Misc: Everything Else Stainless bits
- Thread starter Cyborg
- Start date
Some early kick starters and parts of the tommy bars. Inside part of the chain adjusters. Brake cable trunions and brake motion blocks and slotted motion blocks. Banjo bolts. Rear fender hinge tommy bar maybe. My front lower spring boxes were cadplated steel. Rear brake rods. Rear stand tommy bar. Part of the battery strap. The FT99 springs. FT31 maybe. I am sure there are more ss parts.
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Its all in Eddy Steven's book from memory towards the back pages........far less stainless on a vin than most people think........Would be nice to be able to buy all the small bits in genuine cad plated steel........ Not enough numbers to make up these parts........as most restored bikes done in stainless.
Thanks for the replies.
Greg... always good to point out the obvious when I ask a question. The six pages that list the different fasteners get referred to on a relatively constant basis, but never thought to look for information on finish.
Interestingly it states that all series D engines had black covers, but cases, barrels, and heads were unpainted. First bike I think of is the Len Hardy Lightning with the black cases.
I was surprised to see the inner rear spring boxes listed as dull chromium except for the early black ones. Two sets that I have and believe to be original (one appears NOS) are cad plated. They look nothing like dull chrome. If the honourable member from the Saltspring Island section had cad plated front lowers, why would they have done the front in cad and rear in dull chrome. Probably more likely that both methods were used In both locations?
Cad plating is still available here, but the fear of them loosing stuff is a little overwhelming.
Also interesting that the book says spokes were zinc and nipples were cad. At least I can do spokes now.
Greg... always good to point out the obvious when I ask a question. The six pages that list the different fasteners get referred to on a relatively constant basis, but never thought to look for information on finish.
Interestingly it states that all series D engines had black covers, but cases, barrels, and heads were unpainted. First bike I think of is the Len Hardy Lightning with the black cases.
I was surprised to see the inner rear spring boxes listed as dull chromium except for the early black ones. Two sets that I have and believe to be original (one appears NOS) are cad plated. They look nothing like dull chrome. If the honourable member from the Saltspring Island section had cad plated front lowers, why would they have done the front in cad and rear in dull chrome. Probably more likely that both methods were used In both locations?
Cad plating is still available here, but the fear of them loosing stuff is a little overwhelming.
Also interesting that the book says spokes were zinc and nipples were cad. At least I can do spokes now.
Hi Greg,The biggest user of Cad plated nuts & bolts was the A/C industry as you will know, if they were exposed to the elements they would corrode so they were painted over before being lanolined not so pretty no corrosion.if they were undone for servicing
they were replaced unless you were in the field,when bikes low value were left in the
elements 24/7 home & work the the same problems happened the Cad had become
less effective rust appears and all that goes with it worn spanners ?,this before the
restoration era when Vins were £20 owners also painted new Cad plated bolts black.
One excuse for scuffed stainless, If you worked in industry new nuts & bolts were rounded and Cromed for looks mainly & restored interferance much the same as
al alloy being replaced by S/S where exposed.Most modern Vins draped in S/S don.t
go out in adverse weather.what is the answer Greg.
they were replaced unless you were in the field,when bikes low value were left in the
elements 24/7 home & work the the same problems happened the Cad had become
less effective rust appears and all that goes with it worn spanners ?,this before the
restoration era when Vins were £20 owners also painted new Cad plated bolts black.
One excuse for scuffed stainless, If you worked in industry new nuts & bolts were rounded and Cromed for looks mainly & restored interferance much the same as
al alloy being replaced by S/S where exposed.Most modern Vins draped in S/S don.t
go out in adverse weather.what is the answer Greg.
I like to use cad hardware where possible........I had boxes of steel BSF bolts and nuts that I had done a while ago.......The bolts are now hard to get as the manufacturer has stopped making it. The cad hardware does last ok if you are careful with the spanners/sockets on assembly.......but yes it does damage quite easily and living next to the ocean will deteriorate it with time. I always think of all the replacement stainless hardware as a form of "Cheating" but it does a good enough job.......I like originality especially where the bike itself has not been got at too much........But I understand that sometimes practicality comes first.
I have started making some fasteners out of mild steel and then will either get them cad plated or zinc plate them myself. Been playing with stainless a bit to see about making it look more like cad... speaking of cheating. I haven’t tried bead blasting it yet, but dragged the carcass of a small blasting cabinet into the shop, so will see what happens. First photo shows a stainless bolt on top, then a stainless washer and then a NOS cad plated washer and a NOS cad plated nut. The nut has been sitting for half a century, so would likely clean up to look similar. The bottom part was replated in cad (I think) around the late 80’s. The second photo is a previous try... stainless washer on top of a cad washer next to some interesting parts. Took me a while to figure out the one with the groove.
Phil Irving mentioned in MPH that both he and Phillip Vincent wanted to use a lot more stainless on the bikes, but the high cost of stainless dictated that they opt for cheap cad plating instead.
With that in mind I happily order the Spares Co. items with SS added to the part number.
All in an effort to get the bikes up to the standard desired by the two Phils.
Glen
With that in mind I happily order the Spares Co. items with SS added to the part number.
All in an effort to get the bikes up to the standard desired by the two Phils.
Glen
Matter of choice I suppose. When I did the B, it had pretty much everything done in stainless. The bike I’m working on now is a slightly different ball game and I would like to have cad plating so it looks original and so it matches some of the rare NOS cad bits.