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<blockquote data-quote="Kid Eager" data-source="post: 146943" data-attributes="member: 5219"><p>My neighbour owns a 1951 Black Shadow which sat, un-started, in his lounge room for over 20 years. He used to ride around town with his wife in the Tilbrook sidecar, but advancing age and his wife’s death have relegated that to fading memories. Rather than sell it, a week ago he asked me if I’d like to help pull the covers off and get it going. He said he bought it in Adelaide off David Boham, who worked in the Vincent factory and brought it out from England.</p><p></p><p>Only having drooled over Vincents in museums previously, I leapt at the chance to enjoy working on one and hear all the stories that goes with it. He is keen to get it running promptly with a minimum of fuss, being acutely aware of his health and mortality. Thus we need to balance desire to hear her running with respect for the fine engineering and not wanting to cause lasting damage, for example by starting it with sludge in the lubrication system. I suspect it is a very low mileage machine as the clock reads 420 miles and there is little wear on components examined so far. Playing with this is a dream come true for me, and the owner really comes to life as we tinker together. His hand strength and memory foibles are a frustration for him so I’m doing most of the hands on work. We take frequent breaks and his memories return as we chat.</p><p></p><p>He is not keen on cleaning the dust and cobwebs off- “nah, just fire her up, give her a squirt down the road they’ll blow off”! Skimming online information about Vincent restorations, I can feel the indignation of purists wanting a full strip down and rebuild. But I respect his desire to hear her running as soon as possible and his choice of that fun compared with money from selling. He dreams of me riding it for him in the Christmas charity motorcycle toy run with the sidecar loaded with presents in a few weeks. The reality is….</p><p></p><p>I’m the first to admit being out of my depth here. I’m still smarting from miss-timing and cooking the engine of my 1956 BMW R50 when I was a lad. I threw away my timing disc and vowed leave that to experts in future. In recent years I play with Japanese bikes with electronic ignition and have no timing nightmares. We are waiting on a copy of ”Know thy Beast” and I am looking for a reprint of the owners handbook to guide the rehabilitation. Meanwhile, advice from members will be of great assistance. In the reams of information online can you point me to a succinct guide until the Bible arrives?</p><p></p><p>We are degunking the tank and taps currently (that old petrol gunk stinks). The carbies look remarkably clean and unworn. We’ve agreed to flushing the engine with diesel and have pumped the tyres in order to roll her outside to avoid the smell inside. They seem to be semi-pneumatic ie rock hard without air! The absence of a spark is a mixed blessing- it means we don’t skip other areas before trying to start her; but my youthful timing nightmare has returned to haunt me. I understand the magneto may have lost magnetism, but I’m not looking for problems so until proven otherwise assume all is in working order and in need of cleaning, adjusting and servicing.</p><p></p><p>Our plan is to get her started, and only then to look at readying the machine for the road.</p><p></p><p>In short, I’ve never worked on a Vincent; have no manual; and the owner, with good reason, is impatient for us to get her running.</p><p></p><p> HELP!!!!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kid Eager, post: 146943, member: 5219"] My neighbour owns a 1951 Black Shadow which sat, un-started, in his lounge room for over 20 years. He used to ride around town with his wife in the Tilbrook sidecar, but advancing age and his wife’s death have relegated that to fading memories. Rather than sell it, a week ago he asked me if I’d like to help pull the covers off and get it going. He said he bought it in Adelaide off David Boham, who worked in the Vincent factory and brought it out from England. Only having drooled over Vincents in museums previously, I leapt at the chance to enjoy working on one and hear all the stories that goes with it. He is keen to get it running promptly with a minimum of fuss, being acutely aware of his health and mortality. Thus we need to balance desire to hear her running with respect for the fine engineering and not wanting to cause lasting damage, for example by starting it with sludge in the lubrication system. I suspect it is a very low mileage machine as the clock reads 420 miles and there is little wear on components examined so far. Playing with this is a dream come true for me, and the owner really comes to life as we tinker together. His hand strength and memory foibles are a frustration for him so I’m doing most of the hands on work. We take frequent breaks and his memories return as we chat. He is not keen on cleaning the dust and cobwebs off- “nah, just fire her up, give her a squirt down the road they’ll blow off”! Skimming online information about Vincent restorations, I can feel the indignation of purists wanting a full strip down and rebuild. But I respect his desire to hear her running as soon as possible and his choice of that fun compared with money from selling. He dreams of me riding it for him in the Christmas charity motorcycle toy run with the sidecar loaded with presents in a few weeks. The reality is…. I’m the first to admit being out of my depth here. I’m still smarting from miss-timing and cooking the engine of my 1956 BMW R50 when I was a lad. I threw away my timing disc and vowed leave that to experts in future. In recent years I play with Japanese bikes with electronic ignition and have no timing nightmares. We are waiting on a copy of ”Know thy Beast” and I am looking for a reprint of the owners handbook to guide the rehabilitation. Meanwhile, advice from members will be of great assistance. In the reams of information online can you point me to a succinct guide until the Bible arrives? We are degunking the tank and taps currently (that old petrol gunk stinks). The carbies look remarkably clean and unworn. We’ve agreed to flushing the engine with diesel and have pumped the tyres in order to roll her outside to avoid the smell inside. They seem to be semi-pneumatic ie rock hard without air! The absence of a spark is a mixed blessing- it means we don’t skip other areas before trying to start her; but my youthful timing nightmare has returned to haunt me. I understand the magneto may have lost magnetism, but I’m not looking for problems so until proven otherwise assume all is in working order and in need of cleaning, adjusting and servicing. Our plan is to get her started, and only then to look at readying the machine for the road. In short, I’ve never worked on a Vincent; have no manual; and the owner, with good reason, is impatient for us to get her running. HELP!!!! [/QUOTE]
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