BARREL DELIVERY - AT LAST

Tuesday 14th December 2010

Two weeks ago I tried to deliver the barrel to Scooter Surgery.  I had decided that I would phone Patrick as I was about to set out in order to ensure he was there, I didn't want a wasted journey.  When I got no reply I had to abandon my trip which was a bit disappointing as I wanted to keep tings moving.

Not wanting to have a repeat situation of last week I phoned Patrick  to ensure he would be around.  Yes, he would be there and he couldn't understand why I couldn't get a reply to my previous call.

I set off just after 0930hrs arriving  an hour and a half later.  My hope that everyone would be at work at this time proved unfounded.  Perhaps it's just that London never sleeps and everyone has somewhere important to go to, it felt like that.  True to his word Patrick was behind his counter.  He gave me the impression that he had either not been there long or he had been contemplating starting work for some time.  I was eager to see what he thought of the barrel and head and he didn't hesitate to open the box.  
I waited whilst he examined the head without comment, he then turned his attention to the barrel.  After a careful examination he pronounced that it was a good example and he could do something with it. What a relief and despite my feelings that it was a good barrel it was nice to hear it from the master.  With that over I accepted his kind offer of a cup of coffee, I could relax now.  I think my apprehension stemmed form the fact that I didn't want to start searching for a replacement after having taken so long (five weeks) to finally get this sample to him.

We eventually walked down to the workshop where I stood and watched Patrick remove about eight scooters from the unit before he could show me my engine.  

 
It was only the crankcase casing fitted with the new crank and con rod the rest of the bits were in a box at the back of the bench. The removal of the mag case casting had been a real pain and in the end Patrick had had to destroy the old (and knackered) crank shaft in order to use it to help push the casing out from the inside.  There is a puller for this job but it only attaches with three M5 screws, OK for a new assembly but not for one that not been removed for many years.   Apparently the kick start casting was away having a new bush made for it and there was some doubt that it may need some welding in order to retain one of the bushes because of a small crack.  A decision has yet to be made.  

Now that the casting is cleaned the pitting to the area behind the engine mount is more noticeable.  There's not a lot I could do about it as it would require the removal of too much metal to get to a good surface. I just have to accept that is how a neglected engine looks after fifty four years.  I think if I had a choice I would like to  have had the castings polished just to make them look more spectacular.  Thinking further, is that really me?  Think of all the maintenance.  I'm not really sure what I intend to do with the scooter once I have got my MOT.  I certainly wont show it and I'm not too sure how far I will ride it.  If I want Concourse I will have to start again and use my experience gained on selecting the next bike.  Why am I thinking like this when I still have so much to do on this example? 
Patrick told me he was working on three other LD engine units, each in various stages of build.  On the bench next to mine was an earlier version which was painted silver, apparently this is how they were.  I really don't know how Patrick works like this with so many engines and scooters in bits, there are so many bits in boxes and on shelves that if Patrick left no one would ever know what belonged to what.


Back in the shop I mentioned that I was concerned about the build of the front suspension, there appeared to be a lot of slack  and the stiffness didn't seem to be the same on each side.  Patrick said he knew exactly what I would need to correct that and commenced to pick items from his spares bins.  I ended up with a set of bushes and seals together with a pair of bump stops.  Patrick said that he would recommend a set of stiffer springs which would make the ride much better.  Off we went back to the workshop where he sorted me out a pair which he had use on one of his scooters.  He found me an end plug which he explained how to modify so that I could use it to compress the heavier spring to enable me to reassemble the suspension.  I had previously mentioned that I had built the TF and this apparently was sufficient for him to let me into the secrets of fitting the heavier springs.  He said he wouldn't suggest that everyone attempt this modification as the wouldn't have the skills necessary.  No pressure then.

£40 of front suspension refurb bits

During my stay no other customers came and he only had one telephone call from a friend who wanted him to arrange Burlesque dance lessons.  Patrick explained that wouldn't do classes because there was so much involved in the dance and classes usually consisted of overweight house wives who just wanted to strip.  He said that we was working with a group of dancers in an advisory capacity, someone else had selected the dancers and was responsible for the group.  To my surprise Patrick explained that he was a trained ballet dancer and his love for scooters had started at the age of twelve when his interest in mechanical engineering developed.  Apparently he also has a Mk11 Jaguar on which he has done extensive work.  It's amazing what you find out about people and how life twists and turns for us all.  Perhaps it's never too late to make a direction change.

We said our final good byes two hours later and I left with a bag of bits and forty pound hole in my wallet.  It had been a very useful and educational visit if a little more expensive than I had anticipated.  I think I will have to keep an eye on things when I buy parts and ensure they are specified and costed, an open order could turn out to be a bit of a shock.  
As I left I showed Patrick my carburetor that I had brought with me for his comments.  He said it looked OK  adding that it would be best to remember to turn of the petrol tap if I didn't want a petrol leak.  Apparently the float shuts off the fuel using a tapered pin which fits into a brass seat in the float chamber cover.  This wears and leaks, it can be replaced but would be expensive.  Turning the tap off sounds like a practical solution. I was pleased to hear Patrick say that he would use my carburetor to run the engine.  He had mentioned setting up the engine but never actually said he would run it.  How great to have the engine unit returned fully tested, one less thing to worry about (must remember this when I come to pay the final bill)  He accepted my offer to send him my inlet manifold so the engine would be run using my complete fuel system. 


A good run home.  Looking forward to having a go at the front suspension.  I think I may have to wait until it warms up a bit before starting the task.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

Patrick phoned out of the blue last week at about 1730hrs.  He was just checking if I had make any progress with the barrel and head.  As it happened I had just arranged to collect them from my son over in Essex at the weekend.  Patrick was pleased to hear this as he was reaching the point where he was going to need them.  Apparently he had arranged for the kick start leaver bearings to be sleeved as they were badly worn and hoped to collect the casting next week after which he would need my bits.  I promised to try to deliver them on Thursday 25th November.  He was happy because he was away until Tuesday and could do nothing before that.

I collected the barrel and head from John on Saturday.  This was the first time I had seen the bits and despite having had reports that they looked good I was apprehensive.  I needn't have worried, they looked fine.  I had to wait until I got back home before I could confirm that the bore was 57mm as near as I could measure, correct for a 150cc engine.  

Barrel and Head

Crankcase flange

All looks in good condition.  I can't see any chips or damaged threads so far.

Head

The bore

The bore looks good with no excessive scoring or signs of seizure.  There is a small lip around to top of the bore but nothing too much.  Patrick assures me that he can re-bore if necessary and has a range of pistons up to 58mm.


I have to say I won't be happy until I have Patrick's approval.  I have so little experience of two strokes all my observations have little value.  When Tim  http://www.blackspanner.blogspot.com/
rebuilt his Vespa he was advised that a re-bore was unnecessary.  Since I hadn't seen the condition of the bore I have no idea how much ware there was.  Judging by the other problems he found I guess there could have been quite a bit.


Having now got a barrel and head in my hand the next move is to get them to Patrick. When I have done this it will complete a long journey for these parts, from Sheffield to Birmingham NEC, to Ridgewell Essex, to Bramfield Hertfordshire and finally to Hammersmith London.  I hope it's all going to be worth it.

THE BARREL

My quest for a barrel and head suddenly kicked off.  Shortly after having agreed with Patrick that I would have a go at sourcing the bits I received a call from my son in law, Neil, saying he had been on Ebay looking for me.  Neil would agree that he is not the most enthusiastic mechanical engineer, in fact his wife Jax is more into things mechanical.  He is very supportive and has an interest in scooters so he had found some potential suppliers.  He had even contacted one with a view to locating my barrel.  What could I do?  I couldn't let a Sunderland supporter accuse me of not trying, I just had to get my finger out.  I left a message with Neil's contact but we never actually tied up.  Time for alternative sources.

I had previously had a suggestion from Tim that K & S Scooters might be a source, they had been very helpful to him.  I tried Sundar Scooters but they didn't have anything. I tried Cambridge Lambretta workshop, again they did not have a steel barrel but could offer me an aluminum one at about £250.

Torsie, John's wife, had introduced me to one of her sales reps who was into scooters in the hope he might be able to help.  It was Ashley Marples who had encouraged me to buy the scooter in the first place so I Emailed him to ask if he had any advice.  He put me onto Armandos Scooters in Sheffield.  When I phoned I spoke to Julio who proved to be most knowledgeable on LD150's.  At first he thought I was looking for the barrel, head and piston and we started discussing the size of the big end.  I eventually explained that Scooter Surgery would supply the piston from his stock and things became easier from then on.  Julio quickly found a 150cc barrel (57mm bore) but said he would have to search further for a head and would call me back.  To my surprise and joy, he did.  Yes he had found a head and wanted £100 plus VAT for both.  He agreed that if I payed cash we could forgo the VAT.

I phoned Patrick to see if the price was right, I had no idea of what the cost might be.  Patrick said it was a good price if OK and he had seen barrels at much higher prices, "Buy it".  So the next problem was how to get the bits to Bramfield and finally Hammersmith.  Ashley had already said he would collect anything I bought so it was just how to get the £100 to him.  Events rather then took over.  I received a text from Torsie saying that Ashley had already picked up the parts and would take them to the NEC where he and Torsie were on the company stand at the Classic Car Show.


I was able to give cash to John who would give it to Torsie who would give it to Ashley who would hand over the barrel and head.  I understand this has been done and the items are now with John, only an hours drive away.  I still have to collect them and get them to Patrick but things are looking good, I have the bits and from what Tim tells me they look OK.  The next milestone is to get Patrick's approval when I make the delivery.  He has told me that he does re-bores and stocks a range of pistons so hopefully all will be well.

WHAT'S BEEN GOIN ON?

Not a lot really.  I've had my operation and June has started her chemo, this has taken up most of our lives.  I have managed to get the odd moment to make some progress on the scooter.  I had intended that whilst I was convalescing I would spend time resourcing all the bits I need.  This didn't really happen for one reason or another but I still had my "Wish List No1" down at Scooter surgery with Patrick so I had made a start of sorts.

In early October I phoned Patrick and spoke to Maude.  She said she had received my list and had put in a folder for Patric to price up.  Apparently Patrick hadn't seen it yet but Maude would remind him as he was very busy at the moment.  Tell me something new.  The main thing he had my list and would eventually do something with it.  I really needed to know what he could supply so I could start the search for the bits he couldn't.  Since my list No1 can't be complete because I don't really know all the bits I'm looking for I need to start thinking about list No2, the less obvious bits.


In mid October I received my Wish List No1 marked up by Patrick, Maude had obviously done her magic.  Patrick had done a great job identifying the bits he had in stock and the bits he said he would collect during he trip to Italy in November.  This left a few items with no indication, mostly odd nuts and bolts.  There were some missing prices but adding up those that were there it looks like it's going to cost me £275 plus VAT for the identified bits.  Heavens knows what the bits he is going to pick up from Italy will cost.


Patric had been unable to source a 150cc barrel and head..  He had a 125cc barrel in good condition.  Patric argued that the porting on the 125 was the same as the 150 and the performance was not that much reduced especially if you weren't going to make long runs on Motorways.  It was always my intention that this rebuild would tie up with the log book otherwise why was I spending £1200 on the engine rebuild alone.  We agreed that I should Have a go at sourcing the barrel and head and report back to Patrick.  Patrick warned me to avoid offers of the aluminum modern replacement because of their weak exhaust connection.  Having put the phone down I realised that I was now in the hot seat and progress could be reliant on me finding a barrel.  Where to start?

THE LAST POST

This is my last post before I go into hospital for my operation and I've managed to reach a milestone.  It's out, the engine that is.  I've managed to remove the engine from the frame.  The target was self imposed but I feel it represents a significant point in the project.  I can now concentrate on all the other bits that are missing so that by the time the rebuilt engine returns I can start a full rebuild.  To this end I have just sent of my "WISH LIST No1" to Maude at Scooter Surgery.  I have so far identified about 40 items that I need to source, ranging from a protective cap to an exhaust system.  As Maude pointed out not all bits are available so she has offered to go through my list and identify the bits they can supply.  Hence why my missing parts list is actually a wish list.   I will produce further lists as I discover other missing bits, hopefully not too many more.

Working space has been a bit limited because I still have John's things stored in the garage.  This has meant negotiating four Scoots (used for moving the car), the TF and finally squeezing past the end of the lift bench to get to the far side of the scooter.  I felt that Torsie's wedding bouquet hanging above the scooter would probably bring me luck.

As I had thought, it was necessary to remove the fuel tank prior to removing the engine.  This proved easy and I guess it's one of the advantages of buying a part finished project, someone else had been there before me.  With the tank out of the way and the bottom engine mounting bolt removed (again this was easier than I had expected considering its location under the bike) it was a question of lifting the engine up and twisting it to the off side and with only minimum paint damage the engine was on the bench.

After all the deliberation over the torsion bar and associated tooling it seemed so simple in the end. An anti-climax?  A bit, but a good feeling that the link was uncoupled and the engine was out.  In one way it marked the beginning of "my Scooter", the point where from now on I feel that I can do things my way and remove any traces of the previous owner.

Engine Space

The frame looks good with no obvious signs of excessive corrosion.  My "half empty glass" says may be there's a lot of filler been used but hopefully we shall never know.  A quick inspection of the torsion bar leaver showed that there is a washer missing which prevents the arm moving back and forth across the frame.  There is also a joint protection sealing ring and two end caps missing.  So what's new?




 

Frame Serial Number

With the engine removed the Scooter looked strangely empty but it does allow easy access to the frame number.  I had tried previously to photograph it for my records but it had proved difficult.  It's situated on the offside of the rear vertical tube  Although I had read this before it was good to finally have photographic evidence that the number ties up with the log book.  This is the only justification of spending all the money on rebuilding the original engine.  (apart from the fact that the other one has a broken engine mounting lug)

Engine Serial Number

 With the damaged engine out I took a series of pictures just to record what it was.  I will ask Patrick if he can recognise the model.  It looks like an LD 125 but I have no idea of the date.

These shows the broken lug and damaged casting to the flywheel cowling mount.  Perhaps they were done at the same time removing the link pin.

This is the kick start and gear change leaver.  Patrick had seen pictures of this and said he was confused by the configuration.  It would be just my luck it it was a rare example and it had a damaged lug.
I actually not worried because I have no intention of using it and it it sells for a pint of beer it will be the least of my worries.






So here I am waiting for my operation and having no real idea of when I will be able to get back to the project.  It will give me time to reflect on how to play the next phase.  I have started to think that I may strip everything down to make any alterations necessary.  I have noticed a number of thin steel clips that are welded to the frame that have broken.  These would be good to replace as they are involved in securing such things as the rubber seal that protects the side panels where they meet the frame.  If I'm to do this I think I will have to first build up the complete scooter to ensure that I miss nothing and that I have all the bits available for assembly post painting.  I will need time to think about just how far I go.  Watch this space.

AN END TO THE TORSION BAR

I'm afraid it's back to the torsion bar again, but take heart it should be the last entry on the subject for some time.

Having looked at three different tools for releasing the tension on the torsion bar I found myself reconsidering the "bodge clamp method".  The more I thought of it the more I liked it.  It was simple, quick and above all didn't involve me having to make a special tool.  The draw back was that i didn't have a clamp that was large enough and that would fit in the space available.  I would have to buy one (you can never have too many clamps I say).  Despite not finding one in the Tillgear catalog I drove over to Cuffley to see what they had available.  Much to my delight they had one which I thought would do the job.  I was so excited I bought a couple of files just in case I had to revert to making a tool.

As with the "bodge" method I used wood blocks to provide the pressure points.  I then realised that I didn't know what pressure to apply to overcome the torsion bar force.  I made a guess, i.e. I tightened the clamp. Hoping this might be right I started to drift the link pin through the engine mount.  It wasn't long before I noticed that the washers either side of the link were missing.  this enabled the link to move between the engine lugs.  Having driven the link pin back I was able to fit a spacer to replace the missing washer.  Just another mystery, why weren't they fitted during assembly?

With the spacer fitted I could now drift the link pin fully out.  At the Lambretta Club forum there a number of references to the dire consequences of not retaining the needle roller bearings during the removal of the pin.  I cut a short length of tube to replace the pin as I drove it out so at to retain the bearings.  I can't remember exactly when the glued lug fell off but needless to say it did not survive the removal of the pin.  It wasn't even glued over the full face of the break!

With the pin removed and the clamp released there was so little misalignment that I suspect I was overloading things.  Thinking about now (I should have done this earlier) the fact that the rear bump stop was missing had probably already released the tension.   
No bump stop, Why? 

The good news is that the link been uncoupled and the torsion bar unloaded.  As they say, "end of story".

There still remains a mystery!  Why weren't there any needle roller bearing in the link?  It is fitted with a plain bronze bearing.  It's a good fit on the pin and so should work but is it correct?  I will have to take advice.

It now remains to remove the engine from the frame.  I think I have to remove the fuel tank if I'm going to leave the barrel and head in place, more fun.  It would be nice if I can do this before I go into hospital because it will be some time before I will be allowed to start work again after the operation.

WAS I CONNED?

You know how it is when you see something and you turn a blind eye?  I've been experiencing this for a while now.  Because I have been spending so much time working on the engine and torsion bar link I have become very familiar with the parts.  Some time ago I, whilst working on the engine flange for the MK3 tool, I noticed what I thought was a casting mark.  The sort of flash produced when the mounds don't quite line up.  It was only small and I didn't take much notice of it at first.  As time went by I started looking more closely and discovered what I thought was signs of a repair.  This was the moment when I turned my blind eye.  

I couldn't help thinking about it because if it was in fact a repair it could right off the engine as a viable resale option.  I had hoped to put it on Ebay to recover some of the costs for the rebuild of the other engine.

My worst fears were realised later when the mounting lug fell off!  Oh bugger!!

Broken engine lug

What I had thought a molding line was actually a line of "glue".  I can only guess that it is some sort of "metal repair adhesive".  How could anyone actually think that a stressed part would survive after being glued together? It was a good job that I didn't go ahead with the MK3 tool because it relied on this lug to provide the engine clamp point.

When I bought the scooter Mark seemed a nice guy who had put in a lot of work on the bike with the intention of showing it.  I wouldn't have expected him necessarily to have said anything about the repair but it would have been nice.  Perhaps I'm upset because I miss judged him, my error.  I thought he was a nice guy with high standards.  I've been finding other things that are not quite right, this is just another one.  I ask myself, is there a reason why he has never replied to my Emails?  Was I conned?

So what to do now.  I can only press on and count my blessings that I don't actually need this engine.  I just hope that Patrick from Scooter Surgery doesn't find similar things on the unit he is rebuilding for me.  I did see a crankcase for sale on Ebay some time back for £30 odd so it might be possible to do something if I really have to.

Down, but not out -  yet.