1956 GF Frame

[cus]

G'day Everyone,
I've picked my '56 GF basket case, most of its there in varying condition,
but overall pretty happy with what I got. I'm not very familiar with the
'56 model, so will need some help along the way with the frame etc.
First question is, this frame has a steering lock, & at the moment has
no headlight nacelle, were there models without & with the nacelle, or
did all the flashes have it. Second question is with the front wheel spindle.
Has the sliders with split ring on left side & solid ring on right, with knock
through spindle. The spindle goes through the left side & wheel, no worries,
but is very tight on the right hand side (solid ring). I've cleaned everything
up so both spindle & ring are perfectly clean, but the spindle, even greased
up is a very tight fit, & I think would need too much force to go through to
allow the threaded end to protrude. Maybe I have the wrong spindle?
I'm not sure. At the moment about 3-4mm of thread protrudes & that's
it without getting brutal, would be great to know the diam. of a standard spindle
to compare.
regards, Cus

[muskrat]

 G'day Cus. Does it have the Ariel hubs?
I think no narcelle with a steering lock.
Cheers

[KiwiGF]

The 56 should have the old style so called divers helmet type headlight cover/nacelle - i hope im not contradicting muscrat saying that, later models had a little cut out in the cover/nacelle for the lock. IS yr frame number like mine shown below.?

[bikerbob]

Can confirm what kiwi says about the divers style nacelle and steering lock but in regards to your front spindle it sounds as though you have the spindle for the ariel hubs the bearings in those hubs had an internal diameter of 1 inch so your spindle diameter should be a sliding fit through those bearings. Also I never did rely on the steering lock for safety it was there just to fill the hole.

[muskrat]

Wouldn't be the first time I thunk wrong. Parts book plate 12 shows narcelle with no lock in top yoke, plate 13 top yoke with lock but no narcelle.
Wouldn't be the first time the parts book is wrong either. My '57 with ariel hubs is same as plate 13.
Cheers

[WozzA]

Wouldn't be the first time I thunk wrong. Parts book plate 12 shows narcelle with no lock in top yoke, plate 13 top yoke with lock but no narcelle.
Wouldn't be the first time the parts book is wrong either. My '57 with ariel hubs is same as plate 13.Cheers

so is mine...  

[bikerbob]

According to Roy Bacon's book when the swinging arm frame was introduced in 1954 the pilot light was slung under the headlight and had no steering lock. In 1955 the pilot light was inside the headlight and a steering lock was added plus a monobloc carb.

[trevinoz]

Cowl was on the Flash, A7 & S.S until 1957. And B31/33.
Rockets had no cowl.
Steering lock introduced in 1955 and cowl modified to suit.

Trev.

[cus]

Thanks for all the replies,
It has an original Lucas headlight, PO looks like he had long
disregarded the nacelle, the current headlight has the amp meter
& light switch, not sure if the proper nacelle type h/light has the
switch & meter, or you just run the extra wiring from the nacelle
thru the back of the light?
With regards to the front spindle, it was passing through the
wheel & bearing no trouble, but fowling on the right side fork
slider ring. The spindle behind the thread was 20.5mm & so
is the hole in the forks, not sure why it's so tight? I ended up
sanding the spindle end a bit & it went thru with a rubber mallet,
didn't want to muck with the fork end, because I'll end up replacing
the spindle once I start restoring, I'm just doing a dry fit of everything
I've got at the moment, so I can check out what's good & bad.
Took the plugs out last night & could see new pistons down there,
not sure if that's good or bad till it's pulled down.
It's an original Australian delivery to Bennett & Wood in Sydney,
dispatched in late '55, I think it's always good to know the history
if you can, always a good talking point.
Will get it together a bit more & add some pics.

regards, Cus

[trevinoz]

Cus,
           The original headlight shell only has the light wiring going into it, all other wiring is in the cowl along with the ammeter and switch. And speedo.
Original shells are extremely hard to find. They have a pair of holes for the speedo cable to pass through and a hole for the wiring.
Way back in the 60s, I removed the cowl from my Flash and replaced it with the shell with the switch panel screwed to it and fork shrouds with ears.
When I restored it some years ago, I had to find the missing bits.
Post some photos and let us all see it.

Trev.

[cus]

G'day Trevor,
Here is a pic of the bike so far,
have done a dry assembly. Has the correct
chain guard, horn, speedo & a few other bits,
the seat is questionable. The engine has no broken fins,
but the mounting tunnels on the rear of the crank case
are damaged & need building up with weld & re-shaping,
has the correct side stand. The tin-ware is in really good nick,
few dents here & there, but nothing too serious,

regards, Cus

[trevinoz]

Good Find, Cus.
Looks like most of the hard to find bits are there.

Trev.

[cus]

I think it's going to be a mission to find the correct headlight & cowl though!
Will be a bit of a long term project this one.
Also, I haven't seen many of those tanks without the pear recess & with the
small holes for the wing badges, I'm not sure if the Indians are repopping those,
I've only seen the earlier type with the brackets on the front.

Cus

[Brian]

Do you have the correct head for it Cus, the one on it in the pics is a earlier plunger "small fin" type. If you need one and have trouble tracking one down I have a couple of iron big fin A7 heads which could be modified to suit.

You should be able to find a headlight cowl, the shell will be more difficult. I bought a repo shell some time back for one but as usual the quality was lousy so beware of repo ones.

[cus]

G'day Brian,
Thought that head looked a bit weird, didn't help being painted red,
thanks also for the offer, I'll see how I go getting an A10 one, but may
contact you about that, also, someone maybe interested in doing a swap
for the plunger head, hopefully there's not too many more ring in parts,
starts to mount up $$$$,

Cus