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The Firebird has two carbs and idles perfectly with no balancer on the modified Thunderbolt head, both carbs are working correctly at idle so starting is instant. It's a bit of a revelation in the department of being 'nice'. The hard chrome slides on these carbs look like they will last for ever like VM Mikunis. At less than $100au a pair they are brilliant. They are not Amals but they look closer than the VMs being physically smaller.

Just seen this one, mis-labelled too!HERE

Depends what was done in fitting new seats. If the old seats were removed completely, the head welded up then machined for replacement seats, it is very likely that there would be some distortion, but I'd expect anyone doing this to skim the head a little when re-profiling the combustion chambers. Just fitting inserts to the existing seats should not cause distortion. On any head, whether skimmed or not, the pushrod "crush" will vary, and needs to be checked/set. I often use alloy PRT's, as I can machine them if the "crush" is too tight. Take Don's words on this as gospel.
Mick.

The problem with the meter is all it can do is tell you the wavelengths it sees
So translucient lacquors over reflective base costs are still going to be a problem for nearly all of the unit engine models.
Then there is oxidation , UV degredation& chemical reactions to take into account .
Has the Shell 1 race fuel the owner was running in his catalina reacted with the pigments & chaged the colour inside the filler neck ?
The original A 10 golden beige which is a wonderful colour is the colour it is because the beige was applied over the previous black top coat .
To the human eye this makes it look greenish in direct sunlight
Latter models that were beige from the start look totally different because they are applied over a cream undercoat.
Then even if you make an exact match, no 2 people will see the colour the same in any case as we all see colour subjectively .
I made thousand out of this taking colour proof to & from trade houses to the designers & back to the printers , all day & all night .
Then once you have an absolute colour match you need to find a paint where that exact colour is able to be created and that is a lot harder than most would believe .

When I had finished the NTD course I had the option of doing extensions in either thermionics or acoustic emission.
I of course too Accoustics, a technology that failed myserably in the market place.
Therimonisc works the same as MM meters, backwards to determine the temperature by the colour of the light coming off it .

The other problem is knowing the exact colour of the reflecte light off the tank and knowing how to replicate it are two totally different things.
So knowing the exact colour is of little use if the paint manufacturers can not reproduce the exact colour or the techniques needed to obtain it .

I did a lot of statics with the same Ken Shane mentioned and he was fanitical about doing a perfect restoration on his A10 and lots of supposedly exact replica parts got sent back because they were not .

The paint on his bike was a single coat of beige over black enamel and he took forever to get it correct ( as he rememberd it ) using the usual parts for matching. Dulux actually made an Acaran colour based on his supplied chips but he even rejected that .
Ken had a funny sence of humour & on more than one occasion the followig conversation occurred
Idiot Moron " nice bike pos , had it long "
Ken "a while "
IM " good restoration but the colour is not quite right , did you do it yourself "
Ken " that is the colour it was when I bought it "
IM "so when was that ?"
Ken , producing the original purchase reciept from his wallet " Can't remember I got the reciept here but without my glasses I cant read the date "
Shows the 1950 reciept to IM who then goes a nice shade of embarssed red & slithers away to annoy some one else .

And for a slight variation
Bendon did a photo shoot of undies hanging off Elle McPherson
They were short of time so in place of shooting the entire range for the posters, they shot a single colour then used a brand new piece of softwear to change the colours using the precise colour provided by the factory translated ito Pantone .
Thses proofs went back & forth dozens of times but got rejected because the colour was wrong.
Bendon flew in brand new samplse of the undies and these were photographed to check the colour translation and everything was perfect.
Then the trade house realised that the colour had to be as it appeard on a models bum because the flesh tones showed through
So he shoved his hand inside the undies , shot that with is colour meter, adjusted the proof & every one was happy with a paper soft proof & posters .
It was then decided to do them as a durotrans for a back lit display and again the colour was wrong & had to be adjusted for the colour of the unbelievably expensive tubes in the display cabinets .

Colour is a funny thing.

I'd hazard a guess that the machining fixture of the Aerco manufacturer locates most of the machining operations together, and depends on where the rough casting sits in the fixture. Given that this is a fairly rough sand casting, I can easily see why the casting could be "off" to the machining, I guess you have got one of the more extreme ones. As well as the Aerco, I use T140 barrels (for a 10 stud setup) in pre-unit engines, and you have to remove still more from the crankcase mouths as well as removing most ot the lugs in the crankcase mouth (none of the "essential" screws). I am not sure that the spigot holes and the tappet block holes in the cases are particularly accurate in the original crankcases, as they only need to be clearance.
Glad you are on the way!

You must have been the culprit who prompted his comparison of the unit singles and Gold Stars as scramblers, and Bert Perrigo's reaction.
I thought all of the guest speakers were great. Even the Highway Patrol cops were good public speakers.

The tent was utterly packed for all of them, and rightly so.

As someone who used to "get things going" at the expense of an imagined final build quality, I've found that it's a false economy. I had a "dry build" that got ridden for the better part of a decade, because stripping the bike and fixing all the niggles didn't sound that fun, so just didn't happen until it absolutely needed to happen. It was a waste of time, money and energy to not do it right from the start, and that's with no major breakdowns (or injuries!).

With a gearbox on a Triton, there is a lot of disassembly involved just to get that thing out of the frame. They do not come out easily. Much of the internal work on a gearbox can be done in the frame, but if you've got dodgy castings, you're MUCH better off to fix them permanently now and be done with it.

I think PRORAD is referring to the Enfield 500cc made by Steve Linsdell and ridden by his son Olie, see This Link, certainly a remarkable achievement for an old Enfield.

That is very much not stock. "Stock" is a clamp-on affair with a lug above the clamp that leverages onto the engine plates, so as not to spin on the tube and cause the bike to fall over. They are not perfect by any means, but I'd suggest better than what has been rigged to your bike.

The good news is you can cut and grind that thing off and get a new or used stock sidestand to clamp on your frame. Their weak point seems to be the lug that can break off if you kick the bike on the stand.

Another option I've seen is a Kawasaki ZX6 sidestand (can't remember what year is best) that is mounted to an aluminum plate, that is then mounted to an engine plate, either the front one or between the motor and gearbox, behind the primary chaincase.

Hi, I seem to be getting a small puddle of oil coming from the timed breather outlet. I was thinking about drilling and tapping a hole in the crank cases so that I could have an extra breather pipe that is directed straight up into a small catch can that is vented so that the oil can drain back into the crank case. I would also direct the breather from the oil tank to this circuit. Has anyone done this or know a reason why it should not be done? TIA. Rod

How are you enjoying the B44 VS? They seem to be far less raw than the B50.

I’m in, bringing the truck and 2 bikes. No ETA yet….Won’t need a cabin…

We can but hope, Gordon.

Do you guys still do the Hillbilly Convention Centre?

That was with my battery charger on the 'High charge' setting and eventually dropped back to 0 Amps.
My point is there were 0 Volts at the Zeners.

Thanks for the info. It is a clone. A nice one, though.

See For Sale Forum

BSA Gold Star muffler for sale.
Not restoration quality – but very nice used condition.
It is Made in England – probably by Wassell.
I can tell that by the clamping ‘ears’ with the polished nut and bolt that the repos do not have.
Also. it has the perforated core.

The imperfections are not very visible from the top or sides.
There is only one small ‘ding’ on the inside and some scratches and very small dings on the outside.
As usual the pics do not show the imperfections well.

Actually it looks very nice if not restoration quality.

$125.00
Shipping from California ranges from $13 to $26 to NY.
6 lbs 30 x 5 x 5

Contact for photos
Ron
ph. 818-361-3046
[email protected]

Plague/cold/cabin fever/winter blues is gettin to some here !?!
Turn the heater up to 'surface of the sun' setting, and it will pass !

Like this pic - could solve a head problem I have, that needs opening out for a bigger spigot.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51835347097_7345a2e66f_k.jpg

Don,

I use Imgur as well. Free and super easy.

https://imgur.com/


In the meantime, if you click on my name and select "view profile" you will see my email address.

wow wee i learn something new every day on this site a gold mine o mechanical knowledge as good if not better than college and much appreciated

This silencer has been sold. Another being listed shortly.

in time they will develop a split or 2 around the top edge, ok it doesnt look flash but leave them unless they are real bad, makes getting speedo/tacho out way easier ..

..if you want a pig try the A10 narcel one ....damm near impossible to get the speedo sitting straight

Today's task welding the many extra holes in the rear mudguard, of which there were quite a lot. Some holes are of course meant to be there. Such as where the mudguard attaches to the frame or to it's stays, plus fixing for the number plate, just what the other dozen were for who knows.



As the welding torch was to hand I also took the opportunity replace upper toolbox mount. As acquired there was only the one, but upon careful examination the remains of a broken weld showed the there should have been another above it.

Pete, I don't know much about Nikasil Plating. Is it very expensive?