Vincent Tools
- Thread starter davidd
- Start date
With that DigiCam you would have to machine your own adapters to lock it to the Vincent crank or cam, plus fix the housing to the engine. Given this, for only ~$50 you can buy a rotary shaft encoder with its own digital display and spend the same amount of time machining adapters. Since with modern fuels we're just guessing on the timing to within a degree or two anyway so 0.1-deg. resolution is of marginal practical value for that. However, it is useful for checking the cams.
If you were doing this regularly it would be worth it to have digital interfaces to write all the data directly to a computer file. But for those of us who aren't making a regular business of it, it isn't all that inconvenient to write down a crank rotation angle along with the lift(s) of dial indicators in contact with cam(s) lobes, then move to another angle and write down the new values, etc.
Sorry, I got a little depressed when my well used Webco timing disc would not hold a setting. I worked the stem over with a large hammer....fits fine , holds a setting.
So crossover at 4ºBTDC?
Retapped D caps with dials from Ebay reading valve ends.
Washers holding cams to allow half time retime.
Cam gears installed by Megacycle - marks right on the money!
Webco disc mounted on brass tube, inserted smaller dia aluminum tube to fit quill bore, hammer aluminum tube section to fit.
So crossover at 4ºBTDC?
Retapped D caps with dials from Ebay reading valve ends.
Washers holding cams to allow half time retime.
Cam gears installed by Megacycle - marks right on the money!
Webco disc mounted on brass tube, inserted smaller dia aluminum tube to fit quill bore, hammer aluminum tube section to fit.
I was forced to go shopping for plumbing parts. I knew I could get what I wanted in Wickes but B&Q was nearer . (Wickes =Home Depot - B&Q not so equal) I always check out the tools and I found this inexpensive item.
It was cheap enough to take a chance on one of its two square sockets being close to the size I needed.
This is part of the continuing saga of my first foray into Brampton forks - these are series B forks fitted on a pre-war Meteor. Having been to Bananaman's excellent emporium for wheel building lessons and the loan of a B headstem, he gave me a quick demo of how to unscrew Brampton spindles.
I found that using a small spanner to fit the squared spindle end was unsatisfactory as it would spin off an need me to crawl under the bike to pick it up. Using a 10" adjustable was better but very fiddly.
This key fitted 3 spindle ends, the fourth being slightly burred needed the touch of a file to fit in the key. It really does make spindle removal/adjustment very easy as it stays securely on the spindle as I change my grip. I may even buy a second so that I can do both spindles ambidextrously.
It was cheap enough to take a chance on one of its two square sockets being close to the size I needed.
This is part of the continuing saga of my first foray into Brampton forks - these are series B forks fitted on a pre-war Meteor. Having been to Bananaman's excellent emporium for wheel building lessons and the loan of a B headstem, he gave me a quick demo of how to unscrew Brampton spindles.
I found that using a small spanner to fit the squared spindle end was unsatisfactory as it would spin off an need me to crawl under the bike to pick it up. Using a 10" adjustable was better but very fiddly.
This key fitted 3 spindle ends, the fourth being slightly burred needed the touch of a file to fit in the key. It really does make spindle removal/adjustment very easy as it stays securely on the spindle as I change my grip. I may even buy a second so that I can do both spindles ambidextrously.
I have never used this, but Pat Manning got it from Big Sid. It is a jig to install and ream a small end in situ. The long tubes slide over the cylinder studs. The jig is then placed on the studs and positioned to grab the connecting rod. The two con rod grabbers are eccentric to hold the rod firmly. It is all machined, by Bill Jean I assume, to hold everything square. The bushing installer/remover is in the lower left. I have left out the machined spacers and washers for clarity.
David
David
Hmm. If you knew from previous work on a given engine that its deck is precisely square to the crankshaft, and if the long tubes are precisely the same length, and if the axis of the hole for the reamer is precisely parallel to the bracket that bolts to the tubes, I can see that this jig could ream the small end correctly parallel to the crankshaft (even if the connecting rod were bent). But, if any one of those conditions isn't met...
All true. I think it is the best of the non-total-tear-down repairs. This would have been useful to me back in the 1970's. Everything I have now is together or in a thousand pieces. I have new rods for the last of the basket case Comets. However, someone wrote me recently and wanted to replace the small ends without a total rebuild. It was then I realized that this tool could save a lot of grief in repairing an otherwise nice running bike that might be a little tired, but not ready for the sheet and the corner quite yet. Additionally, Bill Jean had quite a reputation in the eastern US as an exceptional machinist. He made quite a few nice tools for Sid.
David
There is one tool I never venture any distance without, I never even knew its proper (US) name till I saw back in the sixties a regular feature in that rare (in the UK) bike ikon 'Cycle world', and now I have just seen Ridley Scott classic THE MARTIAN it is a no brainer..... Duct Tape.
Does any one have a picture, or even better, a drawing of a better version of the "sheet metal" spanner for tightening the push rod tube upper ring nuts?
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