W/E 29th November 2015

Midnight and it’s done!

So pushed on with the RGA engine and as you can see got the cases together at midnight on Saturday.

I thought the engine was clean but I took  a good ninety minutes going through all the nuts and washers to clean them and select the ones with the best finish. The RGA engine appeared to only have one copper washer on the bottom of the engine (the RGS had three) but otherwise identical.

The RGA cases are in better condition than the RGS, albeit the top case having been welded following a broken chain way back. The RGA had never been apart in over 130,000 miles but I’d been quite particular in making sure I changed the oil every 1,500 miles. The result was clear in the gearbox which showed very little sign of wear.

Anyways it took two attempts to close the cases as first time round the crank tightened up so it was taken apart – the problem was slight mis-alignment of the primary side outer main. I made sure it was located up against the half ring and it went smoothly after that.

The jumble of RGS and RGA parts is beginning to reduce down as I have two large lumps of engine. There’s still some way to go but the last couple of weeks feels like real progress and a weekend cleaning and organising the next steps should see that momentum keep going.

Next up is to sort out the pistons and head but this can wait for a while as next weekend I hope to replace the broken rear subframe on the Atlas and re-fit the pillion peg now parts have arrived from OCT.

Nick 🙂

W/E 22nd November 2015

RGA cases + scissors…

Work continued on rebuilding triple engines with attention turning to the RGA motor. These cases are in better condition than the RGS, which I suspect had been opened up before. Any how I took lessons from last week’s master class from Tony Winterton so removed the tin oil baffle plates in the bottom of the cases to ensure the sump was clean. Just as well I did because I found a pair of scissors in there (wondered where they’d gone) along with a broken piston ring! The cases are now clean and ready for assembly during the week. I plan to use the kitchen again and get Mrs A to ride shotgun.

Missing lens…

The Atlas got an oil change on Monday and has been running well. On Friday I decided to press on and when I got in the bloody rear lens was missing – only one of the screws was holding it in place as the other thread has stripped but I think the real problems are: 1. The broken bracket holding the back mudguard is tied in place but even so the mudguard can swing about. 2. The light is cheap shite!

I’ve had the same happen on Atlas #1 and a couple of times with RGS back lights. Similarly with both pieces of cheap 1980’s CEV tat the bulbs move in the holder meaning you’re never quite sure if you have a rear light.

I hate losing bits – but a hazard of using the bikes I guess. It put me in a bad mood for most of Saturday until an internet search gave me a part # 8112414 and a lead to Aprilia who fitted it to a ‘Red Rose’ moped and the 350 Tuareg and soon enough I found a new lens at £15 including post of ebay…I have screws somewhere.

LED

So to put a stop (sic) to all this lens and bulb spinning nonsense I found a similarly cheap LED unit I’d previously hidden within the lens on the RGS and presto a rear light. Like the original it is cheap shite but this shite won’t shake the bulbs around and in my experience with both Atlas #1 and the RGS give good service. I will keep an eye open for a more substantial square item fit it and forget (but of course all the standard bits will be kept in a box in the loft)…

Nick 🙂

W/E 15th November 2015

Tony Winterton

So finally a triple engine is back together – but not without a fight!

Heat

Preparations began last weekend and resulted in some frustration as two studs that had sheared on dis-assembly refused to budge despite the application of heat and releasing fluid. The cases got sent to an engineering firm whom I’m pleased to report snapped the studs – but unlike me have the gear to sort it out and so they returned good to go, new studs courtesy of Slaters.

I say preparation began last week but clearly I wasn’t up to scratch because Tony Winterton arrived ready to help with the build and immediately declared everything ‘unclean’. I hadn’t removed the slinger plates and once these came off it revealed a nasty kind of paste in the sump – oops! So cleaning began as did the inspection of the gearbox which revealed a missing needle roller in the 5th gear sleeve. Inspection also revealed wear in the shaft and on one of the bearings so a trawl through my box of spares came up with a more robust combination.

All ready to go the crank went in (still in a box from Keith Nairn) and everything was tightened down. A tip from Scott Potter to lay the engine at 180 degrees helped to install the pistons as it is easier to push the barrels on than fight gravity with the engine in its normal position. Head on and now the challenge was to hook up the cam chain…

Hide and seek

We didn’t know at the time but we were trying to put a IWIS link into a Regina chain and the IWIS simply wasn’t wide enough. Anyways after some fiddling and at close to midnight the spring clip disappeared down the engine!!! We spent 90 minutes with magnets and trying to shake the clip but with no success so retired a bit down at 1 am resolved to rise early on Sunday to recover the situation…

Die you bastard!

Sunday and 6:30 am it was back on the job and we quickly concluded we’d have to start again…cases apart and there was the clip looking a bit smug! Assembly the second time round was a lot quicker and by 10:30 we had an engine albeit with no valve clearances but then that’s for another day…

Not quite the Sunday roast Mrs A was expecting!

So the RGS engine is kind of built – needs detail work but the main lump is done. RGA now needs proper cleaning but having just gone through this I feel confident it’ll also but built by Christmas…

Nick 🙂

PS Yes we did use the kitchen while Mrs A was away visiting family…

W/E 1st November 2015

Triple clean up

Well for the first time in ages the blog starts with some commentary on the triples! The big triple engine build off is due to happen in a couple of weeks so I have spent the weekend looking over the RGS and RGA engines to make sure everything is ready.

The RGS engine needs a couple of engine studs but more immediately it needed a damn good clean. It’s been sat covered in the same oil and road salt mix that it carried when it was lifted out of the frame over a year ago. The head and barrels have been cleaned up so now it was time to get cracking on the crankcases. I’m quite pleased with the results of a few hours with old toothbrushes and a can of paraffin. You can still see road salt damage on the front of the motor so I will have another go next weekend but it’s looking okay.

Sprag plunger and ?

I found two objects in the bottom of the gearbox – the smaller item is a plunger out of the starter sprag but I’m not sure where the other ‘pin’ has come from. It looks like a needle roller but I can’t think where that would come from so I’m thinking it’s a pin. Anyway if you know what it is drop me a line.

Broken crankcase

The RGA motor is already clean but I took it off to a welder to get the top case fixed – it had a lump knocked out of it 20 years ago so now is the time to get it put right.

Broken pillion mount

At the same time as putting the RGA case in I also put in the Atlas pillion peg mount. And aside from oiling the chain that is all I have to report on the Atlas which is running well…

Nick 🙂