Saturday 13 June 2020

The Dry Build

The purpose of the dry build is to assemble every part of the bike to make sure that it is complete and all parts fit. It is the time to attend to details ….fitting mudguards, seat, tank, handlebars and levers, making cables and pipework - petrol, oil and exhaust, gear change linkage etc… If anything needs changing or modifying, it is much easier to do it at this stage rather than risk damaging paintwork and plating.

As I mentioned in a previous post, getting a rolling chassis built is the first priority.


The following series of pictures shows the progression of the dry build through to completion


 

 


 
 

When the dry build is complete, the bike is then stripped down to the last nut and bolt.

I include the engine (but not the gearbox) in the strip down as I do not seal the crankcases until the final build. The reason for this is that the 4 studs that pass through the engine plates plus the 2 magneto platform supporting studs constitute 6 of the 8 fasteners that hold the crankcases together and there is a very good chance that a sealed crankcase will no longer be sealed if it is taken out of the frame and then reinstalled at a later date with only 2 studs at the bottom to hold it together. The engine, therefore, is built from the bottom up when the bike is reassembled for the final build.

On the other hand, the gearbox, once built, does not need to be stripped and reassembled.

I also put ALL small parts into polythene bags and label them clearly. At the time of taking out the petrol tank bolts it is obvious what they are. But in a month's time you will wonder "did these hold on the tank, the mudguard stays, the chainguard, the oil pump.....?"

Having stripped the bike to all its component parts it is now time for painting and plating.

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