Fuel Tank

One thing (there may be others!) that has puzzled me is the absence of a crossover tube on Amelia's fuel tank. It seems to be a fairly well established fact that Solex-equipped Square Fours have one fuel tap, with built in reserve, on the left - because a tap on the right is in the way of the Bi-Starter knob and could drip fuel (they don't leak, do they?) on the distributor.

These first three pictures are all 1951 SQ4's, like Amelia:

Left hand tap (also note the brake lever stop! never seen one of those before) 

No right hand tap, no crossover loop. this bike has a drain point at the RH front of the tank, like mine

Obvious crossover loop

Amelia has two petrol taps, one drain point at the front, just like this 1952 KH

Left hand petrol tap, no crossover loop

Right hand petrol tap, no crossover loop

So... What do y'all think of that?

Battery Carrier

This is about the carrier I am using to mount my gel batteries. Here are the batteries:

Now these will happily fit in the box, indeed they were chosen to do so. But because they are so short they will be a pig to get out, and I want to hide a fuse box and maybe some other wizardry in there. So, I have come up with this:

It's a simple carrier made from 18 swg cold rolled sheet; the batteries enter from one side and it is lifted out of the battery box by the two handles on top. The top deck is to carry the fuse box. I plan for the cables to exit through a slot in the upper inboard edge of the battery box:

So, now I have identified where the cables are going, I can cut a slot in the box. A coping saw and a half round file does the job nicely:



So next, final wiring and painting. I have used closed cell neoprene foam to cushion the batteries; painted with U-POL etch primer and black gloss, and wired in accordance with the diagram on the wiring page.

All that remains is to put the lid back on and look at sealing the lid.

Coil Mounting

One thing I'm puzzled by, and other restorers of Square Fours if the AOMCC forum is anything to go by, is where the coil is mounted.

There's no definitive answer here at the moment, but this post is here to record what I have observed over the last couple of years research.

The most telling pictures are from bikes that have been dragged from barns, unrestored. Unfortunately none of the pictures clearly show the coil mounting on early bikes, only hinting at where the coil is. This post is also worth a look, as is this one.

Here we go.

Restored 1951 bike with coil on bracket behind battery

Restored 1952 bike with no evidence of bracket behind battery - I've no picture of the under seat area on this bike

Restored 1952 bike with coil on mudguard

Unrestored 1949 machine with coil on mudguard. Unknown bracket behind battery. 

Unrestored 1951 bike with coil on bracket behind battery & hitherto unknown regulator shield & brake pedal stop