flyingfleasteve

Thanks chaps, I nearly did forget them.....they are on the line of freshly primed parts.....I am unsure how accurate mine are, I had to make them as the originals where missing.....

Thanks Gents. It’s a learning curve for me.......your expertise are gratefully received! Hubs now primed and on there way for rebuild, more finish paint coats applied and more components fitted to the frame, it’s starting to look like a bike!

So today I have hit a small problem. After cleaning the cylinder head the 18mm spark plug hole has been fitted with a 14mm reducer. After a lot of chiselling I managed to remove the reduced keeping the head intact. Although the threads left in the head appear fine they are slightly larger than 18mm. I am now at a bit of dilemma, do I:- 1. Refit a new reducer and run a 14mm plug. 2.Repair/helicoil it’s (I am struggling to find an 18mm repair kit?) 3. Look to purchase a replacement head, currently I am struggling to find one. I would appreciated any advice. Thank you in advance!

It does Ron. A lot of the big jobs now done, a few items left to paint but the engine in now rebuilt and sat in the frame, wheels about to be made so it’s all go..... it’s not uncommon for me to pop into the shed at 6.00am before work and again 6.00pm afterwards to carry on with it......😬

The project is now progressing nicely, more parts cleaned and ready for paint.......nice to find someone original olive drab paint on the barrel...

The rear mudguard now primed and pieces back together ready for a final sand and top coat.......

Hi Guys so the missing engine parts are now on order with Villiers services. Steve thanks for the insight into the saddle cover, much appreciated. Funny Ron you should mention the saddle spring shapes, my flea has straight saddle springs fitted, I cannot verify if they are original however. This weekend has been a busy one with the rebuild, the hubs are both now removed from the incorrect rims and prepared for paint. Interestingly both the from and rear hub started life in Olive drab livery but then painted service brown......?

Thanks Ron. That’s a great help! I must say your James ML looks fantastic! I have noticed for the images the steel cable ties and steel clips on the rear mudguard supporting the rear light cable, may I ask where you sourced them? I always hold my breath when I see original period photos of bike, just in case it’s mine!

Thanks Ron. Good idea! I will give them a call now. On a slightly different note I have dug out what I believe is the original saddle and springs. The saddle springs are 4” long, may I ask if that sounds about right unfortunately it does not refer to a length in the parts book, but they certainly look correct? Thank you in anticipation!

Hi Gents! So the engine assembly is going well but Its generated a small query. In my James maintenance manual and instruction book on page 15 it shows a spacer between the two main crank bearings (item 34) on the drive side of the engine. This part was not in situ when I stripped the engine. I am just wondering if anyone can shed more light onto this spacer, please size/thickness/material? thank you all!

That’s great, maybe I can make use of this. Is it best I leave it in ‘as seen’ condition or does anyone have any recommendations on any ‘treatment’ I can undertake to make it a little less brittle? It will not be getting much use but it would be great if it looked the part!

Hi Ron. I would agree with you, the seat frame looks different in colour to the black out mask, more like the service colour. I have just dug this seat cover out , forgot I even had it! I was originally from a Flea if I recall, a little brittle in places but maybe salvageable? I am sure it’s Mansfield (I took the badge from it many moons ago)

Cheers Ron...... I should of read the rest of the manual.......... Out of curiosity what colour should the seat frame be and which cover should be fitted to it?

It appears one of the engine cases has what appears to be a broad arrow stamped on it? It’s located near the HT pickup

With the good weather I have been pressing on with the prep and painting.....the engine has also now been cleaned, stripped, inspected and partially painted.

Hi Ron. Thats Great, much appreciated, il take you up on your offer, il drop you an email, thanks again!

Perfect! Much appreciated, I am currently just working on the tin wear......... Although prepping each item by hand, before paint, is time consuming, its great when you uncover the original olive drab in mass........I must say that darn black paint was a nightmare to remove, almost oily in its finish!

Ron, may I ask the approximate distance between the centres of the real light fixing bolts and rear base of the mudguard? This is something I will need to drill. Thank you!

Thanks Steve. if there's one out there I will find it 🙂

Thanks Steve, much appreciated. I am really pleased with the colour and the progress so far! Ron your headlamp is in fantastic condition, brilliant find! It never ceases to amaze me what parts crop up. Yes I am also intrigued as to the stencilling of our NOS headlamps......... I am furiously looking for the correct decompression lever so I can start piecing together the handle bar set up, but the search continues.....

Hi Steve, as suspected my later frame does have the adaption for the stand clip feature........ The build is now starting to move along nicely, the front forks are back together and the NOS headlamp fitted, the colour match is pretty good too!

Thanks Steve. Thats Great! I will check my second later frame and see if that has the stand clip fittings...... I am unsure now as to finished the stand conversion or repair it as was 🙈

Thanks Steve, much appreciated! I guess I am intrigued as my stand is the same as the post war ‘revised’ design but it’s original finish is olive drab. Does that imply some very late war production ML’s/spares were based on this revised stand design? I hope this all make sense 🙂 All the best Steve

So the stand..... I started cutting and adjusting the stand today to fall in line with the WD type. Once I cut the ‘T’ shaped feet to ‘L’ I noticed whilst cleaning it up what looked to be olive drab paint! Low and behold the further I cleaned the more I found....... The paint layers matched that of the rest of the bike and I have every confidence apart from red oxide primer that the olive drab is the first colour......now I am confused.....

So with such a lovely day of sunshine I decided to prep and paint the next batch of ML parts......a few repro items also in the mix, purchase some years ago from Metal Magic.... please ignore the stand at the moment......