3 year Velocette rebuild

[GoFarKid]

The Rockerbox had a scored tappet bearing, and some broken screws, all of which had to be sorted out. It was also warped on the base, and had to be ground flat on a glass sheet.

 

[GoFarKid]

The old mudguard was stainless, and cleaned up well from 30 years ago! With some new shocks, and the powder-coated rear light housing, it is starting to look like a real bike!

 

[GoFarKid]

The wheels were a real state. The spokes were rusted badly, but the alloy rims were not buckled. New Stainless spokes, a lot of elbow grease, and I was very pleased with the result

 

[GoFarKid]

Horror of horrors, the bottom yoke was bent. The forks were splayed out. i managed to find the last new original bottom yoke on the planet, and turned the old on off, and silver soldered the new one in. Phew...all good.

 

[GoFarKid]

I stripped the Dynamo, cleaned it up, the powder coated the casing, and rebuilt the internals...

 

[GoFarKid]

The toolbox was badly corroded. I cleaned it up, brazed some new plat in, filled the gaps, and powder coated it. I then turned up a stainless knob, and knurled it...not too shabby!

 

[GoFarKid]

The Tank was next...rough but solid. One small hole, caused from vibrating on the cylinder head. I cleaned it, silver soldered the hole, and filled the dents.

 

[GoFarKid]

Then I cleaned the inside, by rotating the tank on a shaft, with it holding some wood screws. Then washed it with acetone, dried it, and lined it with Caswell

 

[GoFarKid]

I made a makeshift spraying booth, mounted the tank on a rotating mount, and put multiple base, top coats on. The added some logos, and did my own pin-striping (practicing first on a bucket). Finally a few coats of topcoat, and I was happy about how it came out. Not perfect, but good enough.

 

[GoFarKid]

I could only get a pattern stainless front mudguard. The rolled front edge was horrible, so I silver soldered a stainless rod in, buffed it up, and it came out very nice.

 

[Maritime]

Love instant build threads that actually span years.

 

[GoFarKid]

I don't have any good images, but the wiring loom was shot to hell. I built my own wiring. 6V, positive earth, but a separate earth wire, and LED bulbs, and a 14 AH battery, so even if the Dyno fails, I have 8+ Hours of headlight illumination. I lightly serviced the mechanical regulator. All seemed to work well

 

[GoFarKid]

Then I put a new Exhaust & Silencer on, and Voila. I have been riding him again for about 3 years now, he goes well, but I did have to pull him down to replace the rings and the Big end (which I should have done the first time!)

 

[Jimbonaut]

Christ that's gorgeous

 

[GoFarKid]

Christ that's gorgeous

Thanks Man, its great to have him back on the road. This Christmas i took him for a 400 mile ride down to Key West from Florida, and he was just purring along!!! Great to have an old friend back on the road.

 

[teazer]

I just noticed the tank and front brake. Is that a Thruxton by any chance?

 

[GoFarKid]

I just noticed the tank and front brake. Is that a Thruxton by any chance?

Well he is a mongrel, with a number of Clubman and Thruxton bits (TLS front brake for example), but he does not have a Thruxton cylinder head, and GP carb, which are the bits that really count!

 

[GoFarKid]

I thought I would add a few posts on the subsequent work.
Firstly, I have spent Waaaaayyyy too much time trying to improve the clutch. Including fabricating my own "Basket" in the hope it would be better than the Velo chainwheel....It worked perfectly, but was no improvement on the original...yet. I have a few more ideas for modifications in the future.

 

[GoFarKid]

Next, the Big end had too much play, so the following winter I stripped the engine down, and rebuilt the crankshaft. That involved making a system to press it apart, lapping in a new roller big end, pressing it back together, truing it, and then re-balancing the flywheels. It took ages, but now the bottom end is perfect!

 

[GoFarKid]

Then this winter, I had to fix the rings - he was smoking really badly. It turned out I could fit ALL my feeler gauges in the ring gap! so I honed the bore, and stuck new rings in, which has made all the difference!!! Now he is up on compression, and Waaayyy down on oil consumption, and No Smoke!