Chapter 20. The Final Chapter???



When I started this blog I had no real idea how long it would run, partly because I was unsure how long the build of my BSA B31-2 would take, but mainly that it was impossible to tell when Brooklands would open again. I decided in any case to keep it going at least to the latter occasion.

As I write this I can say that the Marge is essentially complete, albeit with a fairly healthy “punch” list of items to take care of. Also I have now completed more than a week’s worth of Brooklands visits, one day as a gardener, an induction day, the public opening day on 2nd August, Sunday helping out with the demonstration runs and today on the maintenance crew. I know it will take quite a while before we can all get together as the Motor Cycle Team on the same day, but let’s hope it’s not too far away.

The last week’s build has been quite frantic in some ways, with some jobs going really well and others taking much longer than expected. I spent quite a while designing and fabricating a clamp system to hold the battery but the space was just too cramped so I’ll wedge it in place with foam rubber. The brake return springs I got from Feked were both wrong – my fault not theirs – so I ended up using the back one at the front and vice versa. I now have a minimalist wiring loom, from the battery via a small switch and fuse, to the coil, with an Optimate charging plug which will be hidden under the seat. I even fitted a black knob to my improvised gear-lever, sourced from the pre-war BSA aisle at B&Q. It must look OK as my brother said “is that the original gear lever”.

By Monday evening I realised I was dreaming up little jobs to avoid that heart stopping moment of trying to start it up – not strictly for the first time, but certainly in its completed form. I arranged for my brother to come round to provide assistance the next morning and typed out a check-list – knowing very well that its easy for forget things like filling it up with oil. By mid-Tuesday morning Alan still hadn’t arrived, in fact he’d run out of petrol and was pushing his Royal Enfield though Chessington, so I set of pushing Marge down the garden on my own. First time! Off it went!! Check the oil tell-tale plunger – a bit too much pressure, but there’s a regulator valve for adjustment. Gears wouldn’t select very easily but leaving it in 2nd I completed a couple of “sighting laps” of the garden.

I made a note of all the settings, the bars and twist grip had come loose but apart from that all the other fasteners were tight. I have mainly been concerned about the mainshaft nut as I’ve been unable to incorporate a tab lock washer and am relying on Loctite and a torque wrench.

When my brother finally arrived we had it running again and managed the photo above before we decided that the neighbour’s nostalgia for pre-war motorbikes might be wearing a bit thin. By then the clutch adjusting screw had also come out and is now lying in wait for the next time I cut the grass, so we called it a day.

The only significant issue with the BSA is that as I opened up the throttle it died a fair bit. If I dropped the air-slide it was far better, which tends to suggest its over-carburated and / or running too lean. I’ve mentioned before that the carb is a 1” Amal 276, whereas the original bike would have had a 7/8” device. There are a few things I can try before changing the carb; raising the needle a notch or two or perhaps a lower slide cut-away. Prior to making some Brooklands cans – another Phase 2 job – I might fit some rudimentary exhaust baffles as it is quite noisy and this should also have the effect of making it run a bit richer. In practice the only way I can really make progress is my running it on the road or track, so to this end I’m hoping that in a couple of weeks I could perhaps bring it into Brooklands on one of the maintenance days.

On that note I had a thoroughly enjoyable time today with Martin and Fred where we had the Cotton-Earl Jap out for a quick check over and start-up. You may have already seen the Volunteer newsletter or Martin’s email, about the film crew coming in. They were there today for a look around and were able to see first-hand that out team rolls its sleeves up and gets their hands oily.


This is not quite the end of my blog as I intend to publish a post-script or two as and when Marge has had a chance to stretch her legs and show us what she’s made of. In the meantime I’m really looking forward to the next couple of months running demos and the maintenance days in between and hopefully getting back to a least some kind of normality.

Keep well and stay safe

Gareth



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