Video of From Rust to Rrrroaarrr Part Four

In the first article, I wrote about nickel welding repairs to a broken cast iron engine cooling fin, magneto check, head repair, valve work and nickel plating the push rod cover tubes. The second article was mainly about how I developed nickel and copper plating, with a little bit about kickstarter repair using nickel plate on a worn shaft and grinding teeth. The third article, the start of frame painting, engine, clutch and gearbox assembly and installation, with magneto timing. For this fourth episode, I had planned to write about how I rebuilt the electrical system, reupholstered the seat and renovated the fuel tank. There has been progress on each of these three things but little in the way of meeting targets.

About two years ago, I took a 500 cc single “AJS” motorbike (theoretically a 1952 model 18S) out of 50 years storage as a partly dismantled machine. A retirement project.
I use quotation marks around AJS because the machine has turned out to be a real bitser with at least one Matchless part (half crankcase with the engine number). The year 1952 has also turned out to be more an average than exact; bits range from 1947 (gearbox) to an at least 1956 (carburettor).
Some months into intermittent work, I thought that I could write about it for The Shed, and here is the fourth article describing what I have been doing on this restoration project.
By Peter Barton

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