Lowe's Saves the day!

Well, I had no idea the thread pattern or how hard it would be to determine which petcocks I needed for this old Brit bike. So today with part in hand my son and I ventured to Lowe's. We spent about 30 minutes checking thread patterns in the store and viola! It is a 3/8" pipe-thread. Easy cheesy! Time to order.

Petcock Trouble!@

Tonight I put the old (but cleaned out) petcocks back on the bike, installed the tank and put about a gallon of fuel in her. It looked like a sprinkler under there! The right petcock was leaking from all over the place, but where the petcock attached to the tank itself was completely dry but I definitely have a bad petcock. The ones on it now are some aftermarket that are all pitted and in terrible shape.

Paint!

Well I have been reading on the internet and I found a site where they were talking about how "they used to do it". Some old timer was saying that all his great paint jobs came from the Cosco. (That was a drug store popular in the 60's and 70's). Anyway, he was going on and on about how we spend too much money on paint when we can put some work in it and do a damn fine job ourselves. So I read his article, clicked print, closed the page then went to the work printer to realize it was out of order.... So I lost the article and the print... just damn lovely... So I started writing all of it down that I could remember. He said there were a few basic steps and I am going to write them out here.
1) Use fine grit sand paper to prepare the already painted tank/fender/etc
2) Prime with a decently thin primer (*no house thick crap he said to be exact*)
3) Now paint! Make nice even strokes with your aerosol can (using your choice color).
4) Dry with a hair dryer from about 10 inches till you get the top of the paint almost baked *Being careful to not blow directly onto wet paint and make it run*
5) Just as the top of the paint is almost dry from #4 then you sprinkle the glitter of your choice on the paint.
6) Continue to dry paint with hair dryer.
7) Spray generously with clear coat aerosol till she looks wet and shiny.
8) Dry with hair dryer using same technique as # 4

9) Now paint that sucker again with the exact same color and refer to #5, then 6, then 7, then 8, then done!
9) Optional # 9 .. use a different color to do the edges of the parts and leave the center the original color now refer to #5, then 6, then 7, then 8, then done!

RAWR!! It has fire!!

Today the carbs are moving freely and feel like they are ready for fuel. So like every internally combusted engine it needs 3 things....

1) Fuel
2) Spark
3) Air

So I hooked up the battery charger to the leads on the bike (note: tank is still off and no fuel going to the carbs yet). I kinda cringed due to it just makes me nervous on the first hookup... I took the sparkplug out of the left cylinder and also the right one. I left the left wire connected to the plug and laid it on top of the head so I could rotate the engine with my right hand (via the kick starter) and watch for spark... nothing... over and over... nothing

Next I thought I should just keep it simple before I panic. I checked the clips holding the 2 battery wires. Woohoo. I hadn't made sure they connected well. Tried the kick over trick with my hands and POOF! I have fire... hellz to the yeah!

The 2 hard parts of the equation are done. Now providing the timing is correct I should be busting bugs within a week or so.

Left to do before firing:
1) finish cleaning rust from the tank
2) install newly working petcocks
3) put on tank
4) buy fuel lines and filter
5) install fuel lines and filter
6) buy a battery
7) install battery


This should put her running. Then I just have to put the rear fender back on and bolt down the seat. Closer and closer every day!

Took the tops off the Amal Carbs

Well, my wife was taking my son to put him in the bathtub so I figured it was time for a mad dash to the garage to see if I could get those carbs working better.

I started by taking the 2 screws off the top of them Amal 930 on the driver side. The spring and cable assembly came out like it should and I gave the inner part a push down and away it went.. Lots of carb cleaner later it is moving like it should@!

So I repeat on the passenger side carb and viola! Both are sliding and closing properly. Not sure if the fuel will be metered properly but that is definitely a start!

I did notice a funny shaped U clip that holds the metering needle and it appeared to have a crack in it. I didnt mess with it but left it where it was and figured to make a mental note (and internet note) so if the drivers carb stops working I might have a reason why.

20 minute bath time is over for my 2 year old so time to jet!

Throttle will twist today!

NICE! OK, lots of carb cleaner late and now the cables will open the carbs up. However, the spring isnt strong enough to close them yet. I figure a few more days worth of cleaning will help my situation. Still not to the point I am ready to pull the carbs off and start taking them apart yet for a rebuild. I truly believe I can clean them out and get them working without that.

I started looking over the electrical today... noticed a hanging wire near the headlight that is just 2 bare wires... guessing thats a bad sign... figuring on an entire rewire and with the hopes of JockeyJournal would assume that shouldn't be too bad.

Progress on Carbs today!

Well, both carbs appear to be seized up. I unhooked the twist throttle from the cables to see if one of them was the culprit of why the throttle would not turn and no dice. So I filled each cable with carb cleaner and then moved toward the engine!

I took off both breathers and sprayed a huge amount of carb cleaner over the air inlet and the bleeder valve*(yay stinky finger club time!). Both bleeder valves were even seized up so I started with a rubber handled rachet and a dead blow hammer to nudge them downward. Both popped right down but only one popped up... ugg

I kept spraying and pulling, pulling and spraying. Felt like I was making progress but nothing changed. I pulled both plugs and put about 1/5 of a quart of motor oil in the cylinders so I could roll it over and check for compression... RAWR... thats what the meat and potatoes of the 60's felt like when it blew that huge gust of air out!! Compression is very very strong. Will look thru the toolboxes this weekend to get an actual reading.

Ok, back to the carbs. More spray... more pulling of the cables. Neither cable ever moved however the other bleeder valve did pop back up!!! WOOHOO! That is progress for the day. Time to play with Blaine and then get some rest for tomorrows 30min to 1 hour of work on the bike.

Carb cleanings

Began on first day by filling fuel lines with Carb Cleaner (Gumout). Gonna let it sit overnight, but work on the BSA project is definitely on hold until the Harley is up and running. Finished hoses on the Harley tonight, so just a tad bit of wiring tomorrow and it should be up and running.

Brought bike home today!!

Drove 3.5 hours to Barbourville, Ky to buy a 1969 BSA Lightning.