Rusty

[Rocket Racer]

Another bl@@dy Kiwi taking our jobs! Just kidding mate. Whereabouts you working? Forum members all over.
March Classic Bike won't be here till end April. I think they use Captn Cooks Endeavour to ship it.
Cheers

Its a tough life but will be based down at/up at (?) Surfers Paradise

Pulled off the timing cover as the mag needs replacing (supplied with new armature, but I have a good BTH on the shelf) and the cover was full of dirty oil but no corrosion whatsoever 
So after the maggie, next step is carb and oil tank clean. Will also look at plumbing in a return line oil filter.
Am looking forward to seeing the mufflers blowing clouds of rust out when I start it.
For the time being won't pull the motor right down. The previous owner told me its a shaker and I dont know if thats a balance issue or just normal A10 shakes...so want to run it to form an opinion.

I tried the shops here on Thursday and they had February and April (air freighted), but not March so will try some more newsagents.
Marks been crewing with me for a while and is a top bloke.

Rusty has been growing on me, so may stick with shabby chic

[Rocket Racer]

Mate that looks like somethin' I'd own and more than happily trek around on, it's surprising what a wire brush, a bit of Phosphoric acid and a 6 pack (or2) will do for the chrome and other aesthetics. My vote is the internal probe,at least look at the old oil, and go for it, good luck,               
                                                         duTch*beer*

I know what you're saying. The front mudguard had the wrong radius and mickey mouse (broken alloy) stays so the front guard is the thing I'll be looking to replace.
I think the pear shaped badge 3 gallon was only ever on the unit A series, but it'll do. Has been on the bike for so long.

[RichardL]

I gotta stick my nose in here.  Wash it,  maybe,  but a half-baked attempt to polish it up will make it look worse IMHO (or not so humble). In replacing the fender, you will be at an advantage over other buyers because you should be looking for something with coordinated rust.

Richard L.

[Rocket Racer]

Richard,
 I think you're right, not many people want to buy a rusty guard and stays, but in my case rusty...perfect.
It needs to stay rusty or get the works and my current budget is for the former.
Luckily we have the Hamilton classic bike swap meet coming up on 22nd April...

Over time I will look at getting some of the unoriginal chrome removed and go back to black

[Rocket Racer]

Pulled the front end apart, sadly water in the legs, so stanchions and sliders have a nasty tide mark and pretty stuffed.
Looking through my parts I do have some half decent later stanchions with damper rod internals so will get some new sliders made using the old ones as donors for the bottoms and brake stay etc, but set up for damper rod internals. Should give me a decent front end.

Pulled the mag off (was told it was faulty -bike came with spare amature), engine not corroded  , plenty of black sludge!
Thought I'd also inspect the clutch and found one of the two bolts that go into the engine case at the back missing, thats gotta leak  and a joining link on facing the wrong way.

Have finished in Oz, client ran out of money  so have more time to get Bender and Rusty sorted. Had been hoping the job would fund some fresh rods for Bender but that'l have to wait. Will have to juggle the spending while I'm an unemployed bum again.
Have my eye on one of those repro Indian mudguards on flea bay...hmm

Will add some pics, doesnt look much currently
Oh have cleaned and lined the oil tank, fitted fresh lines and a return filter so fluids will be clean wink2

[Rocket Racer]

Progress update:
have been hunting for missing parts with mixed success, now have:
a bare metal tank,
a brand new american option front guard in shiny chrome,
an RC1303/03 tach ($$$ ),
new sliders with damper rod internals (made for me by James at Simpson Engineering, a very clever bloke),
a fairly shagged rear guard that needs lots of holes filling and the front end rebuilding (has been hacked off) from the chain area down.
some proper chromed rabbit ears (minor splits) and various other bits

so getting there, but the mixed state of the parts is erring the bike towards a full cosmetic rebuild to american trim.
Working down in the capital at present so progress slow and keeping the race bike out waving the flag still comes first. I'll put an update on the road rocket racing project but Bender was certainly the quickest of the 3x 650's  racing at Taupo last weekend .

[Rocket Racer]

The bike has now evolved from "Rusty" into the "big money pit", I found a rear guard and suitable tank and had them panel beaten to a chrome-able state, big mistake, now seriously broke  and project may have to take a bit longer than hoped.
tank, seat base and rear guard shown mocked up on spare frame.
A new foam and cover have just arrived from Leightons in the UK and some fresh stanchions due from Nelson.

[Rocket Racer]

Time for an update, so much time passing and so little progress...
Once I started I rapidly came to the conclusion that a get it back on the road approach was still a sh*tload of work and keeping my race A10 (aka Bender) on the track really has meant little was happening 
Strangely an upside was that in February at a work team event I managed to injure my rotator cuff (shoulder) which is expected to take around three months to come right, so racing now postponed till Spring (Sept) ...hmm perhaps time to focus on Rusty me thinks.
So have stripped it down to bare parts and with much sanding now have a first black PA10 coat on much of the black bits (subject to space in my shipping container where I paint), likewise yesterday I also pulled the motor apart as several threads stripped (the usual two behind the crank that hold the primary inner to the lh case) as well as the lowest barrel fin and head fins to get repaired. Doesnt appear too bad internally but early days there. (plain bush crank -phosphor bronze? - I do prefer white metal or if money permits bearing conv hmm will measure and consider in due course)
Have most of the bright wear ready to go to the chromers, just need to finish drilling the rear guard, then time to spend spend  spend 
Have sourced most of the bits now to build it up as an american market model, still need a headlight shell and a horn and ... mainly minor peripherals.
Front guard is the type fitted to the early export rockets that just have the rear stay and blade rather than valanced type.
My barn is a mess, but things happening at least.

[Rocket Racer]

got the tank, some stays, the rear guard and the headlight brackets off to the chromers by courier this am, no doubt now have a 3 month wait  but in the meantime starting to look at starting on reassembling the rolling chassis, going through the motor and box... Will take some time.
Am also pondering investigating with the UK BSAOC what its history was, whether the chassis actually was really a super rocket or not originally... although given its going into american trim a bit of a moot point, so maybe not. 

[KiwiGF]

Hi Tim, great update, do you have any papers for the frame because if not the bsa factory despatch records may help when it comes to rego time, you can get these records from the vmcc in uk as opposed to bsa club, and half price as the nzbsamoc of which of course you are a member, is affiliated with the vmcc. In fact its so cheap you might as well ask the vmcc for the records anyway? 8 gbp from memory.

[Rocket Racer]

progress has been slow, The race sidecar always gets precedence, but after having a lot of panel beating done to the tank and rear guard, have now splurged on chroming which came back yesterday.
Beautiful!
Have painted most of the black ware and sourced many of the main parts.
Am doing timing side bearing conversions on both the race motor and this un.
Its going to be a full on american export show pony!
Getting there...

[chaterlea25]

HI Tim,
Good to hear you are making progress 
Are you doing the bearing conversion yourself?
Are you able to source the combined needle roller, ballrace in C3 clearance as used by SRM
I have searched but have not been able to find it in C3 ?
(For use in anothe "mad project" )
Cheers
John

[Rocket Racer]

We're doing the hailwood site conversion beeza bills.
my bearing supplier had to bring it direct from Germany. it wasnt cheap!

http://bsa-a10.hailwood.com/mybsaa10rollerconversion.html

[muskrat]

I'm doing sams RR. Got INA bearing local for $98, in 1995 it cost $120.
Cheers

[chaterlea25]

Hi ,Tim, Musky
Yes I have studied that conversion before,
looking again I think the way of bringing the oil from the pump to the crank end is very fiddly ???
I dont like the look of that long pump /oilway retaining screw thinned down to 3mm
If that breaks then all the oil pressure is lost  

For the race engine I think I would consider external pipework tapping into the main oilway to the PRV then to the outside of the timing cover with a boss welded in line with the crank end ????

Theres a lot to be said for the simplicity of the way the SRM type of conversion is done too
See Briz's post on the salt racer

My 2 cents worth
John