Author Topic: C15 beesa project  (Read 1251 times)

johnr

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C15 beesa project
« on: October 24, 2018, 11:49:41 PM »
going to do a few upgrades to the old beesa over the coming months, nothing massive, but mostly to improve its useability rather than anything radical. first off a couple of housekeeping jobs, sort the fueling and the gear selection probs, new carb and camplate, then im hoping to prevent it from the grenading that i think may be inevitable in its current state of tune, so lowering the compression a tad by fitting a 2mm spacer under the barrel (cue lots of filing!) and finally, improving the brakes, which, to be frank are the worst ive ever had on any motocycle in my life, (and ive owned cossacks!) i dont want to go to disks, so ive hit on a cunning plan to use two suzuki wheels from the gt250, theyre both rears with huge drums, and i plan to mount one on the front in a set of gs550 forks, mostly because i already have a set of gs550 forks! i will get pics of it all this weekend when im in the shed, and dont expect anything to happen quickly, or me to spend any money! lol (reason im using the suzuki wheels is cos theyre 17 inch so i can re use the tyres i have!) anyhow, so thats the start of it. with luck this may actually become a reasonably reliable and useful little runaround rather than its current status as grenade with the pin out.

CrazyFrog

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Re: C15 beesa project
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2018, 07:47:33 AM »
Sounds like an interesting project - and lots of work.  :D
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iansoady

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Re: C15 beesa project
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2018, 11:44:58 AM »
The brakes shouldn't actually be too bad as they're not trying to stop an awful lot. If you get decent high friction linings accurately sized to the drums (I can recommend Villiers Services https://villiersservices.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=146 ) they should be adequate and avoid having to make special spindles etc.
Ian.
1952 Norton ES2
1986 Honda XBR500
1958(ish) Grumph.....

johnr

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Re: C15 beesa project
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2018, 10:33:59 PM »
ive tried. the rear is pretty much useless due to the drum being egg shaped, but the front has new high friction linings, a skimmed drum, nw cables and even an extended lift arm on the drum, theyre frighteningly awful. you can actually pull it hard enough to hurt your hand and then have time to think about stuff as it slowly retards progress. it couldnt even lock the wheel on the mot test rollers.
anyhow, wheels are ordered and on the way, metal for base spacer arrived today and carb came too. so now it needs to go in the shed so i can start to tackle it.

johnr

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Re: C15 beesa project
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2018, 06:08:07 PM »
ok, to save making my life eeven harder than it currently is, im going to altr only one thing at a time on the engine, so as to prevent myself from either making a problem worse or else introducing new ones. ven though im planning to rmov the top end, first job is to fit thee new carb, this way i know that it will run ok and start easily without any doubt that what ve changed will solve the problem i have, if i lower the compression first, then change the carb i wont know if any improvement is down to one or the other.
so i looked up replacememt amal carbs. still available from amal, made in england. £191 quid each inc vat, but plus postage. errrrrr........ so, ebay, mikuni copy, for a c15, 25 quid inc delivery. no brainer. i remove thee old one, pop th new carb on, noting that the existing throttle cable even fits, turn on the fuel and ignition, prod the kick start and......... it runs, first kick. not only that, but it revs clean with no lumpiness or stuttering, and most amazing of all, it ticks over. an even steady tickover, no black smoke, no petrol drips, no smell of fuel, no hunting or lumpiness, just a steady tickover like an old lawnmower. incredible!

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johnr

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Re: C15 beesa project
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2018, 06:08:54 PM »
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johnr

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johnr

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Re: C15 beesa project
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2018, 10:36:38 PM »
posty delivered my wheels today, im using a pair of suzuki wheels from 1970's gt two strokes, both are rears so have drum brakes, the idea being that i can fit them and keep the period look with the brakes whilst the japanese drums will actually provide me with serious braking ability. the stock wheels are pretty pants anyhow with useless brakes and an oval drum on the rear, so id need to do something about them anyway. im not really too bothered for originality, but i want it not to look like its got modern brakes. anyhow, theyre here, so i need to get the forks sorted and fitted to the bsa frame and then we can get it rolling and see how it looks.