My SF31 Restoration Blog

[Steven.Carter]

Thats fine Paul, I only do leatherwork as a hobby, my bikes prefer I do a little sewing they get worried when I reach for the spanners

Steve

[paul.wirdnam]

Mid October 2011:

I sort of knew this would happen...slight bit of cold weather and the enthusiasm wanes but have managed to make some progress with the fabrication of the binnacle, although it has taken me a lot longer than I expected.

1931 has a screw-mounted inspection lamp, so had to order some relatively large diameter brass bar and make the threaded (26tpi) spiggot to take the lamp; it is soft soldered to the steel binnacle. I would have preferred to have silver soldered it but the top of the binnacle is already domed slightly and I didn't want to introduce more heat.

Great reproduction lamp by Andrea in Italy.

Took ages to cut these 5 holes --- jigsaw followed by lots of filing







And a quick dummy run to spur me on. I was lucky with the original 8-day Smiths clock...I've had this in my workshop for years, it is too deep for most normal tank instrument panels but fit this bike a treat...and it works!

[Keith.owen]

Wow!!!
Great work Paul. I really hope to see this creation of yours at a Rally one of these days!

I'm absolutely certain that all your effort will pay off.

Keith

[paul.wirdnam]

Mid November 2011:

Since my last update about a month ago, not as much progress as I would have liked but I'm finally back in the garage and things are moving again.

The delay was due to sorting out the exhaust pipes between front and back silencers. It would have been relatively straight forward had it not been for their size : 1 7/8 inch OD (48mm). All my local tube benders did not have the right tooling (formers I assume) to deal with this size: 1 3/4 inch, no problem, 2 inch, no problem...but not 1 7/8 inch.

In the end, and at the risk of upsetting the purists, I have settled for 1 3/4 inch (45mm) OD pipe. The big advantage for me, by going for 45mm instead of 48mm, is that I've met a local tube bender who has not only bent the tubes in under a week but has also carried out some very nice work to create clean butt joints between main exhaust tubes and front silencer tubes. And best of all, once I jig everything up on the bike, he will visit my house and do the tig welding in-situ ....and, angle wise, there is quite a bit to get right: the small bends need to be welded on to each side of the front silencer box (after I cut a hole in each side ), the front silencer also has a couple of mounting brackets that need welding and the mounting brackets on the silencers also need welding; but its the angles at the front that are the crucial ones.

A few photos might help to explain:





If I'd know about the issues with 1 7/8 tube, I'd have had my silencers made with 45mm ID, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, so I have a sleeve on the pipes for the silencers. Its a loose slide at the moment; I may silver solder it in place before chrome plating...or a may leave it free in case I change silencers etc.



And some other progress; mocking up the handlebars in the vice and sorting out all controls prior to plating:





Oh...and the gearbox is finished!

[paul.wirdnam]

Late November 2011:

Having spent hours aligning things, filing silencer brackets, filing holes in the front silencer box, measure distances, checking clearances...I was ready, I just hope I haven't forgotten anything

My tube bender / TIG welder visited me last Friday evening and spend a couple of hours welding up my exhaust system first in-situ on the bike and then on the bench. There were a couple of very tight areas between the side of the front silencer and the tubes where he could not get his TIG gun close enough, so these have been finished off with silver solder.

To say I'm pleased with the end results is a bit of an understatement --- I always thought the exhaust system with that front box would be troublesome, so I'm very glad this is now behind me. These are probably the last photos of the assembled un-restored bike; I think I'm now ready to dis-mantle everything and sort out painting and chroming over the winter months:

[Keith.owen]

Paul,
This is really neat!!

I look forward to the opportunity of hopefully seeing this lovely machine when it is fully restored.

keith

[paul.wirdnam]

Paul,
This is really neat!!

I look forward to the opportunity of hopefully seeing this lovely machine when it is fully restored.

keith

Thanks Keith! You're not too far from me, so I think that might be quite likely...there was a SV version at Netley Marsh this year.

I took frame etc to shot-blasters today

[lukas.brodacky]

Dear Paul,
I´m restoring 1932 SB Sloper and looking for the complete exhaust system for it. Are there any problem to put here contact to Klaus. Thank you and Best Regards Lukas

[adrie.degraaff]

You are doing a very nice job.

[MatteoFoppoli]

Hi Paul,

Where did you get the:
REAR MUDGUARDS, FRONT MUDGUARDS
TOOL BOX COMPLETE
SILENCER
REAR NUMBER PLATE
Thanks Matteo