W/E 2nd December 2018

I’m back! Lost my mojo but had a rummage in a box and there it was!

Mrs A came to the rescue and helped tidy the garage up – it’s still a shambles but at least I can now move around a little without knocking things over…

Visited the Classic Bike Show in Paris a couple of weeks back – and there on the Laverdamania stand was Jean-Louis Oliver’s triple…which I last saw back in March down at the Paul Ricard circuit.

The event in Paris could’ve just as easily happened anywhere – usual format of old bikes, autojumble and a few stands from modern era classic names such as Triumph, Enfield and Moto Guzzi. The bikes were the normal stuff but with a few French ‘oddities’ such as this 3 cylinder two-stroke Mobobecane which was never imported to the UK.

It was just a day trip in the Fiat but along with the bike event we saw anti-government demonstrations on roundabouts near Caen, a medical emergency where a helicopter airlifted a passenger off the ferry and six migrants sheepishly walking away from a horse box bound for the UK. The most frightening thing tho’ was seeing scooters tear through the rush hour traffic round Paris – jeez they must provide a steady supply of donor organs!

A bit of time has been spent on pilot jets for Atlas’s. A friend contacted me about getting replacements to richen up the starting process and Eurocarb sent short stubby items in place of his existing long jets.

After much discussion a visit to Eurocarb revealed that the Atlas was indeed fitted with long pilot jets as standard. Apparently these jets were only fitted to performance cars such as Lotus – the purpose is to ensure consistent petrol supply in extreme conditions. Eurocarb doubted they would make any difference and only had long 56’s (not the desired 58’s). I picked up the long jets and my friend got a tool to bore them out to 60 – he reports improved starting and so I got him to knock me out a set 🙂

So armed with the new jets I decided to take a look at those on Atlas #3. The carb had the short 58 jet and tended to fire on just one at tickover. I knew the offside pilot jet was seized so spent time making sure I had the right screwdriver and started to ease it out. I got some movement going and was winding it in and out when effectively the head sheared! No problem I know a man who can sort that and in the mean time got my spare carb out. I’d tried this on one of my other Atlas’s before and it wouldn’t work – taking it apart showed why…no pilot jets at all just the stubby holders! The pilot jets both came out but interestingly the offside jet showed signs of the head shearing too – might just be worth taking the pilots out once in a while to stop them seizing?

(If anyone wants a PDF of the Dellorto carb pages for the Atlas send a message on the site and I’ll email it to you)

Work on the Atlas hasn’t been confined to the carb’. I’m resolved to check the valve clearances but first need to get the cam cover off. I’ve never dismantled this on Atlas #3 and after many winters worth of motoring it came as no surprise that the allen bolts are in some cases seized. I’m not rushing at this because if the heads get rounded it will be an engine out job to fix. There were four bolts that needed penetrating oil and heat to budge. All out now except for one last stubborn blighter. I’m still taking my time and hope that next time I report back it will be out and I can update you on the condition of the valves etc…

Last part of the Atlas was to start a minor cosmetic overhaul on the forks. Stage one is to start stripping the paint which I can report is very poor following years of winter riding…

Finally a road trip down to a Laverda engine man in Wimborne with Matt has inspired me to pick up the triple projects. In between trying to open up the Atlas cam cover I’ve started to polish the RGA cam-cover. It’s been nice polishing away with the radio in the background and the rain lashing on the garage door…

More to follow…

Nick 🙂