Sod’s Law Strikes

While the gearbox was out of the frame for new bearings I fitted the battery platform to the bike.

As I did not have one originally, this is a scratch built thing based on photographs.

It sits between the seat tubes, above the gearbox and is held in place by the four bolts securing the seat tubes to the engine plates so while the gearbox was out was the ideal opportunity to fit it due to easy access to these bolts.

Once the gearbox was finished it was refitted in the frame, as was the rear mudguard and everything was looking good.

Next step was to fit the primary drive chaincase. The rear half of this is held in place by one of the nearside seat tube bolts and by a second set screw going into a boss on the crankcase.

So the rear half of the case was offered up and went into place nicely, both mounting bolts lining up as they should so I started to tighten them down – – –  and immediately ran into trouble!.

The problem was that the new battery platform was fouling the back of the chaincase!

It wasn’t by much and I could have pulled the case home into place BUT I would not have been able to mount the battery securing post on that side.

After a few comments along the lines of “Oh dear!” and “What a thing to happen!” I settled down and took a careful look at things.

Whereas at first sight I had thought I would have to remove the rear mudguard and the gearbox again just to gain access I realised that by taking the magneto off the motor and working through the slot left for the clutch cable to go through I probably could get the battery platform off, but to do this I had to remove the primary chaincase again.

The effort proved successful and I modified the carrier to give the necessary clearance, not even a 10-minute job.

Now came refitting it, using tweezers to fit the washers onto the bolts through the cable slot and wangling the nut on using a screwdriver in one hand holding the nut against a finger of the other to get it in place, holding it there with the finger tip and turning the bolt head with the other hand until the thread caught.

Finally, aided by a little creative use of language, I had the platform back in place and when the chaincase was put in place there was clearance as required, all it means is that the battery will not now be sitting central over the engine plates.

As I had the back of the primary case in place now I took the chance and fitted the clutch assembly in place before calling it a day.