What have you done with your bike/s today?

[dave55]

Hi Swarfy, on the seal holder on the forks as bought were fitted in to top of lower legs with circlips into groove in top of lower leg, the manual says that is where they fit so now i am puzzled. That would mean seal fitted up the stanchion first then the bushes top and bottom fitted onto stanchion , then struggle to get circlip back in groove without damaging anything and then the seal holder screwed back in place on to the lower leg , right or wrong ?

[Swarfcut]

 That's more or less how you do it, and why it is sometimes a struggle. The seal is fitted to the seal holder, then slid up the leg, lubricated with a dab of your favourite. Then the circlip and any shims, top bush, bottom bush, washer and nut. Tighten the nut, trick is to hold the leg in the fork bottom yoke. Then it's a case of adding the slider, fitting the circlip into the groove and screwing down the oilseal holder. BSA Service sheet 706 tells all.

 Swarfy.

[Worty]

Ah, errm, I assembled everything first - bushes fitted on stanchion, then stanchion into slider, then circlip, then put the seal in the holder, then slid the holder with seal DOWN onto the slider and tightened - not leaked yet??

[chaterlea25]

Hi Wortluck,
Sliding the seals down over the bigger section of the fork leg is likely to damage the seals
As said fit the seals to the holder and slide up from the bottom

John

[Black Sheep]

No spannering. Had a hospital appointment so rode the B31, a 75 mile round trip from single track road to Motorway. Temp was 1 degree setting off. The headlight developed a flicker which was down to poor headlight bulb holder contacts. Quickly fixed.
Spent a good while washing the salt off after.
As an aside, had a MRI scan. They offer music whilst it's going on. Having rejected the offer of pop or rock, they gave me the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra in concert. Hmm. 

[CheeserBeezer]

I am starting to gather the bits together for this year's project, a 1956 Road Rocket. I have decided to nick the engine out of my RGS copy as that has the correct stampings for the year then I'll build a DA10R engine for the RGS copy so both bikes will look correct(ish). I think I've got everything I need so it's just a case of putting things in piles for chrome plating, powder coating, zinc plating, and two pack. I have a mate who will paint the tinware. Heavy stuff, for powder coating, gets farmed out. Hoping to have it done by autumn. I bought some chrome mudguards from India which have turned out to be dreadful but I'll see if I can do something with them. If I can't I'll either use standard guards painted red or Gold Star guards from Autocycle.

[Greybeard]

I am starting to gather the bits together for this year's project, a 1956 Road Rocket. I have decided to nick the engine out of my RGS copy as that has the correct stampings for the year then I'll build a DA10R engine for the RGS copy so both bikes will look correct(ish). I think I've got everything I need so it's just a case of putting things in piles for chrome plating, powder coating, zinc plating, and two pack. I have a mate who will paint the tinware. Heavy stuff, for powder coating, gets farmed out. Hoping to have it done by autumn. I bought some chrome mudguards from India which have turned out to be dreadful but I'll see if I can do something with them. If I can't I'll either use standard guards painted red or Gold Star guards from Autocycle.

Been there, done that, got the scars, don't want to do it again! 😁

[Worty]

Hi Wortluck,
Sliding the seals down over the bigger section of the fork leg is likely to damage the seals
As said fit the seals to the holder and slide up from the bottom

John

John, I thought my way was too easy!  Still got the scars from battling with the circlip!!

[dave55]

My guess would be thats the way Rivett man said to do it    I reckon he put my forks together because they were not assembled in the order of the service sheet when i have checked it.

[Worty]

My guess would be thats the way Rivett man said to do it    I reckon he put my forks together because they were not assembled in the order of the service sheet when i have checked it.

RM did assemble the forks on the initial rebuild and, yes, the l/h did leak after a short period of time.  I replaced the seal using my method and it did need replacing again (using my 'method').  However, the r/h has never leaked (and it does have oil in it!).

[Worty]

Very pleased with self today.  Went to the garage to sort the centrestand play before considering slinging the motor in.  Centrestand foot was bashing the l/h silencer, and has put a small dent in it.  When I checked, the stand would come up to its normal position, then would 'travel' about 10mm further to hit the silencer.

When I took it apart, the frame lugs were pretty good and took the shaft with relatively little play, the centrestand holes, however, were massively enlarged with the shaft wobbling all over the place (bit like the crank before Bergs sorted it).  So, thought about bushing the centrestand holes to tighten everything up.  Discovered that the shaft would fit very snugly in a piece of 15mm copper pipe.  Cut some bits off an old pipe and managed to drift a piece into one side very snugly.  The other side was bigger, so I found a piece of pipe that had a straight join in it (thicker).  Cut that and drifted it into the other side.  Had to ream it out a bit to get the shaft through.  Next, after applying loads of grease, and with the bike wedged against a wall, I attached the spring and got the shaft through the first bit.  Incredibly, the shaft went straight through to the other side with the simplest persuasion and without knocking my 'bush' out!!!  Finished off with some washers (like shims really) to keep the bushes in place and stop the shaft moving too much.  Back in with the split pins and time for a test - bloody hell it works!!  Stand comes within about 4ml of the silencer when pushing as hard as I can.  Dropped it off the stand and - no clang against the silencer.

NB.  I know steel and welding would have been better, but I don't have steel and can't weld.  Also, didn't want to drill out the centrestand hole as the one side was so large the metal was getting a bit thin anyway.  Copper is a soft metal, but it doesn't move that much and has a ton of grease on it.  Should outlast me, I reckon.

Finally, cleaned everthing up (cack everywhere), removed bottom bracket from rear mudguard as it had cracked (still in one piece though), greased stand shaft - now I'm ready for the motor!!!

One question - what is the best way of putting the motor in and what order does it go back together (i.e., gearbox, motor, engine plates, etc).  Good day, cheers all.

[dave55]

Well done worty.
I saw the sun and went out on the plunger country roads all the way to Leeds to see a couple of mates then back home, 140ml round trip and bike never missed a beat !
Saturday went to Rufforth autojumble and got a couple of bargains for Swing arm GF , brand new Avon Speedmaster front tyre £80 annnd a front mudguard stay for a tenner 

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
Continuing to make the Cafe rideable for my broken body. I lifted the seat 2" but it really needs a recover. I contacted an upholsterer that I know does great work. He quoted me $500 and would take a month or more. I got a brand new seat from Burtons landed here for $400 and only took 2 weeks!
The mounting holes were different (and not symmetrical)  so spent yesterday making a frame for it. Job done but need to fill in the gap under the seat. Thinking either gluing a skirt on or using one of those rubber things kids belt each other in the swimming pool.
Cheers

[muskrat]

And added a 2" lifter and new handlebars.
Cheers

[chaterlea25]

Hi Muskie,
I think you will need to move or extend the exhaust heat shields

John