joke. The pistons are considered reasonable, but Forum Members report problems with the rings sealing, remedied by replacement with other bands, Gandini's seem a popular and successful choice.

 One of the problems with basket cases is the spurious part that looks the correct one.  A7 and A10 heads are very similar and valves even more so. If you did not get what you actually ordered, yes miss-picks do happen, but the company has not done itself any favours by failing to rectify the situation in an economic and timely manner.

 A cheap repro parts book is well worth a buy.

 Swarfy.

[Tomcat]

My 1st port of call for A7 & A10 parts is Priory Magnetos. Andrew knows what the parts are and provides prompt service.
Some of my BSA and Norton parts come from Feked, they are a good supplier that I highly recommend.
I gave up on DF years ago, but they do have a handy website. 
P.S. Postage is very expensive to and from AU so not economical to return incorrect/cheese parts.
Cheers Peter

[a10 gf]

Welcome aboard, hoping the forum will be useful to get it all together.

[muskrat]

G'day Steve, 
As you have discovered it pays to shop around. Some of the smaller vendors still have NOS!
Your project is one of the last plungers and a good one at that.
Keep us posted on your project and we love pictures.
Best of luck with it.
Cheers

[Steveba10]

Thank you for your many replies and observations.
It certainly is a case of ‘buyer beware.’
I’ll be a bit more circumspect before buying in the future.
The disappointment with Feked has not deterred me and the restoration is progressing.
I’ve rebuilt the forks and did a neat (cheap) trick with the chrome seal holders.
I’ll post it in the frame and suspension forum.
Oh, and yes I’m in the UK, right down the bottom.
Thank you again,
Steve.