Damaged headset top

[Littlewheels]

I am currently rebuilding my 150 Special which is going well but the headset top has sustained some damage at some point and about an inch of the lip has broken away where the headlamp rim sits. I have been told it can be repaired by welding but I decided that I would prefer to keep the original paint as this work would mean repainting.
Today I tried to fit the rim properly with the four screws but I found that the hole nearest the damage has moved making the screw not align properly. I have measured the pitch of the other holes diagonally and it looks to be about 2mm out. My question is can I bend/reshape the top so the screw aligns properly maybe with some heat or will it simply just break if I try and move it?

Thanks

[Danbretta]

You may get away with it. I'm sure I have seen a post online somewhere with someone doing the same successfully with a distorted headset top. If I find the link I'll post it up. Any pics of what section you need to push back into shape?

[Knowledge]

I don’t know if it can be reshaped, but in order to start this process you would need to heat it and that would take away the original paint. In which case, you might as well have it welded. The person who is doing the welding might offer you some advice about bending it back into shape. After all, things have a habit of changing shape when they are being welded.

My paint-man is going to make-good the original paint that was taken off my TV175. He is sure he can make it look just right, with the same patina as the rest of the machine.

[Warkton Tornado No.1]

It is difficult to reshape castings back to the way they should be, especially as distortion may have occurred through the ageing process - a form of stress relieving.

It may be the case that with a well made device, such as a jig of some kind, you could replicate the correct hole centres & induce the headset top to spring back into shape using longer screws not made of monkey metal. Obviously, as soon as any jig was removed, you would be back with the misshaped top!

I believe that the trick is to utilise a controlled mean of stress relieving whilst the casting has been 'teased' back to the desired geometry.

You may be able to research it, but possibly a long 'soak' in an oven, possibly followed by quenching might do the trick (certainly not the case with iron!) or a blasting process on the inside of the headset. Certainly over zealous industrial grit blasting distorts alloy parts as some of us have unfortunately witnessed.

[Littlewheels]

Thanks for the replies.
I had another look at the top today and decided that it needs teasing back to shape in order for the screw to line up with the hole. I also agree that the metal has probably age hardened and any attempt to bend back will end with it breaking unless it is annealed first & as you rightly point out to do this will mean the paint is lost and of course I may as well at this point get the lip repaired also.