Hello from Newbie and pics of my Gold Flash resto project - UPDATE

[KiwiGF]

Hello all,

Just thought I'd introduce myself, I live in Wellington New Zealand. I bought a 56 Golden Flash on impulse a few weeks ago from the "local" version of ebay (called Trademe) and without viewing the bike. The bike had not been used on the road since 1979 but it was taken for a short "test run" a few years ago, and had been well stored in the dry.

 I thought it was going to be easy to get this bike back on the road but I now know pretty much everything needs to be stripped and inspected. Never mind. At least it came with a huge bundle of spares, much of it of no use for this particular bike, but some parts might come in handy, and the rest will be sold off to placate the wife.

I had a 1959 Super Rocket when I was 16 (lived in the UK then) I can even remember the reg XOV 252, We parted ways (me to japanese bikes) as it kept breaking (4 big ends inside a year) - probably as I rode it flat everywhere and was still in the early stages of learning the art of maintenance. I've always thought of the A10  and me as unfinished business.

Anyway, this will be my first resto job (not planned) and I intend to firstly it roadworthy, have some fun on it and then work on improving the cosmetics and originality over time.

The "problems" to be overcome before it's roadworthy (so far) include:
Lower headstock housing is oval so the (new) head bearing is loose (I've not yet worked out how to fix this)
Bent frame downtubes (lower front engine spacers were missing and caused this)
Dented downtubes from a sidecar or crash bars
Swingarm spindle worn, I'm not sure yet about the frame holes (so I have to do the silent blocs job)
Front seat mount missing from the frame
Rear footrest mount needs remaking and welded on
Clutch welded yes welded to the gearbox mainshaft
Gearbox main bearing drive side worn (so a gearbox rebuild)
Timing side bush moving in and out in the rh case (so an engine rebuild, but at least its on original bore)
Cylinder head with 1.25inch bore - been gas flowed I guess
Wrong carb - it has a 389 monobloc on it from an A65
No center or side stands
and after 30 odds years every ball bearing race needs new grease....

It's going to take a few months....

[Beezageezauk]

Hi there and welcome to the friendly A7/A10 Forum.

Congratulations for getting a bike that you will enjoy working on and apart from this facility, I'm sure that you will be able to get loads of help and advice from your fellow Kiwi's.  Classic Bikes in general and the BSAOC in NZ have a great following on both the North and South Islands if you were interested in contacting other like minded guys.

You're obviously knowlegable to a certain extent so we shouldn't teach you how to suck eggs....but....when you split the crankcases make sure that you clean out the sludge trap.  This could have been the cause of your failing big ends on the SR all those years ago.

Good luck with the rebuild and keep us updated on your progress.

Beezageezauk.

[Goldy]

Hi That sounds like an interesting project all the best with it. You will find lots of advice on this forum just keep posting questions. I have done a check on the uk driver vehicle site and BSA XOV 252 could not be found, so it seems like its gone.

[muskrat]

G'day KiwiGF, welcome to the forum.
She looks like a good start for a project. All the main bits are there. British Spares should have most parts required.
Cheers
Is that a compression plate I see under the barrels?

[Stu55Flash]

Looks like a nice motor. All the best with it. Don't forget the internal ball valve to stop wet sumping.

Stu

[kiwipom]

hi kiwigf, like you i am a new member also from the u.k. and down in Christchurch welcome to a wealth of knowledge, i have found it to be such an interesting forum covering everything that you could possibly think of by guys with such unbelievable knowledge of these great old bikes, any problems just ask and i gaurantee it will be solved. Muskrat you certainly have an eye for detail, what is that spacer for? cheers
Bob 

[KiwiGF]

Thanks everyone for the advice

I went to the BSA owners club meeting (before I bought the a10) in december and have joined up, I'm lucky the club hq is in the Wellington area.

A bsaoc member (John) came around after I got the A10 home and spotted most of the faults with the frame and the problem main bearing, he also spotted the high comp pistons and compression plate which of course is an odd combination! I've also got the gas flowed head and non STD carb all of which indicate its been hotted up, so I suppose not surprisingly a large box of spare jets came with it...

I've not split the cases yet I've only got the head off but I would not be surprised to find a hot cam in it, it came with a spare std cam and a super rocket cam - My preference is for low end torque so I might opt for a STD spec motor, in the long run at least

The big end failures I suffered back in 1976 I found were due to my chosen engineer not radiusing the big end journals so a sharp edge was left this caused one crank to break

In those days I could just nip to breakers in  ladbroke grove and buy a short engine for 10 quid, so i did not get any more cranks reground, putting std cases on a super rocket was not the "no no" It is now of course!

Thanks for info on xov252 a shame it's not around still but I suspect even it was it would be a very different bike to when I swapped it for a T350

[KiwiGF]

Progress is slow but steady, the bike needs a lot more work than I expected and the new parts bill is going to be painful to say the least.
The pics show some split clamps I sued together with a vice to make the downtubes round again (they had been flattened I think by a sidecar bracket). The remaining dents I filled with weld which can also been seen in the pics.
The pics show the new seat mount and rear footrest mount. I'm quite proud of the footrest mount as it was made from a piece of 40mm bar and carved into shape using just a 5inch grinder ....
The frame paint was removed using paint stripper, a knife and stainless pan scourers. About 20 hours work.
The swing arm bushes were burnt/melted out and the remaining metal pieces drifted out  - not an easy job and very messy.
The pics also show the pices of bar machined to fit in the headstock which had become oval and the lower bearing a loose fit in it. The bottom peice of bar is 2.120" dia which is 005 smaller than the head bearing, these 2 pieces of bar were bolted into the headstock using a piece of studding, and the bottom headstock was then heated to red hot using oxy/acetylene and then hammered against the 2.120" former  - it turned out about the right interference fit.

One pic shows the welded on clutch center done by the PO, I thought I might "save" the gearbox main shaft by careful grinding off the clutch basket and center but I need a new one as the taper was ruined partly by me and partly by the  center spinning on it in the past, which is probably why it was welded on....this is going to be expensive for the new parts.
I measured the fork tubes tonight, about 005 wear on the tubes and 005 on the bushes, this is also looking expensive!
I've not dared take the bottom of the engine apart yet.

[KiwiGF]

more pics

the dents filled with weld (it was tempting to use filler but I thought better of it)
ruined gearbox main shaft

[A10Boy]

Hi KimiGf, welcome.

the bike needs a lot more work than I expected and the new parts bill is going to be painful to say the least.

Hhhmmnn, where have I heard that one before?

This looks like a very interesting project. That was some serious butchery on the clutch! Not sure if you know this, but the later triumph four spring clutch is far better than the old 6 spring jobbie, since you need to replace most of it, it could be worth doing. The fork tube aren't expensive, in the uk a set with bushes is less than 100 quid. some people have their originals hard chromed and bushes made to suit, that is a good long term solution.

Best of luck with it, keep us updated.

Cheers

[selva]

   Hi G'day KiwiGF ..
welcome to the forum..


look's like wonderfull project..

cheer

[Lukey]

Looks Great mate