My first restoration: TV175 Ser 3

[dickie]

I wish mine had been that good when I started mine!

Your worst panel is as good as my best one.

[911hillclimber]

Popped the 'new' (and very clean) flywheel and followed Sticky's suggestion to lap the flywheel and crank tapers to improve the fit.
My crank was quite pitted / corroded so this did seem to clean things up. Woodruff key gave me a fight but surrendered soon enough.

Hope to do all the timing/points setting etc this weekend. This is one thing I do really recall from my 15/16th years, this is a bitch of a job with the engine in the scooter on the back lawn...

Taking the frame/tank etc down to Reditch Shotblasting tomorrow for a strip and powder in 'Old English White' or whatever the right name is for the 'gentle' white of the era on Lambrettas.

Is there a RAL number for this white?

Reading Stickys thoughts on powder painted wheels I might just get them to blast the wheel rims and I'll wet paint them.

Before the cold got to my marrow I had a go at the legshields and rear boards. Got all the old knarled/brittle rubbing strips off, found 4 stress cracks to weld and the one side of the rear has had a good adventure in its life..

Leg shields are generally ok, need some tlc around the ground level side straights.

The side panels are going to be a challenge, so this is good!

Need to find a local chrome platers who are not too busy at thhis time of the year, now that IS a challenge.

In the back ground I have the carb-chase going on with two good directions to go. Whichever way it turns out I'll have the carb US cleaned and all new jets to give me a fighting chance.

Graham.

[dickie]

ral 9010 is close to the lambretta white used for tank etc.

[911hillclimber]

Thank you dickey, I'll see how that matches their take on the colour tomorrow.

[carlos fandango]

I can recommend castle chrome in dudley or acf howells in walsall
Also a nickel platers in Brierley hill for fork links, brake pedal and lots of other plated bits
Russ

[911hillclimber]

Thanks Carlos, I've used Castle before on my Kart restoration, very good but long lead time.
Need to get the chrome fork top ring done before powder coating is ready, ie 3 weeks, but will call them and those others.
Graham.

[Rob64232]

Graham,

Watch the RAL9010. I used to use it a lot at work and it now seems to vary quite a bit in it's shading between some of the painters as its a creamy 'off' white. Get them to do a test for you first if you want to use it.

I now use RAL 9016 known as Traffic White, which is a purer white, like a fridge colour. I think my TV is closer to this but wouldn't think its an original colour.

For info, on a black I would use RAL 9017 Traffic Black, very pure colour.

Rob

[911hillclimber]

There are many whites, and prob a lot of 'versions' of it, but the RAL system is meant to control these things!

They have painted several Lambrettas and many classic bikes etc so used to these things. As long as I can get a colour match to the powder in a tin of cellulose/rattle cans for the panels I'm ok.
The TV should be metallic blue, but just can't take that on this build.

I have a lot of surface rust with a few lacy edges to cut out and replace, but don't want to risk the blaster nozzle on them.

Need to find a chemical means to strip the rust.

[dickie]

What about soda blasting? Much less aggressive than traditional media but it'll certainly shift the kind of rust you have.

IF and that's a very big if, you can find someone that does ice blasting then that's even better. However, I've a feeling it's banned due to the co2 pollution.

[911hillclimber]

Delivered the pile of parts to Redditch where a Series 2 frame was cooling down.
Nice white, so 'old English' it will be.
They too were bothered about the deep rusting on the inside of the rims, but will blast them and see how they look.

3 weeks and it will be ready to collect.

Decided to make an assembly table for its arrival, bit more DIY welding (I love it).

Best bit of the day is securing a good SH1-20 carb from a club member at a good price to me (compared to a big auction site). Clearly a gentleman as he stuck to his original price.

Going to chemically strip and treat the body panels over the next few weeks, but will have to either wait for better weather or contrive a 'spray booth' to paint the panels.

Found TDC of the engine, so a bit of timing this weekend, all seems simple according to Stcky.

A good old friend is coming over for some dinner tomorrow who has an SX 150 Special way back, so between us and a bottle of red we can cock things up....


I never though early retirement could be this good.

[911hillclimber]

Sunday and my mood is not so good!

Decided to time the ignition...

TV is on points, all new etc so following Sticky book it should be dead simple.
Found TDC
Marked 16 deg advance on the cover, set the magneto to where I marked it before taking it all off.
Made my bulb electrical link as the book and pre checked that to work, all ok.
Set the point gap to be 0.4mm (snugly tight, 0.3mm goes in easy)

Battery -ve to earth, bulb to the green mag wire and the other side of the bulb to the +ve on the battery.

The brightness of the bulb never changes anywhere on 360 and more rotation of the crank let alone near the 16 deg mark!

Points open and close.

What am I doing wrong here?

I'll warm up a bit and have yet another go and if that fails I'll take it to Readspeed tomorrow for them to sort it.

[911hillclimber]

The replacement flywheel came with its matching mag so fitted that instead of the refurbished original in case there is a fault with it.
As the original flywheel was scrap I removed the hub and used it to get total access to the pints, so easy to set the gap!

So, 'new' mag, set points ( the old ones) and the flywheel and no change, light bulb bright through 360 degrees...

Replaced the bulb with a DVM set on ring-through and can detect a change in note every now and then.
Put the DVM in the circuit with the bulb to try to see a change in voltage at any point, none at all....

Read speed open tomorrow, so looks like a trip to Gerome!

[Adam_Winstone]

I've never bothered with the light method of trying to time a bike. I initially set according the fag paper (thin paper, feeler gauge or other) then strobe it after to check and adjust accordingly. I've never used the light method and don't ever intend to.

You could easily give it a go with the fag paper method if you've not given up yet. If you're sticking with points then you need to find a way that works for you as Jerome can set it for you tomorrow and then you find that points/heel wear will cause the timing to change anyway. You don't want to be going back to Jerome every time you service the bike and want to check the timing. If it was running electronic then I'd say take it to Jerome as once it is set that's it (no parts to wear).

Adam

[911hillclimber]

Thanks Adam for the reply.
Certainly not given up yet!

Just been to the garage to try again.

Same issue, the bulb does not dim at all at any angle.
Looked at a You tube vid of the same method and when the bulb intensity changes it is Very clear indeed, not a faint change.

I can't see what I'm doing wrong, and that was the real reason to go to Gerome, to see what I'm doing wrong .
so simple, cannot see what is wrong.

I have the advantage of using another mag with its own points/condenser, and the result is the same, constant bulb brightness.

Strange...

This should happen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVFlBe3H3O4

Just tried your 'paper' method (also detailed in Stickys book) and got the crank just where the thin paper came free of the points with a slight pull on the paper. Don't smoke, but for now used a thin piece of paper to prove the point.

The flywheel is at about 16 deg !

At this point I cannot get my thinnest feeler into the gap (0.05mm) so that must be quite close.

So, perhaps I will still take it to Readspeed for Gerome to quickly check it (I'm going for 16 to 19 deg).

Just to check it again, I put the bulb on it and still the bulb never changes.

[Adam_Winstone]

If you fancy giving it a go, the fag paper method of old is/was the common way of setting points timing and it is just as good today as it was then. Whilst I always strobe my bikes to check them, regardless of ignition type, I've trusted the fag paper method a hundred times and never had a problem from doing so. Indeed, longer Euro trips on points have seen me do it a number of times on the same trip. As points wear, adjusting gap and resetting timing is something that you'll become quite familiar with... if not so already.

I guess that this is more a case of you wanting to sort out what is going wrong with your method of finding the firing point, rather than actually finding the firing point (I do share your frustration). The light method is only one method, with the fag paper and strobe methods being others that you could consider too. Indeed, the strobe check is the only method that I'd be 100% happy with as the strobe only lights as the engine fires, so therefore gives a 'real world' ignition point.

Out of interest, I've had a quick look back through some of the previous pages but didn't immediately see what kit you are using. I say kit as I note that you're looking for 16 degrees btdc, which is about where I'd run a higher revving/high comp kit, whereas, I'd run a lower comp kit at 17 and a standardish motor (providing compression was reasonably low at no more than 19 dbtdc. It might be worth you marking a range of firing points onto your mag lip so that you can try/adjust without having to go through the process of marking it up again at a later time. A range of something like 19, 17, 15 is what I'd normally mark but you might find that (if you've already marked 16) 16, 18, 20 is good for you. This is also quite handy as it allows you to strobe in the future to see where it may have closed up to after a few hundred or thousand miles. Fairly rapid heel wear is not uncommon when new points are fitted as the heel needs to wear to better match the cam.

Best of luck.

Adam

[911hillclimber]

Sorry Adam, didn't notice you had come back again, please see the last para in the post above your original one.

[Adam_Winstone]

Just seen the update.

It sounds as though you are somewhere near and taking it to Readspeed for a check is a good idea, which also gives you a little understanding of how close you may have been and, hopefully, a bit of confidence in the method that you've used.

Good luck with it.

Adam

[dickie]

Graham,

That stator plate I sent you came from a non runner. Now, judging the state of the piston that I took out of it, the non-runningness was due to gummed up rings.

I'm not saying the stator and flywheel are u/s, simply that they can't be relied on as definite working parts.

+1 for the fag paper method even though I gave up smoking 7 months ago.

+2 for the strobe.

[911hillclimber]

I used it as a comparison only, mine could be duff too!
I hope read speed can confirm all is well or dead tomorrow.

[Dimitrios_231]

Fag paper (or thin newspaper) method is very accurate to set the timing.



16 degrees for a standard engine feels quite retarded,I would advance it to 17 or 18 degrees.

The fact that the lamp,doesn't dim or glow,might indicate a stator problem,(points,condenser,LT coil)
The following video is mine (I don't use this account now as I cannot remember my password )