Forward motion!

About 8hrs of garage time has been spent this week, for what might seem like little progress.  However, the project has made some important steps forward.

The footrests and gear change are fitted, the clutch cable is installed (what a saga!), and the headlight properly put together.  I've fitted the seat off the black C110D (it's not a C114 as I said in one of the earlier posts), but it's not an original seat and isn't a great fit.  I'll aim to sort out something better before the National Road Rally.  This is a good example of what has slowed me up over recent weeks, trying to get pattern parts to fit properly.  In quite a few cases I've had to refit the original item (such as with the clutch cable) and sacrifice having a nice shiny new part for something that fits/functions correctly.

Of course, what this all means is that it is rideable!  So I ignored the rain showers and carried out a few short runs somewhere quiet.  I was a bit wobbly at first but by the end I'd got used to the light weight of the bike, and the riding position.  Getting the engine nice and warm allowed me to set up the carburation to get a fairly reliable idle.  I also ran it up through each gear, so know that the gearbox is working as it should (as expected from the bench tests after the rebuild).  It's another important milestone.

I'd like to use the C110 for the Spirit of the Sixties classic run in two weeks time.  It's a bit of a stretch objective as it's 220 miles riding but it would make a great practice run for the National Road Rally.  The main thing that is likely to stop me now is getting the V5 back from the DVLA.  I'm hopeful I'll receive it in time, but you never know.

Unfortunately the head light bulb (main beam) has blown already. The only source I've found for these so far is quite expensive, so I need to get trawling the internet to look for somewhere else.  It appears to have had a poor seal, as there is a lot of soot on the inside of the glass.  At the moment this is the only item that would stop it failing an MOT (apart from the missing front brake cable!).

There are a pile of cosmetic things that need sorting, as well as a few more important jobs.

Things to do:
Get a stock of headlight bulbs!
Fit front brake cable
Fit front mudguard
Fit side panels
Fit chain case
Miscellaneous cosmetics
Make up a new carb float bowl gasket

No words necessary...

... well maybe just a few.  After dealing with a leaking float chamber (I need to buy some gasket material to make a new one), buzzing out the ignition coil and about 150 kicks I'd had no joy.  So, knowing that all worked well with the original ignition system way back at the start I removed the CDI setup.  It was a bit of a pain, necessitated removing the flywheel, stator plate and rewiring.  However, it was worth it as she started second kick.

I don't doubt the CDI will work, but there are some ambiguities in the instructions about the installation and (for now) I just need to get her on the road and get some miles under my belt.

After that second kick I'm not ashamed to admit that I performed a clenched fist victory dance around the garage, topped off with a few rather loud shouts.  It's a relief to say the least.

As it's a bit late I didn't run the engine to get it warm, so the idle mixture needs tweaking.  It's also shown up an oil leak from the gravity return through the cylinder head.  The head will have to come off again whilst I investigate.  But I don't care.  SHE RUNS!!!!!

Close, but no "brum-braa"

So it wasn't quite possible to get the bike running this week, but I'm close!

I spent quite a while getting confident that the wiring loom was all correct.  I'd expected that the powder coating of the frame was going to effect the earth continuity in a number of places, but it took longer to resolve than I'd hoped.  Still, I'm now confident the electrics are all working OK, at least the ones that don't require the engine to be running.  My only concern is that the spark looks a bit weak, I might have to try swapping to one of the other ignition coils that I have.

I've also got the refurbished speedo fitted, it's good to see the 'cockpit' looking so different to how it was at the start of the project.

Finally, the exhaust is on, and with the heat guards fitted.  This was definitely a 'glory job', nice and easy to do but it gave me a great deal of satisfaction when I stood back to look at it.  I'm tantalisingly close now, I just need to fit the oil lines and I'll be ready to attempt firing it up.  Oh, and sort out what to do with the mouse eaten air filter...

A multitude of little things.

I've had a bit of a blitz on the bike, to make up for the neglect of the recent weeks.  The project has reached that point where the amount of visible progress against effort reduces greatly.  So you'll have to take my word for it when I say that a lot of effort has gone into it this week (~12hrs)!

The wiring loom is now largely sorted.  I spent quite a few hours remaking connectors and re-routing the loom, applying spiral wrap within the frame to prevent any chaffing.  Like a lot of blokes I'm colour blind, making the identification of green, brown and red wires particularly difficult.  When the wiring loom is over 50 years old (this one has a manufacture date of 1963 on it) and the colours are faded it even becomes difficult to differentiate between the greens and the blues!  Fortunately my wife didn't mind spending a half hour in the garage with me working out what went where.  In the end it was a lot simpler than I thought it would be.  With a new battery on charge as I type then I'm not far off being able to check the lights etc. all work as intended.  Fingers crossed the time spent rebuilding the switch gear won't have been in vain.  So many fiddly little bits of metal and tiny little springs!

Throughout this project I've spent a lot of time on the internet trying to source some of the more obscure parts.  Last week I spent a good few hours looking for a supplier for the indicator bulbs.  The bike has 6V electrics and I guess there isn't the demand for bulbs for such bikes any more.  In the end I found them, for a very reasonable price, on Paul Goff's site (http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/).  I've used Paul for parts for my BSA in the past and the service is always good.

I've now fitted the rockerbox and set the valve clearances.  With the refurbished kickstart attached I've managed to take a compression reading.  It came out at 115psi, after a few kicks, which seems pretty good for a cold engine that needs running in.  Hopefully this is an indication that nothing has gone too awry with the rebuild of the top end.

The carb is also now on, nice and clean inside and with all standard settings.  Par for the course this threw up a small problem, the thread in the casting of the carb body is stripped on the fuel intake side.  There isn't enough material there for a thread insert so I'll have to use a through bolt with a nut on the otherside.  Not ideal but it will have to do.  I'm finding more little problems like this, which eat up time in the garage, as the reassembly goes on.  For instance I wanted to replace the M5 screws that hold the switch gear together.  Simple, I've got a large stock of suitable bolts, or so I thought!  It turns out that the thread pitch used on some of these earlier Japanese bikes are unusual.  Rather than the, now standard, 0.8mm pitch for M5 they used a 0.9mm thread pitch.  This has been the case with fasteners in a few places on the bike, the M10 bolts tend to use a less common thread pitch and the M6 studs for the rockerbox are also a slightly coarser pitch.  Nothing insurmountable but little details that slow things up.

The chain is now fitted so I can get on with aligning the wheels and fitting the nicely painted chain guard at some point.

Next major jobs are:
Finish the electrics (mount headlight, instrument bulbs and modify the fittings for the new battery)
Fit the exhaust system
Fit the tank

Once these are done I should be able to attempt starting it up.
The stretch objective is to fire it up this week!