RichardW's Velocette rebuild

[RichardW]

Local re-lining firm said they will probably re-line it, so will send it off. They can re-line the other 3 even if they decline to do that one, then I can look for a solution if needed.

Checking up the size of spokes in the rear wheel earlier, and found another 2 broken ones. I was struggling to find any the right size, but I have found a place in Essex that appears to offer to make spokes, and lists the right size of spoke and nipple on their site, so I have sent off an enquiry.

Heard back from the Fork man, so his works were obviously not affected by the fire bobins noted! - as suspected they need a full rebuild with all new spindles, nuts, washers and re-bushing, so have given the go ahead for that.

[RichardW]

Progress has been made!

Forks rebuilt and returned:

Of course I need to dismantle them again and clean / paint them...

I've heard back from the brake people and the engineering shop - the brakes are re-lined, and the engine work is completed, so they should be back next week once I have paid for them The new spokes for the rear wheel are getting made, so again should be here next week.

Plan is to get a rolling chassis up together which I can then build on, and wheel out of the way in the garage as required, so need to clean and paint the wheels, frame and forks, and get some tyres. To that end, I started on the front wheel:

Before:

After a couple of hours with angle grinder wire brush, manual wire brush, file, sand paper etc:

More work to do, then it can be treated with the rust converter and I can get a coat of paint on it. Found that some of the spokes were loose, but they weren't for turning. However, they are brass nipples on galvanised spokes, so I surmised that a bit of heat would free them off - which it proved after the application of the blow lamp! I'll have to wait to get it in the frame to see if this has adversely affected the trueness, but I haven't gone mad. A handful of the spokes are quite pitted, but they will serve for now. If they decide to break when loaded then they can be replaced.

Oh, and I need to get some new balls for the front bearing; I'm sure they're 5/16" but I'll check tomorrow and get some ordered.

I've now ordered new tyres, tubes and rim tapes as well

[RichardW]

Further stripping of the inner rim on the front wheel revealed some holes at one point. Started welding them up, but my welding (and the welder I think!) is a bit rusty, so it's slow going. I will strip this part of the rear first in case it needs repair as well. New balls ordered for the front wheel bearing, as they have gone AWOL over the last 15 years!!

[RichardW]

More boxes!

Relined shoes and spares for the welder

[RichardW]

Not much done at the weekend as we had visitors and a birthday party to attend to! I did get an hour on Sunday, and fitted the new liner in the welder. In fact I think most of the trouble might be wire being rusty - I took a good length off the spool till it cleaned up, but I will have to monitor that. Changing the liner is a bit of a game as 2 of the bolts holding the clamp at the spool end go through into the working side of the welder, but don't have captive nuts, so you have to take the whole cover off. Refitting the nuts onto the bolts is a job akin to fitting the wire clamp bolts on an XUDT glowplugs!! It seems to run smoother now, but I haven't had a chance to try any welding with it.

[bobins]

Might be worth checking the torch on your welder as well. You can get a build up of rust dust and crud in the torch in the small gap where the liner terminates in the torch and where the replaceable tip screws in. It can be a sod to completely remove as it's normally magnetically attached to anything suitable

[RichardW]

This is only a 'hobby' MIG - there is a separate piece of liner in the swan neck, which I have also replaced

[RichardW]

Got a bit of time on it at the weekend. Finished the welding on the front rim - the welder is much much better with the new liner / clean wire - in that it actually works!! So getting it finished was easy enough. Then set to cleaning up the rear wheel. No holes apparent in the inner rim, but it's taken a good few hours to get it to the stage where it's nearly ready for the rust treatment and paint. Hopefully I will get the wheels and frame painted by the end of next weekend, then I can start putting it back together.

[RichardW]

The engine's back!

New bush in the bottom end, so there's no play in it now, and new rings... best get on with the frame and wheels to have somewhere to put it!

[RichardW]

I decided to fit the new spokes to the rear wheel before painting, as then I could true it a bit, since getting any of the nipples to turn requires heating them which will ruin the paint. So here it is in the vice with a guide to check the run out - note the G-cramp holding it to the bench is home-made - most likely by my Grandad, which is pretty apt!

It wasn't any worse than when I checked it before, I tweaked a few spokes to true up the worst bit - it's not perfect, but it has pulled it back a bit. Don't want to go any further as one of the nipples I tried before disintegrated - maybe I heated it too much...

Then I needed some supports to hold the wheels up whilst I paint them, a few mins with a few offcuts of wood, and voila:

Then moved on to stripping down and cleaning the forks, which is done - just got a few bits on the frame to finish off, and then I'll get some paint sorted

[RichardW]

First coat of paint on the wheels at the weekend. Need to put another on tonight then I can move on to the frame and forks, and the brake back plates, ready for a rolling chassis build.

It's a bit difficult to see in the pic, but given it's just a brush finish with Smoothrite they've come out really well. I'm not sure how impressed Mrs W was that I was painting them in the Kitchen

I've realised that I've bought the wrong size rear tyre (3.5-19 rather than 3.25-19) so I need to get that sent back and changed....

Rear brake has some very small locating bolts for the shoes - they appear to be 1/8" British Cycle Thread, which it looks like I can't easily buy. They are threaded into the back plate, so I will either need to drill the thread out to take some M3 bolts (Actually they might go through anyway), or find something that will pass through - I can fit a nut on the inside to take the job of the back plate being threaded. I'm not *that* fussed about originality!!

[Hell Razor5543]

I wonder if stainless steel bolts (with nylon bushing) with be suitable? Should be strong enough for the loads, while the nylon protects the original treads.

[xantia_v6]

1/8 BCY thread appears to be practically identical to #5 (1/8) UNC, so replacement screws should be readily available.

Search ebay for "UNC 5#-40"

[RichardW]

Well spotted, Mike! I thought I had looked at that, but obviously not hard enough....

[RichardW]

Bought some 1/8 UNC bolts, and they fit in the back plate so that is good. Made a bit of progress this week; got the frame and forks painted - here they are sunning themselves to help the pain harden

Also painting other parts of the forks - here spring, spring top cup, and side links

And the head set side bosses, the items standing up (which are not that clear on the photo!) are the handlebar clamps - realised these need to be fitted before the forks are assembled.

I also can't see there's any other way of assembling it without putting the headset together, and then assembling the forks, as otherwise there wouldn't be enough room to get the top boss over the top of the steerer.

Then moved onto the tyres, success with the rear

I got the front on, but school boy error in not putting some air in the tube meant I pinched it with the tyre levers, and wrecked it, so had to take it back out again...

need to order a new one! So hopefully I can get a bit more time this week, and get a rolling chassis. I've put a coat of paint on the brake back plates - I need to get some felt washer grease seals, then I can put the brakes together. I also need to repair the stand (part of it is broken off) and paint that, so the bike will stand up on its own.