Ron

Exactly so Dave! It seems that Nitromors has to be safe for a toddler to drink these days and I don't know how they've got the nerve to sell it as 'paint stripper'... I buy mine in 5lt bottles from the professional auto body paint shop where I get most of my paint products. This stuff stings if you get it on your skin.  Ron

I managed a couple more hours of fairly gentle work today in the form of paint stripping some more parts, welding a couple of holes in the lid of the triangle box and knocking dents out of the headlamp rim. Ron

Well I've been semi bed ridden with this buggered back problem for getting on for two weeks now but a 1 1/2 hour session with Pippa the Physio and extra strong pain killers from the Doc has got me feeling a lot better at the mo!

So a gentle hour the other day fitting the electro black fixings and another gentle hour today, wiring in the MCR1 regulator. I've got more heavy stripping of parts to contend with when I can and tyres to fit, which I'll entrust to my local friendly tyre firm as I just can't face tyre levers yet Ron  

Yes my sentiments entirely. A mixture of parts which is what might have happened in the field or REME workshops. It even looks like a nice early 8" Deluxe headlamp. Ron

I can't recall ever seeing a 'Balloon' tank with a Vokes cut off corner? And a car radiator hose is a cheap copp out. Ron

Aalbert it might well be from 1942 although it appears to have any early 39-40 deluxe petrol tank (with the wrong BSA transfers fitted) It also looks like the earlier forks that were changed to 1/2" longer by late 1940. Post war dynamo and regulator and Matchless type battery carrier. All the M20-M21's from 1940-45 had their frame numbers prefixed WM20. Personally I'd want to see clear pictures of both frame and engine numbers before I made the purchase.  

I'm not trying to piss on anyone's firework, just pointing out stuff as I see it in case you're not aware yourself. The bike could still be a good buy if the price is right and the numbers stack up.  Ron

Aalbert The frame number should have a prefix from the factory ie K,W,X,Y for the year and there is no such thing as an M21 frame number. They are all M20 numbers ie a 1939 M21 would have a frame number KM20 12345 a 1946 M21 would be XM20 12345. The engine however would be stamped ?M21 12345. Some pictures of those number would be best to identify the bike. Too many have fictitious stamping. Ron

The link. Ron https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C959823

My activities this week have been curtailed by pulling a muscle/joint in my lower back on Sunday. Gay Wayne the Chiropractic has wrestled me on his gurney and once I get over the experience I hope to return to normal service in the very near future. 

However I did collect the electroplated black items today, so at least the gearbox and cylinder head can be buttoned up. Ron  

That will be TEC 244 (Triumph Engineering Company February 1944.

Ron 

You may have noticed a slightly leaning lamp post in my back garden Pete. Tony tells me the lamp post is straight, apparently it's the house that's leaning  Ron

My neighbour and fellow biker Tony was in my workshop yesterday and his carpenters eye spotted that the right side fork leg looked bent out to the right. On inspection it was about 3/4" out of line and the left hand leg was about 1/4" out of line.So I guess a previous owner must have been in some sort of accident at some time.

I must admit, I hadn't noticed this and it would have been a simple process to straighten them before I'd painted and assembled the forks. 

But with a bit of thought and some dexterous use of some 10mm studding against the workshop wall, and some trial and error adjustments by over springing the legs, I was able to get both legs straight without damaging the paint. Look at my contrivance to adjust the left hand leg. Heath Robinson would have be proud  Ron

The weather today here was dry, sunny and mild, so a good opportunity to get some more top coat done. Ron

I commissioned a small batch of the unique Royal Enfield front number plate mountings to be made by my local engineer. Copied from an original. (3 per bike). They cost £75 per set, even so, he didn't charge me anything like the correct hourly rate. Correct raised countersunk screws are on order. I have one spare set if anyone wants them. Ron

The bike certainly looks like a 3HW (correct engine and forks) But the frame number makes no sense to me. The number should be prefixed TL. and there should be a date stamp on the top of the saddle tube (under saddle)  Ron 

Yes I took out the middle bar of the carrier front. It wasn't needed on this bike.  Ron

I simply mig welded the brackets Andy. The torch was for heating and bending the top of the battery carrier into shape, before I shortened it. Ron

Ian, dull chrome/nickel has always been a problem as most firms can't or won't be bothered with it. I'm not fully conversant with the process but it mostly seems to have fallen out of fashion and taken place by 'satin chrome' (too shiny). I do have a local firm who have done some superb work for me, but even so there has been mixed results. I'm a long time customer and they have been very patient with returned items, and I don't think they are looking for anymore work in this respect. Likewise the same thing applies with the firm I use for Cad plate.  

Ben has his own plating firm (thank goodness) and I think he's in a same situation.   Ron

Fortunately again, I could take measurements from my own WD/C and after several hours of cutting, welding, re-shaping, sanding and priming, it all seems to fit properly now. Ron 

I decided to take a look at the battery carrier today. I was aware that a tray had been welded to the bottom and I soon realized that it had been modified in the past to accept a larger battery by adding 1/2" to the rear support and extending it upwards. The mounting bracket ('J' bracket as I call it) had also been cut and roughly re-welded into a strange shape. Fortunately I had a spare 'J' bracket, but then the tool box rear bracket had also been cut back, so that didn't fit the replacement 'J' bracket. Ron

I guessed that's what you meant Chris, but I can see no seam of  a join between the ally and steel, and a magnet has no attraction at all. Regarding the rear shoes and other obvious replaced parts. I think as Jan suggests, there were quite a lot of available ex WD RE parts available in France to previous owners. Ron

Chris the rear ally shoes and springs are indeed different. The shoes themselves are wider in section and would probably not be any good on the front as i expect they'd collide with the speedo drive.  What do you mean by "steel plate surface"? I can't find any steel with a magnet. All four shoes bear the number 4091 PBM and the brake plates are 4090 PBM....... Foundry casting marks ??

Ron

It's amazing just how many parts can be disassembled from something as basic as the brake plates, and some fasteners are already away at the platers. These early WD/C's had aluminium brake plates, obviously before the cry to save aluminium for the more important task of aircraft manufacture. 

Talking of plating. Ben has received some samples of Dull Nickel for one of his other vehicles and decided to go with that finish for this bike. Should be nice! The process after chemical stripping will involve both polishing and grit blasting, before the nickel is applied.

Here's a very good excuse to eat more ice cream.  Ron 

hmmm! It looks like it might be a home made conversion to a Lucas WD lamp. But I could probably do something with it if you decide to replace it.  Ron

Jeff I still can't quite see enough of your lamp to be sure. But it looks similar to this Miller lamp.Maybe a side view of yours.

Yes my engine is prefixed 3HW,  Ron