What better way to renew your vows than to spend some quality time down the garage?
It’s been two weeks since my accident and I realised valuable time when I can get things fixed is rushing by. I got checked over on the Friday my pleas for a lighter cast were cast aside (sic) as the staff new full well what I would do. I can pull in the clutch on the little 100 so I had half a mind on going for a Bronze in next week’s Welsh…I had the hand in fresh air for maybe 20 minutes while it was waiting for a fresh cast – it’s stiff and weak so even the LCF rally in June must be in doubt. If everything goes to plan I should be without the cast at the end of May.
Mrs A helped me drag the bikes in to the sun and the spanners were back in action. I drained the oil on both Atlas’s and spent most time cleaning road grim off Atlas #2. Atlas #2 still needs broken indicators, rack and bent handlebars and clutch lever removed and replaced.The ignition cover will paint and polish up.
I’ve ordered a replacement fairing even tho’ the original is repairable. I’ve also begun the search for a pipe bender to knock up a replacement set of exhausts – these are serviceable but rapidly rusting on both my Mark 3’s.
I am also going to fix the leaking seal behind the ignition in the primary case. A nothing job but something that you don’t fix while trying to keep a bike road ready (you just put up with the small oil leak).
The biggest hassle is going to be getting the radiator trim off the petrol tank as the bolt is still turning in its thread. It has been useful to have time to reflect however as my first idea was to cut off the bolt head but I have revised this to grinding the head round so that I can slip off the trim and leave the maximum amount of bolt proud to play with. More to follow…
Atlas #2 is now out of MOT (roadworthiness test) and tax BUT I must keep focused on this to try and get it road ready for June when I’d ideally like to have two Atlas’s at my disposal.
Atlas #3 got most attention. Mrs A had the ball ache task of removing the starter motor cover. The motor needs a refurb’ to sort out a dead spot. It was our first experience of working on an Atlas with right hand exhausts – I think these are maybe slightly more inconvenient than the Mark 3’s lefties. To get the motor out you have to remove the cam chain tensioner mechanism. We also found that the alternator case will clear the pipes (just) without the need to remove them (phew)!
The starter looked to me like it had never been removed but the alternator case has been off – the washer on the end of the crank wasn’t flattened over and a shim was missing from the idler gear. A superficial inspection of the sprag clutch suggests the bearing in this is okay so further investigation will be necessary to find the source of an engine rumble – hopefully not the mains!
With all this going on Atlas #1 even got a bit of attention as we attempted to remove the pannier frames from it (these will fit more properly on the Mk 2, Atlas #3) however these aren’t coming off without a fight and the onset of tiredness and big hammers meant it was time to retreat for coffee and cake…getting wiser as you get older is the only benefit of ageing that I’ve ever identified.
Nick 🙂
Bent screwdrivers, big hammers and old Laverdas 