1955 BSA Golden Flash restoration

goldy

Coast to Coast
DTT BOTM WINNER
I documented an engine/ transmission rebuild on the engine for this A10 about a year ago, so now that the rest of the bike is starting to go back together, I thought I might as well document the rest of the restoration on here too. The forks and wheels were rebuilt last winter as well and the owner, who is a very good friend of mine has been preparing the frame and body work for assembly. He brought the frame etc out a couple of weeks ago; he likes to get his hands dirty, so he comes over to help once or twice a week and I will spend a lot of my daytime hours fabricating the missing bits and pieces...and since this bike is being built from a pile of bits and pieces, there will be a lot of missing items. Anyhow, so far so good...we managed to get the forks on the frame and after replacing some broken brackets on the nacelle I finally got the front fender and shocks on. I had to fabricate a front axle which was missing and finally got the front wheel in place. On our next team effort, we got the engine and transmission bolted in. The rear wheel is temporarily in place so I can roll it off the lift if necessary. Today I put the transmission seal and a new sprocket on before installing the inner primary cover, primary chain and clutch, complete with new friction plates. I'll keep posting from time to time as things progress.
 

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Nice, but more pictures please! I would love to build an A10.
 
Ok...here's a pic of the primary, still got to make up a clutch release rod before I put the cover on, but things are slowly coming together...if you want to see the engine build here's the link:
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=64802.msg741318#msg741318
 

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Good to see an A10 on here, and agree with you about the bearing conversion not really being necessary but one mod I did on this build was to fit a Pearson clutch ....it makes the bike so much nicer to ride!
 

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That's a handsome machine...let one of them slip through my fingers a few years ago...too many bikes of my own and not enough ready cash. I guess you could say I listened to my head instead of my heart.
 
Well with Christmas and New Years behind us, it was time to get back to work. Mike came out to pitch in Wednesday night and we spent a few hours banging our heads against the wall trying to get some form of progress underway. To start with, the chainguard he had painted up all nice and pretty just didn't fit the machine at all, so over the holidays I had found the time to bang out the wrinkles from an ugly old one he had found that actually seemed to fit. We got that bolted into place and the missing bracket I had to fabricate for the rear fender struts was bolted on as well...let me tell you, that fender ain't going nowhere! We seemed to be making pretty good progress bolting on the oil tank, when we noticed that the oil line fittings were hard against the frame...it was removed again for further head-scratching and will be dealt with again soon. A suitable clutch rod was found and the clutch is all together now awaiting screws to hold the primary cover in place. Meanwhile I wanted to get the rear wheel fitted...this turned out to be a royal pain in the arse. So far the engine and most of the bike has gone together with relative ease, but the rear wheel is a bit of a hodge-podge...this is something I often run into when assembling a pile of bits and pieces that are supposed to represent a whole motorcycle. We had accumulated most of what we needed, but the parts may be from God-knows-what model and year. I enjoy a challenge and since I was missing the axle and QD stub shaft, I decided I would fabricate the parts myself rather than be held up for weeks trying to locate parts. I started off with the stub shaft, carefully measuring and fitting as I went until I was able to mount the brake and hub to the left side of the swing arm. That's when I noticed that the brake hub was having serious interference issues with the chain guard. Not wanting to cut up my nice finished sheet metal work, I thought I would just trim away the fins on the hub...nobody's gonna see that anyway, right? So I chucked it up in the lathe and carefully cut the fins down to the outside diameter of the brake hub, temporarily fitted it to check the clearance, then sprayed a bit of fresh paint on it and set it aside to dry. With that looked after, I turned my attention to making the axle...on this particular model, the axle goes right through the stub shaft and anchors the brake spring clip outboard of the stub shaft nut. All I had to go by for this job were memory and the drawings in the parts manual, so once again carefully and measuring and fitting as I went, I managed to make up a pretty decent axle on the first try. After loosely fitting the wheel, I measured the gap for the axle/wheel spacer machined one of those and with all the little bits and pieces finally done I tightened everything firmly in place...holding my breath, I gave the wheel a push and it spun freely. Total time to just get this rear wheel sorted out came to about five hours...worth it?...I don't know, but the sense of satisfaction when something like this comes together can't be bought.
 

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Well, things are moving slowly, but at least they are moving (two other projects on the go as well and then there is shoveling all that lovely snow).
Got the rear wheel mounting almost complete. Made up some chain adjusters, then fitted a new chain and mounted the brake torque arm. Still missing the brake lever, but I think I may have have found one that will work. Got the primary cover on, even managed to locate some old oil lines complete with fittings. After liberating the fittings from the hoses, they were cleaned and repaired, then mounted to the tank prior to installing it. This time the tank seemed to fit like it should, but not much room to spare. Managed to find a new tail light in my personal stockpile and fitted that to the tail light bracket...thought the bracket would look nice with some chrome trim, since the fender brackets are chromed too...not perfectly original, but it looks pretty nice all the same.
 

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Nothing really picture worthy this week, but took care of a lot of fiddly little time consuming jobs. The rear brake is now hooked up and functional after cleaning up and straightening an old brake rod I found in the parts bin, also had to file out a spline on a spare brake lever to fit the square end of the brake camshaft...the old one had broken and was welded together; I wouldn't have felt comfortable with it. The foot pegs are now in place, but not without some major effort...they were all painted a nice shiny black, but were bent and needed to be straightened...and then repainted again. The right side peg mount was incorrect and had to be cut and welded back together to shorten it enough to bring the peg into position nearer the transmission. After that, I had to make a new through bolt to hold them all together as the two I had were both just too short to do the trick. The tool box was fitted after straightening out the clip that holds it shut and the voltage regulator has been reconditioned and mounted. Cleaned up the contact posts on the lighting switch...should be good for another 60 years (and we all complain that Lucas electrical equipment is the shits). Spent about an hour looking for a front brake torque arm and eventually found it still fastened to a spare brake hub, stripped off the old purple metallic paint and sprayed it black before bolting it to the right fork and brake hub. Even the old chronometric speedo cleaned up well, seems to work properly and is ready for mounting. The carb has been disassembled and is sitting in the ultrasonic bath at this time waiting for reassembly.
 
Got a bit more of the fiddly stuff looked after this week. Machined a new primary cover plug from aluminum. Was missing the front battery strap, so grabbed a piece of stainless steel and made up one of those. Cleaned and painted the old Lucas brake light switch and mounted it to the frame...another 60-year-old 'Prince of Darkness' piece of equipment ready for another 60 years of service. Rooted through my personal stock and found some handlebar switches that will do the trick. Fitted the speedometer...not an easy job getting a very old NOS rubber mount to conform to the task. Cleaned up and reassembled the carburetor, which was overall in very good condition. Contrived a foam air filter to fit into the air filter body and have ordered new seat springs to go with the seat...the springs currently fitted are far too long as they were used on the earlier plunger frame model. Didn't have much luck finding cables for this bike, so I think I will be modifying some others, or making them from scratch. Soon time to lay out the wiring harness and then see if the exhaust system Mike purchased about a year ago will fit.
 

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And...YES! With a tiny bit of growling and grumbling, the exhaust actually fit! As previously mentioned it was purchased about a year ago on sale as slightly damaged seconds. The head pipes were missing the clips that are supposed to hold them to the frame and one of the mufflers has very minor corrosion damage, but not in a noticeable location. The pipes came with 'p' clamps to take the place of the missing clips...not exactly concourse, but I build these machines to be ridden, not hidden, so they will do the trick. After cutting and drilling some 1/8" steel plate, to form muffler brackets they were fitted and the whole system is now bolted firmly in place. So...that's a few more pieces of the puzzle.
 

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How did I miss this until now. Good stuff man, watching this for sure.
 
This week, got the wiring harness hooked up and all the control cables fitted. This morning fitted a new set of plug wires, hooked up and primed the oil lines, then after lunch topped up all oil levels put the carb on the IV unit and gave her a boot. IT'S ALIVE! Engine sounds strong and free of any extra mechanical noise. Only a few things left to do and it will be ready for the road. ;D
 
Nothing picture worthy this time...seat springs came for the solo seat and I got it fitted. Just waiting for the gas tank and that will be it until it is warm enough to get the machine on the road and start shaking it down. Meanwhile, a sort of blast from the past came knocking. Mike had not heard it running so he came out this morning and we fired it up again, after that little bit of fun, we shut her down and sat around shooting the breeze for a while. During the ensuing conversation, it turned out that the fellow who had died while working on the engine about 25 years ago was an old friend of mine, who I used to do a lot of machining for. Every once in a while something that he and I worked on together comes out of the woodwork and falls into my lap...brings back a lot of good memories of a kind-hearted, gentle giant of a man who tragically died long before his time. Gives this whole project a bit more meaning. RIP Nick.
 
Yahoo! Finally got the fuel tank!!! Put the badges and knee grips on it and set it on the machine. Also geared up some little front license plates to cover up those holes in the front fender. Still have to fit a centre bolt to hold everything in place and fit the petcocks but that should be about it until it is warm enough to bring it outside and start riding it. Will take some nicer pics then...maybe even a little video when it's finally on the road.
 

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Got the last little bits and pieces looked after today...all ready to start its road tests and see what falls off. :) Took a few more pics outdoors this afternoon...
 

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Had the old girl out for about 20 minutes this morning (29 Feb)...nothing fell off, nothing made any weird noises. In fact the machine performed flawlessly. Time for it to go home, hopefully I'll see it out on the road a lot this summer.
 
Oldie but a goldie mate that's a great resto love the old brits bet she sound's as good as she looks 8), you should be so proud gonna be turning heads when summer comes 8).
 
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