Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

The assembly was all going so well and by the end of last weekend, I had the drive side done: shock absorber, clutch, primary chain, rear chain, all covers, battery platform, top & bottom chain guards. On the timing side: magneto seal, valve timing with chain, morgo pump etc:

Saturday's photos before covers and clutch etc





Then on Monday morning, I tried to fit the oil tank. The usual sidecar mounting at the top plus a U clamp over the top frame tube and then the bottom mounting...except I couldn't workout what I was missing, or what was required. I had a hole in the engine plate that matched up with the bottom bracket on the tank. So was it threaded and covered in paint? Did I need a short, stubby bolt?



All the pictures of this engine plate in the parts book show a hole here...which is what I have. But no mention of a bolt and it would have to be a very short one as the gearbox adjuster is immediately behind the hole. Then I saw it; part number 0299 which is a 3/8" stepped stud that is welded on the back of the engine plate. Even more surprising, Drags have these in stock:



But no way was I going to wait for one of these to arrive and I really didn't want to have dismantle everything to get this engine plate out, welded and re-painted. In the end, I decided there was enough space to drill out this hole to take a 3/8" cycle tap but only if I slid the gearbox so that the oval hole in the top lug was behind the hole in the engine plate...then I could drill the hole and tap it. And to slide the gearbox that much, primary chain had to come off, therefore covers and clutch as well.

But I did manage to tap a good, clean hole and I've used Loctite 638 on a piece of 3/8" cycle studding in the new hole. It feels very tight and as it's not carrying any weight, I think it should be fine:



No idea what happened to the original welded stud. I'm sure it wasn't there when I bought the bike, so the oil tank must have been flapping about a bit at the bottom end. Sorting this out was like taking 2 steps forwards and 3 back.

Another month passes but I'm getting there....slowly.

Head, manifold and siamese pipes went on ok, but I had to modify the bracket on the silence somewhat. Bowden cables all done, wiring harness all done and the lights & horn actually work. No idea if the charging works.

Fitted the cartridge oil filter kit; it was quite challenging routing the thick walled rubber pipes in such a way that I could still adjust primary chain tension.

Solex 26AHD done with many thanks to Simon Holyfield and David Jones --- I had a badly split emulsion tube and the bi-starter lever and support were missing. Fits on the bike OK: with a 2mm phenolic thermal spacer between carb and rocker box flanges, I have about 25 thou clearance between bottom jet and the top of magdyno strap. T bar fitted to mixture screw so no need for asbestos gloves:





Tank instrument panel ready. I know, it's only a 0-80 mph PA but that is quite fast enough for me. Inexpensive, but appropriate looking, modern quartz clock with a 52mm (2") insert diameter fitted --- very please to have found these and have order a few for my other Ariels.





And since I bought the bike almost exactly 2 years ago, here is a quick shot of it outside. As you can see, not much left to do: only tank painting & lining and then it will be time to fill the oil and petrol tanks and see what happens... Hopefully in November. Still waiting on Drags for a new clutch dome (at platers so I'm told), but I can use the old one until that arrives. I'm a bit alarmed at how heavy it is; pushing it on this gravel is very difficult.

Those with sharp eyes (or a good memory) will see that I've not fitted the Smith front hub gearbox or the fork mounted speedo head. My bike did leave the factory with this option, but for time being, I'm sticking with the BA / PA combo, although I have renewed the drive gear inside the hub. I've made a blanking cap for gearbox hole in the front hub, but not yet fitted it.



And as it was two years ago:

Looking lovely Paul.

Paul that is looking great!
Best regards, Paul

That is looking very good now!
Br, Eero

I've finally got to the tank, which is the last thing I have left to do before I attempt to start this monster for the first time in nn years.

Finished the painting, so just the gold lining left to do and then a 2K lacquer coat but I'm a little nervous since any mistake and I'll probably have to start all over again . In true Dexter style, I got out the polythene sheeting, duck tape and some scalpels...













Gold lining: pinstripe tape or paint....I've decided on paint. Hope I don't balls it all up....

It is looking very good at the moment!
Br, Eero

Looks great Paul, you're doing well!
Regards, Paul

Paul Slootheer wrote:Looks great Paul, you're doing well!
Regards, Paul

Thanks Paul...but as they say, it's not over until the fat lady sings, or in my case, until the lacquer coat is on.

Hi All, I thought I'd give you a long overdue update on the 4G project, has it really been 7 months since the last one?

We'll my tank painting and lining all went horribly wrong back in December when I came to remove the so-called "low tack" masking tape; I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but in disgust, I put the tank to one side and didn't return to it until warmer weather returned in April of this year:





Then in February / March, Corvid-19 came along and put us all in lockdown for a couple of months, so I built a '38 VH out of parts that had been lying around in my garage for several years. The frame actually started life as a VB, but literally a few days before lockdown, I picked up a single port VH engine from Dave Owen at the Bristol Classic Bike Show in Feb, so the VB became a VH. I call it my Black Hunter due to the lack of chrome. But it turned out nice and goes very well:





But I digress. When April came, I tackled the 4G tank again and got it right on this 2nd attempt.





Now fast forward to yesterday, Sunday 21st June. After finishing that tank, during May I've been doing lots of minor things on the 4G like fitting the tank, sorting out the instrument panel and PA speedo etc, making up HT leads, timing it etc etc. But yesterday, a mate came round with his electric starter rollers so that I could check the lubrication. Having replaced virtually everything in this engine (club conrods, re-ground crank journals, new leaded bronze main bearings, Morgo oil pump, camshaft, valves, guides etc etc) and having fitted a cartridge oil filter, I didn't want to take any chances.

I'm glad to report that after priming the Morgo oil pump, and with no spark plugs fitted, in 2nd gear on the rollers, I had 50 psi on the gauge and after a few minutes (has to fill the cartridge), a nice bubbling return to the oil tank.

Here how it currently looks. I hope to start it for the first time this week.