W/NG - Lucas DU42

 Originality creeps closer with every passing blog post at the moment, this time with a genuine Lucas DU42 headlamp. The bike has worn a Indian replica since I've had it, and since one came up within the club a while back I've had a plan to replace it, with a bit of help from Wali Taylor who came up with the proper flat glass.

This picture comes from the W/NG workshop manual and shows the BA15 bulb holder, with adjustable focus (C), held in place with the long spring clip and the early rim clip (A) my bike would have worn:

The long spring clips (B) are retained to the reflector with two little sheet metal clips, riveted to the reflector. One of mine was rusted away, so here is the replacement made from a scrap of 0.5 mm sheet steel:

Here's the beginning of a rivet made from 2.5 mm² annealed copper wire:

The next thing we need is the gasket and the glass, shown in this later diagram from a 1944 parts book where the ammeter has been deleted and the headlamp switch moved to under the seat, with the new hi/lo pushbutton in the headlamp panel:

I've decided to use round section foam strip for the gasket; the glass is original, from Wali Taylor of the AOMCC.

The clip came from eBay, but didn't fit until I gave it some attention. The rim was full of dents too, but with a panel beating hammer and a dolly I soon had that smoothed out.

The clip is retained with a bit of piano wire - this is about 2 mm in diameter:

Onto the bulb holder. This is a military pattern bulb holder - there is only one contact for the main bulb, and I guess I will make another. Also very visible here is the clamping screw that allows the bulb holder to move backwards and forwards to position the filament at the primary focal point of the reflector.

Here's the view from the other side. Needs a clean but it is in good shape - it's not distorted at all.

Next is the instrument & switch panel. This is the illustration in the manual:

This is the one that came with the shell: it's a bit early for the W/NG as it has the fitting for the half charge resistor - that little casting between the ammeter and the switch hole:

This switch panel would be 1932-36, as the earlier H52 headlamp is quite different and the half-charge resistor disappeared with the introduction of the MCR1 mechanical charge regulator in 1937. I might use this or perhaps the repro one that is fitted to the bike at the moment.

This is the only original Lucas shell I have with the holes for the rubber string seal. Here it is in place - it’s a 2 mm sponge EPDM round section:

There will be a bit of wiring to do as the repro ammeter currently on the bike has terminal posts and ring terminals, and the headlamp is wired up with Japanese bullets:

I've chosen a CDRC Double Dipper Pro projector headlamp bulb:

This is the beam it produces, in a picture taken on my phone using the 'night' setting.

With the camera set for daytime you can see the bulb is using the high beam LED and the low beam LED:

The completed headlamp:

Installed:

W/NG - Luggage Rack 3

A bursting need to achieve something other than walking the dogs in these days of dire weather saw me retreat to a cold garage and put the newly painted luggage carrier and pannier frames, complete with brackets, on the W/NG:

Nearside rear:

Rear brackets - the stand must be fouling somewhere, it usually comes to rest higher than that:

Front bracket, lightly modified from the Drags one to make it look more like an original:

I think the answer is that the spring lug on the stand is hitting the pannier frame bracket. Here's the offside view:

 A bit of railway tomorrow - then I will take some pictures with the bags in place.

Here's one now:

W/NG - Luggage Rack 2

 Armed with a full bottle of Argon I set about making the pannier frame brackets to hang off the carrier. These are cut from a bit of 25 x 3 mm flat bar, actually an Ikea towel rail that I took off a scrap door.

The rear bracket is a bit tricky to bend. I used heat and a bit of scaffold pole to put the curve in, then made the 90° bend before drilling the hole last. It took a bit of adjusting to make the curved part land on the carrier properly:

As you see here, it's not quite there yet. The front bracket is much easier.

Here are the two tacked in place, with the pannier frame. Of course I used the holes in the pannier frame to locate the brackets - the bit of copper wire was holding the frame with the brackets bolted to it while I tacked the brackets on the carrier.

Fully welding the bars at 90A. I'm amazed at what the little TIG machine will do, even if the battery voltage drops quite low - the inverter low voltage alarm was beeping away when I let the arc get too long, but then it was dark outside when I did this:

More brackets for the offside:

These were a lot more difficult. Eventually I realised that the holes in the second pannier frame were not in the same place as the first one and needed a bit of adjustment.

With a bit more welding it was soon finished:

No apologies here - I wanted to keep the red finish to maintain some part of the Italian influence this bike had - and is steadily losing as I bring it back to standard.

I won't be painting it khaki though!

W/NG - Panniers

 Here are the panniers I'm fitting - replica WD panniers from eBay, probably made in India. They are rather nice:

The frames are powder coated steel and fold up and down, just like the originals, though the pannier bags themselves are identical - originally they were handed to the extent that one was provided with a buckle to receive that central strap on the back, so you could sling them over the luggage carrier like a pair of modern throw-over panniers:

I made this little strap to allow them to be tied together. It's a new bit of 2" webbing stitched to a pair of original buckles:

I've got this set of brackets from Draganfly - very nicely made too, though I had to clear the threads of scale, open the holes to clear 1/4" CEI and replicate the slots shown in the Ariel parts list:

Position 'B; shows the rear mounting, with the end of the mudguard bracket just visible. There's a 5/16" CEI bolt at 'B', which you use when you want to lift the tail of the mudguard or remove the pannier frame:

The other end shows the pannier frame and the front bracket above the axle nut 'E'. It's retained behind the mudguard stay bolt:

More later, when I have finished the luggage carrier!

W/NG - Pillion Seat

 In my quest to bring the W/NG back to the condition in which it left the factory - but only in terms of equipment - I'm adding a pillion seat and panniers. The seat is going to take a bit of fitting:

This is a civilian one.....The ones fitted to military bikes are usually less wide than this:

W/NG - Luggage Rack

 As you will know, the W/NG has worn a small non-standard luggage rack for many years - probably since the 1950's and while I am sorry to depart from the modifications the previous owner made all those years ago, I have recently lost my Chilly coffee flask and today my Rothenburger Surefire blow torch off the back of it, through not having big enough bags.

What I've decided to do is splash out on a set of reproduction military panniers and frames, which are readily available and probably come from India. You can't buy the rack, so I'll make that myself as many others have done before me. These dimensions were recorded by fellow Arielist Vincent van Ginneke of the Dutch branch of the AOMCC and posted on the forum:

Unfortunately this picture hasn't uploaded properly:

Since I don't have a tube bender, and most commercial benders don't have the right size dies anyway, I am going to use round bar for the carrier - like the one in Vincent's pictures. Others you see are made from tube which is lighter and easier to swage for the ends but would need a bender to form the corners without flattening.

The trusty bit of scaffold tube comes to the fore again for the bends at the rear end. I make the bends in both the two main members - I plan to put a weld in the middle, rather than try to form it up from one piece. I've actually bought four 1 metre lengths of round bar.

This next picture shows the two main members clamped in a bit of angle to keep them aligned while I make the 40° bend, so that I can match the two sides:

The ends of the main members fit between the frame and the mudguard stay, here:

Swaging the ends is a bit tricky. They would have been made hot with a power hammer, giving them that neat 'one hit' appearance in Vincent's pictures - I can get them hot enough, but trying to make that shape with a big ball pein hammer just doesn't work. Time to try something else.

What I'm doing is building the sides up with weld, after cutting the flats with a hacksaw. It's a bit time consuming and rather obsessive, but a session with the angle grinder will make them look the part:

Soon I have all the bits I need ready for tacking up. I've welded the two halves of the main carrier together with the welder set to 100 A - higher than required as it turned out but the off grid system managed it easily in daytime:

With the front drilled and fitted, I use a cardboard box and an electronic level to set it in the right place. I'm putting one of the cross bars in here to make sure the spindly legs are lined up properly and the bends are in the right plane:

The two short side legs go in next, with the angle of the flattened tab adjusted to sit flat on the mudguard stay:

Next, I fit the long legs up from the rear wheel spindle, wire them in place and tack:

Here it is, with all the elements tacked together bar the small frame brackets which I will make next. Unfortunately, I've run out of Argon...