5. BSA A10 The rebuild begins

I should at this point in the blog mention that I consider myself very fortunate in having a well equiped and spacious workshop. As well as the usual selection of hand tools, I also have a lathe, Buffing/polishing machine, a compressor, mig welder, a parts washing bath and a hand gilotine. All of which have been very useful during the restoration project. This BSA A10 restoration project is, of course, on going and I am looking forward to the day when the blog catches up with the project so  I can report on events as they happen. But for the time being " more of what has happened so far:

The wheels were now stripped. The tyres and tubes were in really good condition and the alloy rims (which were already on the bike, were also undammaged. I took the wheels to a local specialist to be respoked with new stainless steel spokes. I made an arrangement with him to call me when the original spokes had been removed. I then collected the bare rims and took them back to my workshop for polishing. Once polished they were returned to the specialist for re-spokeing. In the mean time I set about polishing the brake back plates and obtaining a new chrome hub cap for the left side of the front wheel.

New stainless steel front axle along with nuts, brake lever and clamp bolts were ordered along with a new stainless back axle, nuts, brake lever and anchor bar.

The wheels were returned with their new spokes and newly painted black hubs. Unfortunately they had also black painted the inside of the brake drums including the braking surfaces. So my next job was the clean the paint off the brake surfaces with a rotary wire brush, before the wheels could be reassembled. That done the brakes went back in and the tubes and tyres were refitted ready for the bike.

The next stage was to rebuild the front forks, I had purchased a pair of second hand front fork shrouds, off eBay, to hold the new gold star type headlight and had sent them off for chrome plating. In the mean time, I had also purchased a new pair of chrome front fork seal holders, as someone had used a pair of stilsons to grip the old ones and they were beyond re-use.

And so it was reassembly time for the forks. The newly painted bottom sections of the forks were united with the new chrome seal holders fitted with new seals. The internal pistons and springs were fitted and then the newly chromed shrouds were fitted to the yokes. I then slid the new rubber bellows over the seal holders and then offered the forks, one at a time into the yokes.

Thank goodness I decided to buy the correct tool for pulling the forks into the yokes. Bought from Lightning Spares (Who I must say have been brilliant in offering advise as well as supplying most of the spares and all of the stainless steel parts.) The front fork compressor fits on the top yoke and screws into the inside of the piston leg. To get the leg up high enough, in the first place, requires compressing the spring and you can't do it by hand. I used a ratchet strap around the bottom of the fork and the top yoke and tightened the ratchet until the tool's centre bolt could reach the inside of the fork tube. It was then a simple matter of tightening the tool until the fork tube was pulled into the yoke and clamped tight. The process was repeated on the other fork and then the rubber bellows were pushed up and down into place and fitted with new stainless clips

The final touch was to pour in some oil from the top and fit the new stainless caps. A nice successful job and very pretty. Well now the A10 had front suspension, it was time to turn my attention to the back. Having bought two new chrome rear shock absorbers, I decided now was the time to fit them.Not too difficult to fit with just a couple of small spacers needed in the swinging arm brackets to stop them moving from side to side. Fitted with new stainless and polished nuts and bolts, I decided to fit the bolts in the opposite direction  from normal. That is with the bolt on the inside of the frame and the nuts on the outside. This would enable me to use polished stainless dome nuts instead of just seeing the head of the bolt. That done the bike now has front and rear suspension.

I would love to read your comments on this blog. If you would like to make some please click "Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)" at the bottom of this page. If you would like to be automatically informed when a new episode is posted then please tick the "Join this site" box at the bottom of the page. Thanks for reading. Kevin

 Copyright K. Hopcroft 29.07.12 All rights reserved
 You can contact me on: hopcroftscoot@gmail.com

My Other Blogs:

1961 Ariel Arrow Super Sport Motorcycle :
http://60sclassicmotorbikes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/1961-aerial-golden-arrow-restoration.html

Miniature Land Rover Defender:
http://miniaturelandrover.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/1-miniature-land-rover-defender-idea.html?view=timeslide

1971 VW Karman Ghia Convertible Car:
http://karmannghiarestoration.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/1-karmann-ghia-retoration-project.html

Motorcycle Trailers / Caravans:
http://motorcycletrailersandcaravans.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/1-motorcycle-trailers-problem.html