wassel carb on a65

[EDDIE SIMPSON]

well.i m still sitting on the fence but the price of the wassels is good and may persuade me,
thanks for interesting comments

[ChrisG]

Well, you pays your money and takes your choice. It would be interesting to hear how you get on mate!

[EDDIE SIMPSON]

well i finally bought a wassel concentric from kidderminster m/cycles and  it works fine with a standard air cleaner fitted
[ low speeds only tested so far].
kidderminster supplied the correct jets and slide as per parts book so was  a little more expensive.
however after swopping all the jets , fitting air cleaner and cables i hit a brick wall. the carb would not go on due to the manifold stud spacing being incorrect.
being the patient type , i drilled ,filled and hammered it into place hoping to never remove it again.
one fifty well spent as the bsa is running well but their chinese tool maker couldn t see his a*** from his elbow.

[ChrisG]

Well, that just proves the point that Wassel are doing what they've always done. Because we were used to tweeking and modifying their cheap pattern parts, back in the sixties and seventies they are obviously think we enjoy it and don't want to disappoint us with parts that actually fit.
Correct parts are available from other manufacturers, for instance I always specify Doherty cables as they fit first time every time.
When I was restoring my Royal Star, I bought a pair of front fork stanchions from Feked (I used them for many items previously). They were Wassel. They looked good in that they were hard chrome plated. They cost about £100.
However, they were missing a vital feature. Correct stanchions have a section where the bottom yoke fits that is slightly bigger in diameter. These Wassel ones didn't. I got them to clamp up using some 0.0015" shim steel but was not happy with this. Then Covid hit and we were locked down.
I got a new pair from C&D Autos that were supplied by a manufacturer they have used for years cost around £80. They had all the correct features and fitted perfectly!
When lockdown had cleared I took the previous ones back to Feked for a refund and they refused because they said it had been too long since I bough them.
Needless to say, I have never darkened their door since! 
So, there are other alternatives to poor quality, not so cheap any more manufacturers. We just need to seek them out.

[EDDIE SIMPSON]

hi chris,
i totally agree with everything you say.
bsa parts i remember have always been more difficult to source, unlike triumph that sometimes have the same contracting companies that meriden used. and i m used to making things fit like yourself.
incorrect carb spacing is very shoddy but the rest of the wassel carb seems ok. and amal parts will interchange.
maybe the bsa owners club should fund limited production of quality parts for club members. fork stantions are one item that springs to mind.

[DAVE BRADY]

Hi,

Product liability springs to mind.

Dave.

[Roy]

Re wassell carbs ,fitted to my A10 ,i must say it carburates extreamly well , I have though on a couple of times throttle stick ,it happened the other day whilst out ,luckly i was in the lanes and no traffic , it did free off quite quickly ,but upset my confidence ,couple of things  when twisting throttle with choke on it felt nice a free ,but when choke was lifted it dint feel so good , stripped carb ,the spring was quite tight in it hole ,with small sander band i linished the hole ,was quite a lot of the anodiseing removed , smoothed of top edge ,now spring moves more freely and feels much better , the machining in the throttle bore wasnt to bright so had no option with some very very fine tape I smoothed it out ,again feels a whole lot better ,
While carb was in bits i noticed a bit of a notch cut out on the float ,it was caused by the tickler ,pin was very sharp on end ,also found the tickler pin was to long it was still pushing float when float was bottom out ,I removed approx 1/16 from scroll pin and smoothed the part that touches float , had i left this much longer
The float would then have been holed ,a replacement now fitted ,and back running ,