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Messages - Mel

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1
The Star and Garter / Re: Oil seepage
« on: 25 October, 2019, 23:26:41 »
Why are there no jokes about the company called 'Midland Impregnations'   

Of course, I dont want to get thrown of the site by lowering the tone, or even get sent to the BSA Dungeon!!!!    ;D :-\ :)

2
Well, just looked and the bare frame without swinging arm sold for its starting price of £65 but the buyer had put 2 other bids on above that price so its the NOVA route now!

3
No, the registration number isn't on the government website, so, it seems to be swings and roundabouts so inclined to keep the frame I have with the NOVA certificate and apply for an age related plate, as and when it gets built.

Its difficult with these old bikes, as with my BSA Lightning/Hornet. I had a hornet engine from many years ago when I was racing and used the close ratio gearbox out of it for in my A50 track bike that still isn't finished after 29 years!
The club records show that the (second) Lightning frame and Hornet engine both went to the USA months apart in 1965.

So I had a good standard gearbox and was looking for a frame for the 1965 model. I bought a frame but the number was not stamped well enough to get a rubbing off it so bought another frame with the correct prefix on a Nova certificate.
Then when some wheels and forks turned up on e-bay, I had the basics to build another bike but by this time the cost of the parts were becoming more than the value of the bike.
I am not making money out of the bikes but I prefer not to lose too much on them and very rarely sell a bike that I have been unable to use in the past.
I have amassed quite a collection of bikes that interest me but they are costing a small fortune to get parts for, especially from America and Japan and to a lesser extent Germany! So gone from skint through racing to skint through buying too many bikes.https://www.bsaownersclub.co.uk/bsaoc_forum/Smileys/default/embarrassed.gif

4
Thanks for your reply and the links, they are very useful.
I will not bother buying the frame with the old style green log book and just try and get an age related plate once I get a dating certificate from Honda. It is an old CB77 super hawk 305 that I have to play with, NOT a replacement for or the BSA's though!

Mel

5
The Star and Garter / Re: Name that pint!
« on: 08 October, 2019, 20:46:49 »
Probably true ;D

6
The Star and Garter / Probably a repeat question on green logbooks
« on: 08 October, 2019, 20:37:54 »
If I have the original green logbook with frame number and date registration, can a new V5c be applied for in the normal way?
( this is not a BSA )
The reason for asking is that I have a bike that needs a dating certificate  from Honda and by the time I have paid for the dating certificate £30, and the £55 first registration fee with the Nova certificate, it might be cheaper to just rebuild the bike into the other frame if it just the £25 V5c application. The bike has to be rebuilt anyway. Ant thoughts?

7
The Star and Garter / Re: Name that pint!
« on: 08 October, 2019, 20:29:25 »
 BSA Spit'n'Firebrew   ::)

8
The Star and Garter / Re: studs
« on: 04 October, 2019, 22:14:26 »
Just out of interest, does anyone still use the  Devimead 1 3/4 " carb spacers on A65 ?

9
The Star and Garter / Re: Sticking carb slide.
« on: 29 September, 2019, 01:42:55 »
Well, after eliminating any cable problems, sometimes it can be distortion of the carb body where the slide fits  or a poor fit where the slide grooves are running.  A small amount of carbon can also build up on the slide face.  The slightest burr or even a worn slide or bore can have this effect as it can allow the slide to tilt slightly.
Clean and polish the slides and check for any excessive play that would allow the slide to tilt and remove any burrs. Lightly oil with a '3 in 1' type oil

There is another reason but I doubt very much that it would affect an A50. On my Norton Rotary race bike fitted with Amal smoothbores, there is so much intake depression (suction) that the slides are pulled hard against the carb bores and stick. This has to be overcome by fitting higher tension springs on top of the slides making the twistgrip very heavy for a race bike.

10
The Star and Garter / Re: Non Beesa question
« on: 29 September, 2019, 01:24:26 »
I think non Beeza question are good where engines are concerned. I always like to know more about engines of any description.
I started working on Norton Rotaries from 1983 and still have nine in my collection but I also like the super high revving Japanese 4 cylinder bikes of the late eighties and early nineties. I find working on the 62cc per cylinder, for valve per cylinder engines interesting and compare how they all ( Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki) all tried to get the engines to rev to 20,000 rpm. The Honda's use eliptical valve springs and Yamaha made the con rods 1mm longer and reduced the piston crown height. I think I have about 13 of them to play with. Totally boring for the BSA guys but still any engine is fascinating for me.  :)

11
Twins / Re: A50 engine oil issue
« on: 21 September, 2019, 03:15:44 »
Back in the eighties, I had a customers bike that was wet sumping so did all the usual checks and found nothing wrong whatsoever. Decided to take the pump off and check the return side and blow out all oil passages from the pick up pipe to the tank but nothing seemed blocked.
Put it all back together and went on a road test. Nothing wrong, oil returning nicely, no leaks, so let the customer have it back. A week or so later, he is back, said he went on a run of about forty or fifty miles and the level had dropped. Sure enough, when I checked it, the crankcases were full.
After a bit of thinking time, I took the seat off to check the tank breather wasn't blocked only to find the owner had put a rubber pipe onto it held with a jubilee clip and then I find the pipe has been trapped further down, hence why every time he took the oil tank cap off, oil would return to the tank as he was releasing the pressure.
Yes sir, its the nut behind the bars!

Mel

12
Twins / Re: end feed converion
« on: 21 September, 2019, 02:31:33 »
There was another variant of end feed conversion the Bill Cooper, National sidecar racer, used to make and run.
I bought an A70 crankshaft  from him when increasing the A65 to 840cc and used his conversion.
Although its over 40 years since I used this, from memory there was a 'top hat' with a triangular base that bolted to the inner timing cover. The top hat contained the oils that fitted over the quill. Thus, it could be positioned by letting the seal self centre on the quill and then the triangular plate was nipped up. Oil was fed by pipe from the oil pressure light take off through a hole in the outer cover to the top hat.
My current engine that has the Devimead 750 Barrels also has the Devimead end feed conversion. The 500 motor with the ex Chris Vincent top end,  just has the bush in the bottom end, at least until after it has been run and tested to see what I end up doing with it.

Mel

13
The Star and Garter / Its what I do all day
« on: 19 September, 2019, 01:25:51 »
Its what I do all day  ::)

14
The Star and Garter / Re: Engine rebuildes
« on: 19 September, 2019, 00:44:44 »
Having worked in the motorcycle trade for over forty years, nothing surprises me with customers!!!!
Don't get me started. >:(
Mel

15
The Star and Garter / Re: V5 Registration
« on: 19 September, 2019, 00:35:03 »
For my two A65's I had the blue type V5's as they had not been on the road prior to 1990.
At the time, I was informed they would update and send me new red V5's in due course as they were "on the system".
Despite 3 phone calls over a couple of years and being told each time they would come in due course, they never arrived.

So, 18 months ago, I needed to make changes to my details so sent the old style blue V5's off with detailed changes.
I then get told that to update to the new red EU type V5's, they required;
Photographs of the bikes with the registration numbers and photos of the frame numbers.
Well, I couldn't find the reg plate for the Spitfire that I raced in 1972 so had to leave it a week or more but eventually found it, e-mailed the photos and other documents and now have the new V5's at last.

So much for it being straightforward!
Mel

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