Model A - dynamo drive

 I have been wanting to sort out the dynamo drive for a while - not having it in place leaves a lot of parts laying around on the bench that I want to clear up. It was hindered by having to make a special puller for the dynamo bearings, something that I use infrequently but is very necessary if you're going to rebuild one of these dynamos.

Having finished the puller, I spent a little while turning up a short spacer. For some reason the replacement armature is a little shorter than the original though it fits where it needs to!

And I needed to file up a Woodruff key for the dynamo drive sprocket. It actually took me a long time to get to this place because I had inadvertently assembled the dynamo and fitted it with the dynamo body the wrong way round which caused the sprocket to be something like a half an inch out of line!

Here's the drive in place

That was a chain in amongst the past that came with the bike - it's the correct 3/8 inch pitch but the width is way too much. I'll have to look at Simply Bearings and see if I can find another one, but it really needs to be endless.

You can see here that this over wide chain will rub on the crankcase.

The thickness of the drive sprockets is 1/8" - so that tells us what chain we need -  50 links of 3/8 x 5/32 chain, readily available with soft links from Draganfly:

W/NG - maintenance

 Amidst a couple of days of routine maintenance, greasing, oiling, checking stuff, chain adjustment, cables etc. I finished a couple of outstanding jobs on the dynamo.

One was the missing felt pad from the commutator end bearing;

The other was fitting the missing cable boot.

It's starting first time, though there seems to be a lot of piston slap and it's quite rich. 

There's also a lot of oil around. On the drive side it's clear the primary case is leaking; on the timing side we have oil coming from the back of the magneto chain case. I suspect it's not pulled up tightly enough...

Model A - Lucas E3 dynamo

So what's next? With the kickstart done and the gearbox back together, my plan is to reassemble the primary drive to get the bits off the bench, and move on to the front forks - a big unknown. They didn't have bushes in 1930, so we are looking at a machining job at home or away. To get there though, I have rebuilt the clutch and next is the primary chain and covers, which just need paint. I'd like to reassemble the dynamo and it's drive, but it's toast. I could either:

1. leave the dynamo in a box for a few months and get on with other things
2. reassemble it mechanically (the body needs replating)
3. Fully restore the dynamo

I've got no nickel plating chemicals, and I have a long list of FH bits that need plating which I don't really want to get into right now (and as of this afternoon, my son has taken the Huntmaster and left me with the Square Four which won't idle...); I don't want to leave the dynamo bits in a box for months, so we will go for option 2. I've also seen at least one picture of an E3 dynamo with a painted body - and I've seen another picture of a 1929 bike which made me realise that you can't really see the body when it's mounted on the bike!

Here's a photographic survey of the dynamo:

In the picture above you can clearly see the damage done to the armature - it's thoroughly bent and unrepairable. Notice that this early E3 has the magneto type open ball bearings and the taper fit for the driving sprocket along with the male thread for the retaining nut. Characteristically, the armature is 157 mm long. Putting all this together enables us to purchase a new armature for this 36 watt dynamo.

I've ordered this repair kit from Rex's Speed Shop which will include the proper bearings:

As I may have mentioned, this is just going to be a photographic survey for future use. Here are some views of the dynamo body and the commutator end casting:

Close up, we can see that the other dynamo and casting has been a victim to the side swipe that this bike has suffered - there is a crack in this end as well. It looks repairable though:

Model A - dynamo clamp

 As I may have mentioned, one of the first parts I found missing was the dynamo clamp, shown here in this screenshot from the parts book. I have a couple of bits missing including the stud, bridge, and the clamp itself. I have no idea what they look like.

Or rather I didn't until I kind club member pointed me at this set built up some years ago by a Czech member Karol. None of this is available now unfortunately, these things tend to get built in small batches and then sold and remain unavailable until demand rises again.

Another member sent me this picture - this is an original clamp I believe so I can use this as a pattern to make my own.

This is folded up from a piece of 3 mm thick 25 mm flat bar. It's supposed to emulate what I believe is a Mazak casting. I shall file it to shape.

Metalwork almost complete - just requires some form of finish, probably chemical blacking...

Like this:

Model A - work faces

 The Model A has been on the bench a while now and I've been spending time investigating what I've bought and reminding myself of the parts I've made or acquired over the last few years. 

As a man who likes to tinker in his workshop - who doesn't - various work faces have opened up as I've investigated the machine. 

One is the broken dynamo and it's clamp. Removing the dynamo I realised that I didn't understand how it was held in place with only half a strap - pleas to other club members soon yielded a few photographs showing the bits that were missing. 

Taking the dynamo off showed me quite how bad the damage was. Both of the end castings appear to be broken - the drive end is in two pieces and I had to drill out one of the screws, but worse, the armature is actually bent. It looks like it's been dropped on the floor or had a whack from something at some point.

For the record, the armature is 157 mm long and you can get new ones - Feked have them.

The secondary of investigation is all of the tinware on the drive side. I started with the clutch dome but I have various repairs to do to the primary cover and the dynamo chain cover. 

This led to me looking at the clutch and the gearbox because of course the aperture in the primary cover dictates the movement of the clutch to some extent during the tensioning of the primary chain.

Thinking about the gearbox and it's range of adjustment led me to the gear controls, most of which I have already made. This leads naturally to the fixing of the fuel tank because of course unless the fuel tank is firmly bolted down (and I have new rubbers for that) the gear controls can't be set up. 

If that wasn't enough I've been looking at the front wheel and loosening the spoke nipples. I'm not going to go any further than that though - I was trying to establish whether the front wheel rim could be used or whether it was too far gone. 

The other area I've been looking at is the Lucas H52 headlamp, it's shell, and the mountings. The shell was quite bent and whilst I had the hammers and dollies out to sort out the clutch dome I knocked the dents out of the headlamp shell. It still wouldn't sit straight - it's aligned to the offside - because the mounting bars are also bent...

I think that's enough for now. I promise that I won't take anything else to pieces except perhaps for the gearbox outer cover - the kickstart doesn't seem to work and I can't get first gear!

Model A - Lucas H52 headlamp

The Model A is fitted with a Lucas H52 headlamp which was sold to the industry between 1930 and 1932. It's distinctly different from the lamps that succeeded it as you will see. 

Outwardly the lamp fitted to my Model A looks a bit bashed, and indeed it is. The rim has obviously taken the brunt of a collision, but the nearside mounting is pushed right in as well.

The shell is brass, deeply drawn or spun - it's likely to be hard, so we may have to normalise it to avoid cracking.

To straighten out the front end requires adjusting the headlamp mounting bars and I can't do this with the headlamp bowl bent out of shape. In parallel with the clutch dome I have got out the panel beating hammers and dollies and set about straightening the bowl.

It's a little better in this shot but the near side mounting is still not positioned correctly. You can see the connections panel on the back of the switch here - the H52 has no internal wiring for the headlamp and side lamp but uses this Tufnol panel with sprung copper leaves for connection to the bulbs and ammeter.

Here is the inside of the main switch - it's retained to the Tufnol panel by two brass posts and sleeve nuts. You can see the half charge resistance and the switch in the middle. It's interesting that this switch is clearly a predecessor to the later commonly seen Lucas U39 switch, and you can see how it connects to the Tufnol connector panel from four of the terminal screws and from that central brass plate.

Here is the wiring diagram for the H52 - indeed for the whole bike. I suspect that since the headlamp is the centre of all things electrical, Lucas would have supplied the headlamp with the wiring for the whole bike already installed:

Here's the shell again with the nearside mounting almost correct. I think that to get it much better I will have to remove the rivets, straighten it and replace it with new rivets - these are round head copper rivets quite easily available.

There's also a flat on the shell around 2 o'clock.

The view from above shows that it is a bit better than before. We will need to buy a new rim and a new glass, but we will keep the old reflector. We will probably use one of the LED headlamp bulbs with an integral lens which doesn't use the reflector at all - I've got one of these on the W/NG and they're quite effective.

These bits are available from Jiri Horace at https://www.vintage-replica.com in the Czech Republic, so when we have a better handle what everything we could buy from him we will send an order.

Model A - headlamp supports

 Well I guess you have to start somewhere. Looking around the bike I realised that the headlamp supports - which are just bits of flat bar - weren't fitted correctly, and one of them was very bent. 

Take a look:

The other side was upside down as well, but not as bent as this. This is how it is supposed to fit:

Here it is again, after I have done most of the straightening work on the headlamp bowl. The riveted mounts on either side are now in the correct place and I have straightened the nearside lower headlamp mounting bar.

It's still not sitting centrally though - the headlamp mounting bars don't match: the near side is more straight than the offside pushing the shell towards the offside. I will have to look at some pictures and try again. The top bars aren't helping either:

The top headlamp mounts seem to be usually fitted outside of the ears on the forks, and outside of the lower mounts at the headlamp. 

Model A - on the bench!

 With the Square Four at Tom's house, the initial service on the FH complete and some of the running repairs to the W/NG finished we can swap the bikes around in the workshop and put the Model A on the bench. I've had this bike for 5 years or so and have been steadily making fasteners and collecting bits ever since so it appears very complete although I haven't done any repairs to the broken parts yet.

Let's have a look at a few current pictures.

Five years ago I wrote an article called 'Broken and Missing' which outlined what I found when I took delivery of the bike initially. What follows is most of the text from that article updated to reflect the state of play today. Some of the pictures in the text date from the original article.

Frame

To date, I haven't found any problems with the frame mainly because I haven't dismantled the bike yet. The paint is good, all the threads I have seen have been good or have been repaired in the last few years, but looking at the saddle I suspect the saddle nose mount will be quite worn.

The engine plates are all there, along with a pair of footrests from AOMCC Black Ariel Spares. The footrest bar is bent but is just a bit of 7/16" round bar. I have the two engine plate covers around the dynamo, both of which need weld repairs.

The rear stand came from Ariel Klub Slovakia and I have one of the last of the reproduction Es-way side stands.

Forks

The forks are complete and straight, but feel like they are quite worn - and these forks do not have bushes. The components, with the exception of the grease nipples are all there.

It may be that this bike has been assembled with no balls in the steering head - it certainly wiggles around as though the races are empty. It might be wise to sort this area out first to stabilise the machine.

One of the stay bolt holes in the fork end had a broken bolt in it - I drilled that out and reclaimed the thread a few years back.

Tank

The petrol tank, cap and oil pressure gauge are all there and in nice condition. The cap needs a small repair internally; the tank has a few dents but little obvious rust and the chrome plating is intact. There are three of the original mounting bolts; I will make a fourth. Some of the original mounting rubbers are there, but I have a complete set from Jeff Hunter Engineering.

The knee rubbers and their plates are all there, though the rubbers are thoroughly squashed and unusable. Again I have a replacement set.

The oil pressure gauge pipe and fuel tap are missing. I have acquired a suitable period tap with the correct adjustable corks from eBay:

It's a 1/4" BSP tap and has an adapter. I'll have to make a filter for it.

Front Wheel & Brake

The front wheel needs truing and a spoke replacing. I'm hoping to get away without replacing the original rim, but that will require much closer inspection. The few spokes I have looked at appear sound and the nipples turn - I have dosed them all with Plus-Gas. The wheel turns freely and smoothly.

The brake plate is there - the arm is there and it feels like the shoes are too. I have the brake rod and the torque arm; I've also sourced an adjuster and made the spring box.

You can see that broken stay bolt I mentioned earlier in this picture.

Rear Wheel & Brake

The rear wheel runs true and turns freely, but it is missing at least two spokes. The sprocket, which is integral to the brake drum is worn and will need replacement; the brake plate, arm and shoes are there but the wheel spindle nuts are quite poor, one is missing a spacer and the other is seized on. The chain adjusters were both missing but I have made a new set.

Since I took this shot, I have fitted the rod, made a new rear brake adjuster and realised the cam spindle is very worn. I made a new pin for the rear clevis but the front trunnion is very poor.

Engine

The engine turns over - that is about all I know! It's lost a few fins, and one of the valve caps is broken but I guess that is patina. The timing chain case looks fine. There appears to be a braze repair to the base of the barrel but only an engine strip will reveal more:

There's a lot of broken fins up there. See the big lump of braze?

Primary Transmission & Clutch; Final Drive

The chain & sprockets are there; the clutch looks complete apart from two missing springs and appears to lift when you operate the arm at the gearbox end.

I've seen much worse clutch drums than this:

There are several repairs on the primary chainguard like this, using rivets. The clutch dome is also split. I will probably weld up these riveted repairs as they are not adequately fixing the chainguard in place:

The rear chain guard is there and in good shape.

Gearbox

The gearbox appears to be complete apart from the kickstart spring and it's cover, and the kickstart lever cotter. The gearbox engages all three gears, but the hand change rod, one of it's clevises and some of the tank lever parts are missing. These are all parts that can be made on the lathe which is a good thing, as they are unlikely to be available anywhere.

I'm not sure about this kickstart shaft - it looks much longer than any I've seen...

Carburetter

The carburetter is the correct Amal model 6, with the right float bowl but that's where the good news ends. It's probably in very poor condition as I can feel the air and throttle slides rattling about.

We will have to make some difficult decisions about this. It's an old original carburettor and while you can buy a new 276, you can't buy a model 6. Buying a new 276 would be the sensible option of course...

There are no cables but I do have the remains of the fuel pipe.

Exhaust

The exhaust is there, the plating is poor but no worse than many. The fish tail appeared one day delivered to the railway I volunteer on by a very kind club member. The AA badge is missing from the silencer and the silencer bracket is bent; one or two of the clamps are missing:

Another small issue with the exhaust is that the silencer has been pushed into the bracket - which looks a mess.

Oil Tank & Lines

The oil tank is present, as are all the oil lines and unions. The tank cap is missing, but I am using one that came from Italy on the W/NG for the moment.

Mudguards, Stays, Carrier and Number Plates

The front mudguard and it's bridge were missing. I made the bridge using the W/NG one as a model and the guard has been replaced with a pattern D guard from Feked trimmed to the right length and drilled for stays. The original number plate and it's mounts are there, the front stay is also there as is the front stand - the front stand is pretty rusty and will need surgery.

At the rear, both parts of the guard are there but there will be some welding to repair fatigue cracks. The carrier is there and in good shape, but all the fasteners are missing; the double mudguard stay for the detachable section was missing, but was delivered from Scotland after turning up in the previous owner's stash.

Something that looks a little odd, and it seems to be quite common on these late 20's Ariels is that the detachable part of the mudguard doesn't line up properly with the fixed part - leading to the bike looking as though it's mudguard is too big. This may be something to do with where the stays fit, or whether the stay is inside or outside of the mudguard blade.

Headlamp & Tail lamp

The Lucas H52 headlamp and MT110 tail lamp are both in place; the headlamp is quite battered. The plan is to dismantle both lamps and clean them; I have a sandbag and will knock the headlamp shell back into shape, hopefully the rim as well. The lamp mountings are bent - it looks like the front end took a knock perhaps.

The rim is in particularly poor shape:

The H52 is very interesting - it has no internal wiring, just contacts:

I'm delighted these are all intact.

This is a later number plate. It's clearly an original, but it doesn't have the registration number painted on it - so where did it come from? Perhaps from the previous owner's stash of parts?

Handlebar and Controls

The handlebar, twist grip and both inverted levers are there. There is just enough plating on the bar to show it was once chromed. There are no handlebar rubbers, clips or cables.

I found the Bowden-type clutch lever and the double air/ignition levers from eBay at vast expense.

Dynamo

The dynamo is the correct Lucas E3, and looks to be all complete though I believe part of it's clamp is missing. The drive end bracket has a large crack right across it.

I've realised I don't understand how the dynamo clamping arrangement works - there appears to be some sort of bridge across the engine plates, but haven't seen a picture yet. Something to research.

I'm hoping to get the end plate clean enough to use an adhesive repair.

The chain cover is also there, and will need a weld repair to one of it's feet.

Battery & Electrics

The battery tray and it's clamp are there, though the clamp will need further repair and some nuts turning up on the lathe. There is the remains of the wiring harness attached to the headlamp which looks like it was rubber sheathed; the dip switch, horn button and horn are missing.

The sales catalogue from 1930 indicates that the electric horn option was a Lucas Spartan type so I have sourced a 6 V version and built a handlebar bracket for it. It might be a bit big...

Magneto

The original Lucas KSA1 magneto has been replaced some time in the past with a BTH KC1, so this is probably a period repair or upgrade - the factory despatch record does not mention a non-standard magneto being ordered.

Saddle

The saddle is in place, with all it's springs and spacers - the nose bearing is pretty worn and the cover is missing. I'll make a new cover.

Toolboxes

The toolboxes are both entirely missing. I will make new boxes, learn to work leather and make the leather fronts, and find as many tools as I can. I've started already as you can see from this post...

Next steps 

The policy this time is a refinement of the two stage approach I usually take, that of restoring with no painting or plating followed by commissioning and then repainting and plating. This time it's going to the four Rs:

• Replace missing parts 
• Repair broken parts 
• Rework worn parts 
• Refinish everything

I can't wait to get stuck in!