Monthly Archives: July 2019

Chair Problems

A couple of posts ago I said I had a problem with the R80/2 sidecar outfit and I decided to get this sorted out before I started on the R12.

The problem I had was with the sidecar’s mudguard (fender).

On a Steib this is a big, Art Deco affair. Originally it would have been a pair of steel pressings spot-welded together but this was replaced with a fibre-glass (GRP if you prefer the term) replica about 40 years ago.

At the rear of the guard a chassis tube goes through it from side to side and the guard is held in place between a pair of conical mounts (there is a reinforcing cross tube goes here, between the two sides of the guard).

What has happened was that over the years the fibre-glass guard had gradually worn at the conical mounts until the inboard one pulled through. The guard then could move/bounce on the cross tube and by the time I got back home, I was some 150 miles from home when it went, the hole in the guard was not only oversize but oval. On further examination I found that the outboard mount was also “somewhat under par!.

Normally a repair on a fibre item is a simple matter, just clag on a bit more mat and resin! but here I needed to reform the seats for the conical mounts so I needed a former.

As I only needed to make up two mounts I just made up a temporary former using MDF board.

The maximum diameter of the conical mount was 50mm so I cut a round of inch thick MDF that size. The diameter of the cross tube is 32mm but as there needs to be a clearance on that I worked with 35mm as the minimum and I carved it down to a cone of those dimensions and 15mm high so I had a 35mm cylinder an inch high with a 15mm high conical base.

Next step was to make up a female piece to match this, as there was only space on the inside of the guard to take a 100mm square block this determined the outer dimension of the female mould.

When you are working with fibre-glass you normally have only a short “time window” to work in before the resin starts to gel and owing to the nature of my intended repair this was a problem.

However there is an alternative resin available, “Epoxy Resin” rather than the more usual “Polyester Resin” and this has a longer pot life, of around 6 hours plus rather than only 15 minutes and so I opted to use this.

Rather than just try to patch the guard I used the mould to make up a light support moulding for the main repair.

I took a 150mm square of MDF and drilled an 8mm hole in the centre, there was already a similar hole in the round male block so I fixed them together with a length of 8mm studding (allthread) and gave the resulting plug a good coating of mould parting compound, and I similarly dosed the female block.

Then I laid up the mould, using a layer of fine glass cloth and a single layer of chopped strand mat. I then put the female part over the centre piece and used the studding to force it against the lower part and left it overnight to cure.

When I extracted the “casting” from the mould I had what was to become the outer surface of the repair just needing trimming to size.

I then re-assembled the casting onto the mould plug, but this time sandwiched a sheet of polythene between them, the resin will not stick to this and it meant it would be easier to remove the plug.

A single layer of the chopped mat was now laid up onto the back of the casting and another onto the guard itself, being generous with the resin, the moulding put onto the prepared guard and the whole turned over to let me work on the inside of the guard.

The casting was adjusted for position to correct for the wear to the guard and the wear gap made good with mat and resin and then another two layers of mat and resin laid up on the inside of the guard.

I’d bored some 10mm holes through the guard so that the resin would bond through them to combine both sides of the repair together.

Once I had the inside laid up I put a sheet of polythene over it, put the female part of the mould over the plug and again squeezed the wet resin/glass layers together and again left it overnight.

Next day I removed the mould, a fairly easy job thanks to the polythene.

I then had to set to and repeat the whole process for the other side of the guard but once that was done all that was left to do was clean up the surface, fill the blebs with bondo, rub it down and get out the rattle cans to repaint.

It’s not a perfect job but you have to look to see it and as a new guard is around 250 quid plus carriage from Germany I’m willing to live with it for use on the road hack.

If I’d been willing to cut back with a sander on the outside of the guard after the repair it could probably have made to look as original but this is the main mount point for the guard and I’d rather a bit of strength over cosmetic perfection.

Parts Hunt

As I was needing parts to fix the R12 and there were a few other items on the “next time I order” list I sat down and drew up a shopping list.

Then it was a case of going “on ‘net” to source them. There are a number of places where you can get R12 parts on the continent so I checked them out to find that none of them had the full list!

I wound up ordering from Switzerland as they had almost the full list, all they did not have was a small gasket, one I can make myself if necessary. Parts were ordered one evening, two days later I received an e-mail saying they had been sent and the next day TNT were knocking on the door to deliver them!

Only snag was that the replacement seal carrier I wanted wasn’t available, “Please re-order later”!

So I turned to the only other place that listed that part, sent in an order and got an e-mail back that they did not have it in stock either!! Looks like there has been a run of R12s blowing their oil seals!.

Fortunately it is not a complex part so if the worst comes to the worst I’ll have to turn to and make one, only snag is it will mean having to trepan a groove in the carrier and that needs a fancy cutting tool, one I don’t have of course.

Blown Seal

After the run out to the Corbridge Show on the R12 the next outing was to the VMCC’s Scarborough Touring Week.

As this meant a week away under canvas I opted to take the old girl down there on a trailer behind the car. Reason for this was simply that I would have been unable to carry all the gear for a weeks camping for myself and the two dogs on the outfit.

On this event there is a road run each day and there is the social side each evening so it makes for an enjoyable week away.

Day One was the Friday with the run down the A19 towards York and then across to Scarborough. I chose this longer route because there are severe hill climbs with tight bends on both of the shorter routes, one being up Sutton Bank and that’s bad enough without a drag behind you!.

Anyway I got to the campsite in good time, offloaded the outfit and set up camp in time for the first evenings socialising.

The Saturday was a short run out, only some 60 miles around the area and everything seemed ok but when out on the Sunday problems arose.

The R12 has a separate Magneto/dynamo unit sitting on top of the engine. This necessitates a seal between the two and this blew. There is a carrier plate with a felt seal against the magneto end plate with a cork ring gasket sealing the plate to the engine housing and this is what blew, covering the left side of the motor in oil.

The oil got onto the plug lead and gave the spark on that side a pathway to track to ground and short out the plug.

Just to be awkward it would only track when the motor was under load, as when on a steepish climb, but when light loaded she ran OK! Typical!!.

I limped back to the main road on about one and a half cylinders and once on the main road it was a level run back to the camp-site so, of course she ran sweet as you like under the light load.

Monday was a run out to the aircraft museum at Elvington, near York, and rather than risk things I went over there with the two dogs in the car and had a good look round but I’d have preferred to be on the bike.

Tuesday was the “Extreme Hill Run”. I’ve done this run before using my R80/2 convert rig and it had tried the brakes on that lady so I had opted not to go on that run when I booked for the event.

This gave me a day “on site” when I could have a go at fixing the bike.

I tried various options at the “roadside get you home bodge” level but without success, it seemed the inner felt seal had gone and I was going to have to take the magneto unit off the bike to fix things.

This would have meant losing the magneto timing and this was not a job I wanted to undertake on a camp site, it’s not all that difficult but it is rather involved with an R12 outfit, meaning taking the sidecar off for access and then removing the gearbox to access the timing marks.

Wednesday I opted to stay on site again as the weather was rather inclement, i.e. it was p—ing down and while I could have gone in the car, I don’t see the pleasure in driving in rain any more than in riding in it!

Thursday dawned a nice day, but owing to other commitments at home I needed to back by Friday so it was a case of see the Thursday run out off, then pack up and drive home.

So, to fix the R12 I’ll need to get new seals and some other bits for her. These will have to be ordered up, probably from Germany, so it looks as if she’ll be off the road for the rest of the month, I’ve the R80/2 combo off the road with a repair to the sidecar so I’ve only a solo on the road at the moment.

Means I’m restricted in what I can do because of the two dogs, Looks like I’m just having to go to local events till I get an outfit back on the road.