Friend of mine has stock of post war BSA parts and parts bikes. Amongst them is an engine ZB34 whose serial number indicates "alloy" cylinder and head.

Would that confirm the use of Aluminium for the cylinder and head?

Thanks for your comments.

email (option): unpob@yahoo.com

ZB34 should have alloy head & is listed as "competition"
ZB34A is listed as "competition alloy engine" which i think refers to the barrel.
ZB34GS is the Goldstar & the last years of those "ZB" Goldie's had the big fin head i think.

Tks. Fred

email (option): unpob@yahoo.com

Henri,

Yes, ZB34A indicates alloy head and cylinder.

All ZB34's were for competition. Some were iron, some alloy. All Gold Stars were specially prepared and have GS in the engine number, ie, ZB34 GS 101.

Jeff

email (option): jjbandoo@aol.com

Will post a photo when we remember where we stored it!

email (option): unpob@yahoo.com

Hello Henri,
I have a 1950 ZB34GS. Does your friend still have the ZB34 engine and is he interested in selling?

email (option): craggyrmcc@sbcglobal.net

hi,im sure i have read somewhere that all bsa engine numbers begin 101,if this is the case jeff you have a first.im sure someone will know and correct me if im wrong
cheers rick

email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com

as that's the first year of production it does indeed appear to be the very first post war 500 Gold Star engine :-)

hi fred ,cheers for that,good news for henri.now by coincidence i found this frame but it is an XB number 102 would that be compatible with the aforesaid
engine?
and if anyone wants to look or buy it, ebay 230845285336
cheers rick

email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com

That frame belongs to a friend of mine who lives pretty close by..I can pick it up and keep it for delivery to a jumble (Shepton/Stafford) if anyone is interested...Ian

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

You could use it but the frame for that engine that year would have been stamped ZB31 (rigid) or ZB32S (plunger).
I'm not educated enough on post war Goldie's to know if they left factory with matching numbers either, I do know the pre war M24 engines were bench tested & the ones not up to scratch went back for work meaning to get bikes out the door the engines & frames got mixed up & out of pairing.

Here's a pic of Bill Nicholson at the 1947 Isle of Man races on one of the 'works' developement machines (based around one of the 12 all alloy B29/B30 engines made in the early part of the war.) This ultimately became the production 1949 postwar 350 Goldie...Ian

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

Great picture Ian. incidentally my M24 primary is looking almost identical to that. ....squirt of oil now & then. I'm getting alot of positive comments on the 45" straight through down pipe as well

Early swinging arm conversion?

hi fred,im shit with computers ,i know there is a way of blowing up these pictures but i dont know how ,is there an s between ZB34(S)GS101or am i seeing
things?
cheers rick

email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com

There's no more detail on offer there with it zoomed, it does look like something ghosting to me also but the only digit in that position would be an A, again I'm not that up on letter spacings etc for those engines.

rick a simple way to zoom in is press and hold CTRL button bottom lefthand key on key board then use the scrolling wheel on your mouse you will need to scroll back to get the right size if you stop pressing the CTRL button it will stay enlarged you will also find it may alter other screens when you go back but it is easy to scroll it back to the right size you want

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

Hi Craig, will check with Steve and find out what goes.

Henri

email (option): unpob@yahoo.com