Video of From Rust to rrroarrr – part three

In my first two articles about the rebuild of a bitser 1952-ish AJS 500 motorcycle, I outlined how I welded a broken cast-iron cooling fin on the motor, checked the magneto ignition and got the head repaired. I also described what I had learnt about nickel plating (using surplus nickel welding rods and then nickel tape) so that I could make a relatively cheap substitution for chromium, eg on pushrod cover tubes and bolt heads. Nickel plating was also used to build up a worn kick-starter shaft as a part approach to stopping the kick-start from jamming; I also ground back a couple of teeth on the starter quadrant gear. My bitser’s gearbox The gearbox is a Burman CP type, used on many English bikes, with a code G45 L47 stamped on it. The L in the code refers to the month of assembly, so November. 47 is the year: 1947. So this would have gone into a bike probably in 1948. (My claim to be rebuilding a 1952 AJS looks shakier.)