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Tech. Advice: Series 'B' / 'C' 500cc/1000cc Bikes
What is the best approach for restoring a Vincent?
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<blockquote data-quote="macvette" data-source="post: 36716" data-attributes="member: 262"><p>I'm a bit hestant to chip in here with only a few years of Vincent ownership but I did completely restore my series D. Unfortunately, I didn't have your machining capability so the engine had to be sent away for refurbishment and then re-assembled and proved to be the critical path. The whole job took 3years, the limitation being the motor.</p><p>I took many photos during the dismantling process and loaded them onto a laptop, this proved invaluable as I reassembled and rewired the bike. I was lucky in that the previous owner had replaced almost every fastener with stainless during his 40 odd years of ownership so I reused them after polishing them up.</p><p>I worked in 3 modules not counting the motor ( the rest of the bike was finished long before the motor was re- assembled). These were the rear end, the front end and misc parts either needing painting or other refurbishment (think cables, carbs,tank, drums,lights wiring harness etc).</p><p>I completely dismantled the front and rear ends whilst they were on the bike ie I did not remove them as shown in the riders hand book. All of the chassis parts were sent away for paint, after all bearings and bushes had been fitted or checked for fit. Of course I made a detailed inventory of all of the parts sent out for paint.</p><p>There is a surprising amount of bits and pieces so as I stripped each module, I put the small pieces and fasteners in small plastic freezer boxes with a list taped on the outside and the larger pieces in plastic shoe boxes from the UK equivalent of the dollar store this' along with the laptop proved invaluable. I stored these boxes in a couple of large stacking plastic storage boxes again from the UK equivalent of the dollar store.</p><p>As I said, almost all of the fasteners were SS so I worked my way through the boxes module by module cleaning the fasteners and polishing them up. Whilst doing this, I listed those that needed replacing and ordered them, putting them in the appropriate box.</p><p>By this time, it was obvious that the motor was going to be along time in coming so rather than have the have the frame bits lying around, I made a support from unistrut to mimic the mounting points of the frame to the engine and assembled the rear and front modules complete with wheels brakes etc having first shimmed wheel, and RFM bearings. I shimmed the front fork links on this support There is a photo somewhere in misc series D but it sounds to me as though you already have a pretty sophisticated jig.</p><p>You don't say if you are doing the paint yourself so you may not have to go the extent that I did in inventoring the bits. If you use this approach, you could send your fasteners out for refurb on a module by module basis. The support was a great help, allowing me to jump from front to rear when I got stuck eg waiting for some small part which I had overlooked or waiting for advice from the forum. When the motor was finished, it took aprox three weeks to complete the assembly. Of this, a couple of days were spent assembling the front and rear modules to the motor and doing the final checks on bearing and fork links etc, the rest was taken up making up the wiring harness, fitting oil lines ,cables etc</p><p>Hope this helps, with apologies to the more experienced members.</p><p>Regards Mac</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="macvette, post: 36716, member: 262"] I'm a bit hestant to chip in here with only a few years of Vincent ownership but I did completely restore my series D. Unfortunately, I didn't have your machining capability so the engine had to be sent away for refurbishment and then re-assembled and proved to be the critical path. The whole job took 3years, the limitation being the motor. I took many photos during the dismantling process and loaded them onto a laptop, this proved invaluable as I reassembled and rewired the bike. I was lucky in that the previous owner had replaced almost every fastener with stainless during his 40 odd years of ownership so I reused them after polishing them up. I worked in 3 modules not counting the motor ( the rest of the bike was finished long before the motor was re- assembled). These were the rear end, the front end and misc parts either needing painting or other refurbishment (think cables, carbs,tank, drums,lights wiring harness etc). I completely dismantled the front and rear ends whilst they were on the bike ie I did not remove them as shown in the riders hand book. All of the chassis parts were sent away for paint, after all bearings and bushes had been fitted or checked for fit. Of course I made a detailed inventory of all of the parts sent out for paint. There is a surprising amount of bits and pieces so as I stripped each module, I put the small pieces and fasteners in small plastic freezer boxes with a list taped on the outside and the larger pieces in plastic shoe boxes from the UK equivalent of the dollar store this' along with the laptop proved invaluable. I stored these boxes in a couple of large stacking plastic storage boxes again from the UK equivalent of the dollar store. As I said, almost all of the fasteners were SS so I worked my way through the boxes module by module cleaning the fasteners and polishing them up. Whilst doing this, I listed those that needed replacing and ordered them, putting them in the appropriate box. By this time, it was obvious that the motor was going to be along time in coming so rather than have the have the frame bits lying around, I made a support from unistrut to mimic the mounting points of the frame to the engine and assembled the rear and front modules complete with wheels brakes etc having first shimmed wheel, and RFM bearings. I shimmed the front fork links on this support There is a photo somewhere in misc series D but it sounds to me as though you already have a pretty sophisticated jig. You don't say if you are doing the paint yourself so you may not have to go the extent that I did in inventoring the bits. If you use this approach, you could send your fasteners out for refurb on a module by module basis. The support was a great help, allowing me to jump from front to rear when I got stuck eg waiting for some small part which I had overlooked or waiting for advice from the forum. When the motor was finished, it took aprox three weeks to complete the assembly. Of this, a couple of days were spent assembling the front and rear modules to the motor and doing the final checks on bearing and fork links etc, the rest was taken up making up the wiring harness, fitting oil lines ,cables etc Hope this helps, with apologies to the more experienced members. Regards Mac [/QUOTE]
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Tech. Advice: Series 'B' / 'C' 500cc/1000cc Bikes
What is the best approach for restoring a Vincent?
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