FH - petrol tank

 The tank trims and rubbers were not a job I had been looking forward to. The trims were a bit mangled - they are thin aluminium, available new but very expensive and of course as I have said multiple times, I won't be a 'cheque book' restorer - and I knew they would have to be 'manipulated' to get them back on.

They fit around and underneath the welded plates that retain the rubbers, bending down into a depression on the tank (the bit I had cut out and rewelded) with a beaded edge laying flat (!) on the tank, around the knee rubber. Like this:

It doesn't look too bad does it! I removed a lot of dents with some purpose ground punches and a simple hardwood dolly, with grooves to suit the beaded edge:

The next bit is a job I don't enjoy very much - I am always afraid of tearing the rubber or scratching the tank. A smear of silicone grease helps, as does remembering (eventually) that you start fitting these at the rear, narrow end and move forwards.

If you start at the back, the bottom edge will go in easily and you can work along the top edge; you can then slip the front over, as there is quite a lot of length to stretch and it will move, leaving you with a bit in the middle of the top edge which is a bit of an effort. Very rewarding when it pops in though, and made much easier by the fact that the tank, on the bike lift, is at shoulder level.

A couple of other points - I polished the trim up on the wheel before it went on, and secondly it's much easier to fit the rubbers when the tank is bolted in place on the bike.

Talking of which, as a 1958 bike this tank has the single centre fixing beloved of BSA. I wonder whose idea it was? A Val Page idea or a BSA idea? The easiest way to fit this is to assemble the bolt, washer, nut and the rubber with it's tube and insert it into the hole in the tank. With the seat pushed to the rear, you can lift the tank and wiggle the head of the bolt into it's slot on the frame - then you lower the tank.

You'll be able to feel that the bolt head is still engaged as you do up the nut.

We'll fit the chrome strip in the next episode!

Coming around to filling the tank, experience has shown that a petrol tap cork that has not had a tank of fuel sitting above it will dry out, shrink, and leak profusely. I've removed this one and it is spending the night soaking in fuel.

The tap itself is fitted with a Dowty washer which will make a far better job of sealing than the fibre washer originally specified. I've sanded the paint off the sealing face in order that the seal works properly, and a miracle has occurred:

The tap is positioned perfectly and it is fully tightened!

FH - Jeff Hunter Engineering

 I've written about the value of the specialist suppliers before, in various media. As you know and can read in this blog I make a lot of (unobtainable) parts myself but we really must keep the specialist suppliers in business, particularly the ones that are making high quality stuff. I was speaking to one only this morning and they are really not making massive profits so we must support them and not dilute their market.

Without people like Acme, Draganfly, the AOMCC and several others, we'd have a lot of unrideable museum pieces.

Here's another example - Jeff Hunter Engineering, a.k.a 'The Rubberman'. I've got all the rubber parts for the FH, the W/NG and the Model A from Jeff. Here's a couple of examples:

Tank rubbers

Centre stand bump stop

Boots

Riding my W/NG around the yard the other day, wearing completely inappropriate clothing was quite enjoyable - sun out, gloves off etc. Getting home I noticed a bit of damage to the elastic sides on my old RM Williams boots:

I realized they were chafing on the end of the clutch cable end, which has no boot. Since this is a 1942 bike, it should have a rubber boot over the whole clutch arm:

Here's one I bought on eBay:

These are not too tricky to fit, but fitting will surely let you know whether the boot you have is a good quality one by splitting when you draw it back over the clutch arm. First, remove the clutch cable and slip the boot over the arm. Then, push the small end of the open end of the arm, exposing the slot where the cable fits like this:

Put the cable nipple back in the slot, and you can winkle the rubber back over the nipple, covering it completely:

Wiring, or Muck & Bullets

Regular readers will note that this post was originally published a few days ago. It's been moved to it's own page since it is growing...

Moved by a discussion on cable ties on the AOMCC forum (how many rivets in a BR Standard Class 5?),  I started to look closely at the wiring harness.

It is a curious thing indeed. Whilst it has been modified, there are many original cables left in it. These are rubber covered, used 14 plated 0.030" strands (that's 1.0 mm2) and use small coloured bands at each end to determine the cable colour - insulation is always black. The diameter is equivalent to a modern 2mm2 or 3mm2 standard PVC cable (not thinwall), which I may use when rebuilding.

I've discovered that you can buy single cored HO7 (rubber covered, oil resistant) cable, but getting it in the right size and the right colour is a problem. Since it is specified for trailing mains cable, for frequent handling it tends to be in 3 core brown/blue/green & yellow for single phase mains supply.

We shall persevere with the help of Mr. Google. I might ask this chap http://www.vintagemotorspares.com/ who looks he has some useful stuff and is local to boot. Or the 318TQ cable here might do it too.

Connections are made with conventional bullets, with the rubber covered single & double snap connectors. My bullets are solder type as shown in the picture, not crimped:

The real curious thing is the sleeving. There is a short (maybe 1 foot) length passing from the front under-tank area to the headlamp; another, smaller diameter from the headlamp to the dip switch; a bare single strand is provided for the horn push. It appears that from under the tank the wires passing to the regulator/coil battery are uncovered. There is a small (1 inch) length of rubber sleeving tying together the wires that start and finish in this area (dynamo to regulator for example) - and that is it! no more sleeving. I suspect that the wire to the rear light was a single strand, since in 1951 there would have been no stop switch. My harness is pretty mangled in this area.

It must have appeared a bit of a dog's breakfast, with all that loose cable!

There is a wealth of information on the AOMCC forum about cable fastening, HERE. However, here is a picture of my rear mudguard:

Now I know that most normal people will glimpse that picture and instantly lose interest, and those that pause for thought will then wonder why we bother with this obsession of ours, but for those of you that want to know how Ariel retained the cable to the rear lamp inside the rear mudguard, well, here is the picture you have been searching for all those years.

There are about five of these little tags welded around the LHS (horn/battery side) of the rear mudguard, and the cable slots behind them. You bend them a little bit to retain the cable.

Note that my mudguard is of the one-piece variety, that pivots around the forward bolts (the ones that pass through the seat lug).