Ron

My mistake, you are correct. DF not UF.

Exhaust pipe, bare DF-W41-G3L-E404
Silencer, bare DF-W41-G3L-E461

My bike is from contract 9841, so not fitted with Amal controls according to my documentation, which I may be reading wrong.

It says "Amal cables were only specified for G3L contracts C11102 and C12632/3". So I am making the assumption that if Amal cables were not fitted, then Amal control were also not fitted. Ergo, my bike would have been fitted with Bowden controls.



Cheers

Al

Al, fancy seeing you here!

Re. the petrol caps, originally they had a thick durable cardboard or maybe even gasket material paper gasket, cut in the pie crust shape, rubber or cork doesn't really work well, but the paper stuff is not ideal either! I just never fill it to the brim.

As said before, I have parts for the Bowden setup of levers, but nothing complete, it can be found though, but nothing like an online "one stop shopping experience", best to keep asking, and buy the bits one at the time.

Cheers,

Lex

The pie crust tank cap has a breather "system", ie a pinhole and as others have said, the rudimentary cork seal that does not work and beware filling the tank more than half full especially if you are going off-road, unless you are wanting to strip the paint off the tank. My word, its such a laugh when you have finished spraying a tank, adding the C numbers and Signals flash, only to have it ruined by petrol splashes. Mine also sports a "drip" collar round the cap. I have painted my exhaust system with high temperature "aluminium" manifold paint. If you want black, I have heard that the paint you use to paint those fake bits of coal in a gas grate works well. If you don't paint it will go rusty and horrible very quickly. Control levers - good luck. Mine had modern chromed Docherty style levers and I eventually found a set of wartime M20 ones - I am not proud! On the basis that they work fine and quite likely that wartime bikes were re-fitted with whatever came to hand, its authentic enough,IMHO. PS: I did not nick the levers off Ron's bike and anyhow, M20s look good with shiny new levers......

As Lex said, unless you are lucky enough to find a complete set, it's best to fit a set of cheap post war pressed steel levers and hunt the Bowdens out piece by piece, to fit at a later date. (I think I have a spare lever blade, and Lex has parts) Even the twistgrip and valve lifter are unique Bowden and most of the control cables require different to Amal nipples. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thanks guys, slowly getting my head around the little quirks that are G3L parts.

Hey Lex. I thought it best to ask here, rather than a million questions to you every week. :grin:

I have decided to get some Doherty controls and give them a make over to look more ....old. :laughing: They should hold me over as I search for the unfindable.

Exhaust is going to be an experiment. If original was Dull Finish plating, then I will go with a sand blast finish to reduce surface smoothness to give a dull finish and then Nickel Plate to stop rust. Hopefully it works, if not, then I can always paint.

I seem to be buying a lot of ....toys. Bought a parts washer and Shop press yesterday, today it was a soda blaster for some little parts that need tweaking. Everything else gets electrolysis or vapour blasted.

Tried the shop press out, and easily pushed out a few bushes from the gearbox. Much easier process than I could have imagined.

Cheers

Al

Ron - Just looking at the levers (brake & clutch) in your photos. Are the lever blades correct as they look to be non solid pressed steel - the Bowden levers I have are the same as yours i.e. brass air and mag but with solid brass brake and clutch levers. When I acquired them they appeared to be WD as they were covered in post war bronze green paint.

email (option): keithchandler@clistandchandler.co.uk

For those of us who decide on repro levers, until I can find originals, the handlebar is 7/8" and not 1", but I see comments relating to pivot distance and have seen measurements of between 7/8' and 1'1/16" for this distance.

I assume too short and there is not enough pull for the clutch activation and obviously a big issue for braking.


Is there a specific pivot distance required for the G3L?

Cheers

Al

Keith if you look at the parts list illustration that Alun posted. Those are the exact levers I have. They were the Bowden lightweight type as fitted to G3L's until the change to standard Amal levers. That change took place at Frame 39512.

The type you refer to are the earlier (pre war) type as fitted here on my G3. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I just measured the pivot distance on both sets of my Bowden levers and they're all 1 1/16" centers. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thanks Ron - a font of knowledge indeed - I acquired a couple of sets of the all brass Bowden levers and used a set on the second Big 4 as I only had one set of original levers for the Big 4 and those seem to be pretty scarce.

I have not forgotten the photo you asked me for - have not been in the garage for a while I'm afraid but I will get it done for you.

email (option): keithchandler@clistandchandler.co.uk

Thanks Keith, no panic.

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Ron

Thanks for that.

Al

Good evening all,

I seem to have lost the little round brass fixing from my G3L break lever (the thing that secures the actual break cable nipple to the break lever - the pressed light weight type - identical to Ron’s in the photo in this thread)

I must of lost it when I removed the break cable last year ??😐

Can any kindly advise me where I may be able to purchase another?

I’m not sure what they are called and have searched all known part lists online.

Many thanks.

Kind regards

Mark

email (option): Towersmark84@yahoo.co.uk