Looking good,Lindie! Keep going, Best wishes for a swift+painless outcome, Roy
hello from a state of disassembly.
- Thread starter lindie
- Start date
yes indeedy trevor, but i didn't test it at 100 kph with the joyful vibrations inherent with the whole engine and gearboxy things turning as to whether or not a seam is gonna go out to lunch and drench all that is hot with flamable liquids. not to worry for now though. this is indeed to be the weekend of cooked vincent heads and a local company are keen to hone my guides to final size through the week for me at a good cost. not much is still missing so if a call i plan to place yields fruit in the morning and the final pieces turn up i may still meet my deadline. if not then at least the big tart will have tyres under her feet again and get off the housebricks that have been propping up the rear of the powertrain the last few months.
thank you for the encouraging words roy, glad to have easter over and done with so i can get my arse in to gear again and get some progress happening. at this stage if it rides half as well as it's starting to look i'll be pleased.
out here with the big girl and her scattered entrails again tonight and may be getting somewhere. sadly (if you view it that way, and i believe mum and dad may), the kitchen now has the aroma of burned carbon and hot oil excreted from ancient pommie alloy.
a mate has offered his muffler on loan should i need it so birthday test ride is still a possibility. can almost taste the sweat and muscle pain from pushing it home siezed in the middle of nowhere already.
whats for dinner?
the drivers i turned up.
a mate has offered his muffler on loan should i need it so birthday test ride is still a possibility. can almost taste the sweat and muscle pain from pushing it home siezed in the middle of nowhere already.
whats for dinner?
the drivers i turned up.
what they achieved:
my installers:
new and prettier:
will potter around in the morning with some small things that can still be done whilst i'm out here before the girlfriendy type person collects me late tomorrow arvo. good to be out here with it for a decent day as you feel like you actually achieved something by the end. doesn't alter the fact that i loved it just as much when it was daggy and disreputable when we collected her but at least this way there's less nasty surprises to rear their ugly heads in the short term. rocker tunnels aren't great and the pistons could stand replacement but that can wait a while. glad the cam spindle is now fixed and the cam bearings rotate on it instead of the vice versa of earlier and while the decompressor was a headache to get hold of, it's now in there and shouldn't need disturbing in a hurry.
like to say a public thankyou to all those who've thrown advice my way so far and in particular to terry prince for his friendly and professional manner while dealing with us colonial yobs who have these eclectic machines so far from their place of birth. nice to know parts and tech support is just a stones throw/phone call away when it's needed.
time for a nap i reckon. stay tuned kiddies, same bat channel though the bat time may vary.
my installers:
new and prettier:
will potter around in the morning with some small things that can still be done whilst i'm out here before the girlfriendy type person collects me late tomorrow arvo. good to be out here with it for a decent day as you feel like you actually achieved something by the end. doesn't alter the fact that i loved it just as much when it was daggy and disreputable when we collected her but at least this way there's less nasty surprises to rear their ugly heads in the short term. rocker tunnels aren't great and the pistons could stand replacement but that can wait a while. glad the cam spindle is now fixed and the cam bearings rotate on it instead of the vice versa of earlier and while the decompressor was a headache to get hold of, it's now in there and shouldn't need disturbing in a hurry.
like to say a public thankyou to all those who've thrown advice my way so far and in particular to terry prince for his friendly and professional manner while dealing with us colonial yobs who have these eclectic machines so far from their place of birth. nice to know parts and tech support is just a stones throw/phone call away when it's needed.
time for a nap i reckon. stay tuned kiddies, same bat channel though the bat time may vary.
well, the heads are back together and on and the things on it's own wheels again. but what a bloody nightmare to get the guides finalised. three of the four were concentrically bored which mean't the fourth when the valve was placed in its lower guide wouldn't let the upper guide seat in the head. and as all bar the last top third of the lower guides were already finished to size with a 8 thou taper preventing the stems going all the way through, even if i got them reamed concentric i'd have either a concavity at the bottom or the top. so after a day of stewing about it i bit the bullet sunday and reinstalled the old fairly unworn inlet guide and now they're all concentric again. i could wait for another new guide but there's no guarantee it'd be any more accurate when it arrived so short of manufacturing my own at more expense i figure this is the best way round it for now. gave the valves a bit of a regrind and that was that.
new muffler arrived fast and well packed (ta again terry) and once the bulk of it was reassembled i was looking forward to a run the next day. luckily while installing the dynamo i was reconnecting the main oil feed line and noted a drip from the hose at the banjo end of the pipeand on further inspection found how brittle it had become. sourced a new piece of oil hose the next day but at least it won't be breaking and leaking on the now postponed testride in the still hopefully near future.
will get a few pictures when next out there with her.
new muffler arrived fast and well packed (ta again terry) and once the bulk of it was reassembled i was looking forward to a run the next day. luckily while installing the dynamo i was reconnecting the main oil feed line and noted a drip from the hose at the banjo end of the pipeand on further inspection found how brittle it had become. sourced a new piece of oil hose the next day but at least it won't be breaking and leaking on the now postponed testride in the still hopefully near future.
will get a few pictures when next out there with her.
we now have a run on the board.
i've clocked up two miles on the speedo under her own propulsion just around the block here at mum and dads. the orientation of the foot controls is a slight cause for concern but we never hit anything or anyone so it's ok i guess. all four gears go in smooth and hold their positions and while the brakes aren't disc user friendly they do a reasonable job of retarding around 650 pounds or so of combined weight. think a little adjustment now that they've had some use may go a long way to making them at least MZ good. think/hope the wet sumping shouldn't catch me out again: i filled the oil tank to around an inch below the high mark on the dipstick last time i was out here(circa two weeks ago) and there has to have been a lot more residual oil in the cases than i thought as she was positively spewing oil out the chainoiler union when i pulled up, and a lift of the oil tank cap showed she had brimmed when the scavenge pump had sucked up all the excess and returned it to the tank. have dropped about a litre or so out of the main feed line banjo and will have a look at the level after my next run in a couple of hours.
it may be glazed old rock hard linings or just the lack of use but i'm experiencing a bit of slip from the norton clutch when i give the thing some herbs in second and third so time will tell. the 45 tooth rear sprocket is a lot easier on the takeoff and riding than i was expecting, and she hums along nicely at the 50 mph ( the bloody speedo works! quite pleased that my little repair to the gearset is working.) we reached quite casually. learned the hard way how to do the timing last night with the front pot firing when the rear should have been. a bit of headscratching after one or two backfires and a check of spark to lead vs compression stroke then a retime on the correct mag cam lobe and she was firing then running a lot smarter. we filled the carport/garage with lovely plumes of blue grey assembly oil smoke last night and the same in the yard on start up this morning, but after a brief go in first and second she seems to have initially cleared her throat and if she's burning a little oil after all these years it's understandable and while its running clean and not oiling plugs i don't really care. the mikuni's seem to be doing a good job and while theres still tuning to be done they may get a bit of use for a while once i get a chance to determine thats she isn't getting too lean. the steering though i'm yet to throw it at a set of set of curves is not ponderous as i was expecting, and once underway she seems stable and solid. whether or not it'll be as comfy on long runs as my little east german girl is to be determined but the ride position and current adjustment of all the controls isn't too bad while it's in motion. the new muffler sounds rather nice to my ears, with and sans helmet and the noise level is a lot less intrusive than what i had expected and gauged by my stationary parents as i buzzed past twice not likely to upset too many neighbours or little old ladies. the 40 year old tyres are doing their job too and if theres any slop in the suspension it hasn't had a chance to show up though however brief the ride may have been. i'm sure i'll find where i like the friction dampers set as time goes by.
still no electrics hooked up to anything but the dynamo is in place and passed the motoring test so it should be just a matter of running some wiring and ironing out bugs as i go along. another week perhaps.
going to go and mow the yard and later on i'll see if mum can get the digital camera to get a bit of footage of her in motion.
pretty happy for the moment still.
i've clocked up two miles on the speedo under her own propulsion just around the block here at mum and dads. the orientation of the foot controls is a slight cause for concern but we never hit anything or anyone so it's ok i guess. all four gears go in smooth and hold their positions and while the brakes aren't disc user friendly they do a reasonable job of retarding around 650 pounds or so of combined weight. think a little adjustment now that they've had some use may go a long way to making them at least MZ good. think/hope the wet sumping shouldn't catch me out again: i filled the oil tank to around an inch below the high mark on the dipstick last time i was out here(circa two weeks ago) and there has to have been a lot more residual oil in the cases than i thought as she was positively spewing oil out the chainoiler union when i pulled up, and a lift of the oil tank cap showed she had brimmed when the scavenge pump had sucked up all the excess and returned it to the tank. have dropped about a litre or so out of the main feed line banjo and will have a look at the level after my next run in a couple of hours.
it may be glazed old rock hard linings or just the lack of use but i'm experiencing a bit of slip from the norton clutch when i give the thing some herbs in second and third so time will tell. the 45 tooth rear sprocket is a lot easier on the takeoff and riding than i was expecting, and she hums along nicely at the 50 mph ( the bloody speedo works! quite pleased that my little repair to the gearset is working.) we reached quite casually. learned the hard way how to do the timing last night with the front pot firing when the rear should have been. a bit of headscratching after one or two backfires and a check of spark to lead vs compression stroke then a retime on the correct mag cam lobe and she was firing then running a lot smarter. we filled the carport/garage with lovely plumes of blue grey assembly oil smoke last night and the same in the yard on start up this morning, but after a brief go in first and second she seems to have initially cleared her throat and if she's burning a little oil after all these years it's understandable and while its running clean and not oiling plugs i don't really care. the mikuni's seem to be doing a good job and while theres still tuning to be done they may get a bit of use for a while once i get a chance to determine thats she isn't getting too lean. the steering though i'm yet to throw it at a set of set of curves is not ponderous as i was expecting, and once underway she seems stable and solid. whether or not it'll be as comfy on long runs as my little east german girl is to be determined but the ride position and current adjustment of all the controls isn't too bad while it's in motion. the new muffler sounds rather nice to my ears, with and sans helmet and the noise level is a lot less intrusive than what i had expected and gauged by my stationary parents as i buzzed past twice not likely to upset too many neighbours or little old ladies. the 40 year old tyres are doing their job too and if theres any slop in the suspension it hasn't had a chance to show up though however brief the ride may have been. i'm sure i'll find where i like the friction dampers set as time goes by.
still no electrics hooked up to anything but the dynamo is in place and passed the motoring test so it should be just a matter of running some wiring and ironing out bugs as i go along. another week perhaps.
going to go and mow the yard and later on i'll see if mum can get the digital camera to get a bit of footage of her in motion.
pretty happy for the moment still.
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Looking very, very, nice Lindie, and nearly finished, just shows what can be achieved with the help of a little Scottish lubricant.
Tony
Tony
ta tony. pity how bad the new muffler makes the rest of it look really. ah well, maybe if i smear some old oil and dust on the silencer it'll balance the look of the bike out a bit. second run was quite good with solid as a rock roadholding at 75 mph over undulations. have the clutch sorted though the chain oiler is still dropping a bit, and i'm not quite happy with the cable routing to the carbs.