On to more serious work...

So, a while ago I promised to share the contents of some cool eBay finds...

These were a set of mudguards and chainguards I found in Doncaster, which were won at a very reasonable price and duly arrived. They were wellmarked and  photographed by the seller, and I knew I was in for some serious welding.

Here is the worst of the rear guard:

Here's one of the upper L-stay lugs, broken off and thoughtfully retained by the vendor:

So essentially we have a maze of cracks in each of the lugs for the L-stay at the top of the mudguard, along with two large holes left by a pillion seat fitted in the dim & distant past.

The metal is also very thin in these areas, badly pitted by moisture retained by a seat bracket that was still fitted when I got the parts.

There are also cracks at each of the lifting handle lugs. and a worn hole where (I guess) the chain guard rubs against the mud guard.

Unknown at the time of taking these pictures was the long crack above the chainguard recess.

A while ago I realised that the number plate that I had was a later BSA pattern, repaired it with the trusty MIG welder and sold it on eBay, to further fund the Ariel rebuild.

Of course, the holes for this are not the same as the ones I need and will have to be filled, along with the pillion seat holes and any others that I find I don't need - but then, this is the main purpose of the non-cosmetic Phase 1 build.

I've mentioned the fantastic AOMCC forum once or twice. Yet again Brenton Roy comes to the rescue with some photos of his Dad's '51 SQ4:

Here are the pillion mounts on Roy's bike's rear mudguard, looking down to the front mudguard mounts:

Front mudguard mounts in more detail. My mudguard has the front stay inside the mudguard bade.

Here is the routing for the rear light cable - presumably that is the end of the ignition coil. I'm not sure where mine fits yet.

And here is the whole rear end. I'm not fitting a pillion seat, though I am going to repair the holes left by the previous one, and reinforce the mudguard at those points in case I change my mind. That way I will have powder-coated a mudguard that is strong enough to be re-drilled for a seat.

This is what it is supposed to look like. You can see the L shaped stay and the lifting handle: