1968 BSA B25 Starfire

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by TominMO

Putting this here for your reference:

Thankfully, Mrs. 2LZ was kind enough to get me a small set of Whitworth wrenches and sockets from Santa. I never thought I'd need more of either.

[cheesy]

I put all my Whitworth wrenches in the trunk of my 64 Midget for the suc...er...gent that bought it. Then I had to get into old British bicycles. At least a 5/16W x 3/8W and 7/16W x 1/2W open ends cover 95% of the fasteners. Anything else warrants an adjustable. Continuing with Whitworth, I found an old Whitworth thread gage in my tap and die drawer. I haven't any idea when or where I got it.

[Magician16]

I had a '71 Triumph Trident, got to know Lucas electrical parts pretty well. That bike always ran great, but it could never keep the battery charged up. My headlight had only 2 modes off and flicker. I worked on electrics on both Triumph and MGB cars for friends because local mechanics wouldn't touch them.

[Darkrider]

LUCAs is also known as the Prince of Darkness lol

[2LZ]

The biggest problem Lucas electrics had was they always lived in wet, humid environments and the connections were plated, I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong. In dry CA climates, with the connections cleaned, with dielectric grease, it looks just as good as any other harness. Fingers crossed.....

[Darkrider]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

The biggest problem Lucas electrics had was they always lived in wet, humid environments and the connections were plated, I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong. In dry CA climates, with the connections cleaned, with dielectric grease, it looks just as good as any other harness. Fingers crossed.....

Truth be told i have yet to have any major electrical issues on my MG other then a weird issue i had when i was trying to install a headlight relay kit. I figure if i need to i will replace connections as needed with either Deutsch or Weatherpak connectors as needed.

[2LZ]

Thanks to our garbage ethanol fuel here, I had to order a metal tank. Of course, the color wasn't even close, so I ordered the correct paint from some place in the UK. I'll do it myself.

Then I had to take apart the brand new Amal carb to see if it had the correct float that won't be destroyed by our gas. Of course, it didn't. I ordered one of those today too.....plus ethanol safe fuek line as well. I have plenty....in the wrong size.

Bottom line? All in all, I'm having a great time with it. Now that I have the tank and seat off, the wiring harness is very minimal but looks like it's in fantastic condition. I really think this bike was just stores for a very long time and not really ridden much.

I'm discovering many things about owning a Brit bike. The forums are bone dry. "Just the facts ma'am" (Joe Friday). I research info....then bail, so far. No real chatter like here. Dry, but lots of great tech info. Many of these guys are more machinists than mechanics.

[2LZ]

Some actual work today. Did some fine-tooth combing. I'm REALLY trying not to tear this one down like the other.

The Brit bike is amazingly simple, though it uses some different wrenches. Even the dreaded Lucas electrics appear to be minimal. Though the Brits speak the same language, Chinglish was easier.... I need a Brit dictionary of terms and slang slogans. At least the Chinese tried.

[TominMO]

Even apart like that, it has good lines.

[dirtbkr188]

I see that Johnny Strabler is keeping a close eye on things, in the background...

[2LZ]

Going over all the normal stuff. The valves, even back in 1967, set with eccentric (cammed) rocker spindles. Loosen the nut on the backside of the spindle, spin it with a flat blade screw driver till the feeler drags. Tighten nut. Make sure push rod still spins freely. Easy-peasy. After messing with two "bucket/shim" bikes in a row, this was a refreshing change instead of a major tear-down, just to set valve clearance. The rear cylinder on the V-Strom was a true challenge.

In the Brits infinite wisdom, they ran a long cable to the rear wheel for the speedo drive. It was routed by some ham-fisted mutant in the past, and was up against the exhaust. Fortunately it wasn't burnt. Fixed that and service the cable and sheath at the same time.

New, properly gapped, NGK B8ES installed of course.

Gutting all the oil lines, hopefully today, and replace with new. Also, adding an inline oil filter on the return line to the oil bag. I hear it's imperative for the B25 big end bearing on the con rod. So far, nothing has been hidden or terribly hard to get at on this thing.

Not sure why the pic isn't opening...???

[2LZ]

Went over the entire wiring harness today, bumper to bumper. No stone un-turned. Had a big eyebrow raised over this part of the project, thanks to Lucas.

I sanded and/or cleaned every connection and frame ground, and then applied dielectric grease to every one. Then zip tied everything in place. Even disassembled the zener diode and got it cleaned up and greased.

It was amazingly simple and all in excellent condition. I didn't break or damage a single connection. I also found no rubbed or frayed wires anywhere. Everything look tucked where it should live. Not even any shade tree splices or jumpers over the past 57 years. Weird. I figured the odds would be that someone would have done something to it along the way.

One thing Lucas did right was the color coding. Every color has its meaning and as opposed to the Japanese stuff I've worked on, all the colors matched. No "orange to green" connections anywhere. Inside the headlight looked brand new. I expected to find at least spider webs or something. It appeared showroom clean. This is starting to worry me......

[2LZ]

Spent some quality shop time today. The snow melted enough so I didn't feel like a fool trudging out to a frozen metal building.

Went over the entire throttle assembly since I have the carb off replacing parts with ethanol-resistant pieces. The throttle was gummy feeling, so I got all the pieces and bar cleaned up and lubed, cleaned and lubed the cable. She snaps back nice and quick now. Also took the slide off the other end to lube the cable, and checked the clip position. Glad I did. It was set at full-rich (lowest position).

Hope to finish up the rest of the controls and cables tomorrow.

[2LZ]

Finished servicing and adjusting the rest of the cabling. Put gearbox fluid (80/90) and primary fluid (ATF) in it. So far, nothing is pouring out anywhere. It's a good idea to run three different color fluids in a Brit bike, so when something hits the ground, you know which fluid is leaking. I may go to purple gearbox fluid after I get it running. Also got the clutch push rod and cable all set up and feeling good.

Getting closer. DMV on Monday for fun and frolic. Oh boy......

[TominMO]

Given that you are living in the scary-sounding town of Volcano (population 115), where do you have to go for DMV? Jackson?