The world can seem increasingly small sometimes, especially when something once thought lost returns to us.
At lunch time, I rarely stay at the office; I walk, regardless of the season. I work in an older neighborhood that is on the wrong side of an actual set of tracks. That being said, there are many interesting century homes and industrial buildings to see.
Once in a while I even get to spot an interesting vehicle (see my CZ post from a couple years ago) though not too often.
While walking today however, something caught my eye. It was the face of an old friend, a late 60's MG Midget, the first car I ever drove.
The closer I got to the car, the more it looked like myMidget.
Could this be the very same beast I fell in love with 28 years ago?
It was rather like spotting an extraordinary former flame in the most mundane of places; With time, one is never quite sure yet a familiar magic remains in those eyes....
I remember the BMC logo on the seat belts, the mostly black body work with spots of primer. I can recall the chrome and polished alloy accouterments under the bonnet.
I will never forget the sound she made, nor the feeling she gave me.
In some regards, restoring a bike back to spec is easy. By easy, I mean having definite guidelines and photographic references to follow. Hard work? Absolutely. Once you have all the right parts however, it can be similar to building a life sized Airfix kit.
Building a custom bike or something from random parts can be much more challenging; Often the smallest victories yield the greatest rewards.
My latest victory was in the form of a tail light. As trivial as it may sound, I could not find the right tail light/brake light for this build. This had actually been driving me to distraction for the better part of two years.
I played around with a variety of different styles, finally settling on an original English made Sparto piece that I fabricated a lens for.
Close, but not quite.
It looked good and was very, very close to being right. It just wan't right enough.
Back to the drawing board.
My criteria was fairly straightforward. I wanted something that looked period, flowed with the bike and was functional. I also wanted something unique and lighter than the Sparto unit. To make life harder, I didn't want a repop item from China or India. There is a cheapness to these items that always seems to let the side down.
Cruising around on Ebay, I spotted something a little bit different. It was an NOS Lucas light I had never seen before, a model VT31. There wasn't much online about it, just that it was used on bicycles and mopeds primarily. The asking price was low, so I took a chance.
Rather than fabricate a backing plate, I decided to modify something I already had.
The plate is most certainly a DIY item, I have no idea what the off-set drilled holes were for.
The first step was to weld some plate on the back to cover the holes. I then welded some steel washers into the holes and removed the plate on the back. Next, I lined up the light in order to drill the mounting holes.
Then a little filler and a bit of paint.
Front
Side view
I am really happy with the way that this turned out. It certainly checks all the boxes for me with the added bonus of having lots of character. Although hard to see in the photos, the light is actually adjustable so I can fine tune when the rear mudguard is in place.
Now that I am firmly determined to complete the Matchless twin by spring, the time has come to put together the engine.
While I did a dry fitting last year, I didn't thoroughly measure the crankshaft journals, camshaft lobes or check for 'Ovaling' in the connecting rods. The motor seemed to be in decent shape when I tore it down; I naively hoped that after a good cleaning and check of the oil passageways it would go right back together and run!
I decided to forgo this flight of fantasy and do the job properly.
I started by looking at the connecting rods I had and weighed them in order to find a balanced pair.
The pair that came with the engine weighed in at exactly 12.84 oz each. Numbers 2 and 3 weighed in at 14.53 and 14.29 oz respectively. Lonely number 5 on the end came in at a whopping 15.03 oz.
Interestingly, all Matchless/AJS twin con rods from 1949 to 1964 have the same part number, 014134. In the course of my research, I found a valuable snippet from the Jampot forum which explains the differences.
Early Rods for '49-'51 had a thin 'H' stem section and less material around the small end Series 2 from '51- Had a thicker 'H' stem section however material around the small end is unchanged. Series 3 featured more metal around the small end. Series 4 featured even more metal around the small end. Series 5 featured the addition of the chamfered shoulders. These changes would reflect the heavier load on the rods as capacity increased from 500cc to 550cc to 600cc and finally 650cc.
Looking at the lightest pair, I would assume they are Series 2 as the 'H' section seems the same as the heavier units.
The stock G9 Crankshaft Journals are 1.625" stock, mine come in at 1.615 according to my micrometer. This means .010 oversize bearings, fortunately I have a NOS set.
As I went to fit the series 2 connecting rods, I found that one side would move freely and the other would bind. I attempted to flip the orientation of the rods to see if that made a difference, however there was no joy. I then fitted the heavier rods and all moved well without issue, however the bearings didn't sit very tightly in the conrods. The orientation of the later rods is easy to determine due to a chamfer on the shoulder of the rod which needs to face away from the center of the crank.
I did look on the shelf and pulled out a later crank which fit nicely into a nice set of '54 AJS cases
I had bought a couple of years ago. These journals also measure at 1.615" however one side has suffered from exposure and is now rusty.
The earlier crankshaft
Later Crankshaft. Note the corrosion on right journal side. It looked much worse before a bit of WD40 and scotchbrite.
All hope is not lost though as I found a great YouTube video demonstrating cheap, easy and effective crank polishing. My next job is to measure the connecting rods properly, save the crankshaft and see what can be put together.
I confess that I didn't get a lot done over the Christmas break, however I did manage to accomplish several small jobs.
One of these items was the construction of a battery box for the G9 project. The 1955 frame is a unique one in a few different regards, one being the off-set side mounted battery placement.
Rather than look for an original, I decided to make my own with some scrap lying around. The box is a little oversize in order to accommodate (small) tools and mountings for my exhaust (more on that next post). This will also give me more leeway when I eventually buy another battery.
It is always a pleasure to make my own parts, no matter how primitive they may be. This is the freedom that comes with building a (mild) custom bike rather than a concours restoration.
I wasn't able to take pictures during the welding/cutting/grinding phase, but you get the idea.
The box has since been coated in black chassis paint, the strap came from a discarded Bell & Howell Filmo camera.
