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Small victory today. Got the new clutch friction plates installed a few days ago and the primary buttoned up. A few of the steel plates had some scoring but I decided to let them go for now. Finally got a chance to fire it up and take it down the road today. With the new clutch cable and new plates it shifts into all the gears as well as I’d expect any old Brit bike to. Now to just sort out the rest of the little gremlins
The hardware for the foot peg I ordered was incorrect so I need to get something else on the way.
Today the battery was near flat from sitting and my charger is dead. When I got it running and turned the lights on the engine died. I rode with the lights off and it died 1/4 mile from the house. Need to troubleshoot that.
It might be a wiring or alternator issue or even a dead zener diode or rectifier. I plan on fitting a reg/ec from Sparckmoto to the T140V when I reach that point. The old RM21 2 wire alternators do generate sufficient electricity for the job, but only just. LED bulbs might help a little.
Some progress. Found the terminal broken on the positive battery wire and repaired it. Put the battery on my trickle charger for a night and it came back to life. With a fully charged battery the thing fired up on second kick.
Only getting 11.8-ish volts across the battery, less with the lights on and no rise with RPM. Tried to disconnect the stator wires and one of the connectors pulled right off the wire so I fixed that.
Ran out of time today. Hopefully I get a chance to put things back together and see if I fixed anything tomorrow.
So Sunday night I was able to put things back together and give it a try. Got it started on the second kick and read 11.99V at the battery terminals. When I increased the RPM that number rose to just over 12V. I should have checked output voltage from the stator but what I really wanted to do was take it for a test ride. Threw on my gear and headed for the gas station at the end of the road, about four miles away.
Made it there and back with no hiccups. Shifted through the gears fairly easily. There is still work to be done but this feels like a milestone.
Takeaways:
Clutch still needs some adjustment
Vibrates like nothing else. I know it’s a British twin but maybe the carbs need some synchronizing or timing adjusted
Its fine if you ride it every weekend but if it sits for a while you'll need to drain the oil out of the crank case and put it back in the oil tank before you try and kick it over
A couple weeks ago I took her out for a little longer ride, maybe about ten miles. Things were great until I got to within about 100 yards of my driveway. She sputtered and died. Checked the battery once I got back in the garage, it was down to 6.5 volts. Did some troubleshooting and determined that the regulator was dead. I ordered a new Podtronics and was able to throw it on yesterday. Now I get 13VDC at idle and 14.5 at RPM. Rode down to the store and back without incident.
I think I’ve finally got this thing to the point I can start putting some miles on it. I’m not gonna stray to far from home just yet but at least putting around the back roads.
Took the old BSA out for a run yesterday. Did about 40 miles round trip with a stop at the oldest pit cooked bbq restaurant in Georgia. Besides running out of gas it ran like a top. Got a small stumble at very small throttle opening so I’ll try raising the needles a notch.
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