Ron

We decided that my calculated width of 3/4" at the 11/16" fork needed to be bigger to give a stronger diameter on the fork leg. I then drilled a 1/4" hole each side of the ring before cutting it in half through those holes. Both parts were held onto the fork tube and the holes were where I mig welded it to the tube, along with the rest of the cuts. Inevitably I had excess weld to sand and file away. Ron

Hi Clive this was the basic drawing I made for John. Backed up with pisctures I have. I can take more pictures of mine, but it's only what we think it should look like. Ron

John is very busy being retired, but spent many hours with his mill and lathe making the basic shape. I then spent at least 2 hours fettling and filing to produce the finished shape before I fitted it. Then came more filing to tidy the welding. Considering the lengths that BSA went to to make these bikes lighter, what were they thinking of, by adding this lug that was never fitted to other models which all had the much lighter and simpler cable lug on the brake plate?? Ron

My engineer friend John made the missing front brake cable lug for me. It was awkward to weld on, but by the time it's had more primer and then top coat, it should blend in nicely. Ron

Today I made the oil tank support plate. Ron

Thanks Clive. Yes that is the plan. Ron

I thought I'd have a go at re-fabricating my pre-war brake plate. I spent lots of hours over 5 days to produce a reasonable copy of the WB30 plate. Starting with one of these. Ron

Peter Long and his mate Trevor, rude to customers!!!??? How dare you Tim😁 Ron

Tim I guess you know that Cornucopia has 18T and 19T in stock? Ron

The mesh is quite sloppy actually. Triumph also used 20" wheels on some bikes and they just fitted an 18T or 19T pinion and ran it on the same 58T driving gear. I wouldn't have thought that would work....but it does. Ron

Ha Ha! My wheel has exactly the same brake plate as Lex's. I've already started drilling the rivets out.

Mudguard shortened and bracket riveted on. Awaiting arrival of a front wheel to see how it aligns. Ron

I've been calculating the position of the front guard and made up the support bracket at the forks. I've worked out that ultimately this should be riveted to the mudguard. But what a faf pressing the side divots into the mudguard, especially with just one pair of hands. (I wish I lived near Bruges sometimes😏) The radius distance from the wheel spindle is equal all around where I've set it for the pictures, however I've calculated that about 5"- 6" needs to be removed from the back of the mudguard. Ron

Yes thanks Jan. It all makes interesting reading and adds to the history. Cheers Ron

If I need to modify a brake plate like Lex's. I would remove all the rivets from that pear shaped part. Turn the pear shape into a circle and re rivet the circle in a correct position to re orientate the brake arm etc.......Or just send it to Jan😁 Ron

Ah yes I'm sure it will fit and can be modified Jan. But Lex asked if it was a WB30 brake plate. I have suposedly got a complete wheel coming this week. But please don't get rid of it till I know what I have Lex. Well done with the imagery magic Jan. I remember it well from the DC project. 😃 Ron

No Lex. With the speedo drive through the brake plate, it's probably some other 1939 model. Leon will know. This is the early WB30 5" hub, then the later 7" hub. Both are unique to the WB30. Ron

I've primed my forks and done a dummy run fit. Hopefully this will enable me to see about lining the mudguard up. Ron

I've been thinking about this Tim. If you cut out a cardboard copy of the large gear and lay it on the inside of the brake plate, dead center. You should be able to measure the distance between it and the speedo drive spindle. (By screwing the drive in only a few threads) Some careful calculating will give you the diam of the small gear. Unless someone has one that doesn't involve dismantling a bike. Ron

I've primed and flatted back my tank, and put it out the way for the time being. I also managed to find a correct (Non Indian) two plunger tap in USA. Apparently the nice British made taps are not available any more. I've also started to clean up my forks which I'm sure are NOS. My mudguards are also NOS. I've got to fabricate the brake cable adjuster lug which is missing off the fork blades. Ron

I've been concentrating on my Catalina tank. I cut out some front mounts (ears), positioned the tank in its correct location and tacked them on. Darren at Armours finished the welding for me with a neat TIG weld. I then cut two rear corner pieces and shaped them to match the curve of the tank, drilled and welded in a couple of bolts for the rear mounting studs. Welded the pieces in with extra vertical support. The next awkward part was welding in some sides to the rear of the tunnel, which for the Catalina is the wrong shape. All tidied up with a smear of body filler and ready for priming. Ron

Thanks John, nice set of pictures and great to have an original stand. Mine of course is a compromise, but stronger! I also beefed up the frame at the pivot points too. Keep up the good work. Ron

Hello Clive. Good to see you on here. I'm not good with FB I'm afraid. I find it a bit confusing and frustrating. All the best Ron

The BSA Catalina used the same shape tank as a WB30, but has other features that are not required. So I took a chance and ordered one from India and asked for those features to be left off. I am extremely pleased with it, Very well made and even has the correct side hinged 2 1/2" cap orifice. However I have fallen out with the seller who didn't send two other items that I paid for and is totally ignoring me. Why do they seem to feel the need to cheat in some respect? The mountings to come next. Ron

Like Lex I've been going since the 80's and every year for the last 20 odd years (Had to miss the covid years). Always the same camp site. I'm growing old with the third owner now.👍 Ron