FH - Preparing for assembly

 One of the nice things that arise from a dedication to one make, one era or perhaps just motorcycles manufactured in one country is a collection of specialist tools. Today, I'm quietly cleaning paint out of the threaded holes in the frame, yokes and swinging arm with CEI taps, while I wait for other bits to arrive and for the rest of the painting to be finished:

The fork stanchions have arrived:

And we have new seal holders, seals and progressive fork springs:

FH - Steering Head

 Now that the frame is on the bench I can start to assemble some of it, bearing in mind that I must leave mating parts for the paint to fully cure.

I start by reducing the height of the lift so that I can easily get to the head races in the frame, to clear out the paint and primer with a knife, scraper and emery. This is pretty easy as the paint is relatively soft, not like powder coat.

Next step is to clean and fit the races, which go on easily with a copper mallet and a tubular drift. Then it's 1/4" ball bearings, 20 in each race according to the parts book, retained with grease. There usually appears to be a gap where you could fit one more ball, but you should always go by the parts book - the gap is there to allow the balls to move freely.

The top race is easier to assemble, since the inner retains the balls:

Ariels have a dust cover over the top race. You'll note that I haven't fitted the grease nipples to the frame - I will, but all they do is allow the frame tubes to fill up with grease. There is nothing apart from a missing felt washer to direct the grease to the bearing; the washer is shown in the front fork diagram in the parts book but doesn't appear in the parts list.

Next, you have the rather precarious activity of bringing the lower yoke up through the steering head  and through the top race, hopefully without disturbing the balls. Sticky grease helps, as does a dry fit of all the parts. Remember that the top inner race fits tightly around the steering column so you must remove the paint from the fine thread, making sure the adjustment nuts fit:

Next we will go to the other end and fit the swinging arm. It's not obvious, but this is a time when the bike lift is very useful - you can do all this work at the most comfortable working height.

QR50 - assembling the forks

We are approaching assembly time on the QR50 build now, and it will be nice to get it off the bench and to get back onto the Huntmaster. It's been fun and it will be a smart little bike from which I have learned a lot, but I have too many projects at the moment and I want to see the Grandchildren riding this one.

So, while I wait for the gasket set, and for some time to start on the tinware let's assemble the front end. I've used the hone I made to clean the paint out of the yokes, and I use an M8 bolt and a bit of sheet metal to open the clamps a bit, so I can slide the new stanchions in. This is simple, though the balance on the bench is now a bit front-heavy. I hang a big weight on the back.

Looking at my handiwork I notice that the top yoke hits the oil filler - so that was why it was dented on both sides. If you look at this picture, you will see the reason - the steering stop is bent out of the way:

That's easily fixed with an adjustable spanner.

Next, I can assemble the front brake and put the wheel on. It looks great.

QR50 - Stanchions & Yokes

I might have mentioned a few times that the stanchions, which in this design have integral bottom bushes, were absolutely trashed through rust - so much so that I needed a new pair.

These are pretty hard to come by, and expensive. I decided to make a pair.

The originals are chromed steel tube, finished diameter 21.5 mm. After much deliberation I decided to use 22 mm OD 304 stainless tube, which meant the holes in the yokes needed to be eased open. I did this using 60 grit emery tape and a hone, which I made from a scrap bit of tube with a slot to carry the tape; the tube OD was reduced to allow for the thickness of the tape. I ran this slowly in the lathe:

Here's the hone. It took a couple of hours and a metre of tape to open those holes out to 22 mm.

Since I don't have a M10 x 1.25 mm tap set, I elected to rescue the old top nuts from the original yokes. I cut these out using a parting tool and a corner turning tool. I removed all traces of chrome in the process, to avoid contaminating the weld.

I used the TIG set at 50 A to put an autogenous peripheral weld down:

Two new fork legs!

The yokes come up nicely. They have been stripped and cleaned using various wire wheels; the paint is UPol Satin Matt Black over UPol etching primer:

Top Nuts!

I saw these lovely fork top nuts on eBay recently, and had to have them. My SQ4 is not over-restored, it's a patinated working bike but my fork top nuts are very rusty:

These fit the bill beautifully:

I'll need to sort out the washers at some point but for now these look good:

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.

Watchmaker...

So with the odometer and the speedo drive sorted out, it was onto the movement and the case. This is the movement as it emerged from the case:

The movement appeared intact on inspection, indeed it was just caked in grease and the debris from the mangled drive wheel. It was a simple matter to strip it down, then we sorted the various assemblies into separate pots for cleaning with pegwood, solvents & the ubiquitous toothbrush. Look at the colour of the solvent:

This took several rinses, followed by polishing of the wheels & arbors.  There wasn't any tooth damage to the wheels, and the various pivot holes in the plates are all in good condition.

Reassembled & lubricated the speedo now works nicely in the electric drill.The picture below shows it in position in the main frame, hooked up to the main drive & the odometer. We cleaned the odometer wheels (very gently) with a swab dipped in a mild water/detergent solution:

Next stop was the case, which required a trip to the shed to find the top yoke, since there was no strap for the speedo and no idea of what it should look like. A cardboard template and some of the inevitable sheet metal work soon remedied that problem, and the case was rubbed down and sprayed gloss black. The picture below shows the speedo in position in the top yoke, from underneath:

The dial and needle we left mostly as found - we don't want to polish all the patina away. I had the lamp holder still attached to the original wiring harness, so this was polished up using brass brushes in the Dremel, wired up and fitted back in place. some new M6 nuts finished the job - since the design of these instruments originated in France, all the fasteners are metric.