My 4G Restoration Blog

[paul.wirdnam]

I've got one of those light boards in my W/NG. It's been excellent so far.

What lamp did you fit it in Simon? This board came from CLASSIC DYNAMO & REGULATOR CONVERSIONS LTD...same place as yours?

[fpassmore]

Looks well put together, is that LED board available on line?

Frank

[paul.wirdnam]

Looks well put together, is that LED board available on line?

Frank

They are. Look for LB1 on this page http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.c ... s-shop.php

[simon.holyfield]

Paul,

It's a CDRC lighting board in a unknown Italian lamp that was fitted to the W/NG when I brought it back from Italy:

http://ariel-square-four.blogspot.com/2 ... o.html?m=0

http://ariel-square-four.blogspot.com/2 ... g.html?m=0

[Jon P Fudge]

Hi Thank you for allowing me into your group.My name is Jon Fudge from Westbrook Ct USA. I’m 69, I have an Ariel Sq 4, engine #DH180. I have owned this machine Since 1972. When I bought it, it was in the attic of a Barn. It was covered in dust. The tank was quite rusty, the head was turned around, the carb was in the front, and it had megaphone exhaust coming strait off the back of the head. I found out the bike had been built for hill climbing. It was missing most of the sheetmetal. The rear fender had been bobbed short. No front fender or tool box,or battery box,or lighting. I got the bike running found some pipes and muffler.I rode it around the back roads. Then one day it quit on me. Found out the fiber mag Dyno gear was oil soaked and had stripped its teeth. The bike sat as I could not find another gear. I got married in 76 and honeymooned in England. I dragged my poor new wife all over England following leads of anyone know of Ariels. One day a lead led me to an industrial park, I opened the door and there were SQ 4’s all over the place. I had walked into the J&T Healy works. I asked they would possibly have a magdyno gear the guy took me in a room and there was a 50 drum full of them.I bought several other parts too. I still could not find any of the missing sheetmetal bits. The Ariel tank was rotted out so I mounted a BSA tank to have running. I wrote to the Ariel club in England and got a reply that the engine # DH180 was a1940 and how the heck did that bike end up over there with war starting. As I got busy with a new family, a business ( I’m a modelmaker) the Ariel sat in the back room of my shop for years.one day several years ago I took the sheet off that had been covering it for years and was horrified to find the damned Mice had gone up through the mufflers and my new pipes were all rusted from their urine. I also discovered that the motor was stuck too.i think the mice might have gotten all the way up the pipes and might have pissed into the engine. Now that Im retired I plan to dig into it and restore the bike. It has the rear suspension. Does anyone know if DH180would in fact be a 1940 ? Cheers Jon

[john.whiting]

yes ,1940...frame prefix P or AX.....after suspending exports in Sept 1939,the british govt realised they would be needing 500 million pounds worth of war equiptment from the USof A.....so exports to US and the Commonwealth were authorized and indeed encouraged to earn dollars.....There was a sticky patch though,as the US wernt at war with Germany, submarines ran free off the east coat and sank nearly half of all shipping from the US to Europe,concentrating off the ports where shipping was plentiful.

[paul.wirdnam]

Ever bought a bike and wish you hadn't? This '39 4G may well turn out to be one of these...I'd rather be getting on with '28 Model B that I bought back in the summer but I have to see this 4G restoration through to the end .

Decided to restore the engine over the winter months, so launched into it at the beginning of the week and should have read the owner's guide first. Head off, barrel off, pistons off, timing gears off, coupling gears off, all crankcase bolts off and then I split the crankcases only to realise I had not removed the front right crankshaft nut (the one behind the small round cover on the side of the engine), so I was unable to remove the front crank.

I thought long and hard about how to undo this nut with damaging anything and, in the end, re-assembled bottom end with coupling gears and used a 2p piece between the couple gear teeth to lock the crankshafts. Even then, I had great difficulty cracking the seal on that nut but it suddenly released with a 3 foot tube for leverage on my socket. I'd already tried heat etc.

This is well used and generally worn out bike. The gearbox was knackered as were the plungers and the engine is turning out to be the same. My crankshaft journals have not been reground but are oval, the camshaft is a mess, the 2 white metal bushes are std but loose. And the crankcases have quite a bit of damage. Some photos:

[john.whiting]

Look on the bright side....you can always sell it on and get your money back......Ive seen plenty of projects where dropping out means blowing your money......like renovating houses.

[Bob.Murphy]

Ever bought a bike and wish you hadn't? This '39 4G may well turn out to be one of these....

I can sympathise, my "Barn Find '31 Panther project" is much the same. Everything I touch is bent, broken, worn-out or missing. I've spent a mint on it and I still just have crates of parts. I'm having to make stuff (only 240 of them were made) which meant buying a Milling Machine and a better Lathe !

Will I live long enough to see it completed ??

Stick with it, the satisfaction in bringing another fine old bike back from the dead will be tremendous .

Bob.

[paul.jameson]

For Jon Fudge.
The Despatch book page containing you bike's entry has 33 bikes listed. 31 of these were exported and 22 of them went to Johnson Motors in the USA, including your bike which went out on 1st March 1940. This was still the period of the "Phoney War" before Hitler invaded and conquered most of western Europe in May and June of that year. Don't worry too much about the mice and what they have done. A much bigger issue for you is to clean out the crankshaft sludge traps because if you don't, you can expect a conrod through the crankcases.

For Paul Wirdnam,
I have a camshaft which you can have free of charge if you wish. I classed it as knackered but it is an awful lot better than the one in your photos!