New project - BSA C11

[iansoady]

I thought I'd just start a new thread for anybody interested in my project. I've done little to it so far other than given it a good looking at, and got it up on the bike lift this morning to continue that process.

I'm discovering that a previous owner has been something of a bodger / creative problem solver (delete as appropriate) and seems to have assembled the bike out of a collection of parts some only having a nodding acquaintanceship with the model. The forks are wrong but I've found a pair on ebay. The back wheel also has some missing / wrong parts. The engine/gearbox are only loosely attached to the frame. The primary chaincase is from a later C12 alternator model (but will do if I can't find the correct one). The engine turns over on the kickstart and has compression, and there seem to a be a full complement of gears (3). It's had new control cables fitted and the wiring loom looks good and the chain looks new. 3 items I'd usually change.

The photos flatter rather a lot....

[iansoady]

I bought a set of forks from ebay as the existing ones are from an entirely different bike (C15 I think) and they arrived today. They're pretty good - the stanchions are very rusty at the top but reasonable further down, and the oil seal holders came off fairly readily with a strap wrench. And of course I now have the correct fork for the bike with the brake abutment etc, all in fairly good order.

I have a couple of spacers which the previous owner used to make the spindle "fit" the original forks which I now believe to be C15 or relative. I'm not sure if one of these is the distance piece 29-5836.

As I delve deeper it's clear that this bike has had at least 2 attempts to return it to health. One lot of work is quite good with properly fitted parts, Cycle thread nuts and bolts etc; the other is a bodge job including two of my pet hates - metric nuts and bolts (and even worse allthread studding) instead of the proper fasteners, and pre-insulated crimped electrical connectors.

Having said all that, most of the basics are there and in decent condition. My current plan is to assemble it all as is, take the cylinder head and barrel off to check them, clean everything and see if it runs and how well. Depending on this I will either strip it again and look at the cosmetics as well as fixing mechanical and electrical parts as required, or maybe run around on it for the summer before doing the cpsmetics in the winter.

I have to say it's a well designed little machine and I'm getting very fond of it!

[Moto63]

Here’s wishing you the best of luck whichever route you take with it Ian.
Look forward to seeing progress reports in the following weeks 👍
Cheers, Michael

[xbally]

Sounds like the perfect project for you Ian

[iansoady]

Thanks both, I'm looking forward to getting (more) stuck in. It's up on the lift, I've got the wheeels ect off (and discovered a number of non-standard features). Fortunately most of the parts are relatively easy to get and not too expensive.

[iansoady]

The replacement forks from ebay arrived and are OK except for an area of rust inside one of the sliders preventing the stanchion from going down smoothly. I've attacked it with a length of emery in a slotted dowel but with little success so far. However, there's a pair of sliders on ebay which the vendor assures me are sound inside so have ordered them I'll be able to set up a C11 fork shop!

I've also cut off the back end of the rear mudguard so I can make it QD for removing the wheel. I succesfully did the same on my Norton ES2. There's a bayonet arrangement on the rolled over section at the side of the guard, and a plate bridging the gap. Attaching this will tax my welding skills but if necessary I can attach with a couple of through bolts.

Everything else is coming apart nicely although the footrests are entirely wrong - the RH one looks like a Norton item, the LH off a different BSA model. I understand they should have an internal hexagon engaging with a hexagonal fixing stud - which is also missing being "replaced" by a length of metric studding....

[iansoady]

Just cracking on slowly. I've spent the last few days correcting the rear wheel spindle arrangement which has involved making special nuts, making a spacing sleeve for the spindle / bearing and trying to design correct spacers to replace the colllection of rusty washers in there at the moment.

I now have what looks like a workable front fork setup so have to make a spindle for that wheel. I have a collection of surlpus parts which I will try to get rid of on ebay when I finish.

I've nearly finished the rear mudguard arrangement but daren't post a picture of my welding!

No pics of anything so far as it's fairly boring.

In other news have now had a couple of runs of 30 miles or so on the B'Zuki and it's turning out to be a nice bike. The DRZ400 engine is a peach and pulls well in all gears - I've had it up to 60 or so and it's barely breaking a sweat. The radiators are staying quite cool as is the oil. I still haven't finally cracked the gearchange position although it works well. Brakes (2LS 8" Triumph on the front) are excellent which is a good job as a lady(?) in a Range Rover tried to wipe me out yesterday. There's quite a lot of shunt and snatch in the transmission as it lacks a shock absorber and there's some play in the rear wheel QD splines.

The Norton is sulking again - it's starts but won't take any throttle. So I've told it off and left it in the corner for the time being.

[iansoady]

I know you're all waiting with bated breath to see how I'm getting on....

The good news is that the correct bits seem in decent condition. The bad news is that many bits are not correct. So I have to either find replacements, modify / make what's missing or some combination of these.

For instance the back wheel had a 5/8" diameter spindle whereas the correct one is 1/2" diameter with flats on the end to accommodate the snail cam chain adjustment - which in itself is a nice piece of design. I magaed to get a NOS spindle from Yeoman's Motorcycles, an old-time breaker, and the snail cams from Draganfly following which after much trial and error managed to make appropriate sleeves and spacers to line everything up.

The major task has been using a Kawasaki prop stand as the correct ones are totally unavailable. These stands are great for one-offs and this is the 3rd one I've used. Below is a description of what I had to do to make it fit.....

First of all I needed to make an attachment to the chain stay. I bought two chunks of aluminium alloy, one 60mm x 50mm x 19mm and another 60mm x 80mm x 19mm.

I then bored and tapped four 1/4" BSF holes to clamp the two halves together then held the lot in the 4 jaw chuck and bored to just over 7/8" to suit the chainstay. I then took .050 off the inner surface of the back plate to ensure good clamping.

On offering up I could estimate where the fixing holes for the Kawasaki satnd needed to be so could drill and tap 3/8" Cycle (yes should really be BSW into alloy but don't have any Whit taps). Then made studs to attach the stand. I needed a couple of spacers to clear the locknut on the stand.

As usual the jaws of the stand had spread leaving a lot of play but I managed to close them up to reduce this. The total cost was about £12 for the stand and £6-odd for the alloy, plus various bits and pieces from the scrap bin.

I've now taken the bike off the lift and after some fine adjustment and final tightening the stand looks and works well.

Here are some pictures:

Boring the chainstay hole:



Skimming inner bracket:



All the bits laid out:



Bracket in position:



Stand in raised position:



Stand deployed:

[themoudie]

Aye Ian,

Thank you posting, the stand appears to be safer than some of the "lift and fly away" stands fitted to other machines, with a gust of wind causing mayhem! 

As for the Electra ......... fettling, fettling, fettling, ad nauseum!

Good health, Bill