7. Ariel Golden Arrow - The Rebuild Begins

It's been a very long time since my last blog (April) and it would appear that nothing has been happening. Well that's not been through lack of trying, but I've found it much harder to get the parts and rebuild information for the Ariel than I did for the BSA.

So far I have bought 4 different manuals and they are all not very good. Each manual shows various states of strip and repair but not enough detail. For example, the parts books shows the rear hub with bearings, grease caps, spacers etc. But, as with the dished grease cap or the spacers with flanges on them, which way around do they fit in the hub?

In the end I resorted to the Ariel owners club forum, and low and behold after a while someone with real knowledge answered my questions. At last I could rebuild my front and rear hubs and get them ready for re-spoking.

Firstly The hubs were washed and all the old grease residue removed. They were then shot blasted and then sprayed with new black paint, carefully ensuring not to get paint inside the bearing area or on the brake area.

Next I fitted all new bearings, circlips and grease retaining caps and packed them with new grease.

Having stripped the old rear sprocket, I found that the cast boss on the inside of the sprocket that holds the bearing in place was broken. So that meant finding a replacement sprocket. This eventually arrived not showing signs of wear but very rusty. So it was back in the shot blasting cabinet to get it down to bare metal and then several coats of new silver spray paint.


It was whilst re-assembling the rear sprocket assembly, that I sent this picture of the two rear hub spacers to the Ariel forum page to ask "which way around do they go into the hub?" . The reply I got was not good news. The eagle eyed enthusiast who answered noticed that the smaller spacer had only a circlip groove at one end and pointed out that it should have a groove at both ends and two circlips. That meant going back on the parts trail looking for a replacement spacer. You can see why it's taken so long!

Eventually I got one and the rear hub could be rebuilt and fitted with it's new rear sprocket, bearings and spacers. Now at last I can send the hubs away to be mated with their new stainless steel rims and spokes. I'm not going to attempt re-spoking myself as the people at Shirebrook Motorcycles did such a good job on my BSA I'm taking these to them as well.





While they are away, I can concentrate on preparing the brake back plates with a large helping of buffing and polishing. Then I can re-fit the existing brake shoes, which unlike the rest of the bike, seem to be in quite good condition.







OK time to take a look at the front forks. What a strange set up!. The shock absorbers slot up the inside of the forks leaving a strange loop on the bottom of the shock absorber. The trailing arm front suspension pivots on bolts at the front and then the front axle passes through bushes in the trailing arms and these bushes move inside the loops on the shock absorbers both up and down and forward and back as the wheel rises. These are very awkward to assemble and it took considerable time to figure out exactly how they work and how to get them back together again.




But eventually they went back together and could be offered up into the headstock.  Guess what? The bearings were worn out and some of the individual ball bearings were missing. More shopping and waiting. When the new bearings arrived, it wasn't too difficult to knock the races into the headstock or onto the column, but holding the new balls in place while the forks are pushed up into place requires lots of sticky grease and patience. Once in place the top ball bearings could be put in with more grease and then the final inner race, spacer and nut. Once tightened down hard and then slackened off to allow the forks to turn easily without any play, the second lock nut could finally be put in place and the bike has gained it's new forks. Excellent!

Copyright K. Hopcroft  11.08.14 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

6. Ariel Golden Arrow - Gearbox Strip and progress

Time to strip the gearbox, By removing the kickstart pedal, gear change lever and the foot pegs it is possible to remove the chrome gearbox cover on the right side of the bike. As with most things on an old bike, they look much better on the photos than they really are and this first picture is no exception. The chrome cover looks good, but close inspection shows multiple dents and two cracks that need welding on one side and once that is all sorted out, it will have to be re-chromed. Still at least it's still in one piece!

 Having removed the chrome cover, the gearbox is revealed. So it is then a simple case of disconnecting the speedo cable and the clutch cable and undoing the nuts holding on the gearbox outer cover and, that done, a gentle knock with a soft wooden drift and the gearbox cover comes away.





It's nice to have a bit of good news and first inspection reveals a nice clean kickstart mechanism and, apart from a weak return spring, nothing else needing replacement.

A few more gentle knocks and the inner gearbox cover comes away revealing all of the gears in very nice condition.

I have decided to take the same approach as I did with the BSA A10 and that is to leave the gearbox as "in tact" as possible until I need it as my memory is not as good as it used to be and if I don't strip it until I need to, then I've got more chance of remembering how to put it back together again. So It's been put away as you see it in a draw to be attended to at a later date.


OK more news, the crankshaft has been split to allow the removal of the big end roller bearings and, as anticipated, the rollers are shot. Fortunately the crank shaft and the con rods look good. So I've had to buy 72 new rollers and deliver them to the engineering shop. The other news is that it also needs two new +60 thou pistons along with new rings, gudgeon pins and little end bearings so they will now have to be ordered too.I understand that the replacements are actually Yamaha but I am informed that they fit perfectly.

Now the good news, I've just been and collected all of the frame/bodywork from the painters and they look beautiful. Andy has done a brilliant job, but has told me never bring another one of those again! Apparently it was not easy.

So the rebuild can really begin. The first job is to rig the main chassis back into the frame that I have made on the bike stand. I did this by using the rubber rear shock absorber mounting and bolting them to the support frame. As mentioned earlier, until the engine is in, the bike will not stand up on its own as the centre stand is mounted on the engine. By using this frame, I can work on the rest of the bike until the engine is ready,

That's it for now, the next stage is the wheels and hubs and reassembly of the front forks.


Copyright K. Hopcroft  07.04.14 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

5. Ariel Golden Arrow - 2nd Engine Strip

Once the primary drive cover had been removed, another sign of previous damage appeared.

The lug that the chain tensioner fixes to appears to have been welded on. As I've never stripped an Ariel Arrow before, I can not be certain that this isn't part of the original manufacture. But it is done so badly that I very much doubt it and anyway, why would Ariel not cast the lug onto the crankcase end cap during the casting process?. Despite the rather overdone welding, it does seem to be on well and I decided that as this was on the inside and serviceable, I'd leave it.

I removed the four nuts, one bolt and one Philips headed screw from behind the chain tensioner lug ready for the removal of the left side crankcase end cap. This is where the new extractor too that I bought came in useful.

There are two threaded bosses on the end plate into which the long bolts of the extractor screw. An end cap is then placed over the end of the crank shaft and the centre bolt on the extractor is tightened. This slowly pulls the end cap off. I can assure you that this cap is so tight that without this tool you will not remove the end cap without damaging it.

That done, I proceeded to the magneto side of the engine (the right side).

Removing the magneto coils is easy, just undo the fixing nuts and pull it off.








Removing the centre magnet wheel is not too difficult either, although you do need to stop the crank shaft turning while you undo the centre bolt. I found the best way to do this was to pass a bar through both of the little end bushes. As you turn the bolt the bar bottoms on the crank case and stops it turning with no damage. Once removed, a small woodruff key is revealed, which I put away for safe keeping.

Now it's a case of using the same extractor tool  for the right side crank case end plate. The same applies it is in very tight and would not have come out without the tool.


The crankshaft is now revealed and I had to refer to the workshop manual to find out how to remove it. Surprise, surprise, it's in two pieces, held together by a large Alan Key bolt down the middle of the right hand  crank shaft.
I rang Draganfly as the manual did not specify what the size of this Alan Key was and none of mine seemed to fit. To my surprise they told me that it was the same key that I had already bought to remove the cylinder head nuts.

I had already tried that one and it did not seem to fit. But armed with the information that it was the correct key, I tried again and with a sharp tap of a hammer, the key located in the bolt head. The same bar in the little end bushes held  the shaft while I undid the bolt. This bolt is captive in the right hand shaft and once undone, acts as an extractor pushing the two shafts apart. Once separated, it was necessary to rotate the crankshafts until the con rods were at the bottom of their travel. I then had to hit the right hand shaft with a soft faced hammer to knock the left hand shaft out of the centre main bearing. As you can see from the picture, the bearing came with it and the left hand half of the crankshaft could then be twisted at an angle and pulled out of the crank case. Once the left hand shaft was out. The right hand shaft also became free to remove and out it came.

Bad news! The big end roller bearings are shot!. Replacing them does not look like an easy job as it will mean knocking the pins (big end journals) out in order to gain access to the bearings. Finally, with the crank case empty, I could remove the centre double oil seal. This is much easier said than done as it knocks out to the right, but you can't get a drift on it from the left. In the end I had to destroy it and pulled it out in pieces.

Well that's the engine, next blog is gearbox time!

Copyright K. Hopcroft  15.02.14 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

4. Ariel Golden Arrow - Engine Strip

With the frame now fully stripped, it was time to separate all of the parts for painting from the parts that need chroming.  With the parts laid out on the floor, I was surprised at just how many bits there were. This picture just shows the large parts. On  the bottom right, you can just spot a cardboard box with all of the smaller parts. 33 parts in all went to Andy Flinders (Andy Bike) at Ilkeston for shot blasting and painting. I found a link on the Internet giving modern paint equivalents which said: Ivory= Rover ‘White 30-3738  and Gold= VW ‘Hellas Gold’ code L98A. However Andy discovered that whilst Hellas Gold is the correct name, L98A is not the correct code. But true to form Andy has found the correct paint. It's not likely that I will see the parts back until March, but there's lots to keep me occupied.

One of the more interesting finds, when stripping ready for painting was the tool box. This had been cut to accommodate the electronic ignition and 12 regulator control boxes and repaired with a rather fetching Bourbon biscuit tin, riveted in place and then sealed with black gutter sealant that remains sticky and never sets. So I have now had wooden engine parts and biscuit tin body parts. It all adds to the fun of renovation!

OK on with the engine strip and the first thing that I noticed was a hole in the engine casing that should not be there.

This turned out to be in the final drive area of the casing, just above the gearbox output sprocket. Obviously a broken chain had become trapped at this point and smashed a hole outwards in the casing. I decided that once the engine was completely stripped, I would take it to Colin Lamb at Gladex Engineering, Ilkeston, and see if he could TIG weld it for me. There were other parts that I had reserved for his attention anyway. The centre stand had been badly repaired with metal plates on the bottom and Allen key bolts welded on the sides, the foot rests were bent and the inner rear mudguard had splits in it that needed welding beyond my meagre welding ability.

Removing the cylinder heads requires a large Allen key 3/8"AF which I did not have, so I went on the scrounge and found that Colin had a full set of 1/2" drive socket set Allen keys which he kindly lent me. The Head bolts turned out to be long tubular Allen key headed nuts, once removed, but they came out quite easily. The heads lifted off OK and revealed two pistons which looked fairly good. However removal of the two separate barrels revealed vertical score marks up the barrels, which means a re-bore will be needed with new pistons.

Next came the removal of the electronic ignition circuit boards. I marked them in case I wanted to put them back. But they just don't look right and I suspect that I will probably buy the correct ones when it comes to the rebuild. They came off easily but revealed more damage. It would appear that the end of the crankshaft has had a grinding wheel on it for some reason. I really cannot understand why!

Removal of the primary chain case cover is not quite as straight forward as you would imagine. You first have to remove the chain tensioner which has a nylon adjuster behind a bung at the front of the case. Turning this adjuster does not remove it. You have to screw a self tapping screw into the end of it and pull it out. Once out the case comes off and reveals the flywheel and clutch assembly. Removing the flywheel is easy. Knock back the tab washer, undo the nut and pull, and off it came.

Removing the clutch is not to difficult either. Undo the three spring loaded adjusting nuts and the cover comes off revealing the plates, all of which need replacing. But removing the centre sprocket is a different matter altogether. This sprocket turns the gearbox shaft which spins freely. Somehow I had to hold the sprocket still whilst trying to undo the two large nuts in the centre. I checked and could find no tool that I had that would do the job. There seemed to be no way to jam this sprocket to stop it turning. So I called Draganfly (The Ariel people) and they didn't have a tool either. I thought of welding a smooth plate and friction plate together to lock the inner sprocket to the outer basket. But Draganfly informed me that there were no new friction plates and the old ones would have to be refurbished. Whilst I was on to Draganfly I ordered a 3/8"AF Allen key for myself along with the special extractor tool for removing the crankcase ends. This will later turn out to have been a good idea.

Finally I went on Ebay and ordered a chain wrench, in the hope that I could grip the outside of the sprocket with it and undo the nuts.

The chain wrench arrived and to my surprise worked. Off came the nuts along with the centre clutch sprocket and revealed the thrust washer and roller bearings behind.

The clutch outer basket could then be removed along with the bearing rollers.

Much more engine stripping to follow.

Copyright K. Hopcroft  08.02.14 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

3. Ariel Golden Arrow - 2nd Strip

Having removed all of the rear bodywork, wheel, chain guards etc. It was now time to remove the engine. This presented a problem that I had not come across on any other motorbike before. The problem is that the centre stand is mounted on the engine casing
, and not the frame as normal. If I remove the engine, the bike will fall over!

This created a real dilemma. I decided to make a framework out of "Unistrut"  to support the bike frame. This took up considerable time but was good practice for my mig welding skills (which are not great). This involved making two frames which bolted down onto my bike lift and fitted either side of the bike. An adjustable crosspiece then added rigidity and provided support for the bike frame body, bolting onto the two rear shock absorber mounting holes. A quick wooden support under the front of the frame allowed me to remove the weight from the stand and work on the removal of the engine.

That done it was now a simple task of removing the brake pedal and rear forks and all fixing bolts and the engine simply dropped out from under the frame.

Next was the front forks. By removing the two chrome cover plates on the forks, the ingenious trailing link front suspension was revealed. After releasing the clamp bolts, the front axle knocked out reasonable easy and with the brake disconnected, the front wheel slid out between the forks. The front mudguard was next and to my surprise it turned out to be in two sections, not one continuous mudguard.

You can't remove the two shock absorber/spring assemblies until  the cast trailing link arms are removed first. The left one is easy, just remove the bolts and pull it out. But the right link has a bush mounted in it and that has to be knocked out first before the link will pass out between the bottom of the suspension leg rings. The two shock absorbers can now be undone at the top and dropped out from the bottom.

Finally the top yoke can be released along with it's top and bottom bearings and the front forks removed from the frame. By the way, the top and bottom bearings are loose ball bearings in races. Be careful to catch the balls as they fall out of the bottom race, when you pull the forks downward.

The next episode covers the stripping of the engine/gearbox unit and more disasters are revealed.

Copyright K. Hopcroft  07.02.14 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

2. Ariel Golden Arrow - The First Strip

Not a bad day, as bike stripping goes! After reading the web on anything relating to the Ariel Arrow, I discovered one crucial thing to check. Apparently a front end collision can cause the bodywork around the headstock to buckle. The way to check this is to measure the distance between the front mudguard and the engine at their closest point. The space should measure 2.5 inches (63.5mm). Bearing in mind the wobble that I felt when I first rode it yesterday I was worried that this might be a problem. However the tape measure revealed a healthy 2.5 inches so that was panic over.

After removing the loose silencers again, I set about removing the seat. Not too difficult this just two strange sideways opening hinges and a fabric strap and it was off. However removing the dummy tank requires a lot more effort as the handlebars, including the handlebar yoke has to be removed and the headlight, which is full of lots of wiring. Also the tool tray inside the dummy tank and the clutch and front brake cables that pass through it and finally the fixing bolts. After all that the tank lifts off to reveal a surprise hiding underneath.

At some point in the bikes history someone has fitted electronic ignition and a 12v electronic voltage regulator. Fairly good news I thought, at first. The voltage regulator was bolted to the chassis but the electronic ignition was held in place with BlueTac and a cable tie!

Next to be removed was the rear mudguard, chain guard, back wheel and final drive chain. These were closely followed by the inner rear mudguard and the shock absorbers.

The next task was the right side chrome cover, but in order to remove this the exhaust pipes have to come off first. These are held into the cylinder with threaded bushes with notches around the edges. These were in such bad condition, someone had tightened them by hitting them around with a drift of some kind, that I had no worries about hitting them again to loosen them. They will need replacing anyway.

With the exhaust pipes off and the footrests, the chrome cover could be removed to reveal the clutch mechanism and the carburetor (air hose hanging off).

I then decided to remove the wiring loom and this involved investigating the ignition cover on the left hand side, It was then that I noticed a strange spacer between the engine and the cover. It was painted silver but did not appear to be metal. After removing the cover all was revealed.
It was in fact "chipboard" and surrounded the electronic ignition pick-up circuit board that replace the points. I am now undecided whether to revert this bike back to original points ignition or make a proper aluminium spacer.

Finally I drained and removed the petrol tank that hides inside the frame and slides out from the back and reveals the cavernous interior of the frame.

So that's it for the first day. More follows as the engine and gear box are removed and finally the front forks are stripped. Then it will be off to the painters for shot blasting and a new coat of paint.

Copyright K. Hopcroft  20.01.14 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

1. Ariel Golden Arrow - Restoration

For anyone who followed my BSA A10 restoration, you will be expecting my next project to be my 1954 BSA Bantam. However I just couldn't resist this Ariel "Golden" Arrow super sport that turned up on EBay.

So the Bantam has gone on hold and this new project awaits. After doing the restoration on my BSA A10, I had no hopes that this bike would be as good as it looks in the photos. I know that it will need a full strip and hundreds of hours labour to bring it up to the standard of my other two bikes and fit to show, but that's the bit I really enjoy, to take a 53 year old bike and restore it to better than new condition.

I collected the bike yesterday from Kent and put it in my box trailer for the 168 mile trip back to Nottingham. I was only 30 miles from Nottingham when I decided to take a look in the trailer and see if the bike was still OK. It wasn't. Despite having used 8 ratchet straps to hold it in place, the bike was virtually over on it's side. A quick inspection revealed that the rear lifting handles, to which I had fixed four of the straps had only been held in place with domestic rawl plugs and  screws, which hadn't held. My only choice was to hook the straps onto the bodywork, which fortunately held for the rest of the trip and didn't damage the bodywork. However when I opened the trailer I did find that both silencers had dropped off and one of the rear silencer mounting brackets.

So today was just a case of studying the project and learning about Ariel Arrows. The first thing I couldn't resist was to see if it goes. A few kicks achieved the odd cough so I tried a bump start and to my surprise, it started. It does not sound well and is very smokey, but at least it started. So I took it for a quick spin up the car park. First impressions are not good. The engine is reluctant to run and the bike has a definite wobble, which feels like a buckled wheel. Lifting the seat revealed a 12V battery (not connected). So it looks as though it has had a 12v conversion at some point in its life, it remains to be seen if 12v is actually being delivered to the battery?

Tomorrow, with any luck, I'll start the full strip and see what other nightmares are going to be revealed.

 Copyright K. Hopcroft  19.01.14 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