North Coast British Columbia A10 (1956 GF)

[muskrat]

G'day John,
               the swing arm looks like a '56/'57 for the Ariel type hub without the chain guard brackets. Are the axle holes the same size or different. I see a brake plate of that type. The rear brake rod is different, those years used cable. Looks like a bit of a mix up.
Cheers

[scotty]

Oh yeah !

That would have brightened up the streets of Prince Rupert  

When you find a frame number it may explain the lack of passenger foot peg loops.
I think the A10 spitfire scramblers left the factory without them
The other explanation could be that a PO hacked them off.
I also notice the the gas tank mounting lug and the gas tank anti roll bracket are missing.
The steering head usually has a gusset connecting the head to the frame tubes.
Your BCS parts manual has a good schematic of the frame and the service notes have great frame measurement diagram to help figure out if she's straight and true.

HTH

Scotty

HTH

Scotty

[Two Alpha]

G'day Muskrat!

The axle holes in the swingarm are different sizes. Would the Ariel swingarm/hub be something that came from BSA on an A10?
I had a little concern that the original swingarm had been replaced with this one so as to match the small wheel and fatty tire that were with the bike.
The frame/swingarm is sitting right beside my TR7RV at the moment, a quick comparison showed that the Triumph swingarm was only about 1" longer. 

Mix up is right, mainly trying to separate the oddball parts from the BSA pieces at present.

Cheers,

John

[Two Alpha]

Hi Scotty,

Yeah, I can almost make myself believe that it may not have looked half bad.
I see black for it in the near future though.

Your point regarding the Spitfire Scramblers has gotten me a little optimistic about the frame. All but one that I found pictures of didn't have the rear foot peg loops. Also, the sliding tubes that I have look very similar to the ones in the various Scrambler photos, more so than the '56/'57 Golden Flash ones.
It seems like I am a little partial to the look of a Golden Flash in black, oh well, whichever model the frame was will be the direction I will go with the rebuild.

I had noticed the missing gas tank mounting lug and anti roll bracket, as well as the missing gusset at the steering head. The pieces where the chopper style oil tank was mounted must have been added by the bodyman/painter. That stuff will be taken care of after I find out what the frame number is, hopefully it's still there somewhere.

What's the best material to use when blasting these frames?

Cheers,

John

[chaterlea25]

Hi John,
The frame number should be on the headstock,
unfortunately if the frame is late the number was stamped on the gusset so maybe its long gone
Looks as if you have some oriental wheels as well???
Maybe some loon will pay you a fortune for those long forks on ebay ???? ????
Dont despair just yet I have built a bike from a worse base than yours 

Regards
John O R

[trevinoz]

John,
              Unless my eyes need some work, there doesn't appear to be any cast engine mounting lugs on the front down tubes. This would date the frame from 1954 or very early 1955.
If this is the case, the frame number should be on the front of the headstock.

   Trev.

[Two Alpha]

Hi John O R,

Thanks for the words of support.

I scraped off some of the paint on the headstock primary side today. Didn't find a number but I don't really know if I'm looking in quite the right spot or not.
If the late frames had the number stamped on the gusset, that may perhaps explain why they aren't there now. There really doesn't seem to be any other good reason why someone would remove them. Surely the artist that painted this frame would have preferred more canvas!
Ok, just spotted a photo of a Spitfire Scrambler with the frame number just off the front edge of the fuel tank (primary side), and right on the gusset near the rear edge of it.

Now that I've taken a closer look, not much about the forks looks BSA, or British for that matter, other than the upper and lower yokes.

I've got a bit of a stash of extra A50/A65 and T120 cycle parts so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to get this bike on the road. It will be a fair ways from "correct" though!
Oh well, "correct" had already left the station a long time ago on this one.

Cheers,

John

[Two Alpha]

Hi Trev,

There are two on each side, they look just like the ones pictured on plate 10, page 37 of the '54 to '57 parts book that I have.

They look like approx. 1" of metal tube welded/brazed to the frame, parallel with the ground.

What do you think?

Thanks

John

[trevinoz]

John,
              If they are just tubes as you describe, the frame is 1954 as I said.
Too early for a Spitfire.
The frame number should be on the front face of the headstock, stamped vertically.
Possibly it has been filled with filler.
If you look down on the headstock from the rear, the number should be at the 2 o'clock position, numbered from the bottom upwards.

  Trev.

[Two Alpha]

Thanks Trev!

I scraped a strip this morning at what would be the 9:00 position, found bondo but no numbers. We'll see what I can turn up tomorrow morning at the 2:00 position.

Cheers,

John

[Two Alpha]

Ok,

Looks like the frame and engine actually match!

Frame EA7 5090
Engine CA10 11139

1956 Golden Flash.

The project just gained a little more definition. I'll need to replace a few missing items on the frame.

Cheers!

John

[trevinoz]

John,
              It's very strange that your frame does not have cast front engine mounting lugs.
EA7 should have them.
 Trev.

[Brian]

I have just had a really carefull look at the top mounts Trev and I reckon they are cast mounts but the casting part that goes around the front of the tube has been ground off. Enlarge the photo and look carefully at the left mount.

[Two Alpha]

Is it possible that they are just blended in with bondo?

We'll have a better idea once I get the whole thing blasted down to metal.

[Two Alpha]

The lugs are there, just blended in with bondo.  It's not easy to see in the pictures I've posted so far, obvious when looking at the real thing though.