Model A - primary chain case tinware

 Moving on from the clutch bowl, our 10 bashing activities come to the primary chain case. This is all present and mostly correct but some of the brackets and appendages have been broken and repaired by riveting. 

One thing we mustn't forget when we view this overall shot is that the position of the gearbox rather dictates the position of the primary case in that the primary case aperture for the clutch must accommodate the full range of movement of the gearbox. 

We must also think about the bolt hole for the rear upper chain guard. 

Again this position is dictated by something else - in this case the rear bolt for the chain guard which is fixed to the luggage carrier.

However we can take comfort from the fact that the holes for the foot rest bar, the brake lever and the shock absorber grease nipple at the front are fixed positions, so we can probably weld up the lower rear bracket without too much worry.

 The secondary cover, which protects the dynamo chain is present and in more or less sound condition - it's only missing one of the feet.

The stripped 1/4" CEI stud in this position came out very easily. The bracket is a little bent.

Here's that missing foot:

There's plenty to sort out here!

Model A - Lucas H52 headlamp

The Model A is fitted with a Lucas H52 headlamp which was sold to the industry between 1930 and 1932. It's distinctly different from the lamps that succeeded it as you will see. 

Outwardly the lamp fitted to my Model A looks a bit bashed, and indeed it is. The rim has obviously taken the brunt of a collision, but the nearside mounting is pushed right in as well.

The shell is brass, deeply drawn or spun - it's likely to be hard, so we may have to normalise it to avoid cracking.

To straighten out the front end requires adjusting the headlamp mounting bars and I can't do this with the headlamp bowl bent out of shape. In parallel with the clutch dome I have got out the panel beating hammers and dollies and set about straightening the bowl.

It's a little better in this shot but the near side mounting is still not positioned correctly. You can see the connections panel on the back of the switch here - the H52 has no internal wiring for the headlamp and side lamp but uses this Tufnol panel with sprung copper leaves for connection to the bulbs and ammeter.

Here is the inside of the main switch - it's retained to the Tufnol panel by two brass posts and sleeve nuts. You can see the half charge resistance and the switch in the middle. It's interesting that this switch is clearly a predecessor to the later commonly seen Lucas U39 switch, and you can see how it connects to the Tufnol connector panel from four of the terminal screws and from that central brass plate.

Here is the wiring diagram for the H52 - indeed for the whole bike. I suspect that since the headlamp is the centre of all things electrical, Lucas would have supplied the headlamp with the wiring for the whole bike already installed:

Here's the shell again with the nearside mounting almost correct. I think that to get it much better I will have to remove the rivets, straighten it and replace it with new rivets - these are round head copper rivets quite easily available.

There's also a flat on the shell around 2 o'clock.

The view from above shows that it is a bit better than before. We will need to buy a new rim and a new glass, but we will keep the old reflector. We will probably use one of the LED headlamp bulbs with an integral lens which doesn't use the reflector at all - I've got one of these on the W/NG and they're quite effective.

These bits are available from Jiri Horace at https://www.vintage-replica.com in the Czech Republic, so when we have a better handle what everything we could buy from him we will send an order.

Model A - clutch dome

 The clutch dome from the Model A has been full of dents since I've had it, and is also split - it looks like someone put a screwdriver through it at some stage. Since I have the sheet metal working tools out today sorting out some of the dents in the Lucas H52 headlamp, we'll have a go at the clutch dome.

I took out the largest dent on the sandbag before I took this picture but essentially this is the before shot.

Half an hour with stakes, dollies and hammers had it at this stage, though I don't think it's very different, at least visually. We'll do some more.

Getting there?

Model A - headlamp supports

 Well I guess you have to start somewhere. Looking around the bike I realised that the headlamp supports - which are just bits of flat bar - weren't fitted correctly, and one of them was very bent. 

Take a look:

The other side was upside down as well, but not as bent as this. This is how it is supposed to fit:

Here it is again, after I have done most of the straightening work on the headlamp bowl. The riveted mounts on either side are now in the correct place and I have straightened the nearside lower headlamp mounting bar.

It's still not sitting centrally though - the headlamp mounting bars don't match: the near side is more straight than the offside pushing the shell towards the offside. I will have to look at some pictures and try again. The top bars aren't helping either:

The top headlamp mounts seem to be usually fitted outside of the ears on the forks, and outside of the lower mounts at the headlamp. 

Model A - valve caps

 A post on the club Facebook page and a chance conversation with the Black Ariel spares officer has me looking at the valve caps on the Model A.

A fellow member was struggling to remove the exhaust valve cap on the club 1928 machine and ended up taking it off in pieces. I thought I would have a go with the club spanner I bought a few years ago:

The inlet cap came off quite easily - the exhaust cap is still refusing to move!

Model A - on the bench!

 With the Square Four at Tom's house, the initial service on the FH complete and some of the running repairs to the W/NG finished we can swap the bikes around in the workshop and put the Model A on the bench. I've had this bike for 5 years or so and have been steadily making fasteners and collecting bits ever since so it appears very complete although I haven't done any repairs to the broken parts yet.

Let's have a look at a few current pictures.

Five years ago I wrote an article called 'Broken and Missing' which outlined what I found when I took delivery of the bike initially. What follows is most of the text from that article updated to reflect the state of play today. Some of the pictures in the text date from the original article.

Frame

To date, I haven't found any problems with the frame mainly because I haven't dismantled the bike yet. The paint is good, all the threads I have seen have been good or have been repaired in the last few years, but looking at the saddle I suspect the saddle nose mount will be quite worn.

The engine plates are all there, along with a pair of footrests from AOMCC Black Ariel Spares. The footrest bar is bent but is just a bit of 7/16" round bar. I have the two engine plate covers around the dynamo, both of which need weld repairs.

The rear stand came from Ariel Klub Slovakia and I have one of the last of the reproduction Es-way side stands.

Forks

The forks are complete and straight, but feel like they are quite worn - and these forks do not have bushes. The components, with the exception of the grease nipples are all there.

It may be that this bike has been assembled with no balls in the steering head - it certainly wiggles around as though the races are empty. It might be wise to sort this area out first to stabilise the machine.

One of the stay bolt holes in the fork end had a broken bolt in it - I drilled that out and reclaimed the thread a few years back.

Tank

The petrol tank, cap and oil pressure gauge are all there and in nice condition. The cap needs a small repair internally; the tank has a few dents but little obvious rust and the chrome plating is intact. There are three of the original mounting bolts; I will make a fourth. Some of the original mounting rubbers are there, but I have a complete set from Jeff Hunter Engineering.

The knee rubbers and their plates are all there, though the rubbers are thoroughly squashed and unusable. Again I have a replacement set.

The oil pressure gauge pipe and fuel tap are missing. I have acquired a suitable period tap with the correct adjustable corks from eBay:

It's a 1/4" BSP tap and has an adapter. I'll have to make a filter for it.

Front Wheel & Brake

The front wheel needs truing and a spoke replacing. I'm hoping to get away without replacing the original rim, but that will require much closer inspection. The few spokes I have looked at appear sound and the nipples turn - I have dosed them all with Plus-Gas. The wheel turns freely and smoothly.

The brake plate is there - the arm is there and it feels like the shoes are too. I have the brake rod and the torque arm; I've also sourced an adjuster and made the spring box.

You can see that broken stay bolt I mentioned earlier in this picture.

Rear Wheel & Brake

The rear wheel runs true and turns freely, but it is missing at least two spokes. The sprocket, which is integral to the brake drum is worn and will need replacement; the brake plate, arm and shoes are there but the wheel spindle nuts are quite poor, one is missing a spacer and the other is seized on. The chain adjusters were both missing but I have made a new set.

Since I took this shot, I have fitted the rod, made a new rear brake adjuster and realised the cam spindle is very worn. I made a new pin for the rear clevis but the front trunnion is very poor.

Engine

The engine turns over - that is about all I know! It's lost a few fins, and one of the valve caps is broken but I guess that is patina. The timing chain case looks fine. There appears to be a braze repair to the base of the barrel but only an engine strip will reveal more:

There's a lot of broken fins up there. See the big lump of braze?

Primary Transmission & Clutch; Final Drive

The chain & sprockets are there; the clutch looks complete apart from two missing springs and appears to lift when you operate the arm at the gearbox end.

I've seen much worse clutch drums than this:

There are several repairs on the primary chainguard like this, using rivets. The clutch dome is also split. I will probably weld up these riveted repairs as they are not adequately fixing the chainguard in place:

The rear chain guard is there and in good shape.

Gearbox

The gearbox appears to be complete apart from the kickstart spring and it's cover, and the kickstart lever cotter. The gearbox engages all three gears, but the hand change rod, one of it's clevises and some of the tank lever parts are missing. These are all parts that can be made on the lathe which is a good thing, as they are unlikely to be available anywhere.

I'm not sure about this kickstart shaft - it looks much longer than any I've seen...

Carburetter

The carburetter is the correct Amal model 6, with the right float bowl but that's where the good news ends. It's probably in very poor condition as I can feel the air and throttle slides rattling about.

We will have to make some difficult decisions about this. It's an old original carburettor and while you can buy a new 276, you can't buy a 76. Buying a new 276 would be the sensible option of course...

There are no cables but I do have the remains of the fuel pipe.

Exhaust

The exhaust is there, the plating is poor but no worse than many. The fish tail appeared one day delivered to the railway I volunteer on by a very kind club member. The AA badge is missing from the silencer and the silencer bracket is bent; one or two of the clamps are missing:

Another small issue with the exhaust is that the silencer has been pushed into the bracket - which looks a mess.

Oil Tank & Lines

The oil tank is present, as are all the oil lines and unions. The tank cap is missing, but I am using one that came from Italy on the W/NG for the moment.

Mudguards, Stays, Carrier and Number Plates

The front mudguard and it's bridge were missing. I made the bridge using the W/NG one as a model and the guard has been replaced with a pattern D guard from Feked trimmed to the right length and drilled for stays. The original number plate and it's mounts is there, the front stay is also there as is the front stand - the front stand is pretty rusty and will need surgery.

At the rear, both parts of the guard are there but there will be some welding to repair fatigue cracks. The carrier is there and in good shape, but all the fasteners are missing; the double mudguard stay for the detachable section was missing, but was delivered from Scotland after turning up in the previous owner's stash.

Something that looks a little odd, and it seems to be quite common on these late 20's Ariels is that the detachable part of the mudguard doesn't line up properly with the fixed part - leading to the bike looking as though it's mudguard is too big. This may be something to do with where the stays fit, or whether the stay is inside or outside of the mudguard blade.

Headlamp & Tail lamp

The Lucas H52 headlamp and MT110 tail lamp are both in place; the headlamp is quite battered. The plan is to dismantle both lamps and clean them; I have a sandbag and will knock the headlamp shell back into shape, hopefully the rim as well. The lamp mountings are bent - it looks like the front end took a knock perhaps.

The rim is in particularly poor shape:

The H52 is very interesting - it has no internal wiring, just contacts:

I'm delighted these are all intact.

This is a later number plate. It's clearly an original, but it doesn't have the registration number painted on it - so where did it come from? Perhaps from the previous owner's stash of parts?

Handlebar and Controls

The handlebar, twist grip and both inverted levers are there. There is just enough plating on the bar to show it was once chromed. There are no handlebar rubbers, clips or cables.

I found the Bowden-type clutch lever and the double air/ignition levers from eBay at vast expense.

Dynamo

The dynamo is the correct Lucas E3, and looks to be all complete though I believe part of it's clamp is missing. The drive end bracket has a large crack right across it.

I've realised I don't understand how the dynamo clamping arrangement works - there appears to be some sort of bridge across the engine plates, but haven't seen a picture yet. Something to research.

I'm hoping to get the end plate clean enough to use an adhesive repair.

The chain cover is also there, and will need a weld repair to one of it's feet.

Battery & Electrics

The battery tray and it's clamp are there, though the clamp will need further repair and some nuts turning up on the lathe. There is the remains of the wiring harness attached to the headlamp which looks like it was rubber sheathed; the dip switch, horn button and horn are missing.

The sales catalogue from 1930 indicates that the electric horn option was a Lucas Spartan type so I have sourced a 6 V version and built a handlebar bracket for it. It might be a bit big...

Magneto

The original Lucas KSA1 magneto has been replaced some time in the past with a BTH KC1, so this is probably a period repair or upgrade - the factory despatch record does not mention a non-standard magneto being ordered.

Saddle

The saddle is in place, with all it's springs and spacers - the nose bearing is pretty worn and the cover is missing. I'll make a new cover.

Toolboxes

The toolboxes are both entirely missing. I will make new boxes, learn to work leather and make the leather fronts, and find as many tools as I can. I've started already as you can see from this post...

Next steps 

The policy this time is a refinement of the two stage approach I usually take, that of restoring with no painting or plating followed by commissioning and then repainting and plating. This time it's going to the four Rs:

• Replace missing parts 
• Repair broken parts 
• Rework worn parts 
• Refinish everything

I can't wait to get stuck in!