It's beyond me why people build bikes with knackered fasteners..it guarantees they will be a sod to work on at a later date...Ian [/quote]


Here in Suffolk we have a saying when you have had c***s putting bikes together, "you have to take the c**t out of it!!!!"

Had the same on my 57 Thunderbird every bolt / nut was chewed to death but as I was doing a total rebuild no problem I thought I,ll just buy ready made bolt / stud /nut kit to replace them all when I received said kit it was crap so I sent it back for a refund .. I bought some hex stainless bar to make up the bolts and bought stainless nuts to suit not a cheap way of doing it but much more durable and got the right look to the heads of bolts..

Ian if you want a original bottom extended bolt for a magneto I have one listed..
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261973492207?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

Dave

If it's any consolation, Welcome to my world of success and faliure :-/ I empathize with you totally.
Good luck!
Ian

email (option): fozzie001@hotmail.com

Quite...

Yesterday I finally got the mag off...It turned out the thread for the lower mag stud had been drilled out and replaced with an allen screw, with the head inside the timing cover and the wrong sized nut on the outer end.....

That's a shame as there is now insufficient material to repair it properly with a helicoil...I guess a full repair will have to wait until the engine is stripped at a later date and I can weld it up and remachine it...

Due to the rounded off self extractor nut of the adv/retd. unit it was impossible to remove...In the end I had to carefully grind the heads off the rivets that hold the [unobtainable] BTH adv/rtd unit together and partially disassemble it....

This allowed me to access the very narrow remaining bit of hexagon and using a six sided socket for maximum grip I was able to remove the central sleeve nut...I then had to make up a small puller to get the remainder of the unit off the mag. armature shaft...

With that done I finally got the mag off! ...but after a day and a halfs' work ....

So now I can clean everything up, then I'll have to repair the adv/rtd unit, remake/replace any damaged fasteners and start putting it all back together...

Oh..and I forgot to mention, the reason the clutch was so heavy when I bought the bike was that it had T140 Bonnie clutch springs fitted...I noticed that when I bought the bike. That pretty much meant the clutch would be worn so I had purchased a complete new clutch in readiness...

When I stripped it I found a mixture of metal plates (obviously not all of the same vintage), worn fibre plates and the clutch plates incorrectly assembled with the last two being 'metal to metal'...

What can I say?.......Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

AAAAHHHHH!! might help

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Now you must be thinking what is the rest of the bike like, looks like it's going to be a complete strip down.
Shame as the bike looked so nice when you first put the pics on the forum of it.
Has it been through Bonhams auction by any chance.

Tim W

email (option): t.j.walker@btinternet.com

Hi Tim...Yes it did go through Bonhams a few years back...

The rest of the bike doesn't seem too bad actually. I have had both wheels off to check bearings, brake shoes etc. and to replace one tyre and the inner tubes (you never know how long the tubes have been there)..I replaced the front shoes but everything else was in order..

Likewise the forks, steering head bearings and chassis generally are OK and apart from the mag all the electrics are functioning as intended...

I could see the bike hadn't had a lot of work done recently when I bought it so expected to have to do some 'catch up work'...I have to say though I was pretty underwhelmed with the work done previously on the mechanical side...

I usually buy basket cases and put them through a very thorough rebuild before using them, so these sort of problems when carrying out what is basically a maintenance job are alien to me...

I think after this job the bike will be serviceable again and then, as I do with my B33, I will commence using it as a daily hack.. That was what I bought it for after all...

I have too many projects at the moment to add the TRW to the list but I suspect at a later date it's going to get the full 'treatment'...I just prefer them like that...and I rather like the Trafalgar blue of the RN bikes as well... ...

I have to say that in principle I'm very pleased with the TRW and think it will ultimately be a very useable bike with a marvellous spares back up..

Apart from the BTH ADV/rtd unit virtually everything mechanical is still available NOS...

I recently bought a complete NOS gearbox and clutch and pretty soon I'll have enough parts to build a new engine...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Aaaah Ian.

Thanks for cheering me up, it seems there are others which think the same as me - re 'rebuilds/restoration/any mechanic but myself............

I can add anything Indian to your list - just spent a 1/2 day cutting the 3hw rear frame to bits in an attempt to straighten it.
Thought it had simply been stamped on by an elephant - but no.
It was simply badly made, so that even when i straightned the damn thing, the mounting holes were 1/2" out of alignment.

May as well made one from scratch - which i would if i happend to have some correct diameter round tube.
Ho Hum - putting it right is tonights job - then i start on the rear mudguard - which was of course made to fit the original s**t r/frame ...............

Suns come out - i'll go and cut the grass, so i dont take a hammer to my work so far....

..The naughty Gods of motorcycling got me again today..

I took the B33 for a blast down some really nice twisty and hilly Devon 'B' roads to pick up a job from the fabricator...

Lovely sunny day and after picking up the job and having a chat and a cuppa with the fabricator I thought I'll have an equally nice thrash on the return trip....

Ah well, so much for what I thought I would do...Started up the bike, pushed it off the stand and found a very flat rear tyre...

Just over 3 hours later the good old AA dropped me back outside my house and my plans for what I was doing tomorrow morning have had to be revised to puncture repair... ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I can't fix them without tools, levers, a tube or repair kit and something to pump it up with afterwards...

Stupidly I left all that at home in the workshop... ...

Annoyingly I only fitted a new tyre and inner tube about 3 weeks ago.. ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Happy days...After much buggeration and a fair bit of expenditure the TRW is now starting in one or two kicks hot or cold, the carburation is improved,I have a nicely operating clutch and quite a few knackered fasteners have been replaced....

Hopefully I can now begin to use the bike as a daily hack as I intended to when I bought it, though I'd still like to replace the composite head gasket with a solid copper one at the earliest opportunity... ....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

email (option): noam10"AT"gmail.com

Hi Ian,

You really are trying to frighten me aren't you ?
My restoration is just about to (finally) begin, as my new workshop is almost complete and looking rather spiffing if I do say so myself. One product I came across recently may help you with stripped threads in castings etc. Alutight.

looks like solder wire, but have used it already at work, clean the alloy casting hole and sit the bolt in the middle of the hole, usually a tiny bit of thread at the bottom of the hole you can screw into. Propane torch the area, nothing hotter ! and melt the wire into the hole around the steel bolt.

Let cool for a couple of minutes and unscrew the bolt with a spanner, dress the top with a small file and its done.

Really works and seems very strong repair on a small alloy gearbox casting I did last week for a customer.

I will email the data sheet to you with contact details of Bjorn on it, may just come in handy. I saw him at Stafford, so you will no doubt bump into him sooner or later.

Darren

email (option): dwrudd at lineone.net

First of all congrats on getting things in order! Always a lovely feeling.

And secondly hats of to anyone who considers a TRW to be a good option for a "Daily hack"! Some people would perhaps have gone for something modern like a -77 Honda CB 500 or something.

/simon

People do seem to forget, THESE bikes we love and care for - were once reliable, daily transport - often taking all the family on holiday - with a s/car strapped on the side, once a year.

I'm afraid, its years of people 'maintaining' the bike and general degregation with age, particularly the electrics, which have rendered them - less reliable.

If put together well, not thrashed to death down a motorway and just a bit of maintaince - they are reliable.

What Ian seems to have been doing, is rectifying things done by its previous owner.

Yes Nigel, those are just about the exact reasons for me to salute Ian for his choice of a Daily hack.

the joy of old machines is finding just how ballsed up they are under the shiny bits, then finding the weird and wonderfull bodges and removing them, then finally getting around to finishing the machine to how its supposed to be, even the simplest things can take a long time,

rebuild a machine to spec and you should be able to use it everyday, in the rain snow and yuck, got odd looks when i mentioned to some fair weather pilots, that I had stuck 20 k on an m20 clock in 18 months, including the minus 10c cold bits, regular maintenance and attention to correct parts and detailed maintenance should see you through most of the time.

will pop by at some point for a chat ian, as i don't have your up to date telephony number.

"to use it everyday, in the rain snow and yuck, got odd looks when i mentioned to some fair weather pilots,"

Jon, I am not surprised you got odd looks! Am very happy to be a fair weather pilot............rain, snow and yuck is what heated wheeled tin boxes are for! IMHO, folk who say they enjoy riding in the grot are either Ian Wright, liars, masochists, lunatics or Welsh. OK, if two wheels you must have, it's heated grips, full fairing, electric leg and modern electric, although you still have to be a bit mad or live near Wales to even go that far.

email (option): Fergusanckorn@icloud.com

I did the daily commute for a few decades...Winter/Snow and Summer/Sun etc. etc....

I never learnt to drive a car as I chose to be a motorcyclist...My definition of that term being someone who takes the bike as a first choice because they like to travel that way, even though it isn't always the easiest or most comfortable choice......The weather, whatever it may be, comes with the territory...

Nowadays I don't have to do that daily commute and can pick the days I choose to go for a ride..I'm not insane so most frequently I'll pick a sunny day..

However, if I need to go out for some reason and it happens to be wet I don't mind doing so...It's not the end of the world after all...

I've had new bikes along with my older ones at different times but the fact is I like old bikes the best and as an 'old bike enthusiast' I like to do what I believe in....

I would never be blinkered enough to suggest an old bike matches a modern bike in any way particularly if a purely logical choice has to be made..

But a love of old motorcycles is more subjective than that and I know that they can provide pretty reliable transport if well prepared and will also reward the owner for the effort in terms of enjoyment...

For that experience I'm happy to put up with their shortcomings in most cases...

Bikes are different things to different people and I'll take on board the fact that not everyone has the same objective...

For me, I still choose to use the bikes for transport whenever practical as that is what they were primarily designed for and is a function I have proved they can still perform over a period of the last 45 years or so...

Some might think I'm mad..others might think I'm dedicated...I just like riding bikes mainly...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

''Jon, I am not surprised you got odd looks! Am very happy to be a fair weather pilot............rain, snow and yuck is what heated wheeled tin boxes are for! IMHO, folk who say they enjoy riding in the grot are either Ian Wright, liars, masochists, lunatics or Welsh. OK, if two wheels you must have, it's heated grips, full fairing, electric leg and modern electric, although you still have to be a bit mad or live near Wales to even go that far. ''

I don't like using wheeled tin boxes, though I do have a tin box licence, modern machines aint my thing, I tend to think of the 1960s as an era of modern machinery and rarely venture past 1968, as the song says whether the weather may be wet or fine we'll just rub along without a care- the joy is in the riding, even when heading down an unlit road blinded by the oncoming led headlights, having to guess where the middle of the road and the edge is, while the rain stings the face and your boots are filled with water, it also helps focus the mind wonderfully on the present, a sort of zen meditation of the ever present now.

there may be a reason my name often ends up with people putting mad in front of it, as I like old machines and using old machines everyday