May 2012....and the end of my
restoration blog because the bike is now finished! Yipee!
Bike is insured (on frame number)
Bike has been officially dated (thank you Paul J)
V55/5 has been completed
MOT next week
Visit to Local DVLC next week
(not looking forward to it....when I picked up the V55/5, there looked to be a 2 hour queue)
I've had the bike running a few times, ironed out a few problems like a flooding carb (tickler too long), faulty mag (poor points assembly), and a couple of disturbing "clunks" from the engine...latter turned out to be a cam follower catching slightly on the wrong cam; there seems to be a need for a fairly thick washer / shim on the cam follower shaft to ensure the followers are perfectly in line with the cams...the washer is not listed in the parts book but I know Paul Meredith / Clive Jones also found this on their Slopers. I had already used a washer, but had to increase the thickness from 48 thou to 90 thou. Cured the problem.
I really thought I'd done everything in the correct order on this restoration: repair, fabricate, assemble to check, strip down, paint, chrome and re-assemble....but as usual, there is always something you forget. On this one, I had a scary moment when I thought I may not be able to assemble the tank binnacle with speedo, speedo cable, clock and oil gauge. I had to make the binnacle and although I thought I'd checked everything, I had forgotten to do a full assembly with speedo cable....the angles are very tight but got there in the end without the need to modify anything or re-paint etc.
One thing I did end up doing was making a pair of stainless steel handlebar clamps. I knew it would happen ... and it did... the new chrome all flaked off the old clamps as soon as I tightened them...it always happens. The club or Drags should make some stainless steel ones...I don't want to have to make another pair
.
She (I'm sure it's female) starts very easily and sounds lovely...much smoother than my '29 Model F. The oil circulation and pressure seems great and I've adjusted the pressure to read 12 psi on the gauge.
As so to the photos: