LITTLE WILLIE IS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN!

In the end it was only necessary to hone the barrel to ensure the oversize piston fitted correctly.  After collecting it from Damico Engines Ltd, at Roudham Industrial Estate near East Harling, Norfolk, I removed the old barrel from the D7 and fitted the newly-serviced replacement,  That was yesterday.

This afternoon I completed the rebuild.  Before filling the tank with petroil, I removed the tap - as it had been leaking - and dismantling it, dropped the cork plunger into boiling water for 20 minutes.  After that time the cork had swelled and was a nice tight fit in the tap barrel.

After flooding the carburettor, I gave it a kick - yes, only one! - and the engine 'popped' into life.  It was the first time I'd heard it sound like that, and it was so much quieter too, so I guess back in 1991 when I bought the Bantam it needed a rebore even then!

As it needed a new throttle cable (it broke on the way to the MoT station on 3 May, but I don't think I've told you that!) I've just ordered one from Rex Caunt Racing.  More later, as it happens!

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend, all you Bantamites.

Just a brief update; I've decided to have the barrel rebored to take a new oversize piston I've bought from Rex Caunt Racing.

This morning, I took the barrel and piston, plus rings, to DAMICO Engines Ltd, at Unit 18, Roudham Park Industrial Estate,, East Harling, Snetterton, Norfolk NR16 2SN. Website: http://www.damico-engines.co.uk/

DAMICO Engines have a very good reputation and are specialist in race-tuned engines etc, so should find the Bantam rebore a doddle!  More of this later.

One the straight, and a few hundred yards later (I'm still pounds, shillings and pence, me; so forget about meters!), I went to open the throttle only for it to go extremely limp (the throttle, not me, I'm limp most of the time!).  After coasting to a halt, I looked down to see the throttle cable coming out of the carburettor – it had broken at the nipple end!

Either way, it's bound to make a great difference to the performance, which I can only describe as 'very woolly, sluggish, and accompanied by metallic tinkling as the existing piston, as worn as it is, rattles in the bore.

As I don't have a digital micrometer, I resorted to measuring it with a vernier gauge, or whatever you call them, then taking a reading as accurately (!) as possible, double-checking the distance between the two pointers with a steel ruler.  The result I got seemed to show the internal bore to be 63mm.  So, what's that in Bantam terms?  040" or 060" oversize?

Anyone have any ideas?

MY SINCERE APOLOGIES AND BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL

I can only say how sorry I am in not updating this website sooner, but it's been a case of having taken on too much other work as well as dealing with the emotional after-effects of a failed relationship.  OK, perhaps the latter is a feeble excuse as it ended in May 2013, but the bitter memories of an ex-partner suffering from acute mental illness had such a lasting effect upon me that I felt unable to move on.

Recently, Clive Cottrell (who has a '64 D7 Super) contacted me to say:

...  gear selection is a nightmare! I'm going to do an engine rebuild this winter and I've been very impressed with your step by step guide, which will be my bible.

Well, Clive, I seem to recall having a similar problem quite a few years ago. So let's take a look at what I discovered and how I put it right.

We must bear in mind that a far amount of wear will have occurred over the years (mine's a '65 D7 so that makes it 47 years of wear!).

Taking a look at the ratchet plate assembly (90:1365) I found it was very sloppy on the bracket (90:56) pivot point.  It's kept in tension by a spring (90:59) and a cup (90:60), held by a peg (90:61).

I added an extra spring cup (90:60) which improved gear selection greatly, so this may well work for Clive as well when he does his rebuild.

However, to improve things further I drifted out the spring cup (90:47), which is in the lower half of the crankcase (see a previous blog), as the slot has very worn and stepped.

Now, my gear change is as good as I can expect from a piece of 'ancient' machinery.  But, no, it'll never be a slick and positive as a modern bike. But, what the heck, it has far more charisma about it!