Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Bsa bulletin board Just acquired a '71 A65 (restoration project)

SRM used to supply NOS pump gears and other small parts, worth bearing in mind.

Can we see pics of the pump end plate inner face where the gears have been rubbing?

Nick L posted

"you should feed the rocker gear after the filter, just make up a tee piece and blank off the oil tree end."

Very good advice, this stops a partially restrictive filter diverting all the return oil in a loop back through the rocker feed.

Thanks, Gents, for all the comments and advice, all of which I have noted and greatly appreciate, also in the hope that others may benefit. Contributes to mental agility, too, much better than crossword puzzles.

Just the other day, a friend asked, "Do you have a winter project lined up?" "Funny you should ask, " I said ... .

Kinda figured that was rust in the gearbox. Even though I had drained and flushed it, when I got the inner cover off, there was more water sitting there. As to agony, I think I've been lucky so far in my experiment to just get it running without blowing it up.

Here's the oil pump endplate, as close as I could get it with my Kodak:

Nice pics of the end plate, the wear looks pretty typical, looks like there are rust shadows from sitting with moist oil for a while, it should clean up easily, I use 220 wet and dry stuck to a flat surface , with a figure of eight lapping motion.

Today I drained the gas tank, set it in the sun to dry, getting ready for the winter project.

I cleaned up the exposed right side of the motor, starting with the inner cover first, washing it down with paint thinner (mineral spirits), then pouring the used solvent through a paint filter into a waste jug. Check out the debris caught by the paint filter, stuff that did not come out of drain plugs or sump drains. Looks like tear-down time (ya think?). Had I gone into the right cover and oil pump before starting it up, I wouldn't have started it up. Now I'm eager to tear into it and see just what is shedding shards.

Kurt,
when you do get inside the engine, DO look at the wrist pin circlips, won't you?

With all that swarf, I'll also suggest you take the oil tank plate off the bottom of the frame{?}, or the oil tank off the bike, and make certain sure there is no swarf left in there to maybe get picked up sometime later???

YIKES!!!

What's interesting to me, the sumps and screens have been pretty clean in the three oil changes, and removing the OPRV, and the oil pressure sender, and the oil lines, draining and flushing the gearbox, and so on. This debris was lodged in the lower recesses between the main cases and the inside of the right hand cover, and it took some brushing and flushing to dislodge [the debris]from the sludge.

That circlip looks about the right size to be the one which holds the drive spindle in your oil pump.

That's a tappet circlip. I wouldn't worry about it.

Entertaining, isn't it? Maybe the clip was left behind during initial assembly in July 1971 ... .

I refuse to use those circlips for that reason. I usually pack some clean rag around the tappets to hold them in place when removing or fitting the cylinder.

Thanks to all, including the usual BSA suspects, for following this thread the past 3+ years, thanks for all the encouragement and for sharing your perspectives and BSA knowledge. I think it's now time to wind down this thread since I see Phase 1 of the project as complete.

When I started, I decided to get the bike running, fix things along the way, get it on the road and ride it, and see how I liked it. I've done that, and I like it, the bike and all 20 miles that I rode it this fall. The work turned out better than I had planned, and the bike nicer to ride than I had expected, so now it's time for Phase 2, starting with motor overhaul.

I will start a new thread soon for Phase 2.

Look forward to looking over your shoulder as Phase 2 begins. :bigt

Looks as if we'll be doing Phase 2 at the same time. At the very least I must rebuild my top end and clean the sludge trap. Going past that will depend on the projected cost of machine work.