BSA 650L

[Psychopasta]

If you want to keep stock looking brake levers check Brit bike stores and see if someone offers one. If not ebay has a lot of levers for Hondas and so on that include a brake switch.

And it that doesn't work, all a small L shaped bracket to the underside of the lever to actuate a tiny microswitch from almost any modern bike and it should be almost invisible.

Thank you!

 

[Psychopasta]

I am an oil pressure sensor away from being able to prime the engine. Given that this has been a complete engine tear down, what oil do y'all recommend for first time use?

 

[john83]

Following


Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON

 

[pidjones]

I am an oil pressure sensor away from being able to prime the engine. Given that this has been a complete engine tear down, what oil do y'all recommend for first time use?

Same as you would normally run. I use Castrol GTX 20W50 in the T150V, but it all depends on manufacture recommendation for that year and engine. If it has a wet vlutch, I make dure it is motorcycle/JASO MA-2 rated.

 

[Psychopasta]

OK, here is the well-engineered-but-still-redneck steering lock:

An M8 bolt, some tubing, washers and a Nylon nut. Does the job I guess:

In other news I gave the swingarm to a local shop to press the two bushings in. Job done:

But, I cannot push the swing arm bolt all the way through. It jams at the mid-point, where the two bushings meet. They must be out of round or decenter with respect to each other.

I have two potential fixes:

1. Install it anyway and just bang the swingarm bolt through with a bloody great hammer. The Meriden way
2. Fix it before putting onto the bike, so the pin slides easily. But How?

I'm open to suggestions,

- Mark

 

[Psychopasta]

I'm taking it back to the shop to have them ream the bushings so the pin slides smoothly

 

[Psychopasta]

No news on the swingarm yet but I have been busy on the front end.

I got the fork yokes powder coated and reassembled the forks as described earlier:

I also painted the Betor handlebar mounts

and mounted the handlebars onto the top yoke like so:

There's not much room to access the first row on nuts when the yoke is on the bike, but it is possible, just awkward

I then assembled one of the forks. These parts:

Go into the forks leg itself and the circlip holds it all together:

Then drop the piston and spring down and finagle it until the rod comes through the hole:

put the fork leg back on and get the Allen screw up inside the leg until it secures the piston. Turn the whole thing upside down and add the seal and circlip:

Then put back on bike with gaiters:

and drop the spring in and tighten up the top bolt. Job's a good 'un

I haven't added oil yet, and I'll get the second one on soon.

 

[Psychopasta]

Here's a better picture of the end of play today:

 

[Psychopasta]

Got the other fork rebuilt using the same process. All was good, except the powder coater had put a screw of indeterminate thread into the drain hole to mask it. The screw wasn't the right size, so they used masking tape the thicken it up, and then during the heating stage it melted to a gooey mess that made it very hard to get the screw out. Nevertheless, I persisted. I had to use a tap to clean the thread out afterwards. But then the second fork was on!

Yahoo! I took the front axle:

and locked one fork down and let the other move so that the axle would go through it, and then locked that leg down too. I then offered up the front wheel, and with a little jiggery-pokery with the jack under the bike got the wheel on!

and got the pinch bolts on. Nothing is torqued down tightly yet of course. I still need to do the full wheel rebuild.

 

[Psychopasta]

BTW, the wheel is very crusty:

Does any of that YouTube tinfoil-and-coke stuff work? I need to clean this up, does anything work as well as it does on the Tube?

 

[pidjones]

Aluminum foil and vinegar works as well as any other method. Not magic, but is worth the effort. Make sure the vinegar get neutralized and rinsed off!

 

[ridesolo]

Aluminum foil and glass cook top cleaner (available in grocery stores usually) is my chrome cleaner of choice.

 

[teazer]

Aluminum foil and chrome polish work too. It will never look like new unless it gets fresh chrome, but it's surprising how much better it can look.

 

[Psychopasta]

There's been a bit of delay as we adopted two new (old) pugs. Meet Statler and Waldorf:

Statler is the fawn one and is 13 years old, Waldorf is 12. The two old guys are getting used to our house. Toilet training has been a bit off but we're getting there.

Back to the Beeza and I've fitted an oil gauge:

Not totally impressed with the clamp. The bottom part of the clamp fits the 7/8" handlebars fine, the top part doesn't:

The feed comes from where the oil pressure switch would be:

With this bit in place, the engine is now officially ready for me to add oil and see what happens. In preparation for that, I set the electronic ignition properly. With the engine at TDC fit the spinning magnets such that the timing line is between 7 and 8 o'clock:

Then fit the pickup plate and adjust so that the A mark is along the same line:

Job's a good'un until it isn't. I wired the pickup to the trigger box with the bullet crimps supplied with the Wassell unit. I don't like them too much. but my goal is to get the engine running and they'll do for that. I can tidy up later, once I know what's happening with the engine.

As my goal is to get the engine running ASAP, I moved onto the carburetors. These are Amal units but I'm not sure what the model number is...advice welcome. Reasonably clean, but the float bowl has some very grotty stuff in it

but the rest looks alright

Needs a complete clean and rebuild. BTW, the plastic(?) spacers that mount the carbs to the engine are as hard as a very hard thing:

Is that correct? I was expecting soft and rubbery.

 

[rossmick62]

Yep , mines the same

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk

 

[Brodie]

If I recall correctly, they are there to act as a heat insulator to prevent vapour issues when the engine is at very high temps.

I have had great results soaking old rubber and plastic parts in brake fluid to restore them some what. Just don't leave them in there too long.

 

[Rider52]

AMAL Concentric carbs. They were available in multiple sizes and I think 1967 was the year they were first used. They should be 30mm for your 650 but may have been changed to one of the other sizes sometime in the last 50 or so years. The main issue with them is carb body distortion where the slide moves. The "hole" gets out of round. There are some specialists that can correct that problem by boring the carb body and fitting an oversized slide. Most folks just switch to a Mikuni kit. If your carb bodies are not distorted I'd do a good cleaning and rebuild. I have soaked old brittle Honda rubber a wintergreen based solution. There are a ton of YouTube videos showing the process.

 

[Psychopasta]

Yeah I'm tempted by a switch to Mikuni. My plan is a good cleaning and rebuild, as you say, but I'll check the bores. What degree of out-of-roundness are we talking about? Will it be obvious on a hand and eye inspection, or smaller than that?

 

[teazer]

Def Mk1 concentrics so 930 if they are 30mm and 932 if they are 32mm. Bodies distort easily so don't overdo the torque on the carb mounting nuts. Insulators should be phenolic resin and hard as a rock. Brodie is correct. They are not vibration insulators - just to limit heat transfer.

They are British. Stiff upper lip and all that. Not soft and rubbery like some overweight murican.

If the slides move freely they are good to go. Slides wear, as do the bores and the whole body can distort but if it fits it sits, as cats like to prove. If the slides stick try to find out where and gently ease down any high spots.

 

[Psychopasta]

Thanks guys!