Britbike forum Forums Thread Like Summary - Hornet, Wasp, Spitfire Hornet, Cyclone (Restored)

Ok folks, this is a start to restoring the thread started by Gary E. It's a little bit raw, I'll dress it up if it becomes necessary.
Hope you like it, feel free to post away.

Hornet, Wasp, Spitfire Hornet, Cyclone (pages 1 to 64)

The '65 Spitfire Hornet tank that I brought back from the dead. See earlier images. Now ready for base coat/clear coat primer/sealer then paint and clear.

Here is the latest on the '65 Cyclone Competition build. It's going a bit slow as some parts are hard to source. I had to fabricate the rear sprocket on a milling machine since I couldn't find an original. It is different than '66 and newer. The bolt pattern spacing is 2-5/8" instead of the newer 2-1/2".

I let my powder coater handle the whole job. She also uses a primer coat prior to top coat.

Attached Images

I don't have a 65 Cyclone but I do have a 64! Just fresh out of restoration. Very happy with it, don't know anyone over here that's actually seen one.

Handlebars for my West Coast Hornet. It has the part # stamped on them.
ljm

This shows the wall thickness.

Thanks Gary

Since it is larger, and the fill neck is taller, it is more difficult to to install than the standard oil tank. Installation can be done from the right side, and it needs to go in before the rear fender is installed.

Great job on the repair!

Great job Gary. A few of us are purists we do it for many reasons and it’s never easy. Knackered nuts and bolts don’t cut it. Every detail has to be correct even if you can’t see it. It’s sort of the spirit of restoration.
Plenty of room in the vintage motorcycle world for us all and it’s all highly respected.

Gary

That is one fine job on that repair.I would have to say you definitely saved that cyclone. from the scrap pile.

ljm

Back to the side cover repair. After multiple steps, Phase 2 is complete. All repairs have been made. After stripping the cover of its "as received" condition, it had multiple issues in need of repair, most of which were hidden by all of the layers of various colored paint over the years. It was not the worst cover I've had to re-build, but not the best either.

An image of the typical issues after grinding out the bad areas.





The cracks and ground out areas were reinforced on the backside. The top corner was reinforced when it is constantly pushing on the frame tube when mounted. As a result, this spot typically develops a crack in the paint over time..



The oil tank filler cutout is a typical spot for breakage. It was also reinforced on the backside.



The chipped corner was reinforced on the backside, then filled in with flox for strength.



The missing leading edge was fiberglassed up and then built-up with a flox mixture for strength. A top layer of glass was added to avoid any possibility that a crack could develop.



The cover is now ready for primer and paint.

Gary

The sidestand that was on my west coast hornet is the one on the left. It has attach points that are thicker than the 66 sidestand and a different bolt. Of course it could be the wrong one that was on it. The parts number say the 66 and 67 years are the same. Which one goes on it?

Gary

Ok thanks. That was about the only thing that I have found on this bike that wasnt correct. The only other thing was the side covers. Someone had trimmed about a half inch off the top of the covers. Probably had nicks on them. I looked at them for a long time scratching my head.

ljm

That still pisses me off that got dumped. Like throwing away an encyclopedia.

I have a folder with 63 pages recovered from archives or somewhere. I've not looked at this in some time, but I just quickly looked at a couple of pages. None of the photos on those 2 pages have been photo*ucketed. All pages are saved as MHTML files. Someone smarter than me must know how to recover this. Or at least make a repository of these files so they are accessible. There was some effort underway at the time which seemed to work, but not sure what happened with that.

I would be exceedingly happy to see this material get back into circulation and will pass on copies to anyone who could do that. Gary as OP you might PM me and I might be able to share on dropbox or something.

This might be the most useful thing I've ever done in my life.

Ray

With the help of Richard P. and BrizzoBrit I got the last couple of parts sourced for the NOS ET coils. Assembled them to the triangular brackets and temporarily mounted on the bike. I had to fabricate the "U" shaped wire tabs on the condensors as I didn't find a Lucas part number for them.

https://mikesclassiccyclespares.com/product/66-5541/
https://bsaunitsingles.com/itemlist.wws?cpubcode=bsa&category=Wheels

Burton Bike Bits still have 66-5541 listed as in stock. I bought one a couple of years ago. It is the original M20 part with a small diameter hole for the spindle. I drilled out the hole and had it replated. The actual A65 part with the larger hole is 68-6102

Glad you revived the thread.

No dogleg, nor right angle bends. Bent in the middle, then more at each end. But each ends bend is different. I've always found I have to tweek the bends a little to make both left and right sides fit correctly. Typical BSA. They both have the same part number.

Lookin good Gary!!!

ljm

It's coming along nicely.

fantastic work

nice set of ET coils you have there .

Picked up the Cyclone tank and side covers from my painter today.

Bringing a '65 Spitfire Hornet tank back from the dead.

AS RESCUED


Multiple layers of paint stripped down to the original gelcoat. Gelcoat heavily deteriorated.


Prior attempts to seal the tank.


Lots of tank rot.


All deterioration and damage repaired and filled.


All previous attempts at sealing removed, seams and tank rot repaired and filled.

Before and after first batch of parts back from the powder coat shop for '65 Spitfire Hornet restoration. I prep them before I deliver them to the powder coater. Time to start assembly.

We've had disagreements.........but you really are an artist at this and I'm sure this will turn out just as stunning as your other work.

Gordon

I utilize 80 grit glass bead blasting medium in the blast cabinet. It works well, but some parts like the brake drums where the original black paint has been baked on can be very stubborn and slow to remove. I use it to clean aluminum parts before the polishing process, and also to clean and remove paint from fiberglass parts. If the blast gun is not held in one place it works fine on gel coated parts. Epoxy paints are stubborn to remove, as are powder coated parts.

I usually burn the powder coat with the ac torch, then it comes off in the blast cabinet.

Sharp looking!

Ian
SoCal

'65 Spitfire Hornet is coming along nicely.

Tank looks new already.