'57 VH, Four and a half years later...

[dave.owen]

Gary, any Ariel is good no matter how it looks , my wife prefers the 39VG below due to its patina

Dave

[Gary.Durrant]

Dave, that is also a very nice looking bike!

[Eero.Korhonen]

Yes I like that VG too. You can not buy patina.
Br, Eero

[Mike Nash]

Yes, someone (on this site?) pointed out a while ago that a vehicle could be restored many times but it's was only original once! Your wife has good taste, Dave.
(And I like the teddy!)

[dave.owen]

The bear has a very dirty t shirt with the message on..
Didn't we pass this 5 minutes ago.
Dave

[robjameson]

I've done a bit of investigating in to some niggles today. I've now done over 5000 miles on the VH, although I would have liked to do more, I've had a few issues I've wanted to look at, and have done a serious strip down to discover what is going on. So as it stands, I have this as a job list:

Exhaust valve guide needs a new oversize machining as the existing is loose

Scavenge pipe in crank case is loose (hence the heavy breathing I suffer sometimes)

New clutch sprocket

Alignment issue on timing side keeps eating chains

So it looks like I'm going to be off the road for a little bit...

[david.anderson]

Rob
The lose exhaust valve guide is common with the alloy VH. My 57VH had a very lose guide when I purchased it in 1972. The guide had been rocking in the head so the head was bored oversize and an oversize guide was fitted.
That lasted a few years before coming lose again. A slightly bigger guide was fitted which also came lose after a time. So the head was bored slightly larger and another guide was made. Most recently that guide had also come lose and was rocking a little. This time the head was bored a little to true it and an aluminium sleeve was pressed in. The sleeve was welded into position and some extra weld metal was placed in the rocker box area from the guide boss toward the centre of the head. I hope that the extra weld material will help to stabilize the guide boss and hopefully I will not have any more problems.
I subsequently purchased a new head from John Budgen. The new head is disappointing as it incorporates the same faults as the original head. There is minimal support for the exhaust guide. A revised port shape could have incorporated some deeper streamlined guide boss support within the port, as is common practice with many new heads. And the guide boss could have been a lot larger in the rocker box toward the centre of the head. Whether the alloy in the new head is a superior alloy to the original I do not know but time will tell.
David

[robjameson]

Glad I'm not the only one with issues. Has anyone managed to solve the valve guide issue?

[david.anderson]

Rob
a problem shared is not a problem halved in this case. I don’t want any more lose exhaust guides.
What I can say is that I have 4 alloy head singles. Of them 3 of the 4 have a repair to the exhaust guide, with my most used bike having experienced 4 separate instances of a lose guide in the 45 years that I have owned it.
If you look at the exhaust guide boss at the rear side of the valve spring seat you will notice there is minimal support for the guide at this point. The valve spring cup is not fully supported. On my most recent repair I had this area built up with weld metal and the spring seat remachined. I am hopeful that adding extra support at this point will solve the problem.
David