A wee Matchless project

[Rannsachair]

I had the SH cams in my 18s together with a 9:1 piston. It pulled noticeably at 80 and could be persuaded to go to around 90/95 if I recall. I didn't bother with a fancy exhaust or tuning the inlet and it had standard gearing.

sounds good, the reason for building a 500 in the first place was that the 350 is a bit sluggish for pulling out junctions with modern traffic, I think I will solve that

 

[zeppelin builder]

there was a pushrod g80 at goodwood a couple of years ago realy giving the manxes etc a hard time
think it belonged steve tonkin iirc

 

[MalcVTR]

I love threads like this. It’s great to see the development, stage by stage.

 

[Rannsachair]

Well I finally got started making a Tappet Block removal tool to get back to this ( was working on it up to my emergency surgery last week, hope to finish it soon):
The tappet blocks need a tool and heat to remove - the starting point for making a factory tool was this drawing:

The main plate on the crankcase:

I must add, I am no machinist, did the basics when I was doing my HNC as a draftsman (36 years ago), and even did some CNC when a student, so I only know the basics as my career went into design. So unlike many on here, I am very much an amateur machinist, so my methods may well not be the best, I enjoy it and often kick myself when someone tells me an easier method of what I have taken hours to do:

Out with the big 4 jaw to turn the ends on the parts that locate in the plate and cam bushes:

Centre and turn ends:

next cross drill tapping hole for 7/16 BSW thread, get to use my optical centre punch, always love the novelty of it:

For accurately marking centres, especially if your eyesight is getting iffy, they are fantastic:

The brass part is the holder, the perspex part acts like a magnifying glass and has cross hairs, you line it up then swap it out for the hardened punch, we tap and you have a spot on centre (apologies to those of you who have used them for years, it is one of those tools that I like to use).

Cross drill tapping hole then start tap on drill to ensure square:

and finish tapping 7/16 BSW by hand:

2 of done:

Next mill down some square section for the threaded parts:

Back in the 4 jaw, centre and turn to outer thread size:

Reverse into collet chuck to turn locating button for tooling:

I will cut the threads next and picked up a nice set of split dies to finish them:

As soon as I am back walking and feel up to a little machining, i will finish off, I have the barstock in the chuck for making the last few parts.

 

[Matchless]

I took my motor bike test on the Matchless i posted above when I was sixteen, The examiner in Middlesbrough came out asking where is your motor cycle, I had to tell him that it was around the corner, resting up against a wall, It didn't have a stand, Another thing that I remember was that it had a wire-wound piston below the Rings, The only one that I have come across.
P.S. Passed first time, Got the same examiner a year later for my car test, His name was Mr Tippet.

took my test on a Tiger Cub, post war the original pistons were wire wound, they had a less clearance in the bore,

 

[Rannsachair]

took my test on a Tiger Cub, post war the original pistons were wire wound, they had a less clearance in the bore,

I have had a liner fitted to the barrel to use a standard wire wound piston:

 

[Matchless]

agreed, brazing it would be a better / more permanent repair, as would building it up with weld / TIG. No I was thinking more that the lead might be a workable alternative, and easier to manage at home, with home workshop available materials. As I've said I've not tried it yet, but have thought about it for a while.

you will need to get a lot of heat into the casting to use technoweld / lumiweld / whatever the guy sells at the jumbles, should work well but you may need to heat it in a BIG oven.....

 

[Rannsachair]

you will need to get a lot of heat into the casting to use technoweld / lumiweld / whatever the guy sells at the jumbles, should work well but you may need to heat it in a BIG oven.....

I managed to pick up another good set of castings (same year, though marked G80 ), I gave the corroded castings away to another forum member.

 

[Seadog]

I have the trunnions, jack screws and packer pieces for the tappet extractor. In fact I should have the whole extractor, but my friend who was looking after it seems to have lost the plate
It's an original factory item bought from Russell Motors back in the 70s.

 

[Rannsachair]

I have the trunnions, jack screws and packer pieces for the tappet extractor. In fact I should have the whole extractor, but my friend who was looking after it seems to have lost the plate
It's an original factory item bought from Russell Motors back in the 70s.

Real shame if he has lost it, there cannot be many left in the world. Saying that, probably not many folk will try making one today either.

 

[gordon stephenson]

I don't think I mentioned before, My wire wound piston in the G80 CS fell apart while riding, Whole skirt below the gudgeon pin dropped off, Bike was still running but like a centurion tank smoke screen coming out of the exhaust pipe,

 

[Rannsachair]

I don't think I mentioned before, My wire wound piston in the G80 CS fell apart while riding, Whole skirt below the gudgeon pin dropped off, Bike was still running but like a centurion tank smoke screen coming out of the exhaust pipe,

It did not seem appropriate to like that statement, though a CS is a favourite of mine. There are a few horror stories ofcmodern pistons in AMC singles, i hope original reduces is the risk for me.

 

[Rannsachair]

It did not seem appropriate to like that statement, though a CS is a favourite of mine. There are a few horror stories ofcmodern pistons in AMC singles, i hope original reduces is the risk for me.

Apologies for the typos - combination of eyesight and not sleeping well. Horror stories are JP Pistons, with issues like weighing 100g more than standard, which is fixable by material removal or rebalancing with the crank.

 

[Seadog]

Real shame if he has lost it, there cannot be many left in the world. Saying that, probably not many folk will try making one today either.

I intend having a good look around his shed one of these days. There are quite a few other items that seem to have disappeared as well.

 

[Rannsachair]

I intend having a good look around his shed one of these days. There are quite a few other items that seem to have disappeared as well.

Fingers crossed they turn up, I fancy making a complete set when i get the time and my healrh improves.

 

[gordon stephenson]

I'm pretty sure that the piston that failed would have been original, this happened in 1960, At the time I got a new piston from Assosiated engineers, Fitted a new roller race big end at the same time, No more trouble after,

 

[Seadog]

Fingers crossed they turn up, I fancy making a complete set when i get the time and my healrh improves.

At the moment the parts are in a box in my bedroom and definitely not easy to lay my hands on. Once I've completed a workshop rearrangement things will start to go back and when I turn them up I'll let you know.

 

[Wallace]

I intend having a good look around his shed one of these days. There are quite a few other items that seem to have disappeared as well.

I lent a grinder to a "friend", after many months he denied having it then asked to borrow an electric drill as the 13mm drill bit he bought would not fit the 10mm chuck on his drill. I went round to see my grinder pride of place on his wall so I kept quiet quiet and let him use the drill to do what he needed and told him I would turn the shank on his new bit down to 10mm for him. As I was leaving I took the grinder off the wall and the argument started, cut short when I pointed out my engraved initials where you would not look. I never did turn his drill bit down and nor did he ask for it!

A friend of mine has been in the Jampot Club for years, he currently has an AJS bitsa modified to a bobber, I will see if I can find the photos.

 

[minimutly]

Some friend he....

 

[Matchless]

Casings back from aqua blasting:

Corrosion on timing side crankcase worse than I thought:

It is holed and so thin you can deflect the weak area with finger pressure.

I can get a second hand set of cases for £60 or do I get welded? or try a lumiweld type repair as i suggested earlier? One of the main frame mountings is at this point so will be held in compression at the repair, not so keen on an epoxy or lumiweld repair in case it will delaminate due to vibration?

Cox and Turner just emailed that the barrel is resleeved and bored to suit a standard wire wound piston with just over .001" clearance.

I have the trunnions, jack screws and packer pieces for the tappet extractor. In fact I should have the whole extractor, but my friend who was looking after it seems to have lost the plate

It's an original factory item bought from Russell Motors back in the 70s.

Could you use a cut off a (damaged) outer timing cover instead of the factory plate? may even be better....