Hey Rik, there is your air filter hose !

I like the cil head, undamaged.
And the early spark plug cap.

When was that type of spark plug cap deleted?

Dave

I suddenly notice the light switch near the oil tank cap.
So must be a very late bike (?)

So did I just notice the light switch in that position. Never seen that before, does anyone know the reason the switch was moved there?

BSA's were traditionally fitted with KLG spark plugs and the KLG screw top cap.

The moving of the light switch was a late war economy measure, where the ammeter was deleted and a none pierced (blank) switch panel was fitted to the headlamp with a simple push "test" button to check that the dynamo was charging...... a bit Heath Robinson to my mind, but all quite rare and hard to find if you want to depict a late war bike correctly. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Forum and website photos are always available and usually in much bigger size.

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Ron
Thanks for the information about the switch.
Bob

The census number C12753? Any thoughts??

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

The original photo is pretty big it it could very well be a O instead of a C. That O is obscured by shadow and it also for a part painted on the bracket of the Vokes filter.

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Thanks Ron and Rik for the information on the KLG waterproof plug caps. I haven't got one, and dare say will never have one, but can you use them with modern plugs?

Dave

Modern plugs are metric and the KLG cap isn't I am afraid. I did manage to re-cut the thread in one of my caps but that was kind of scary to do but it worked out ok.

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Thanks Henk,

Can you recommend a cap to use on my Sept 40, or is it just using a brass ring connector:grimacing:

Dave

I guess that the small black rubber cap would do best.

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Rik,

The picture of the KLG cap you have, is it a smaller version of the 18mm type of KLG cap. I have an original 18mm KLG cap on my Norton, but to put it over a smaller M20 plug i would have thought it would look way too big for the M20 plug.

Tim W

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

Tim, I'm a Norton man too, with a weakness for KLG and I seem to have developed the idea of obtaining an example of the various sparking plugs that were specified for the 16H through the 1930s and '40s. The pre-war plugs are very hard to find though.

The boxed NOS cap is, I suppose what the Dutch call a 'hebbedingetje' I have no intention of using it, but it's a nice thing to have.

These 'waterproof' caps seem to have worked on the umbrella principle and were much larger than the plug. Only the marine plugs which had a larger ribbed porcelein insulator seem to have sat well inside the cap.

I have a couple of 1930s fitment lists but none give as much detail as the 1933 booklet that I posted above. My box is marked 3BA and my understanding of the listings is that it was only the thread size that altered. Presumably lorries and tractors used the 2BA and 0BA sizes, although the fitment lists don't seem to include any of the plugs listed for those sizes of caps ! Maybe they were used on aero-engines ?

My 3BA cap fits comfortably over the fins on a KS5 but is much larger than the insulation...as it is on the non-finned K1 or the later detachable M80s.

I don't have any 14mm L777s or similar to compare, but all the motorcycle and car plugs seem to have been 3BA.

If there is a mica KLG expert out there anywhere in the world, I'd love to talk to him.

Yes, 'hebbedingetjes' good word I have loads of them.

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Henk, can you please send me the whole picture for my Vokes files? seem to have missed it alltogether!

Haha, Hebbedingetje, have loads of those too!!

Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbike@welbi(XX).net (think about this!!)

Thanks for the explanation Rik, I had put my original KLG cap over a L777 and it dwarfs it and looks a little odd. That is why i asked if there was a smaller version, but as you say it works on the umbrella principle. Would be a shame to cover the copper fins of a 18mm mica KS5 as they look so nice. I have a few mica finned plugs but with the price of them now i don't think i would use a new one.

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

The umbrella principle…..
I always wondered what was waterproof about them.
You're never to old to learn, are you.

Don't take me too seriously, Mike. I've worked for too many companies that worked on the mushroom principle - "Keep 'em in the dark and feed 'em bullshit"

At least with the KLG cap they can't short onto the fuel tank.

As an additional bit of info on part of this thread. I see Stuart Bray has a couple of the un-pierced switch panels...one with the test button.



Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

These are quiet rare. I have never seen one "alive."

I've had a few over the years but never thought I'd need them, so I just sold them on.....Could possibly be mine at Stuarts??? Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com