I sent the two barrels off to have the water stubs replaced middle of last week, Parcelforce tracker says they were delivered Thursday afternoon, so it’s now a case of waiting for them to come back.

I’ve sent off for membership of the LE Velo Club so I’ve now to await their acknowledgement to be able to order up some spares.

Among the gen I got with the bike however was a spare parts book so I’ve been sorting out what I need, but I have to wait for their official order form before I can send the order in.

The little beasty is currently sitting in the garage minus her cylinders and there’s not a lot I can really do until I get them back.

One thing to sort out is the battery though. The LE has a 6-volt system. Originally the battery would have been the old rubber-cased type but these are not readily available now. The usual trick is to use a smaller modern AGM battery inside the case of one of the old type batteries and I’m in luck here in that I have such a case “on the shelf”, a bit battered but useable, and the battery the bike came with WILL fit into it.

I’ll just need to make up a top strap to secure the battery in place under the saddle so there is a job that needs doing.

The battery that came with the bike may be a problem however as it was stone flat when I got it. I have charged it up however and it’s been standing a couple of days now to see if it holds it’s charge, running a battery right down is an acknowledged way to knacker it after all.

Next thing is “Just take the barrels off”. Sounds so easy – BUT first you need to drain down the cooling system, on both sides!, next remove the water hoses to get some room to work, labelling everything so it can go back in the same place.

Next is to remove the carburetter, relatively simple job but space is limited, followed by removing the inlet manifold, 4 small nuts, each placed close to the manifold tube and easy to drop!.

Now it’s just remove the exhausts, but these are not only held onto the barrels by 2 small bolts each but the pipes have to be persuaded to come out of the silencer box as well.

All this went to plan, no problems.

So start with the easy one and take off the left cylinder head.

The heads are each held on with 6 studs, ¼ inch BSF, nothing fancy so ease them of a little at a time till they spin off free. Book now says to take hold of the head and slide it off the studs but the head has not read the book!.

The head will not budge, first thing is to try jarring it off with a rubber hammer, no joy so try with the hide/copper mallet, still no movement.

Before getting violent I decided to remove the head and barrel as a unit so it’s undo the 5 barrel hold down nuts and slide the barrel off the piston, remembering to catch the piston as it drops from the barrel!.

Now I have the barrel and head in my hands I can get a bit more “creative”. Using the shaft of the hammer down the barrel I try to knock the head loose with no apparent effect till a closer look shows that the head has moved a little down the studs and that whoever rebuilt the engine last time had used a gasket cement on the head gasket. Not only had this stuck the head to the barrel but it had squeezed into the stud bores and glued these as well, I’m afraid the air went a little blue at this discovery and the previous mechanics ears must have been burning!.

Once I finally had them apart I had to clean the head joint faces of the remains of the glued on gasket. As the cylinder head is aluminium alloy I had to be careful not to damage it while scraping off the old gasket, I wound up taking the blade out of a Stanley knife and using that almost as a plane to peel the gasket off the alloy, certain blessings were pronounced while doing this but eventually the joint face was clean.

The barrel was easier to clean because it’s made from cast iron and so is less liable to damage when cleaning it. To make the job easier I removed the cylinder head studs, or anyway the 5 of them I could get to come out. (On both barrels the stud nearest the exhaust port would not come out.)

This was the barrel with the bad water pipe and I could now get a good look at it, it was a testament as to how corrosive water is and it showed just how little overlap between a stub pipe and the water hose is needed for a watertight joint, there was only about 1/16 inch of it left on one side!

I decided to call it a day and finish the job later, Mañana after all.

Next job is a repeat performance on the right hand side, only difference is that the oil filter has to be taken off the head first.

Once I’ve got this head and barrel cleaned up then I just have to parcel the barrels up and post them off for repair.

While I’m awaiting their return I can clean up the joint faces on the crankcases ready for the repaired barrels and order up the new gaskets etc that I’ll need for the job.

A problem I was aware of when I took on the LE was that there was a water leak.

When I investigated further I found that the problem was not simply a badly made connection but that of a corrosion damaged water inlet pipe on one of the barrels, after all the bike is around 60 years old now.

There are four of these stubs, an inlet and an outlet on each barrel.

Fortunately these are not cast as part of the barrel but are simply a short length of tube, made as a press fit into the main barrel casting.

Having found one bad stub I checked the other three and found that “If doing one better do them all”.

While it is quite possible for you to replace these yourself there is an LEVelo club member who offers this as a service at a very reasonable price, in fact when I ‘phoned him for more information he quoted me a price for doing both that I thought was for fixing just one barrel!

This means its not worth going to the trouble of making the tooling necessary for the job and turning up the new stubs.

It does mean however that I’ll have the bike standing in the garage with the engine open for a while, not the best of ideas. The easy way round this is to make up a pair of blanking plates to cover the crankcase mouths and keep any muck out. Not only that but they can support the pistons in place while the barrels are being refitted rather than me having to support the piston with one hand, the barrel with the other and using a third hand to compress the piston rings into place in the barrel as I slide it into place.

To get the material for these plates I went down to Maxwells DIY in Birtley, had a rake in their offcuts box and came away with a nice piece of 4mm plywood.

Once I got back home I dug into the bits and pieces that had come with the bike and found a cylinder base gasket.

This was laid onto the plywood, drawn round and the holes marked out. I then set to and sawed the required two plates out of the plywood.

The hold down bolts for the cylinders are ¼ inch diameter so I drilled the holes in the plates out to 8mm, near enough 5/16 inch.

I then marked the centre of the bore and drilled a 12mm hole there and opened that up to the top edge so that I had a slot running from the top edge to the bore centre, this was to take the connecting rod, idea being that with both plates in position, by turning the engine I could bring both pistons down to lock the plates in position against the crankcase and seal the cases shut while the barrels were away being fixed.

That was the easy bit done, next comes the grovelling to the machine gods.

I’ve now got the little Velo back home, here’s a look at her.

As you can see she is in very nice condition.

I’ve had a closer look at her now and it seems that she is a hybrid, a MkIII power unit fitted to a MkII chassis so she has the earlier front forks, wheel and headlamp married to the later engine, gearbox and rear end.

This means I’ve a full-width rear and a half-width front hub fitted. The front wheel is a 19inch diameter while the rear is an 18 inch but the front tyre is a 3.00 inch and the rear a 3.50 so that evens up ok.

Her battery is shagged so that means a new one goes on order, I can’t pinch one from one of the other bikes because they are all on 12 volt systems and this old lady runs on 6 volts.

As about the only source of spares is through the owners club I’m going to have to sign up to it, well that’s the same situation I have with the old Panther so it just means that I’ll be a member of yet another club! So I’ve downloaded the membership application form from their website, filled it in and posted it of.

I can also get the workshop book, owner’s manual and spares book through the club so that’s going to be useful as well.

Well, I’ve been and gone and done it, I’ve got myself a “new” bike.

About 40 years ago I had an LE Velocette, yes, a “noddy bike”.

I know they are not fashionable and can be the subject of derision but that little beast proved itself to be a solid little bike and one that had the quality of build and handling you expect of a Velocette.

So why did I sell it?, quite simply someone made a stupid offer for it, one which I at that time could not afford to turn down but it left me with an affection for the little beasts.

For a while now I’ve had the yen to get another and when I recently heard of one available near me I decided to look it up.

I’ve been over and had a look at it and it appears to be in a better state than I expected, even than I had hoped!.

It’s in very nice condition. According to the book, to start them you turn on the fuel, turn the engine over a couple of times to get the fuel through to the cylinders, yes it’s a twin!, switch on, press down on the starter and it should start and that’s exactly what happened!, despite it having a flat battery that had only been on charge for some 10 minutes.

It looks to be an early MkIII model as it has the later 4 speed gearbox with footstarter. This came in with the MkIII, earlier models having a hand lever starter and a three speed hand-change gearbox so it’s a pretty good indicator as to the Mk.

However the MkIII has the speedo mounted in the headlamp shell and this one has it mounted on the top of the left leg shield, as was done on the Mks I and II and it has the earlier fork assembly so it may be one of the transition bikes.

Last time I was out on the Velo I found that there was no charge registering. Once I got back home I found that the problem lay within the generator.

I still had the original generator on my Velo, a 6-volt Miller dynamo, which is very similar to the Lucas units more commonly fitted to most British bikes in the immediate post-war period.

These were a slightly upgraded version of the units fitted back in the late 1920’s which put out all of 36 watts at 6 volts!. The newer dynamos put out a nominal maximum of 60 watts reducing to about 45 watts at town riding speeds. This means that even with the newer unit the standard lights are low powered and give, at best, a 6-volt 36 watt headlamp!!.

They are normally a fairly reliable unit but mine is now over 50 years old and has given up on life so I decided to bite the bullet and rather than having it rebuilt I would upgrade and fit a more modern unit.

There is a French made replacement for these old style dynamos which is a direct replacement dimensionally for the old dynamos and so will fit in the existing dynamo cradle and use the existing drive and give double the output. While these units are not cheap, nor is the cost of a rebuild of a dynamo and when you take the benefit of decent lights and add that to the cost of a dynamo rebuild then things seem much more reasonable.

So I contacted my Velo parts supplier and ordered one of these “Alton” units, because it is an alternator rather than a dynamo it also requires a regulator/rectifier unit but this came as part of the package and is a standard “Podtronics” unit rather than a special so that fact may be useful later as I can also use it on the big Panther by changing the drive pulley.

Despite the postal hold ups it was delivered within two days, now I’ve just to get round to fitting it!!.

Owing to monsoon conditions this was put off for a while but did not prove difficult.

First thing was to disconnect the battery before starting to remove the old dynamo.

I removed the drive belt cover (for those not familiar with a Velo the dynamo is driven by a V-belt off the engine shaft shock absorber). Next was to slacken the nut on the end of the dynamo shaft before removing the drive belt.

Next off was the dynamo drive pulley, this has to come off because otherwise it blocks the removal of the belt drive inner cover which is next to come off, and then there’s only the dynamo clamping bolt to loosen off and the dynamo can be slid out of its cradle, not forgetting to undo the wiring cables from the dynamo.

The ‘Alton’ unit can now be slid into the cradle in place of the Miller and the belt inner cover fitted and the drive pulley fitted.

It is important to get the drive pulleys in line, otherwise you’re liable to have the belt jump the pulley or, at best, wear badly. Simple way to do this is to take a length of 6mm round bar and put a right-angle bend a couple of inches from one end.

If you now hook this into one of the pulleys then the free length gives straight line along the required drive line and so can be used to line up the two pulleys.

Once the pulleys are in line then all that’s left here is to fit the belt and set its tension by rotating the generator in its cradle.

Now we get complicated, it’s time to fit the reg/rec unit.

On the later Velos such as mine the regulator is fitted onto the rear mudguard, under the saddle and, nicely out of the way.

Looking for somewhere unobtrusive to mount it I settled – – – – on the rear mudguard under the saddle, where the original unit lived.

This has the advantage that I can utilise the existing cabling to connect the reg/rec into the bikes systems.

There are a pair of leads from the generator which match up to two of the leads from the reg/rec.

Of the other two leads from the reg/rec, one goes to the main ground point, which is under the tank anyway and the other is the power lead going up to the main switch.

Once everything was connected up and checked all to be working that was it and I now have the advantage of being able to run a decent headlamp rather than having to rely on just a time-served glow-worm in a jar.

Why did I go for the upgrade?. Well the Velo is still a practical road machine, it was about the top rated sports bike of its generation and is still well capable of coping in modern traffic. Its weak point was the low powered 6 volt lighting system.

With this new generator I now have a 12 volt system with good lights, in fact because the bike has a magneto and so no power demand to run an ignition system, I have power and to spare to run a spotlight as well if I so wish.

Before the conversion, if I was out with lights on I needed to really be above 40mph to keep the battery charged, riding at lower speed, as in towns, meant the loads did not balance and the battery would gradually drain down. Not only that but the lights were low powered, now I happily run a standard QH headlamp and can SEE where I am going after dark.

Last time out on my Velocette Viper the clutch was‭ “‬not what it should be‭” ‬and remembering what the plates were like last time she was apart I decided on a re-line.

Since the plates were now some‭ ‬50‭ ‬years old I opted on fitting new plates rather than just replacing the Ferodo inserts in the old plates and so ordered the‭ “‬kit‭” ‬of new plates from Grove Classics<http://www.groveclassicmotorcycles.co.uk/>. The parts were ordered on Tuesday morning,‭ ‬delivered Wednesday morning‭! ‬that’s service‭!!‬.

So it was out into the garage and start work.

First thing is to clear the decks so it’s remove the dynamo drive covers and drive as well as the rear chain sprocket cover and the sprocket itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is remove the screws holding the two halves of the primary chain-case together.

Last time it was down I used silicone sealer on the gasket and this time it’s proved a right swine to split the joint This time on re-assembly I’ll grease one face so it doesn’t happen like that again‭!‬.

Before I can split the case however I need to remove the dynamo drive pulley,‭ ‬this doubles as the nut securing the primary drive shock absorber and requires Velocette special spanner No.‭ ‬A220‭ ‬to engage with the castellations of the nut.‭

A rake around the tool boxes found this,‭ ‬and its mate,‭ ‬the AS61/2AS clutch peg spanner.

After starting it with a blow from a copper/hide mallet on the A220 spanner the pulley was unscrewed and the chain-case split to give access to the clutch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a Velo the clutch is unusual in it being on the sleeve gear and‭ ‬hence inboard of the final drive sprocket.‭

This is due to the Velo’s very narrow crankshaft and slim crankcases and this makes the clutch actuation different from the normal run of things.

Instead of it having only‭ ‬4‭ ‬or perhaps even‭ ‬6‭ ‬biggish clutch springs,‭ ‬each one in a separate mount on the top housing, there are‭ ‬16‭ ‬small‭ ‬springs,‭ ‬all in a mount at the clutch hub,

This mount however allows you to adjust the spring pressure on all‭ ‬16 springs‭ ‬at once rather than having to muck about with adjusting each individual spring on its own,‭ ‬and this “spring hub” is lifted by an annular thrust race,‭ ‬similar to as in a car clutch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hub‭ ‬piece is in two parts,‭ ‬the spring carrier itself, which screws into the clutch top plate and the pressure piece the springs bear against which doubles up as the clutch securing nut‭ ‬and screws onto the sleeve gear and secures the clutch back-plate.

There is a locking plate fitted to prevent this nut loosening off and which is secured by a‭ ‬small countersunk screw. so next step is to remove this screw and‭ ‬the locking plate,‭ ‬then by applying the AS61/2AS peg spanner, unscrew this clutch nut.

‭ ‬To do this though the primary drive has to be locked to prevent the clutch being turned by the spanner, but replacing the engine shock absorber will do this,‭ ‬engine compression being enough for the job.

On a‭ “‬normal‭” ‬clutch,‭ ‬when you remove the pressure plate its lifting piece tends to drop away and you then remove the clutch piecemeal.‭

On a Velo however,‭ ‬once the securing nut is undone,‭ ‬the clutch is removed in one piece and there are THREE lift pins going through the clutch backplate. These will of course drop onto the floor if you don’t watch for them‭!‬. (I snap a couple of rubber bands round the clutch assembly to hold everything together.)

Now you have the complete clutch assembly in your hands to take to the bench and work on in comfort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You just unscrew the spring carrier from the front plate and put it and the securing nut to one side for‭ ‬now.

Then you lift off the front plate,‭ ‬this is a machined part and not just a stamping as in most bike clutches.

Below this is an insert plate,‭ ‬which tabs into the clutch drum, then comes a plain plate which tabs into the front plate,‭ ‬next again is the clutch drum and sprocket assembly.

The drum is formed on both sides of the clutch sprocket. which also carries a set of inserts and so acts as another insert plate.

On the gearbox side of the sprocket next‭ ‬comes a plain plate followed by‭ ‬an insert plate,‭ then ‬another plain plate,‭ ‬another insert plate and then the clutch main body/back-plate so you have a‭ ‬9-plate clutch.

This whole assembly is only just over an inch thick‭! (‬1.070‭“ ‬with the new plates‭!)‬,‭ ‬a VERY slim assembly yet it will cope with the‭ ‬140mph performance of a‭ ‬500cc Thruxton Venom as well as it does the‭ ‬90mph performance of my little‭ ‬350cc Viper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the clutch apart it’s now a case of cleaning things and then re-assemble,‭ ‬this can be a bit fiddly getting all the plate tabs to seat in their respective grooves but once the body is assembled a couple of rubber bands snapped over will hold everything together.

Attention now is turned to the spring assembly,‭ ‬there are‭ ‬16‭ ‬springs,‭ ‬each‭ ‬1.125‭” ‬long by‭ ‬0.275‭“ ‬diameter,

I’m fitting new springs as well so it’s just take out the old and fit the new but if not then the springs need to be checked for distortion‭ ‬.

When you fit the pressure nut these springs must be able to slide against the underside of it. To facilitate this they do not bear directly against the underside of the nut,‭ ‬there are two shim washers interposed and these are lubricated prior to assembly so that while the springs bear against the lower shim, this can slide on the upper shim which can itself slide against the underside of the nut.

A bit torturous but this does work.‭

The pressure‭ ‬of the individual springs against the lower shim does tends to damage‭ i‬t so,‭ ‬while ideally both shims a should be replaced every‭ ‬time you remove the clutch,‭ ‬you can usually get away with just replacing one of them.
‭
Then its‭ ‬back to the bike with the clutch assembled.

The three thrust pins have to be put into place,‭ ‬stuck there with a bit of grease and the body assembly can be slid onto the sleeve gear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next the spring carrier is screwed into place in the front plate until it bottoms onto the thrust pins,‭ ‬you can feel this happen as the clutch body will move on the gear. This is to give the maximum free length space to the springs.

The pressure nut can now be screwed onto the sleeve gear,‭ ‬there is a special tool for this but by setting the carrier as suggested it will normally allow you to do this with finger pressure‭ ‬alone.

Once the nut is started then the AS61/2AS peg spanner can be used to tighten the nut.‭

Now the rubber bands can be cut away and it’s just a case of refit the primary chain, (Don’t forget to fit the locking plate!).‭

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then close up the chain-case and refit the engine shaft shock absorber along with the rear chain and sprocket. (The other end of the AS61/2AS fits the main-shaft nut.)

Once you’ve done all that, it’s time to set up the clutch.

First thing to do is to set up the spring pressure.

To do this,‭ ‬the‭ ‬first‭ ‬step is to totally disconnect the clutch cable‭ ‬so as to give maximum free play in the system.‭

You now have to screw the spring carrier out of the clutch front-plate to increase the spring pressure,‭ ‬to do this Velocette tool KA62/2‭ ‬is used,‭ a short length of ¼ inch steel rod with a flat on one end.

This inserts through the small hole in the gearbox sprocket and engages with notches in the spring carrier.

If the rear wheel is now turned forwards, then the spring carrier will be unscrewed from the front plate,‭ ‬moving it towards the pressure nut and so will increase spring pressure.

So you now turn the wheel forward a bit,‭ ‬then try the kickstart to test for the clutch slipping.‭

Repeat as necessary and spring pressure setting is correct when,‭ ‬as you press down on the kickstart against compression, the clutch will JUST‭ ‬begin to‭ ‬slip.‭

The clutch cable is now connected up‭ ‬again and all free play is taken out of it,‭ ‬this is setting up the unloaded‭ ‬position of the clutch lifting mechanism.

The spring carrier is now unscrewed further from the front plate until there is‭ ‬just over‭ ‬⅛ inch free play in the cable.

By doing this you have increased spring pressure to where the clutch is no longer slipping under load AND when the clutch lever is released there is no load on the clutch release‭ ‬bearing.

The important thing to realise here is that, on a Velo clutch, the free play in the system is set up on the spring carrier,‭ ‬AFTER the release mechanism and NOT on the cable,‭ ‬before that system.

It does mean however that if you do not get that initial JUST slipping point correctly one way then, because that pressure is a bit low, the clutch can slip under load and if the other,‭ ‬the clutch will not clear fully and will drag, equally if you make a real mess up you can wind up with a clutch that will both slip AND drag!.

Setting it up it this way means that there is no load on the lifting mechanism when it is at rest, if there is then the clutch release bearing will be under load and will wear. Since‭ ‬this is a special,‭ ‬unique to Velocette,‭ ‬it is‭ ‬ not cheap‭!! and as ‬there is only some‭ ‬5‭ ‬thou clearance between each plate at full lift there is little room for error‭!‬.

Since I have assembled the clutch using all new plates,‭ ‬these will bed in over the‭ ‬first few mile so I’ll have to go through this full set up drill again after a couple of hundred miles.

All that’s left to do is refit the cover over the gearbox sprocket and the dynamo belt covers, fire her up and go for a ride.
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