10. Ariel Golden Arrow - The rebuild continues

On my last blog, you will recall that I had finally managed to fit the front wheel. Well it had to come off again! After studying the front brake backplate, I realised that there was an "A" plate that bolts to it, which is connected to the stay that stops the back plate rotating when you apply the brake. This "A" plate can only be fitted before the wheel is mounted in the forks, so there was no option but to take it all apart again.You can just see the top of the "A" frame sticking above the front forks in this picture. This "A" frame is one of the parts that had come back from the chrome platers, so it was the first bit of chrome to be fitted to the bike. Once fitted, the wheel was put back on again and this time I could add two more chrome parts, the front fork cover plates.

This set me off wondering what else I could fit to the bike ?
I decided to fit the two HT coils, which fit in a really difficult position, inside the front of the frame. Originally, when I stripped the bike,  they were fitted each with one large self tapping screw into a speed nut on the HT coil bracket and one nut and bolt, through the frame and into the bracket. The self tappers were obviously because your fingers just can't reach the outer coil fixing points. Well I decided to try anyway and fix them with new stainless nuts and bolts. This was so difficult that it took nearly two hours and a lot of swearing to achieve. But in the end they were in. Talk about "one step forwards and two steps back". I then decided to fit the support brackets for the dummy petrol tank. Guess what? Two of the brackets bolt through the frame ahead of the HT coils and the only way to reach them was to take the coils off again.

It was at this point that I decided that this was stupid and I needed to make an easy and secure way to get the coils on and off, as I was sure that sooner or later I would have to remove them again. So I removed the coils and looked at the fixing brackets. The answer as simple, my business already uses 6mm captive nuts, all I needed to do was file the holes in the brackets until the captive nuts snapped into place, the coils could then be held in place and the bolts passed through from the outside of the frame. The coils can now be removed and refitted as often as I like.

Now those dummy tank brackets. There are six in all, two on each side of the frame and two on top, near the headstock. In order to make sure that they were in exactly the right place and at the right angle, it was necessary to offer the dummy tank into place. With the the top two brackets just fitted with the bolts tight enough just to be able to turn them, I offered the dummy tank into place and then reached in through the tool box aperture and turned the top fixing brackets until they lined up with the brackets welded to the inside of the dummy tank. This turned out to be a good idea as the two welded brackets were not fixed at the same angles.

Then the four side brackets could be fitted, they mount very strangely. Each bracket has two tongues that protrude from the back. The two tongues pass through the large hole in the frame and into to matching slots cut in some round mounting washers that fit on the inside of the frame. In effect the bracket and the round mounting washer "sandwich"  the hole in the frame and secure the bracket whilst still allowing you a degree of rotation to line up with the threaded holes in the bottom of the dummy tank.


Well, all that's left to do now is put the dummy tank back on again and do the same trick. Tighten the side bracket fixing bolts just tight enough to enable me to turn them, offer the tank in place. Turn the brackets until I could pop some temporary bolts through the brackets into the tank and then remove the tank again and properly tighten the bracket fixing bolts. Then a final try in place for the dummy to tank to see how it fits and looks.

 What do you think?


Copyright K. Hopcroft  29.11.14 All rights reserved
 You can contact me on: hopcroftscoot@gmail.com

My Other Blogs:

1961 BSA A10 Super Rocket Motorcycle:
 https://60sclassicmotorbikes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/before.html


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

1971 VW Karmann 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

9. Ariel Golden Arrow - The Parts Start To Arrive

I think renovating a bike is a bit like waiting for a bus. You wait and wait for ages and then two or three arrive at the same time. Having waited a few weeks for parts to come back for my 1961 Ariel Golden Arrow suddenly the wheels were ready and the chroming arrived back so I was able to carry on with the rebuild.

I collected the wheels from Shirebrook Motorcycles and they look great with their new stainless steel rims and spokes and the rebuilt and painted hubs. So it was off to the tyre fitters, MTS of Nottingham, to have the new white wall tyres, that I've been saving for months, slipped onto the rims. And don't they look nice? The blue colour that you can see is a protective plastic coating on the white walls, that I am not going to remove until much later on in the rebuild,

Whilst the back wheel can't be fitted yet, as the rear swinging arms are mounted on the engine and I don't have a engine yet, I decided to try fitting the front wheel to the newly assembled front forks. This requires the newly polished front brake back plate to be fitted to the hub first and the the assembled wheel can be passed between the forks and into place. Next is the hard bit. You have to pass the front axle through the left trailing arm, then through the hub and then through the right trailing arm. The trouble is that the holes in the trailing arms are hanging below the forks, pushed down by the front suspension springs on the shock absorbers. It looked like an impossible task to line all three up and hold them there while the axle is passed through.

For the first time I found the information I needed in one of the manuals! There are some extra holes in the front forks and the trailing arms. What I needed was some pegs to pass through these holes, while the front suspension is compressed. These pegs, which I made from an old VW Beetle push rod, pass through all three holes and hold the suspension compressed while you pass the axle through. How to compress the suspension? Simple another trusty ratchet strap passed around the headstock and the bike lift and as the strap is tightened the front suspension comes down and it's in with the pegs.

Now the wheel can go in and the axle passed through from the left side. It was at this point that I found that the axle was too short!. The thread on the right side did not pass through the trailing arm far enough to get the nut on.  After studying the problem, I worked out that I had put the bush in the trailing arm in from the wrong side and that it should have been fitted to the inside of the trailing arm. So it was out with the axle and off with the wheel again so that I could remove the bush and push it in from the other side. Then back in with the wheel and axle and this time the nut went on the treads  and tightened down. Then the pinch bolt could be tightened on the left side trailing arm and the axle was in place.


Copyright K. Hopcroft  03.11.14 All rights reserved
 You can contact me on: hopcroftscoot@gmail.com

My Other Blogs:

1961 BSA A10 Super Rocket Motorcycle:
 https://60sclassicmotorbikes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/before.html


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

1971 VW Karmann 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