LATEST INFORMATION, REPORTS AND TIPS
The Club held its annual rally at Stanford Hall in the Midlands. This is a beautiful place, where the bikes were set against a backdrop of trees and the wide slow-moving river Avon. The weather was kind, sunny and hot. A very good attendance gave all the visitors a lot to see and discuss for the day. Members brought all their spare bits and sold them to other bartering members! I was able to pick up a Mk.I. multi-jet carb in perfect condition for £5 which must be the bargain of the day. Also the Spares Dept. turned up in full force with a large van and sold new and old parts and made record takings! Not to be disclosed, but all will be revealed when the next balance sheet is produced at the AGM!!
Back to the bikes.....there was quite a good turn out of Vogues this year considering their rarity. A beautiful pristine Viceroy Scooter was in attendance and commanded a lot of attention and scrutiny! The number of Mk.1's were rather low considering it's the 50th anniversary of this model, but heck who's counting? The meeting was not about competing but just to turn up and talk and enjoy the company and meet old faces. For myself I was able to meet for the first time Henry Maidement, the club member who produces excellent electronic ignition conversions for the L.E.s. I have them fitted to my Mk.II. and Valiant and they have transformed the machines, but perhaps more about these later.
The Hall has a small museum of old motor bikes and was well worth a visit as was the cafe where I enjoyed a ham salad and cherry cake for lunch! I left at about 4.00pm having to drag my friend Brian away from a series of discussions and "only if's". Visitors were still turning up as we left. A great day!
Photos below show some machines and the beautiful setting.
TIPS
1. When setting the timing on Miller systems, bring the flywheel into alignment of TDC by setting the hole in the flywheel central to the hole in the mounting back plate. Adjust the cam unit to just opening the points, in a clockwise direction, with the bob weights in a FULLY OPEN POSITION. i.e. fully advanced. This is not clearly stated in the workshop manual.
2. Never leave the petrol turned on with regards to Valiants! I did and the float stuck on one of the carbs., letting petrol into the short manifold. In my case the engine had stopped with the inlet valve in an open position letting the petrol into the engine then into the sump. This led to a major clean out and oil change so be warned!
3. Inflate old tyres by about 10lbs/sq.in. over recommended pressures. You will find your bike will track better.
4. When using antifreeze, be sure you buy the correct type. i.e. for aluminium which is the glycol-based type. The wrong type tends to corrode the alluminium heads, which will crack under heat. If you have this problem, new heads are no longer available but a reconditioning scheme is undertaken by the Club's spares scheme. They weld up and skim and polish for about £10 per head. These heads are worth considering if you suffer from blown gaskets, i.e. water leaks to the bores which can nearly always be due to twisted heads from uneven head bolt tightening.
5. If you suffer from bad starting, it may be due to bad carburetor seating to the manifold. There should be a soft rubber ring between the carb and manifold. Check the seating of the manifold to the heads for air leaks. This has happened to me in the past and dramatically improved when all these joints were redone. This makes sense as the fuel mixture has a long way to travel to the heads!