Getting back into BSA’s
On my Hornet page I discussed some of the BSA’s I have had
in the past. After purchasing my 1974 Norton Commando, a 1996 Triumph Trophy,
and having two daughters, the BSA’s were let go. I had hoped to get another one
at some point in time but it was on the back burner until a couple of years
ago. A friend of mine who restores antique canoes is in a club of like minded
individuals who are a close knit group.
When one of them died the deceased’s wife asked his friends to help him
unload his canoe collection which was at a camp in upstate New York. While
cleaning out the canoes he saw a couple of old motorcycles. He knew I had an
old bike and sent me pictures of them to see if I would like to buy any of
them. Although I was not planning to purchase a BSA I knew that if I did it
would be a Lightning. After viewing his photos and seeing a BSA Lightning that
was in pretty original shape I told him I was interested in it. I made an offer
for it and an old BMW air head that was at the camp. When I arrived at the camp
in New York, 628 miles away, I saw the bikes were in much better shape than
anticipated. My offer was increased and I could only afford the BSA. I brought it home in the fall and got it up and running. The
throttle cables were hanging by a strand or two and the slides on the carb were
stuck from being over tightened. This is probably why it was put up 5 years or
so before I purchased it. It had original tires, which were greatly out of
round, and the gas in the tank smelled like varnish. Some squirrel lost his
nuts when I started it up for the first time and they blew out the exhaust. I
rode it a bit that fall, found out what was wrong with it, and then took it
into the house to work on. Yes, in the house. Pictures of the bike as found and
newly running are below.
The lightning was in the middle of this clutter.
Dusty but in good shape. I was able to find the side covers and the original tool kit.
The bikes were surrounded by antiques, model cars, toy trains, and snowmobiles.
The BMW was in nice shape with its original tool kit and bags.
Safe back home. It cleaned up pretty well and didn't take much to get it started.
Getting it Running
The Lightning fired up without a lot of work. I started by
draining the fuel and putting in new high octane unleaded. I add Marvel Mystery
oil for top end lubrication, which is added to the gas cans when they are
refilled. I have used this in all of my other old bikes too. While I had the
tank drained I purchased new fuel tap corks. These are installed on pins that
are a press fit into the shutoff valve. I found a post on another blog that
suggested cutting the corks in half to install them instead of pressing out the
pins. I used this method and it seems to work fine. One thing I learned was
that the corks should be soaked in gas a day or two before putting them in and
filling the tank. They will leak if you don’t follow this procedure.
I changed all of the oil to make sure I didn’t do any damage
when I started it up. I use Mobile One V-Twin oil which is rated 20-50 weight.
I put full synthetic Valvoline 75-90 weight in the gear box and mobile 10-40
weight motorcycle oil in the primary case. To check the oil pump I took out the
plugs, put the bike in 4th gear, and pushed it down the road while
looking inside the filler cap. Oil pumped out, which told me it was alright to
start it up. It had two different spark plugs in it. One was correct and one,
which was probably borrowed from a snowmobile, was not. I installed NGK plugs and then gave it a few
kicks to get it going. It started 2nd kick which surprised me. After
letting it warm up I took it for a ride around the neighborhood. One of the
throttle cables broke on my initial run so I headed home. The second one broke
after arriving in my driveway which put me out of commission.
Working out the Bugs
I sent to Klemps’ for a set of throttle cables which arrived
and were a little too short. I sent them back with my old cables and they
returned cables of the correct length. I appreciated them taking the time to do
this for me. Now I was up and running for the remainder of the season which was
not to long as it was September in
Michigan.
My initial rides were very enjoyable. A few issues came to
light right away. The tires were out of round, the clutch slipped a little, and
it spark knocked pretty bad under load. I decided to tackle the spark knock
first. I purchased a Tri-Sparks electronic ignition, which was easy to install,
and it helped a bit. Next I tried Lucas octane booster without success. I
started with the recommended amount and ended up with a 4 X dose. There was still
no difference, although octane booster was dripping out of the tailpipe and
sooting up the plugs. When I was working on the carburetors I found that they
were set very rich. This was part of the issue of sooting up the plugs. I put
the carburetor back to stock which was probably not the best thing to do for
the spark knock. I found a local store that sold 110 Torco racing fuel. This
cured my problem even after putting jets and timing back to stock. It was
noticeably harder to start which was a problem I tackle in a later post. It
also kicked back very hard bending the kick start lever, which I had to
fix. Racing fuel was also twice the cost
of premium gas but it ran very well on it.
I put new tires on the bike, fork gaiters while I had it apart, rode it
a bit and put it away for the winter. I purchased new fork seals but decided
not to put them in since it was not leaking. I later regretted this. I also had problems with the carburetor slides
sticking. The carburetor bodies had been over tightened to the manifolds
causing the binding. I backed off the torque and the problem disappeared.
In the house for the winter and ready to work on.
Fixing the Clutch
The first winter I owned the Lightning I decided to take it
in the house where it was warm for the winter. It gets too cold where I live to
work on things in the garage. When it is warm enough, it is still not enjoyable.
The lower level of my house has a family room which is no longer used as one. I
put down a painters tarp and wheeled the bike in for the winter through a patio
slider which entered the room.
My first course of action was to dig into the clutch. It had
Barnett plates, which appeared to be new but were worn out on one third of the
surface. The metal plates were flat when
I inspected them on a surface plate at work. It was leaking quite a bit of oil
so I installed a new countershaft sprocket seal while I had it apart. I also
replaced the clutch rubber buffers, springs, and bearings. When I put the
clutch back together I put an indicator on it and spun it to make sure the
plates were clamped flat. They were off by about an eighth of an inch. One of
the screws that held the clutch together was shorter than the rest. This was
probably the reason the clutch was slipping. I adjusted it properly and put it
all back together. I will put in a new
clutch basket screw the next time it is apart.
Electrical
Front Fork Rebuild
The following spring the Lightning ran fine and the clutch
problems had been worked out. It still leaked a lot of oil around the
countershaft sprocket which was probably coming from the crankcase vent I later
found out. It does not leak as bad when the primary runs low on oil, which
makes me think it is coming from there too. Maybe this is from the chain oiler?
Does it have one? I did not think it did. A future project I guess. About
midsummer the front fork seals started leaking. I decided to replace them at
this time. This was uneventful. I have a service tool that works well to take
off the seal holders. I made it years ago and patterned it after the factory
tool pictured in my workshop manual. I had to heat the seal holders with a
propane torch to get them loose. I was able to do this without damaging
anything with the heat. Electrical
As previously mentioned I installed a Tri-Sparks ignition
the fall I purchased the Lightning. It was easy to setup and the bike runs much
better without the points. The only other electrical issues I had were the
lights. They switch wiring was not correct and I did not have all positions on
the headlight working properly. When I took the headlight apart I found a spare
bulb from the previous owner. This must be a common place to carry a spare as I
do the same thing on my Norton Commando. I sorted out the wiring by following
the workshop manual and everything works like it should except for the oil
pressure warning light. It is shorting out somewhere and I must get this fixed.
The original headlight bulb did not last long. The
electrical contacts vibrated off of it. I replaced it with a halogen bulb which
self destructed in about a week. It was a complete waste of money. The third
bulb I put in has lasted and I am not sure why but I will go with it. I ended up fitting an LED bulb which is detailed on my main blog page. It has worked well and I am very happy with it.
Another positive change was the addition of an LED tail light. I purchased this from British Cycle Supply. It is a bit expensive but it works great. It should reduce the risk of getting run over by cars and take less power to run. I put one on my Norton at the same time. The bulb kit requires the modification of the existing reflector. To avoid this I bought a reproduction tail light and modified it. This left my original one intact.
Running on Premium Fuel
OK, so back to racing fuel, pump gas and fighting spark knock. My oldest daughter caught the antique motorcycle bug and has been riding with me for several years. She started out on a Yamaha TW200 as and has moved to the BSA. She rides the Norton too but prefers the Lightning. Our challenge with the BSA has been getting it tuned so she can start it on her own. She cannot kick it quite hard enough to start. It started very hard with racing fuel so I went on a mission to get it back to premium gas and make it start easier.
BP “Ultimate” did not totally stop spark knock in the BSA even with the ignition retarded. I decided to look at octane boosters. (Earlier lesson apparently not learned). I tried a 4x shot of Lucas again with no luck. Next I tried STP with poor results. I reverted back to the main jets that were in the bike when I purchased it and the spark knock on the top end was eliminated. Next I lifted the needle jet 2 grooves and all spark knock was eliminated. I may have the sooting issue that was prevalent when the bike was purchased. I will need to watch this for a while. Although it does not kick back anymore it still does not start as easily as I would like it to.
Next attempt........time for a de-coke. Alright, so this is one of the less glamorous parts of being an antique motorcycle enthusiast. I have been fighting pre-ignition problems on the BSA Lightning for a couple of seasons which I thought was fuel related. A local station started selling alcohol free premium which has worked well in my other bikes. I have not had issues with the Norton getting coked up, and I have had the head off several times chasing head gasket leaks, I decided to take a gander at what was inside of the BSA. Mid-winter Michigan, time on my hands, let’s take apart the head and see what we have. The Hornet runs great on factory timing and carb settings so the lightning should too…..right?
Another positive change was the addition of an LED tail light. I purchased this from British Cycle Supply. It is a bit expensive but it works great. It should reduce the risk of getting run over by cars and take less power to run. I put one on my Norton at the same time. The bulb kit requires the modification of the existing reflector. To avoid this I bought a reproduction tail light and modified it. This left my original one intact.
Running on Premium Fuel
OK, so back to racing fuel, pump gas and fighting spark knock. My oldest daughter caught the antique motorcycle bug and has been riding with me for several years. She started out on a Yamaha TW200 as and has moved to the BSA. She rides the Norton too but prefers the Lightning. Our challenge with the BSA has been getting it tuned so she can start it on her own. She cannot kick it quite hard enough to start. It started very hard with racing fuel so I went on a mission to get it back to premium gas and make it start easier.
My first attempt was to retard the ignition about 3 degrees. It helped but spark knock was still pretty bad. In the US we have ethanol added to our gas. This is a move being done to keep a certain political party and its constituency happy in my opinion. It is not good for old engines. The biggest problem I have found with ethanol is that it evaporates out of the carburetors leaving varnish build up much faster than regular gas. Frequent pilot jet blockage is the result. I have been using BP Ultimate (93 Oct) with Sta-Bil “Marine Formula Ethanol Treatment” in my Norton and BSA to reduce the jet clogging and knocking (BSA) issues. It seems to be working well.
Next attempt........time for a de-coke. Alright, so this is one of the less glamorous parts of being an antique motorcycle enthusiast. I have been fighting pre-ignition problems on the BSA Lightning for a couple of seasons which I thought was fuel related. A local station started selling alcohol free premium which has worked well in my other bikes. I have not had issues with the Norton getting coked up, and I have had the head off several times chasing head gasket leaks, I decided to take a gander at what was inside of the BSA. Mid-winter Michigan, time on my hands, let’s take apart the head and see what we have. The Hornet runs great on factory timing and carb settings so the lightning should too…..right?
On its way to cleaner living....
Think I may have found the problem.....
Pistons ready to go.....
Before......
During.......
After......
Now that everything is clean I will see how it run. The compression was at 150 psi on each
cylinder last fall which is at factory spec. The timing and carbs are set to
factory specs so let’s give it a whirl (when it is not 7 deg F outside).
July 2016 - Update
The BSA was out in May and the de-coke test was on. All carburetor and ignition settings had been returned to factory specs and I was ready to go. I was feeling pretty good about myself and thought I had everything sorted fairly well. This was not the case. My first rides were not successful as the bike started to backfire after about 20 minutes as the battery was going dead. My five year old battery was tested and found to be bad. Problem solved or so I thought. A new battery just made the bike run longer before it backfired. A thorough sorting through the wiring found two frayed wires with one shorting on the frame. Problem solved again? Nope.
Bad coils? Research on the internet told me I should be running 6 volt coils with my electronic ignition and not the stock 12 volt coils. On with a set of old 6 volt Norton coils and the spark improved noticeably. I also added 5k ohm suppression caps with new copper core wires. Difficult starting cured. My daughter will be so happy! The battery drain was still not solved. After consulting with my electrical engineer at work and learning how rectifiers, diodes, and alternators work, I was ready to test. He even made me diagrams on how to do this. I will miss this guy when I retire and better learn what I can now. The rectifier was found to be bad ( or so I thought) so it was replaced with a transistor unit.
The clutch was also grabbing so I had a couple of reasons to pull apart the primary. There was a lot of oil in the plates which I cleaned before reassembly. Type F fluid was added this time instead of the 10/30 I have been using. This is popular with many BSA guys so I thought I would give it a try.
The culprit of my battery drain was found upon removing the alternator. One of the wires was cracked and not making contact all of the time. This explains why I was getting good and bad readings from my multi-meter out of the alternator and rectifier.
I purchased a new high output single phase Lucas alternator, 16 amp output, from "The Bonneville Shop" This was installed and the battery charging issue is fixed. Although the rectifier and Zener are probably good I replace them with a Podtronics unit which is rated to match the alternator. Trispark ignition, 6 volt coils, 5k Ohm suppression plugs, transistor unit with starting capacitor, and a high output alternator. I think I am now finally set to go. Time to take a few rides and test it out. I sure learned a lot on this foray.
Update: I guess I was right to "Trust Lucas" as the new alternator works great. A steady 14.3 volts out of the Podtronics unit from idle to 3000 RPM. The LED headlight and tail light are significantly brighter which will keep me visible to cars and alive. A good investment in my view. The type F fluid is much thinner than the 10/30 I had been using and leaks from many joints on the primary case; screw holes, inspection caps, etc. I will tighten things down a bit and give the gaskets time to settle in. The clutch stopped grabbing for a bit but is sticky again. Time for new plates as the old ones are close to lower limits. The verdict is still out on the Type F at this point although I am not liking the oil leaks.
The carbs were replaced with a re-sleeved set and the bike runs considerably smoother all across the range although there is still a bit of a stumble at high RPMs. I believe this is jetting and I will sort it out next spring.
The "missing" I was experiencing after the bike was out for an extended run was caused by a faulty Trispark module. Trispark sent me a new one for a great price even though it was long off warranty. I will remove all of the wiring and rework it this winter as the original harness is getting pretty rough. More to follow....
Winter 2016 update:
For several years I have had a light tapping coming from my primary case which i have not been able to find. This year while changing clutch plates I discovered the steel center of my Lucas rotor was loose. I replaced it with a like unit and hope I have fixed this issue. Sitting on the bench you cannot move the steel center, it is only when tightened on the machine that it moves. One more thing to put on my checklist for future inspections.
Yet more updates in my Blog.....
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-summer-of-16-life-with-norton-and.html
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/01/70-bsa-lightning-electrical-overhaul.html
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/01/70-bsa-lightning-maintenance-and.html
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/06/bsa-wiring-mechanical-upgrade-follow-up.html
July 2016 - Update
The BSA was out in May and the de-coke test was on. All carburetor and ignition settings had been returned to factory specs and I was ready to go. I was feeling pretty good about myself and thought I had everything sorted fairly well. This was not the case. My first rides were not successful as the bike started to backfire after about 20 minutes as the battery was going dead. My five year old battery was tested and found to be bad. Problem solved or so I thought. A new battery just made the bike run longer before it backfired. A thorough sorting through the wiring found two frayed wires with one shorting on the frame. Problem solved again? Nope.
Stock 12 volt coils. Wiring a bit ratty.
My wiring test diagram. Thanks Jason!
More on the electrical system. After all of the electrical work that was done on the BSA I was feeling pretty good about my recently acquired Lucas troubleshooting skills and thought I was good to go. After about 2 1/2 hours the battery started to drain down again and was at 10.5 volts when I made it home. The lights got dim and the horn did not work. I normally do not ride longer than this but wanted to learn how to put everything right. The last piece to look at was the alternator.
The clutch was also grabbing so I had a couple of reasons to pull apart the primary. There was a lot of oil in the plates which I cleaned before reassembly. Type F fluid was added this time instead of the 10/30 I have been using. This is popular with many BSA guys so I thought I would give it a try.
The culprit of my battery drain was found upon removing the alternator. One of the wires was cracked and not making contact all of the time. This explains why I was getting good and bad readings from my multi-meter out of the alternator and rectifier.
The new high output single phase unit from "The Bonneville Shop".
Uhhh....OK.....I will.......Thanks for the reminder.
The hardest part...fishing wires through the case.
A zip tie & the "push pull" method worked great...
...after 2 hours and internet research to figure it out.
I purchased a new high output single phase Lucas alternator, 16 amp output, from "The Bonneville Shop" This was installed and the battery charging issue is fixed. Although the rectifier and Zener are probably good I replace them with a Podtronics unit which is rated to match the alternator. Trispark ignition, 6 volt coils, 5k Ohm suppression plugs, transistor unit with starting capacitor, and a high output alternator. I think I am now finally set to go. Time to take a few rides and test it out. I sure learned a lot on this foray.
Installed and ready to test.....the alternator and Type F fluid.
Ok Lucas, I will trust you. Now its time to do your part.
Update: I guess I was right to "Trust Lucas" as the new alternator works great. A steady 14.3 volts out of the Podtronics unit from idle to 3000 RPM. The LED headlight and tail light are significantly brighter which will keep me visible to cars and alive. A good investment in my view. The type F fluid is much thinner than the 10/30 I had been using and leaks from many joints on the primary case; screw holes, inspection caps, etc. I will tighten things down a bit and give the gaskets time to settle in. The clutch stopped grabbing for a bit but is sticky again. Time for new plates as the old ones are close to lower limits. The verdict is still out on the Type F at this point although I am not liking the oil leaks.
The carbs were replaced with a re-sleeved set and the bike runs considerably smoother all across the range although there is still a bit of a stumble at high RPMs. I believe this is jetting and I will sort it out next spring.
The "missing" I was experiencing after the bike was out for an extended run was caused by a faulty Trispark module. Trispark sent me a new one for a great price even though it was long off warranty. I will remove all of the wiring and rework it this winter as the original harness is getting pretty rough. More to follow....
Winter 2016 update:
For several years I have had a light tapping coming from my primary case which i have not been able to find. This year while changing clutch plates I discovered the steel center of my Lucas rotor was loose. I replaced it with a like unit and hope I have fixed this issue. Sitting on the bench you cannot move the steel center, it is only when tightened on the machine that it moves. One more thing to put on my checklist for future inspections.
Yet more updates in my Blog.....
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-summer-of-16-life-with-norton-and.html
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/01/70-bsa-lightning-electrical-overhaul.html
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/01/70-bsa-lightning-maintenance-and.html
http://keepingtherockersrolling.blogspot.com/2017/06/bsa-wiring-mechanical-upgrade-follow-up.html
No comments:
Post a Comment