OK Who's next?

[stevecrout]

Remember the R27 rebuild?           " now that the R27 is loved again, it can't sit in the shed any more so I have re-arrange the garage space and decide who gets kicked out and sent to the shed."

Well -  the winner was -- 1952 BSA M21. 

I picked this and two other bikes (BSA M20 and Matchless G80) up from a fellow I knew in Egypt.  He had warehouses full of parts for all kinds of single cylinder Brit Bikes but also had a few weird ones too like the 125 cc German Triumph and a 40's HD 45.

Anyways, the M21 came along with the other two but sat for a few years while other priorities took over. Since the R27 kicked it out of the warm and dry spots I thought it only right to take it on as a project this summer. Since my time in Canada seems to limited to just a few weeks a year this project needs to be well organized or I might end up with a basket of parts and no time left to assemble them.

If I ever doubted how fast things could corrode when exposed to the elements I am a believer now.  There isn't much chrome on this thing but it all went brown in about 2 years of sitting in my dry shed. Many of the iron and steel parts are showing the usual amounts of rust dust so this time I'm going to put together a zinc plating set-up using the information from this page:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?14392-DIY-Zinc-Plating-for-Donor-Nuts-and-Bolts

I have the power supply and will pick up the heaters and zinc strip over the Christmas holidays and see if I can get the chemicals as well. Once it is ready to go I'll give some notice to the club and maybe have a garage night while trying it out (although the process does seem a little like watching paint dry I'll see if it can be spiced up a bit).

I'll see if I can do a bit more of the before and after photo stuff this time around to describe the process used to clean up and re-finish some of the parts.

I'll start the thread with a few photos of the bike along with the Blue M20 as they arrived from Cairo.

[Donovan]

Steve They look like a couple of interesting projects.  Maybe I can pay you a visit while you are in town .   Let me know when it will be good for a visit.

[stevecrout]

Sure thing Donovan - I'll be taking the M21 on in July. The M20 was done a few years ago by Kurt's brother Bill.  Here's a photos of the completed M20. 

[stevecrout]

On with the tear-down!  The tinwork and most of the bits came off easily as they were well WD-40'd in advance. No real surprises so far and the bits are slowly separated to cleaning, sand blasting, chroming and painting piles.

Notice how the rust has attacked the chrome bits but not the bare iron on the fenders and other areas.

The generator/magneto combination make a great pair. The mag is build like a brick Sh_thouse and the generator has only one field coil for 6 volts , real basic design.

[stevecrout]

Next on the list is the chrome plating.   Not a lot of chrome but lots of smaller bits.  Going to photograph them all and send the images to a couple of shops to make sure they can handle the work.  If not I'll have to buy the new parts.

You might notice the rear section of the frame seems to be bent on the left side.  It took a minute to confirm it by looking at other photos on the internet but sure enough, it took a hit from something. I'll see how tough this metal is I guess and get it pressed back into shape.

[stevecrout]

The generator and magneto turned out to be in better shape than I thought.   Just one wire to the field coil that needs soldering.

[Hans]

Looks like a good start Steve.  Keep the pics coming.

[Dennis]

I'm enjoying this, but it is causing seller's remorse.  I had a 1958 M21 (plunger rear suspension) in much better shape than what you started with.  I traded it straight across for a 1981 BMW R65. 

Peace & Grease, Dennis