Happy Day!

Well... What a day!

As you know, I had run up the oil pressure on the power drill, and everything was connected so there wasn't really any excuse not to try and light her up. Initially I had a few issues getting the fuel into the carburettor, some sort of air lock, but once that was sorted, away she went!

YouTube video: Amelia Awakened 

YouTube video: Amelia's Oil Pressure 

YouTube video: Amelia, Oil Pressure and Ammeter

And doesn't she look great with her exhaust wrappings off!

Thanks to everyone that's provided help, encouragement and bits over the last three years.

Oil Pressure

So as I have mentioned previously, my plan was to spin the engine up on the big power drill. I've now done this using a 1/2" square driver with a hexagonal shank in the drill chuck, with the drill set to 2nd gear - slow speed, high torque. The drill drives the engine through the crankshaft nut under the oil pump.

I connected a short hose to trap any fluids coming out of the oil pressure gauge line and take them back to the oil tank. Because of course the timing cover is off, there is a lot of oil in the drip tray which comes from the rear main bearing. 

The plugs are out to reduce the torque required from the drill.

And here it is:

Evidence of oil emerging from the return line. When the drill is running, you can see this pouring out, and you can see it at all eight rockers as well. Its noticeable that the inlet rockers get a lot more oil than the exhaust rockers - Ariel should have adjusted the size of the oil holes (smaller in the inlet rockers) to increase the feed to the exhaust rockers.

After a few minutes on the power drill, the bike is noticeably easier to kick over. Next I refitted the rocker cover studs and I put the tank and the oil pressure gauge back on and ran the test again looking for measurable oil pressure.

At maybe 250 rpm on the drill I am getting something like 25 psi.

Oil Pressure Gauge

So the electrics are done and the oil system is next. As you can see from this pic, there is a lot of paint in the oil pressure gauge hole:

Easily sorted with a flap wheel in a hand drill (very very low speed)

Lovely

Oil pressure gauge lines:

What's left?

Lots of bits and bobs left to do, but at least the electrics are done. No pictures, but after blowing a couple of fuses due to an ignition circuit fault in the ammeter panel, and some poor connections to old bulbs, I have a fully functioning electrical system. Only a few items left:

• a link between the brake pedal and the brake lamp switch
• the speedometer bulb is not working
• the dynamo is untested
• the regulator is not connected at the battery

It's mainly oil system now. The sump plate went on last night:

Its a new one with a drain plug, from Drags. Oil filter and oil pressure gauge next.

Modifications - Indicators

I've decided to fit Amelia with indicators, in deference to modern traffic conditions. They are typical Lucas look-alikes, and don't look too out of place.

Front indicators retain the headlights



These little tabs are cut from 3 mm thick sheet. They have 3/8" UNF nuts welded to them to suit the indicator stalks:



They weld to the rear mudguard stays:



For wiring up, I am using these 'Japanese Bullets' - small crimp on connectors, fully weather proof.



1.0 mm2 three core is useful for indicators. I like to make an entirely separate loom for the indicators, so that they can be removed easily if another owner wishes to do that:

Put a dedicated earth wire into the shell and attach it to the bulb holder with a ring terminal. By design, the earth path on these repro indicators goes through the plating... Nasty...

So, what you can do is bring an earth wire down the indicator stem to a dedicated earth wire. The earth wire can connect to one of the bulb holder mounting screws. Normally I don't use these modern terminals, but no-one will ever see this:

The handlebar switch is available as a generic indicator switch from many Brit bike outlets. It has three wires: a common yellow wire from the flasher unit, and red and green wires for right & left:



All the wires come into the headlamp where the red & green wires are terminated with a Y connector: one path to the front indicator, the other into the loom heading to the rear. The yellow wire connects to the flasher, which sits in the headlamp shell, protected by a rubber sleeve - MZ style!



The flasher is supplied from a dedicated fuse

Crimps

Time to make up some fuel lines. I've got 14" of 1/4" ethanol resistant fuel lines knocking around, and some suitable crimp ferrules.

To make a good crimp, you need a little tool which you can buy or, with a bit of 1/2" square barstock you can make your own. The tool is just two 2" lengths of 1/2" square bar, clamped together and drilled for a 1/2" hole, such that there is a semicircle in each bar. V shaped grooves have been filed at four positions around the outside of the hole, and two short 1/4" rods set into the two halves of the tool maintain alignment.

Cut the end of the fuel line square with a sharp blade. Slip the ferrule over the end and push the banjo, tee, or hose tail (with the union nut in place) into the hose, as far as it goes. The fuel line, normally 1/2" OD, will swell out to something like 17/32".

Place the two halves of the tool around the ferrule and squeeze in the vice. The ferrule compresses the tube back to about 15/32", thus retaining it on the hose tail. It produces a better crimp if you squeeze it half way, and then rotate the ferrule/hose assembly 90 degrees in the tool, then finish the crimp.

Compressing the ferrule to less than its original diameter generates some 'spare' material, which swages out into the V grooves we cut. Here is the fuel tap end:

Here is the carburettor banjo:

And here is the non-standard 1/4" fuel filter. Judging by the cr@p I get out of my Bantam tank we will need this: