Jerry's Cammy

[jerry.mortimore]

Thought I would start a blog on restoring my cammy square. Back in July '11 I was within a week of retirement when a 1935 cammy Square 4 project appeared on Ebay. Looked like a really good retirement project as I had always wanted a cammy square. Was it providence that it should turn up at that moment or was the devil wispering in my ear? Guess we will have to wait and see. Won the auction and picked the pile of bits up from the vendor, a well known Ariel Club member living in the beautiful Malvern hills. Got it home and spread it out on the lawn to see what I had. I was aware from the Ebay auction of the parts that were missing.

1935 cammy Square 4 as bought.

The first photo shows what there was for the bike. Eagle-eyed among you will spot that there are no engine plates, primary chaincases, magdyno, front brake, exhaust system or saddle. The tank looks good but the paint is badly crazed so will need to be redone. Forks have been retubed and rebushed.

All the big bits

The second photo shows the complete kit. Parts for three engines but no complete engine. Several carburettors, non correct. Missing back section of the magneto chaincase.

boxes of bits

And, of course, boxes of bits.

[jerry.mortimore]

Just a week or two after getting the cammy I was told about another that had been dug up in Sheffield. Rubbish condition but there may be bits I can use as a pattern. This is what I picked up.....

What a wreck

I now have patterns for the carb, engine plates and a few other bits. Stripping it down, amazingly the engine internals were in surprisingly good shape.

[nevhunter]

Keep going, Only enthusiasts such as yourself ever get things like this project done. Nev

[john.nash]

That hole in that tank will polish out, surely ?

[jerry.mortimore]

I took the aluminium castings along to a local specialist vintage car restorer. They did a nice job of vapour blasting the castings, and I get a chance to look at some pretty amazing vehicles they have in, Alvis, Bentley and so on.

Engine castings cleaned up.

They look nice, but now I can see the damage....
Two engines are 1934 and one is 1936. All three engines need some welding done, specialist stuff plus machining. One 1934 crankcase has been butchered. and would need more complex repair so I have put that one aside and the other two are being worked on. No decision yet as to which is the best.

[jerry.mortimore]

At the AOMCC Annual Rally I heard about some new primary chaincases being cast by one of the German members. I managed to get a pair - they are in rough cast shape so need machining, drilling and polishing so a job to look forward to there. Also bought an old Fobco pillar drill off Ebay - I reckon I am going to need it.

The new brake pedal came from Ariel Club spares and they were also able to supply the missing back part for the magdyno chaincase and a new rocker cover.
Found several useful bits among my own spare VB parts - bits for the girders, a steering damper knob, saddle, and so on. A visit to Drags also added to the kit of parts so things are starting to look more like a complete kit.

[jerry.mortimore]

September and it was down to Netley Marsh and Beaulieu autojumbles with a bag of assorted bits of the sadly distressed cammy dug up in Sheffield.
Acquired yet another barrel and head with a good rocker box. Even better, found a carburettor in a small tray of parts on one of the stalls mainly selling modern tools.

In case you can't spot the difference the new one is the one on the right....

[jerry.mortimore]

So that is it, up to date. Current status is:
Two sets of crankcases away for repair.
Pile of parts ready to take to the painters later this week.
Petrol tank and panel ready to go for chrome plating and painting, although I am a bit worried about what may be under that cracked silver paint.....
Main parts still missing are the magdyno and the front brake. I think I now have just about everything else.
Now starting to look at the crankshafts.

Crankshafts

Need to get these stripped down and cleaned up. There is some surface rust and I want to get them ready for rebuild.
But - someone has shot blasted one crankshaft bottom left in the picture. He has also reassembled them back to front - the coupling gears are offset to the drive side to leave room for the half time shaft drive gears on the timing side but he has put the coupling gears to the timing side. Should be able to rebuild the shaft using some of the spare bits that haven't been shot-blasted but there is only one front coupling gear (stamped with an A and a single dot) and that is the one that has been shot-blasted. Spare gear is the B gear with two dots that goes on the rear shaft. Guess I will have to use the bodged one, unless the ones off the distressed bike are usable (still haven't got right into the crankcases yet).
Haven't got far with disassembly yet, my three legged extractors have proved to be not up to the job.... Need to get some beefier ones.

[jerry.mortimore]

Exchanged a couple of bits for a front brake plate and brake shoes, so another piece of the jigsaw obtained.
Called in at the National Motorcycle Museum to get a good look at their '35 cammy and get some photos. Very interesting, but it is now clear that I have three different back brake plates, neither of which is correct. I think it may be possible to modify one, will have to see. Will need to get or make the very long brake lever.
New set of gear pullers obtained so got the spare crankshafts apart. Not content with assembling them wrong and shotblasting one, some previous owner had also assembled them without keys to locate the seperate bobweights . Amazing.

[brenton.roy]

Hi Jerry,
I think I may have a long rear brake lever that I could measure / photograph for you if you can't get one and need to make one up.
The one I have is a bit under 7" long and from a '34 LH.
Brenton