Interceptor Chassis Build Up

After spending the better part of my spare time in the past couple of years dissembling, rebuilding and refinishing parts and assemblies for the Interceptor it is time to start making it look like a motorcycle again. (Working full time and taking care of other tasks that come up in the course of a year puts a bind on my restoration habit)  The Interceptor was tired when I purchased it but pretty much all there. I am taking it back to its original configuration including the electrical system. While everything seems pretty straightforward, as on my past restoration, everything takes a bit of finesse and more time than expected to make it work.

Looking like an Interceptor again. 

The rear wheel gave me a bit of a problem as everything ran well on the stand when I laced the wheels but when assembled and tightened on the bike it bound up. I removed the bearing tube and checked everything individually to make sure there were no issues with components. The speedo drive gear was found to be the culprit and must have been jarred out of position by the bearing failure that took it off the road many years ago. This irregularity was binding the speedometer gearbox with the hub. An easy fix that took me a lot of piddling around to find. 

The rear wheel assembly should have been an easy job...mount it and on to the next... not so. 

Originals on the left.....Hagons on the right.

The shocks are Hagons purchased from England. There are differences from the originals out of the box and they were modified to look like the factory units. The stainless retaining ring on top was frosted by bead blasting to replicate CAD and the decal was removed from the lower adjusters and they were painted black. Stainless steel covers are a give a way that these are reproductions. I was thinking of re-chroming the original covers and putting them on but the Hagon parts are a bit larger and they will not fit over them.

My "Girling wanna be's". Frosted collars and painted adjusters. 

The electrical panel part set was ready to go....except I found a run in the paint on one side....refinished and assembled. 

The tail light assembly took a bit of tweaking to get it together. The original internals were rough but cleaned up well and were reused. The registration holder is a reproduction and needed holes for the licensed plate and  touch up to the paint.  

Holes added for the registration plate and the reflector bracket holes "stretched" to fit.

This NOS grab rail does not even come close to fitting but I am very glad to have it. On to the surface plate and some heavy tweaking to put it back into shape. It will look nice and was an option for '69.

The front end build up was pretty uneventful as everything fit as it should. I had installed '69 Commando fork gaiters since Norton made the front end for the Interceptor and I had them. I later found out they were the wrong ones. How come you guys didn't tell me that when I posted my previous photo of them? New ones have been purchased and installed. It looks much better now. 

Recent discussions on the "Yahoo Interceptor Group" discussion board tell me the rear tank mount is a real pain to use. I want to keep it original so let's find out. I also did not know there were 1/4 and 1/2 inch rubber pads for the front tank mount. I needed 1/4 and guess which ones I bought?

The petrol tank removed for safe keeping and the Zener diode, Horn, and controls added. Headlight and electrical will be installed after the engine is in. The gauges still need to be sent out for rebuilding

The engine parts are here! I will start rebuilding it next. Gilmore Antique Motorcycle Show 2018 here we come!

Thanks to Draganfly Motorcycles in the UK for featuring my blog in their most recent newsletter! You can find a link to their site on my parts and services page.