One of the earliest 1000cc Square Fours

[wade.edwards]

Congratulations, Paul! Unfortunately most of us will not get to see it first hand at Stafford or anywhere else! Quite a wonderful Ariel.

[ray.tolman]

Paul,
Some lucky Ariels were born with an angel looking after them. In this case, you are that angel.
Impressive work.
Ray

[MBolton]

It looked wonderful on the Stafford show stand. A fabulous restoration.

[paul.jameson]

Thank you all for your kind words. It seems that the concours judges at Stafford liked it too, as they awarded me first prize in the Post Vintage class. (The only higher award is Best in Show which I don't think has ever been won by an Ariel.) But I am dead chuffed to have this acknowledgement that my workmanship (in things like painting and lining the petrol tank, building the wheels, restoring the instruments, etc) is as good as that of professionals.

I am currently celebrating with a glass of Longrow Single Malt. (The best single malt in Scotland, according to some madman who went round and tested all of them whilst riding an MZ 350 and sidecar). ( You might knock his choice of motorcycle, but he got the Scotch right, IMHO.)

[Steven.Carter]

Well done, that's a great achievement

Steve

[john.davies]

Well done Paul, she is a beauty and a testament to your skill and knowledge. I'm very glad that the judges at Stafford recognised that as well.
John

[fpassmore]

Most impressive Paul, it really is a lovely example.

Frank

[paul.jameson]

Following Stafford, it has been time to get the bike into useable condition for the road. Although I had taken it out a few times before, mileage opportunities were severely limited by salt on the roads here and by the general desire to keep the bike clean for the show. Running it up the hill nearby had suggested poor power output, a possible misfire, and good compression on 2 cylinders, variable on a third with next to nothing on the fourth. Having got the engine hot enough by a couple of trips up the hill (about 3 miles each time) I was able to set the carb up rather better which improved things.

Now, in my experience, Square Fours have two predominant characteristics:
1) They are an absolute swine to get right, perhaps taking a full season of riding before I am happy with them (although after that, they are unbeatable in terms of reliability, etc)
2) It doesn't matter what the fault is but the symptom is a misfire ( occasionally accompanied by copious oil leaks)

So it was no surprise that the misfire got worse and oil started leaking in quantity, mainly from the clutch area. A good run seemed the best way to check things out so yesterday I took the bike out for a 35 miles round trip. Periodically it ran smoothly and well, but mainly it misfired and it was a third gear job to get home up the Malvern Hills. Oil loss was immense. Clearly, all was not well. There was good compression on 2 cylinders, occasional good compression on a third but the fourth seemed to have little, if any. No change there then. When I built the engine I had used pistons I had taken out of my previous 4G as they were originals, the right oversize and the right compression ratio. The thought was that I could always buy new ones and have a rebore if they proved to be too badly worn. Having slung the bike in the shed when I got back yesterday, I took the plugs out today when Geoff Brown came round. Two looked perfect, but the other two had some oil on them, although by no means as much as on some Squares I have had at times. Geoff decided that we needed his compression tester so went home to bring it. I looked at the cost of new pistons and decided the chances of the bike making the run it is booked on in Lincolnshire at the end of next week were about nil. Geoff's compression tester gave good compression on 2, slightly worse on the third and none on No 1 cylinder. Interestingly, the oilier plugs did not match with the inferior compression. It seemed that disaster had befallen No 1 cylinder. The valves were closed ok with the approved tappet clearances (23 and 25 thou as I am using a Club MKII camshaft with 18 thou quietening ramps) so the fault could only be something like a hole in the piston. The rebore loomed large. Then I suggested we tried the compression tester again with the rocker cover by now removed. No 1 cylinder had good compression all of a sudden! Some tiny witness marks on the underside of the (original) rocker cover indicated where the valves had been held open by it when tightened down. I found an old rocker cover gasket so we fitted this as an extra before I took the bike up the road again. To say it is transformed is an understatement. I think more than one cylinder was affected by the rocker cover problem, which I can only put down to a combination of an original rocker cover, a Club camshaft needing big tappet clearances, and a head and rocker box which I had machined flat, probably after several others had done the same thing. There is not a lot a clearance inside a Square four engine.

So now I need to see if the oil leaks are reduced and to persuade the dynamo to charge. We may yet make the run in Lincolnshire!
(And many thanks to Geoff for his advice and his compression tester - without either, the engine would now be in bits, for no good reason)

[paul.jameson]

Following Stafford, it has been time to get the bike into useable condition for the road. Although I had taken it out a few times before, mileage opportunities were severely limited by salt on the roads here and by the general desire to keep the bike clean for the show. Running it up the hill nearby had suggested poor power output, a possible misfire, and good compression on 2 cylinders, variable on a third with next to nothing on the fourth. Having got the engine hot enough by a couple of trips up the hill (about 3 miles each time) I was able to set the carb up rather better which improved things.

Now, in my experience, Square Fours have two predominant characteristics:
1) They are an absolute swine to get right, perhaps taking a full season of riding before I am happy with them (although after that, they are unbeatable in terms of reliability, etc)
2) It doesn't matter what the fault is but the symptom is a misfire ( occasionally accompanied by copious oil leaks)

So it was no surprise that the misfire got worse and oil started leaking in quantity, mainly from the clutch area. A good run seemed the best way to check things out so yesterday I took the bike out for a 35 miles round trip. Periodically it ran smoothly and well, but mainly it misfired and it was a third gear job to get home up the Malvern Hills. Oil loss was immense. Clearly, all was not well. There was good compression on 2 cylinders, occasional good compression on a third but the fourth seemed to have little, if any. No change there then. When I built the engine I had used pistons I had taken out of my previous 4G as they were originals, the right oversize and the right compression ratio. The thought was that I could always buy new ones and have a rebore if they proved to be too badly worn. Having slung the bike in the shed when I got back yesterday, I took the plugs out today when Geoff Brown came round. Two looked perfect, but the other two had some oil on them, although by no means as much as on some Squares I have had at times. Geoff decided that we needed his compression tester so went home to bring it. I looked at the cost of new pistons and decided the chances of the bike making the run it is booked on in Lincolnshire at the end of next week were about nil. Geoff's compression tester gave good compression on 2, slightly worse on the third and none on No 1 cylinder. Interestingly, the oilier plugs did not match with the inferior compression. It seemed that disaster had befallen No 1 cylinder. The valves were closed ok with the approved tappet clearances (23 and 25 thou as I am using a Club MKII camshaft with 18 thou quietening ramps) so the fault could only be something like a hole in the piston. The rebore loomed large. Then I suggested we tried the compression tester again with the rocker cover by now removed. No 1 cylinder had good compression all of a sudden! Some tiny witness marks on the underside of the (original) rocker cover indicated where the valves had been held open by it when tightened down. I found an old rocker cover gasket so we fitted this as an extra before I took the bike up the road again. To say it is transformed is an understatement. I think more than one cylinder was affected by the rocker cover problem, which I can only put down to a combination of an original rocker cover, a Club camshaft needing big tappet clearances, and a head and rocker box which I had machined flat, probably after several others had done the same thing. There is not a lot a clearance inside a Square four engine.

So now I need to see if the oil leaks are reduced and to persuade the dynamo to charge. We may yet make the run in Lincolnshire!
(And many thanks to Geoff for his advice and his compression tester - without either, the engine would now be in bits, for no good reason)

[simon.holyfield]

The moral of the tale is to look for the obscure as well as the obvious!

Interesting story Paul. I expect it is quieter now?