Engine Historia

Test fitting to check compatibility of some wire wheels before they go off for Jim to fettle and the have new rims and 19"flat track tyres fitted. Off with foot rests which weigh a great deal and begin to manufacture some lighter and purposeful items. We have also dropped the front forks by an inch and a half and since the photos, removed the front brakes. It is beginning to take a bit more of a flat track "attitude".

Some further preparation of the new cylinder block and running parts. There is always a lot of "prototype" work when an engine of many new parts is assembled. It is so easy for "one off" items of such complexity to have a small error and sometimes, more surreptitiously, an accumulation of small errors. We cannot take anything for granted, and that is certainly not a criticism of those involved in the manufacture. Here we have prepared and given the outside of the block a coating of Suncorite phosphating primer, a product developed for military use on gun barrels and precision items to protect, when used in conjunction with oil coatings or paint top coating it is extremely tough. The new block will go through further cylinder boring work and the primer will help to stop some oil deposits lying in the porous material surface. Internally all items have been painted with Glyptal for the same reason and the added benefit of free oil flow and to seal in the sand that migr...

The Race of Gentlemen 2014 Highlights from By & Large on Vimeo .

Cotter pins are such fiddly little devils to make as a one off.  Time just rushes away, taking dimensions, finding and base machining a suitable steel bar then swap to four jaw chuck. Dial clock to index from the pin centre line for the offset thread, cut a thread and trim and de burr every thing. That's just the first stage. Now the next part of filing and fitting to get that "just so" snug and mechanically secure fit into the pins own unique location....phew and look at that time! Now it is time to fit the pins to the brake "through" shaft in the gearbox bell housing and to prepare the historically bruised clutch fork faces to true.The shaft had been removed to clean and "free". Generally the gearbox assembly has been checked visually but little work has been required, many items had already been recovered in the 70's before being stored. As mentioned before the clutch withdrawal mechanism has been created and modified from boxes of similar parts...

I  should have been doing paperwork!

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