Hi Haddy,

From what I can see in the photo,that is the standard procedure for fitting cover plates.I sometimes leave them off,last D1 I stripped and rebuilt had none,it was ported and ran really well!

If there is crud and rust behind them,then centrifugal force may deposit that in your crankcases when you strike her up...or are they well-sealed and soundly in place.

The only thing I would do differently to SBD,would be support the flywheel I`m working on with a solid plate between the flywheels whilst I was banging away......not risk knocking the crank out of true.It does happen.

BSA riveted the flywheel plates on with the later D14 motors,as I found to my cost on one bike.The loose rivets machined out the crankcase...nice!

Blue

Haddy,

Because your wheel has been bodged and is wibbly-wobbly(technical term),you`ll be needing the offset measurements for when you rebuild it,as you don`t have that reference point because of past "work".

I have a set of D1 plunder wheels all laced up correctly in the `80s and in primer,buried under other parts in my lock-up.I can supply these measurements and any advice you need on rebuilding.

Obviously,first it`s wheel out,tyre off and see how far those spokes are into the nipples.One side set could be correct,whilst the other sounds incorrect,you don`t want loads of exposed spoke thread...in fact it`s best for any to be hidden in the top part of the nipple,if only for cosmetic reasons as well as strength.That`s always been my take...others may have a different view?

I trued up both my D3 wheels in recent years,by turning bike upside down and clamping to bench and doing wheels in situ.Engine/tank/battery out,as you have.

I fitted a guide wire to the swing-arm/front forks so I could work to that point.

Put some more pics up if you can and we`ll go from there.

Regards,

Blue

Well,as long as those spokes are into the nipples enough.If it were mine,I`d want the tyre off to check that....and also none were eating through the rim tape into the tube...bang...blowout!

I can`t see if the spoke pattern is correct from that close-up shot.

Sounds like you`re having fun,I enjoy wheel-building too,but to some it`s throwing tools around the workshop time,haha.

A straight edge run across the wheels,front-to-back,will give you an idea you`re in the right area.I used a length of straight angle-iron(well alloy actually),when I was checking wheel-alignment as an MOT tester.

Your speedo drive-box is missing from the rear spindle.When in place,there can be a problem with the speedo gearbox rubbing on the spokes,I`ve had that with a couple of Bantams.Carefully shimming out with a washer,so there`s still enough contact between the drive dog and hub boss is the way to go normally.

Nah I wouldn`t pay that for a spoke key,but I`m tight and I can say I wouldn`t pay that because I`ve had some vintage ones in my toolkit for decades and I have a tiny little Whitworth adjustable spanner that`s a treat to use for fiddly jobs like that,if I can`t find the spoke keys 😉

New bush behind the points cam is an absolute must.The points gap will be all over the place and it wont do the crank any good....in fact check the run-out on the end of the crank before proceeding.

Blue

I've rebuilt a few wheels in my time and have five more to do once I get some decent outside spraying weather.

Set over is everything get that wrong and your wheels will be out of line, no matter how you try to cure it other ways.

I use an old cast iron truing jig, but I've seen some usable ones made out of scrap timber etc.

You may very well end up taking the spokes out and starting again.

But you must ask specific questions if you want answers, although I do understand that it's hard to describe something if you don't understand it.

On a wheel I recently rebuilt for my D7 rear, I'd already jotted down the set over before stripping it out, it was 1.5 inches speedo side and an inch the other, which is of no help at all to you.

Looking at wheel, you should see spokes in bunches of four together, if it's correct.

Spokes from same side, laying in same direction, should be four holes apart. But it would take some sort of monstrous incident to have a rebuilt wheel with anything but the correct layout.

You can send me a pm if you want pics and a link to another place where I post more often and record my rebuilds fully.

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How spokes can stick out when you haven't yet started to tighten up.

Making a start; you need to put a twist into the hub after inserting first set.

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Drum side done, easier speedo gearbox side left, ends of spokes are simply hooked in.

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Done.

A couple of pointers though, only 10 gauge spokes now seem to be sold instead of the 12's that used to be fitted to earlier Bantams on the front wheels particularly.

Some early Bantams used 36 spokes instead of the now more common forty, but the point I am making is that the four spokes bunched together rule still applies, whether wheel is 36 spoke or 40 and even Triumphs, Nortons and others seem to share this common trait.

Good morning rusty nuts...sorry,I mean Haddy.

You`ve placed the rings in a clean bore,pushed halfway down with a clean piston?

The ring overlaps itself ...or just butts up tight?If it`s the latter,then very,very carefully,as in don`t break the ring,file down to the  desired gap...that`s 0.009"according to the Haynes manual.They are soft enough to do this easilly...I`ve done it many times.

As for your dodgy nuts,either wrong ones or if plated then threads not cleaned out properly. Weren`t the old ones good enough to use with a bit of thread-lock?

Blue

Just a matter of filing the rings down then.

Oh, it`s just poorly cut blunt threads in the nuts,sounds about right....so a quick run through with a finishing tap will do the trick eh.

Yep pattern parts are often not up to scratch.My top local bike engineer dropped a pattern gudgeon pin I`d given him when he was relining a cylinder for me..it snapped in half on his concrete floor.That shedbuilt dave link I put up,he`s always getting duff parts and having to modify or bin and make his own.Pain isn`t it!