A few of the things I purchased or made during the RE's restoration. Not all necessary but things used to improve the quality of my work.
The Interceptor has a unique engine layout which I enjoyed becoming acquainted with. The wet sump dual pressure oil system was interesting but I found the plunger pump a bit out of place for a bike in its day. The inclusion of a self-destructing oil seal on the timing side was an oversight by the designer but there are many ideas on how to remedy this shortcoming. I developed a hybrid of my own based on other's efforts dubbed the KTR2 (Keeping The Rockers Rolling) modification. I think it will keep the threatening seal grinder at bay.
I am taking another swing at improving the Lucas electrical system by installing a battery unlike one I have used before. The one I purchased was made for security systems and is a small 5 amp hour unit. It's only purpose is to provide spark for starting the bike and steady power to keep the lights from flickering at low RPM's. Let's see how it holds up. At $14 USD it's worth a shot. Other than the battery the electrics are as they left the factory in June of 1969.
A 5 AH battery to aid starting and support the lights at idle.
The engine is a stressed member of the frame on the Interceptor which made engine installation for one person a snap. Dual cylinders featuring heads not tied together aid cooling but made a weaker engine assembly which resulted in cylinder wear issues. My bores were worn .010 side to side which I assume was from cylinder movement. These issues were remedied with straps which tied the top end together and should greatly strengthen the unit. While we're at the top end what about those cross rings? I can't say I have run into anything like them before but when assembled the compression was good. They are still in use today for high pressure applications. We shall see how they hold up.
The Interceptor's Cross ring head sealing setup.
Strapping the heads and cylinders together to strengthen the assembly.
Engine installation was aided by the lack of lower frame rails.
Breaking down the Albion.
https://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2016/03/gearbox-rebuild-part-i.html
A 4 AM transmission intervention......
The starting point and the target....
Heads turned down and formed to "cheese" dimensions....collar spacers made...
Putting in the slot on a Bridgeport. I'm proud to say I didn't even break a cutter...
Not bad...off to the Cad plater....
After the power unit was mounted I rotated the back wheel and the Albion went through the gears well so I thought everything was good. Under power it was a different story. Although it shifted through the gears it was difficult to find 2nd from 1st and downshifting was not consistent. I pondered it for a while and decided to see what the issue was. Anxious to dig in I undertook the task early one morning before work.
The plunger's adjustment was my first suspect. I started by turning it out and the situation deteriorated. I ended up with it in a turn or two from where I initially started. Shifting seems to be improved. It is an odd feeling gearbox and I think part of the problem is getting used to it, shifting at the proper RPM, etc. Maybe it's what's referred to as the bike's "character", although more adjustments may be needed to the Albion. I will put a few more miles on it this summer and see. I think there may be a few more lessons to learn here....
When it was removed to adjust the plunger an outer cover screw on the transmission pulled its threads. This was not a surprise as they had all come out quite hard. A method to repair the situation had to be devised as I did not want to pull the inner cover to install a Heli-Coil. The original screws only engaged half of the threads in the hole. I ran in a bottom tap to deepen the thread depth and made a longer bolt to engage undamaged threads. I could not find a cheese head bolt 1/4 of an inch longer than the factory one so I converted hex head bolts to cheese heads. This worked well and I made a pair of them to replace both screws in the front of the case. They will be sent to the Cadmium plater with my next batch of hardware.
Lessons learned for basic processes were also prevalent on this build. I like to think of them as refinements and I can never figure out why I didn't come up with them sooner. One such refinement was my Cadmium plating preparation. Removing old Cadmium and zinc with white vinegar before bead blasting provided great results. I am told pickling vinegar has four times more acid than white vinegar. I'm not sure I need that but it may be something to try next time. I also learned that plastic parts are not affected by the Cadmium process. I was able to re-plate nyloc carb nuts which I hesitated to do on my previous build. Good to know.
Cadmium plated parts being sorted.
The Interceptor build went pretty well and I did not encounter many setbacks. I had a few hiccups sorting out work from different chrome plating shops, I found voids in engine castings when they were polished to remove dings, and had adhesion problems with some of my painted parts. The clutch had a bolt come loose and hit the inside of the primary at some point in its life creating a bit of wobble in its assembly. Maybe the gearbox main shaft is a bit out of true? Although it is not to bad it may be part of my clunky shifting and may need to be addressed in the future. Even with the wee wobble the clutch seems to work fine. As previously mentioned the rims were bent a bit with one needing replacement. Other than that things went pretty much as planned.
Photos of the fine work done by Atlas Plating in Houston, Texas. They were flooded out by a hurricane when I needed them for a second batch of parts.
Lacing the front wheel.
What other basic things did I learn? Walnut blasting pressure must be regulated to prevent dings in aluminum and soda blasting has a threshold over which it starts removing base material. I hit this somewhere around 80 PSI and stayed below this most of the time. I discovered vapor blasting via internet research and am eager to give it a whirl for my next build as the results look fantastic. Another learning opportunity was to put wheels on a stand and indicate them before disassembly. This is an easy way to know if the rims are worth re-chroming. I found them hard to measure accurately once they were off the hubs. I used a spoke torque wrench on this build although I don't think it's necessary for someone who has built a lot of wheels. It added consistency to my process as I am a relative newbie at this task.
Truing the rear wheel after chrome plating. I will check them before disassembly next time.
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/02/rebuilding-wheels.html
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/02/rebuilding-wheels.html
My frame and parts have been sprayed as I like the quality of finish it provides. After having adhesion problems with several parts I took them to a local powder coating shop. The results were excellent for parts that were not flat. Flat parts looked wavy which I did not like. I will incorporate more powder coating into my next project which will increase durability of the finish for road use and reduce expenses.
Powder coating looked great on curved surfaces such as the skid plate although not so good on items with larger flat areas such as the rear number plate. It's definitely a tougher finish.
The black phosphate coating I used for fasteners was not spot on and I will investigate a different process for future builds. It looks good and should hold up well but it's not an exact match. Maybe black Cadmium or hot gun bluing will look better. I have used cold bluing and have not been satisfied with the results of the kits I have tried. I have more research to do in this area.
Black phosphate looks good but has a rougher finish than the original hardware.
Lastly lets not forget the front fender. That riveted brace sure looks good but is intimidating to the guy who needs to disassemble it, get parts plated, and then rivet it back together. It was a bit nerve racking trying to hand hammer the brace and fender rivets without putting unwanted dents into my freshly finished parts. Forming the rivet heads to match the curve of the fender was also a bit of a struggle. It all came out well which was a relief. Once again my lovely red headed assistant was a trooper and lent a hand. For such a small feature on the bike it was one of my more satisfying projects.
The riveted front fender was a challenge I rather liked accomplishing. Unless a person has done one they probably won't pay any attention to it.
https://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/search?q=fender
So what gets replaced during a total restoration? All of this and probably a bit more....It seems like there should be more from the amount of time and money I spent ....
A couple of non-related adventures also came up during the course of this build. My riders, a 1970 BSA Lighting and a 1974 Norton Commando, also needed attention. After owning and servicing them for many years I was not expecting any learning experiences. I was wrong with both bikes. The BSA had significant electrical issues while I fought oil leaks and a stuck rear axle on the Norton when I went to change the tire which was last swapped in 1990. Both are fixed, I know much more about British motorcycles, and we are happily running up miles together.
Now this was a major sidetrack. The BSA's 47 year old wiring and electrics started to fall apart and needed a significant intervention. Let's tear everything off and start over.
What I thought was an easy Saturday morning project was not. A rusted axle with abrading between the drum and spacer required a puller to get it out. I also fought major oil leaks from the head which were mostly remedied by a modern oil breather setup. There is still enough oil dripping to maintain its "Authentic" Norton appearance.
Although I would like to adventure into a bike that is more of a learning experience, my next project will be a 1964 BSA Lightning Rocket. It's a unique bike and BSA's first dual head design with more than a few quirky features; six volt wiring, funky side panels, odd switching, and engine internals a bit different than my later BSA's. It will provide its own unique challenges and I will try improvements not performed on my other bikes such as crank balancing and the timing side needle roller bearing conversion. My last rolling basket case is being started so it's time to find one for the queue......hopefully a Velocette, Triumph, Matchless, or Royal Enfield variation, although there are many others worthy of consideration. It's time to comb the bike shows and craigslist for my next project.
A new learning experience on the Lightning Rocket I can't wait to dig into although I am not overly optimistic about my odds of success. Tank dent removal.....lets give it a whirl!
The Hornet is being shown in road going guise this season and recently won first in the British over 500cc class at the AMCA's Centreville, Michigan show. A nice show....check out the pics......
