Flauski

What is wrong with the Solex carbs to replace them with Webers?

Its alive!!! (and that means its time to sell, haha!) Tweaked the retard/choke about 1000 more times, still had good spark and fuel. Problem solved and lashed out buying a new $6 spark plug , it fired up almost straight away! Its always something simple damn it! It smoked me out in the garage due to wet sumping (dry sump normally but they wet sump when sitting.) So I wheeled it out and made this;

Fail, I'm working late.

Like I said on Nicks post; When indicators stop going people usually just buy a flasher (only) unit however some bikes have a relay built into the flasher unit (Yamaha does for sure and looks like this;) Units that are just a flasher are generally the same shape but physically a far smaller cylinder, like so; If this cylindrical device claps out, or has a bad connection no indicators will work at all. The headlight bucket is relatively simple. There will probably be a connector with 4 inputs, this will be the earth, sometimes they connect daisy chain style but whatever there is the most of one colour in the headlight bucket will be the earth. There will be two connectors with two or three inputs for each side of the indicators. Dark green is one side, brown is the other on Yamahas Each indicator unit will have one wire coming out of it probably black, these go into the corresponding dark green or brown side. The rest of the colours just match up in there and there should be no unconnected wires in there. If I was in Aucks I would just rock round and solve it for you.

From memory / experience I hope your engine builder knows L series oil galleries well. I had this same procedure done to a l28 to fit my front sumped 240k. The engine builder I used (built Don McLean's engines and the bottom end of samurai 240z) said it was relatively tricky to ensure the boss is drilled to enter the oil gallery and you only get one shot at it. It didn't cost much to get the pro to do.

Could be, weather permitting

I'm gonna try be there this time as long as I have some Oldschool flava flav to bring

Your a brave brave man winging it like that in a lunch break! Lol. Looks smaller than I expected. As pretty as you are how about some interior pics? No flags for rust? So compliance must be pretty straight forward right? So awesome. If you ever decide to sell this you must contact me.

Shortened up my accelerator cable and choke cable to suit the newer 626 carb and fitted fuel lines. Kicked it in the guts, then kicked it again and again and again and again... oh and again. So much that I got sweaty and pulled a groin muscle I never knew I had. Messed with the magneto retard lever a lot, have no idea how much to retard... full retard or mild retarded? tried all 150 degrees of retard. Got desperate and squirted some engine starter in, got it running for 0.5 seconds. Fixed fuel bowl tickler not working , tried again. Nothing but now making a squeaky sucking noise coming from carb as I kick it. Think its leaking at the flange where carb meets spacer. Stupid Amal muck metal. Sooooo I'm gonna replace the gasket with what it should have, a thin rubber o-ring that should seal better. Veteran cycle lyfe.

Keep them posts a comin, it looks immaculate. Please do not change interior. Where is the rust? There must me some, its a Datsun. That fuel flap - cool that you have it but seems completely pointless. If you actually spill petrol it will surely just run down that and onto the car.

More pics - stat

A VIN is literally just a unique number that identifies that particular vehicle for LTA. Because LTA designed the VIN protocol in that all VIN numbers follow a sequence it avoids mistakes of the past as I have outlined.( chassis numbers were often entered incorrectly as each vehicle manufacturer and each models chassis is unique.) The reason they VIN first for cert or compliance is they need a means to identify and record details for that specific vehicle. Otherwise there is no way for LTA to record that vehicle on their system. You can't roll in, get a VIN without following the rest of the process.

AFAIK that is the purpose of compliance, is attaching a VIN. So no VIN without compliance check. Therefore if reregistering an old bike no compliance check or VIN without compliance guy happy/proof been on road in NZ. If compliance guy not happy, then you have to go alternative documents way - make LTA happy, if they sign off they will give you a unique number then you can go for compliance.

A 'VIN' is a long foil tag that VTNZ put on when registering a vehicle starting after 1994 (after they deleted all the records) looks like this ; Bottom line is if you have a VIN then there will be a record in LTA. Frame number/chassis number is the one stamped into the frame/body by the Manufacturer. They are still searchable, however be aware that if the bike was registered when they started issuing VIN plates, sometimes they just ignored the OEM frame number. If bike was stolen/recovered it more than likely had a plate and LTA will just have to search with what you do have. If you have changed bars/lights it wont be an issue unless the person doing the reregistering has specific knowledge of that model or is is a mod that requires certification. Be aware though that any changes to lights require "E" marking on the lense to show they meet the required lighting standard in NZ.

The VCC certificate of authentication is AFAIK supposed to authenticate the 'safety features' of the era of a certain vehicle in order for cars AND motorcycles to be exempt from new car modern safety features; lighting+restraints etc. Why was VCC only given the authority by LTA to do this for motorcycles? Pffft, who knows, doesn't even make sense, what would a car onlyclub really know about bikes...?) ie I will need one for my 1949 Royal Enfield as it does not have any indicators or brake light switches. Then again nor did any other motorcycle of that era. The cert from VCC is only supposed to verify the age and certify that a vehicle of that age did not have certain safety features and the cert then exempts that vehicle from having indicators/brake lights (lights full stop if its 1900s!) If someone got a bike rereged based on that certificate, then that was very lucky of them as it is not proof it was on the road at all. Nick, what bike is this? There may be another way. For instance, Honda NZ (started in NZ as Bluewing Honda which still exists today.) They still have a lot of info for their bikes post 1972ish. Prior to that, Hondas were imported by authorised dealers who had licenses to sell Honda. This was the same for almost all Japanese marques when imports took off. Generally the big manufacturers sold licenses to independent dealers prior to establishing themselves in NZ. Call whoever makes the bike and ask. They may not have specific details of a certain bike they may provide SOME evidence. EG When I was looking for Honda CB100 info a kind fellow at Honda was able to tell me from what CB100 frame number range/year Bluewing Honda started selling themselves in NZ. Therefore if the bike frame no fits in this range, it goes someway to show; A ) Both that the particular bike was able to be registered on road in NZ (as some had obviously been sold by Honda themselves) and B ) The frame number is within a range that Bluewing Honda sold, arguing that Bluewing Honda probably sold the damn thing! Get my drift? Just have to be patient, think outside the box, make some phone calls and sweet talk some beards who care about the old stuff. Another way is that if the bike had say a dealer sticker on it. I have owned a few old motorcycles with the dealer sticker stuck on the side tanks etc like this; If you look close there is a sticker under 125 that says "Tim Gibbs". Those from Palmy may know that Tim Gibbs was a Yamaha agent in Palmerston North. Photos of that sticker, and its patina which clearly matches the bike goes a good way to show the bike was once on the road in NZ despite Tim Gibbs Motorcycles being long gone. This bike is still regd but its an example of thinking outside the box. I can say that Yamaha are no good (tried this as per my earlier post.) Yamaha still do not exist as a company in NZ and the NZ network is run by OZ. Yamaha themselves did not sell any bikes in the 70s-80s they were all through licensed dealers.

I hear ya and I can understand that. But my point is, had they not told me this, my only option was to go the alternative documents route - I pay them $184, provide exactly the same information for them to make a decision. Lets say it was 'yes' I can reregister it. What exactly have I just spent $184 on? Their mistake of the past - that's what.

History - two points of note *Just to highlight how hopeless LTA used to be, an identical bike I have to the one mentioned below (which I still have original paper registration papers for) has the frame and engine recorded as starting L52 instead of LS2. They made hundreds and thousands of mistakes recording vehicle data. Eg LS2-000001 may be recorded as L52-000001 or LS2000001 or LS20-00001, exponential room for f**k ups when they relied on people who generally had no real idea what chassis/engine numbers should be for particular models. A Datsun 240K I had was registered as a Datsun 2405....... *During transition from one computer system to another in 1994ish, someone at LTA inadvertently deleted thousands of old records. Their problem right? guess again. Re-registering a vehicle that has black plates but no longer 'exists' on the LTA system. Long story short, if you can't prove it has been on the road before (does not exist on seach of LTA database) then as of 2013, then your only slim chance is to; - pay $184 per hour (no where does it actually say this is a one off) - fill out an 'alternative documents' form. Still requires you to 'prove' it was on the road in NZ or elsewhere worldwide, dereg cert etc. Requires an entry certifier to validate the frame/chassis number is legitimate/ proof you own (stat declaration etc) This alternative documents application is no guarantee either, still requires you to try to convince them it was on the road before and ultimately rests on your hard work researching, etc and the decision of one person. What really bugs me is because they deleted their own records, you potentially could have to pay almost the same hourly rate as a QC defence lawyer defending a murder charge for LTA to decide whether your vehicle can be reregistered or not?! This $184.00 an hour charge only started in 2013. Backwards logic? I am keen as to escalate this issue along with another. Who actually knows what 'proof' means with LTA when it comes to reregistration/old black plate use/alternative documents (which according to fact sheets for all three processes say the same thing - proof it has been on the road in NZ previously) but that is another story..... Fast forward; my story I have an old Yamaha LS2 2 smoke that is being re-registered. It has a frame number/engine number and original black plate still attached. No ' proof' it was ever on the road before but it has an old WOF sticker on the plate from 1980. LTA has no record of any of the frame/engine/plate numbers at all on their system. Several phone calls to LTA and VTNZ later, with the help of a helpful guy at VTNZ , with several searches of every combo he could think of - nothing, nada, no record anywhere. Great, $184 decision is on the cards I was thinking...... 3 different people I told that I had an old WOF label on the plate (2x LTA, 1 x VTNZ inspection compliance certifier), 3 people told me not good enough for proof. Then I spoke with a LTA supervisor (after a complaint was made about someone from LTA) I won't say who the complaint was about but lets just say its good that they record all phone calls and the person makes significant decisions regarding the reregistrstration of vehicles. At the end of the day, all it took was to speak with someone at LTA who was a 'product specialist' and knew what the f they were talking about. An old WOF sticker IS proof the vehicle was on the road in NZ and therefore qualifies for reregistration and potentially the use of the old black plate (still waiting for a decision on that even though both processes need the same level of proof - go figure) Summary If you want to reregister a vehicle that has fallen of the LTA system (registration lapsed prior to 1994) you either need some other 'proof' it was on the road previously or hope like hell you find enough out about it so as to convince someone it has been.

Love this. Keep up the good work. At least Ariel had the smarts to put several bolts around the primary chain case. Enfield are dumb, one bolt to hold the whole cover on, a foot peg that goes through the middle of it and a giant rubber band is all they used to hold the oil for the wet clutch. :facepalm Working on these old British oil sieves makes me wonder when spring washers were invented..... I see yours likes to leave its mark on the concrete too.

Never seen this either. Very impressed. The clean up you did inc cut and polish makes the car look immaculate. Just seen this on the pics from the show, is it your old wag? If it is, at least you know they looking after it ;

New battery arrived. I fixed a couple of earth connections (the only two the bike has) and re-did the tappet timing. First two photos are blurry because my coffee this morning actually gave me the shakes! Bottom picture shows the 'easy to adjust' tappet timing. Nuts on bottom of pushrods as seen raises/lowers pushrod to adjust tappet gap. Swivel thing on exhaust/right pushrod is connected to the decompression lever. When decompression lever on handlebars is pulled it lifts the exhaust valve to decompress the cylinder. It is also used as the factory means of stopping the engine from running as unlike modern bikes, there is no off switch!

I don't know what it is about this car but I want it. pics, more of em = asap please

At least it has fuses to check! Must have been an 80's+ idea. I have had similar issues on 70's bikes with the flasher relay. When indicators stop going people usually just buy a flasher (only) unit however some bikes have a relay built into the flasher unit (Yamaha does for sure and looks like this;) Units that are just a flasher are generally the same shape but physically a far smaller cylinder, like so; If this cylindrical device claps out, or has a bad connection no indicators will work at all.

Once you spend enough time with bike looms you soon figure em out. They are actually really simple once you get your head around it. All the jap manufacturers generally use the same colour coded wiring across most of their bikes (eg dark brown on Yamaha is for one sides turn signals, orange is for coils) Google is your friend, search for a wiring diagram and cross your fingers. If you find one, even better a colour coded one it will help imensely. Great looking bike BTW.

Roll as is, not much I can do to jazz up. There is a whole lot of knowledge out there however people that house it don't generally use the internet and I have only met a few. I seem to be in the wrong demographic for this age of bike too at 34. Forgot to say on here that the Enfield club in England hold all the old ledgers for all sales of their bikes. I contacted them to find some history. Several photos later and after discovery of a hidden out of sight engine no. I found out this particular bike has matching engine cases, matching engine and frame no. Each side of engine case stamped with unique no. Engine then stamped with a hidden no. Engine then stamped when put in a frame. Original ledger lists all these numbers. I also found out its actually a 1949 model, it was ordered on 11th August 1949 by Australian distributor E. C. A in Sydney and shipped out completed on 28th August same year. Where in nz are you? Please start a thread for your ariel.

Royal Enfield owners are quite lucky, there is a place called Hitchcocks in the UK that bought up all the old dealer stock and remanufactures heaps of new parts. They have full part number oem diagrams for all Enfield models. They make stuff out of British steel too for those that have new Enfields from India that use muck metal. I looked at listing for primary chain but all it says in 74 pitches and the oem part no. I can still get almost any part for my bike though pound to NZD still sucks. I got some more photos of the old owner and his mate looking like a couple of tough c's but I'm not going to put them on net. Wish I knew where or when the b&w photo was taken. Have you got a thread for your ariel? Keen to have a look.