Starting the Dry Build

With the small bearing crank opened up, cleaned, measured and stored for a rainy day we can get on with the dry build, the part of the process where we put everything together and find out what is missing, broken, too tight, too worn or we didn't understand how it went together in the first place. We do all this before paint, to avoid scratches or painting parts which need welding or some other invasive repair

With the bench clear, we can get the frame out of storage. I've steadied it with two pieces of arris rail; it may need strapping to the bench later.

The bottom rails, footrest bar and gearbox pivot:

Front and rear engine plates roughly in place:

The engine front plates and their cover. I looked at these in a post on repairing damaged threads some while ago and I know they are in good shape. You have to spring the bottom frame rails to get them in, and I may need a better expander than the screwdriver & chunk of ply I used today if I am to avoid damaging the paint later.

Most of the engine studs are too long or are mixed up...

Rear engine plates:

I appear to be missing one of the studs with the flat. I'll make a temporary one until I buy the stainless fasteners from Acme.

The footrest bar spacer is wrong - too short...

The 1/2" x 20 TPI BSC thread for the gearbox pivot bolts is full of muck. Easy to clear out with a plug tap, and that is what the dry build is all about:

So that's it for the moment. Time to get started!