FH - revising the plan

 Today I learned that my chosen front tyre was out of stock and wouldn't be delivered for six weeks - I needed a new plan.

Instead of building the wheels and leaving the bike rolling but tyreless, I'll rebuild both brakes and test them before I touch the rims. That way, I'll be able to get the brakes sorted and still be able to test them. albeit on old tyres. I'll only ride it across the yard, and I'll be able to sort out several other little jobs in the meantime.

To start with, I've been looking at the rear of the mudguard. The seat hides two of the bolts:

Or at least, it does if the seat is mounted in the wrong place. The mounts on the frame are slotted, and if you push the seat forward it not only closes up the ugly gap behind the tank, but you can get those bolts out too!

FH - getting on

 It's really time to get on with some woodwork projects, but I have a few minutes passing by the workshop where I can get some jobs done. The first one is a strange problem with the brake light on the Square Four, which has stopped working. This appears to be down to me replacing the battery in its box and knocking off the live feed to the brake light switch from a fuse box. Easily fixed fortunately.

That strange contraption in the picture is part of the air filter for the Huntmaster. The filter box, or at least the top half, is behind it. I've poured straight 50 engine oil into the top and its soaking through the gauze ready for me to put the element back in the filter box and the filter back on the bike.

We'll leave that to drain for a bit and fit it tomorrow.

On my short ride round the yard I found that I could not get the bike into gear - not because of the gearbox at all but because the footrest was too far forward and the gear lever was too low - I just couldn't get my foot underneath the gear lever to put it in first.

You have to remove the exhaust pipe to get to the nuts that hold the footrests on, but that's easily done and the situation is soon remedied.

I've also oiled the side stand pivot, and I've ordered the rims, spokes, tyres, tubes and rim tapes.

Gulp.

FH - first ride

 Well, a little trip to the workshop today to prepare for a woodwork project resulted in the usual diversion to a motorcycle activity, in this case a bit of time on the Huntmaster. I needed to move everything out to get the table saw ready and that gave me an opportunity to roll the Huntmaster off the bench and out into the yard.

Confirming the starting technique, that of tickling it until fuel flowed onto the drip guard, showed that it starts easily with the choke on - actually first kick. Riding it across the yard shows it engages gear quietly and drives without any horrible sounds. It pulls really well, but the timing side footrest is  too far forward and the gear lever is too low.

The brakes are useless. There's far too much lever movement and no bite. They might be covered in grease, they might be glazed, who knows. I will order the rims, spokes and tyres and pull each wheel apart for refurbishment.

Pumping the tyres up shows there's not much height in the centre stand - I've got around 3/8" under the rear tyre.

The side stand is stiff.

It looks great.

FH - toolbox, charging and other progress

 The toolbox is back on:

In other news, the primary case now has oil and the FERC is no longer dripping oil all over the bench. The oil tank now has a felt wick for the chain case feed:

It's made from a strip of felt, 10 mm x 10 mm x 25 mm:

I made this short video to record the fact that the battery is now charging after we re-polarized the dynamo and updated the RB108:

Doesn't the engine sound great! I got it started a couple of times using Easy-Start, but it only ran for a second or two. Playing around with the fuel supply, I eventually tickled it for a long time - until I had a flood under the carburettor. It started and ran perfectly, but needs choke - perhaps I am starting to learn the technique?

To report on a couple more things: the clutch cover screws are a bit short of thread - there is a 1/16" unthreaded section under the head - cutting the thread on that bit will allow them to go fully home. I've put shake proof washers on them for the moment.

I've failed to improve the front brake - any more turns on the adjuster just lock it solid. It will have to come apart.

The oil banjos on the rocker box are in good shape - they have a lot of contact area though, so they have to be very tight to seal. I've smeared a bit of Wellseal on them which seems to have done the trick.

Number plate next, then the instrument panel and lastly the fuel tank.

FH - a few more bits

 It's New Year, and I have a couple of railway turns, a party, visitors, and not much time in the workshop. I've done my last firing turn this season, on the 1943 ex-WD Austerity 2-10-0 no. 90775. A cracking thing to thrash across the countryside in the dark:

All in all, not much workshop time. I sneaked this in:

That's it, a bit of sleeving to tidy up the HT cables.

I've also replaced the secondary chain. There's 100 pitches here, as per the parts book, but I'm a bit mystified as to why the wheel is quite so far back in the slots.

I wonder if I have too many links in the primary chain...