Chris Hall

Try burton bike bits.

Picked up some more parts from a dealer yesterday. NOS track idler posts and shackles, in the Chilwell marked original boxes from 1943. Also a Tombstone mag table, 4 rebuilt bogie clusters and all the crab ware plates.

Makes me think there’s more to than meets the eye. Theses scammers aren’t stupid and I doubt they would accidentally put up the wrong photos. Perhaps they do this and have another of their accounts buy the item, leave pos feedback, cancel the item (so no fees are paid) in order to accumulate a good feedback score. Then list a copy of a genuine sale of a vehicle from say a few months earlier and wham, scam a new buyer. Not saying that’s exactly what they are doing but I don’t think they’re that stupid. I think There’s more to it than meets the eye.

Last week was another slow week. Had a week off work and had big plans. Got as far as Tuesday and then got a steel splinter in my left eye from grinding. I didn’t realise until Wednesday and had it removed on Thursday and Friday, so lost Wednesday onwards as I couldn’t see much. I think I need a new set of goggles as I remember a spark coming under the seal of my goggles but didn’t think much of it. I did manage to purchase and collect a canoneer platform for the Maxon mount which is something I thought I’d never find. So the last major part to find is a Tulsa 18G winch if anyone has a lead on one, I’d appreciate the heads up!

Got a near complete engine from a Royal Enfield CO (the cases are actually model C SV cases, these last civilian COs used the last of the C crank cases), a set of cases from a WD/CO (damage to timing side bush housing and a set of post war CO cases with cylinder and piston ). All will need work or can be stripped for parts. No longer for sale. PM for more details or photos.

Not original I’m afraid. Biggest give away are the markings/contractor code.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Kev Groom either had some parts or the drawings of.

I have a CTEK and I do have one problem with it. If the battery has a surface charge only, it can’t detect this and thinks it’s fully charged.

A dab of solder should sort it.

I’ve been busy accomplishing very little over the weekend. I managed to remove all 8 crab ware plates and the corresponding bogie arm ware plates. 2 screws per plate, 32 screws in total and only one would undo with a screwdriver! From those 31, 6 needed drilling out and the threads chasing, and 25 needed chiselling or mole grips. The ware plates are toast, worn through the hard surface in to the soft core. Luckily I’ve got some NOS plates to collect and they don’t cost a great deal. Ill post some photos of the plates so people can see how bad they can get.

I spent a little time picking at that blue paint. There’s a lot less now than there used to be.

I would personally always go for an air compressor. It’s much more reliable, consistent and has many more uses. You can get little 50ltr ones with spray kits for a reasonable price when they come up.

276B/1J would be the assembled carb and 276/400R would be the base mixing chamber as a spare part. Interestingly the doc above says to take the 276/400R and drill the drip hole which is fine if you know that part is going to that bike. If you were a MT/REME fitter who needs to replace a body, how would you know? I wonder if that modification was listed in an EMER? It then says to mark/remark the body 276B/1J so the chances are, if you have one marked 400R, it was a MT/REME level replacement from generic stores. lots of invaluable info in that doc.

I had one of these Ex French bikes too and I think the frame number was very close to that one (Jan likely has it on record). It’s very distinctive with its red outlined serial number.

This weather is very frustrating, I’ve been waiting weeks to put down some green paint.

A friend of mine had a rubber drive way, a removals truck did a reverse turn on his drive and the tandem axle rear wheels just ripped the top off like a sheet. The truck did a runner but a neighbour got evidence. He’s now had it concreted!!

Availability is very good, tracks are scarce and therefor expensive but tracks de Beule make a reproduction set. Some of the instruments are hard to find such as the temp gauge but not impossible. The good thing is that these vehicles aren’t likely to do many miles so things like a worn crab axle don’t matter to much.

Thanks, but progress is slow (slower than I wish). Got the second crab apart today. The pins in the guide blocks came out easily in comparison to the other. Getting the axle out was tough though, I borrowed a 7lb sledge from work which helped. There wasn’t even that much corrosion so I’ve no idea why it was such a bitch. Ive also drilled a hole in the centre of the spring seat and tapped it for a 1/4” UNF Grease nipple/zerk. Hopefully that will help to stop it seizing up in the future. So I need some nice weather to put some green paint down now.

Is it not Martin Walter (no S)?

Before you weld it on then, it may be worth deciding if you want to fit steel spacers or wood/plastic. Not sure what others have done so let see if anyone else has any thoughts.

Yes they are, let us know how well the JMP braces fit, I need to replace mine. Have you got a wood block to fit in the bottom? I’m tempted to use a plastic/nylon insert on mine.

Things have been slow over the last few months, I’ve been working 12 to 14 hour shifts so by the time I get to the weekend I’m goosed. But, I’ve now got a couple of new original 8.25 x 20” Goodyear tyres which are in really nice condition with no cracking etc. I’ve been blasting and painting some parts such as the front light, they took a weekend to take apart. A real pig! I then spent a whole weekend taking a frozen crab apart. It was torture and destroyed numerous drill bits, drifts, 2 x 4lb mallets and this 44 year old bloke. But it gave up in the end.

I don’t know why they would use that device, the correct compressor is much better or even just 2 x 1” UNC threaded bar and nuts.

It’s very satisfying to see the fruits of your labour. Next satisfaction is to listen to that thump, thump, thump.

To be honest, having seen your work so far I think you’ll be more than capable!