FH - insecure centre stand

 Some while back I wrote about adjusting the stops on the centre stand to get the wheel off the ground and to enable the bike to roll on and to roll off the centre stand relatively easily. A few months using the bike has made me realise that it's far too easy for the bike to come off the stand and since my son has had it he's remarked on it a couple of times.

I need to do something about this. 

I recall that when I bought the shock absorbers I was encouraged by fellow riders to go for a longer shock absorber option to make the bike easier to get on and off the stand, which it does. The bike is actually fitted with 310 mm shock absorbers - the standard is 300 mm, or more probably 12 3/4".

Stripping one of the shock absorbers finds an M10 by 1.25 pitch thread on the damper. An option would be to increase the length of this thread and then chop the excess 10 mm of the end of the damper rod. This won't be too much of a problem except that I don't have the suitable die and if I can't remove the rod from the damper I will have to cut the thread with the die but leave no undercut which will be untidy. I can't remove the rod from the damper, because the top of the cylinder is rolled over.

My first step was to ask the supplier if I can buy the damper units without the rest of the shock absorber, and these turned up for about half the cost of a new set:

The next step - and it's never straightforward is it - is to modify the spring compressor. The problem is that the compressor now has to reach so far down inside the spring (because the damper is shorter) that I can't get the pin in through the damper eye. 

I sorted that out by chopping one end of the pin off, trimming the end and welding a washer on the end to act as a head. 

Next I rebuilt the shock absorber and then turned my attention to the other. With that done I could remove the centre stand and adjust the stops. There's not much to see with this operation apart from my grubbing knees elbows and nose. Doing this job on the side stand is ok for the right hand side of the centre stand but getting to the left is very difficult, especially when the temperature is in 30s!

I ended up taking 1/16" off both stops which resulted in a bike that needed more effort to get off the centre stand. I noticed that the stand feet are wearing already and will need some attention in the next year or two.

FH - getting the FERC fitted

 Next jobs are to secure the mudguards prior to temporarily fitting the wheels. First though, we have a few more bits from Draganfly - the fork top nut washers and the steering damper knob spring:

Then we need to fit the FERC, or Fully Enclosed Rear Chaincase in Ariel speak. It's a big floppy tin thing and is a bit of a struggle, but it goes on. You have to fit the rear sprocket and it's stub axle first:

That nut will get plated in the coming months, but I am not so sure if those washers are the correct outside diameter.

I'm hovering around fitting the gearbox but I need to clean it first. Before that can go in we can fit the oil filter on it's bracket - it's nut is a candidate for plating too:

The FERC looks tidy when it goes in; the smaller bolt in the outside of the lower half is a pig though, as it is hidden by the pillion footrest support.

You can most definitely get the oil filter out with the FERC in place!

The front part of the FERC must go in before the gearbox, and that needs the chain oil line:

The front half is retained by two screws to the frame above the swinging arm:

The oil line will need adjusting for length and some bends changing:

First I have to figure out which line to connect it to!

FH - Building the forks: a false start

As you might have read, after a prompt from the guys on the AOMCC FB page I bought some new stanchions, and very nice they are too:

Build it right, build it once I say. Here are some pits in the old ones and they will destroy the seals very quickly:

These are the original seal holders - they are supposed to be shiny chrome, and someone has cut them shorter for some reason. They are junk now.

I bought these seal holders on eBay - they are plated steel, and are very solid. They came with a set of springs (not the nice progressive springs in the background) for £65, so I thought I had a bargain; the seals themselves are standard lip seals, about £5 a pair.

I put them together with a new set of Draganfly bushes.

During that build I found the first stumbling block: the seal holder tool didn’t fit in the holder.

I needed to turn the tool down by around 2 mm on the diameter. To get it in the lathe, I had to make a plug so I could steady the end with a centre. The tool is too big to go in the fixed steady.

So now I could put the forks together…

End plug and bottom bush:

Here’s the next problem, and it’s Game Over. One of the seal holders is fine, but this one has the thread out of square with the stanchion axis:

So, they were returned to the seller, and replaced with these from Draganfly. They are beautiful.

FH - Forks, Steering Damper & Swinging Arm

 A few spare minutes found me progressing the build a bit further. Last night I ordered the engine parts from Draganfly; the pistons and big end shells have already arrived from the AOMCC Twin Spares chap. They look excellent:

You'll recall the swinging arm has solid bronze bushes in place of the standard metalastik bushes, so the first job is to fit an angled grease nipple pointed away from the FERC:

The swinging arm goes in easily and is bolted very loosely. It's held up with an old shock.

I've put the steering damper back in; the pin tapped in easily.

Now, I was careful to ask the painter to avoid grit blasting the oil tank, and he has indeed prepared that by hand. However, the fork sliders would have benefitted from blanking off as they are full of grit; I made this swab to clean them out:

Running paraffin down the slider in the cleaning bath I swabbed the grit out:

There's quite a bit - that was worth doing:

I cleaned the fork legs with 180 grit Scotchbrite - they are not very good:

I ordered a set of seals and new seal holders yesterday. At £115 a pair, it's worth buying a new set of hard-chromed stanchions as well.

QR50 - Rear Strut

There's nothing wrong with the single rear shock absorber on the QR50 other than that it is covered in the ubiquitous red paint. I'll strip it for cleaning, and to record how you do it.

If you have to dismantle a shock absorber, get a spring compressor. Springs, especially springs on mono-shock bikes store a lot of energy and you need to have it under control - you don't want it released unexpectedly into some tender part of your anatomy.

This little set is perfect for my needs - each compressor hooks over the spring. You'll need a different type for shrouded springs, like the ones on the FH. I'll cover those in a different post.

Here's how they are used. You will need to support them (I use a large adjustable spanner) while you operate the drive wrench, or you will risk they coming 'unhooked' at one end.

When you have them compressed enough, you can get a spanner on this nut. You might need to remove the rubber mount to get a bar in the eye, as the nut should be tight:

Here's the spring off. The bottom collar is loose and is retained by a circlip around the damper. It will slide off upwards, but in this case the damper worked fine and the whole lot just needed cleaning up on the wire wheel. The damper rod should move smoothly but exhibit resistance in both directions.

The spring is power coated and cleans up with soap and water:

I've replaced the spring the other way up. This make no difference to the way it operates but it makes it a bit easier to use the compressors, since they are operating on more coils:

And that's it, back together and refreshed:

Girder Fork Damper 'Wing Nut'

Since I've had the W/NG, the 'wing nut' used to adjust the fork dampers has been missing a wing. Unable to find a new one, and not afraid of trying anything new (especially when challenged by other AOMCC members) I decided to repair the old one.

One thing i don't much like about old bike restoration is the notion that you can buy a new part rather than repair the old - replacing bits is not 'restoration' to me. This is the old nut, removed and cleaned up:

I selected a bit of scrap, the flattened end of a stop cock key:

I chopped a useful bit off and filed it up to shape. Near the end of shaping, I heated the new part and flattened it where I was to weld:

Old part and replacement end:

Set up in the vice for welding:

As usual, I used the TIG to weld it up, set to about 45 Amps with the tungsten ground with a shallow angle to give better penetration:

Next, some more filing. Not looking too bad here, but needs more work; the new end looks distinctly heavier than the original:

And back in place, ready to get some patina:

Building up

So, a few shots of half an hour's work, putting in the yokes:

Bottom bearing greased...

Steering damper parts all assembled. All from Drags bar the star washer and centre stem which are original

Top bearing greased

Bottom yoke in & bearings adjusted.