Model A - front forks dry build

 You might remember from the recent girder fork investigation post that we had a lot of movement in the forks - in fact a 3/8 inch variation in wheelbase. It was obvious that a lot of this was down to wear in the links and wear in the spindles.

I contemplated reworking the original links for a while but while chatting to the AOMCC Black Ariel spares specialist I discovered that reproduction links were available from the club at a good price, so bought a set. They're not perfect - for example the middle links are smaller in diameter than the originals so I will keep the originals and repair them at some point.

For some reason the top links on the 1929 and 1930 bikes are not fully threaded:

The club spares officer also recommended I bought a new spring. It's certainly true that old fork springs I've used in the past have been very soft and looking at the old spring previously it was clearly a bit stretched. Again new ones are available at a reasonable price:

Putting these bits together with the old spindles revealed a significant reduction in play.

A few days later, the new spindles arrived from Acme Stainless - and very nice they are too. On bikes of this era, you don't need the knurled washers - these arrived in 1934. I bought a pair of headstock nuts as well since I was one missing and pulled up the steering head bearings a bit more. 

Putting all these in place removed all of the play in the forks. I now cannot detect any variation in wheelbase.

Stuck in the steering column there is the beginning of the blanking plug that is used on the Model A which was not supplied with a steering damper.

That plug will be chrome plated eventually. I'll finish it machining it long before that happens!