Cheap Rubber Parts

Grrrr.  Why after only 5 years or so must I replace the fork gaitor rubbers?  There's original rubber on the bike that's still holding up.  Cheap new stuff.  The new foot rest rubbers didn't even last 2 years.  I put the original foot rest rubbers back on.  Nothing against the vendor I got the stuff from, its just that this new rubber isn't the same as the original stuff.  The rubber foot rests on the S7 are like new after 50 years!!!  These gaitors didn't even last 5.  You can see where I tried to hold it together with glue until I could get them replaced.

I hope the new ones last a bit longer.

The operation of doing this work oneself is a bit tricky.  First position the ATV lift.  Then find out that the ATV lift doesn't really line up with the center of gravity of the bike.  The side stand is in the way.  Then use boards to lift AROUND the sidestand.  Strap it to the lift so it doesn't tip.  Put a trolley jack under the rear wheel, since when the front wheel comes off, the center of gravity will shift significantly rearward.  Then for extra insurance rope it to the ceiling rafters to prevent tipping when wrestling with the forks, and tightening the bolts.

Clutch cable fixed, oil changed, ready to go back on the road.  Wow, the old girl is photogenic.... doesn't look that good in real life.

I just might bend the snot out of the center stand arm, so it will clear my shorty exhaust mufflers.  Its a pain putting it back on all the time for service work.  Its much easier when its permanently attached.

Keyswitch overhaul

I wasn't happy with the broken light switch handle on my Sunbeam S7 Deluxe. I managed to score a pretty beat up electrical box from an S7 on ebay, which included a switch. The switch was worse shape than I thought when it arrived. Apparently the early models used steel setscrews, which rusted in place. This meant I had to drill them out and re-create some brass ones.

Disassembly was easy. First the back retaining stud for the tumblers had to be released from its fastening nut. This was easily done, by snapping the stud accidentally. *whoopsie* The front bezel turns and then comes off through some slots. This allows everything to come apart.

Making a key was easy.  I just inserted the blank into the tumblers and then marked each tumbler position.  Then I estimated the depth of each notch in the key, and began cutting with a dremel grinding disc.

The hard part was drilling out the setscrews.  I only buggered up one thread by accidentally drilling crooked, the others came out without a problem.

The contacts were cleaned up and new setscrews fashioned.  The original spring was shot, so a new one had to be made.  This allowed the lamp switch to operate smoothly, but with enough pressure to make contact with the position detents.  This picture was taken before the brass contacts were cleaned up and polished.

I had to drill out the fitting that the tumbler snaps into, and put a tap new stud in it.  I made it long enough to fit two jam nuts on the end.

The switch assembles as easy as it came apart.  The tumbler can actually snap in last.  This makes the assembly MUCH easier.

Clutch Cable SNAPS

What do you do when your clutch cable pulls out of the end crimp, and you are 200 miles from home?  You bodge it.  On close inspection the crimp end just pulled out of its solder.  The wire itself wasn't bent over in the channel provided to give extra strength.

Luckily the cable was long enough to tolerate some of the sheath being cut off.  This was harder than it looked, since the outer casing is made of really hard spring steel.  We broke a pair of dikes cutting it.  I then took the extra-long exposed cable and lashed it to the handle.  Vice grips were used to hold it in place, while a hose clamp was applied as extra protection.  The travel was compromised so the clutch dragged a lot, but enabled me to catch it in gear and get going when stopped.  It held the whole way home.



It was easy as long as I didn't have to stop.  Traffic was a problem, but not insurmountable.  Once I got the procedure down, I was able to push myself and catch it in first.

If you wanna run cool ...

... add surface area

For those of us that live in a warmer climate than the Sunbeam was designed to run in, additional cooling is desirable.  I've seen folks add an extended sump.  Well, that's more oil to circulate, but when its all hot you are back to the situation of the standard sump, it doesn't help the engine run any cooler.  It just allows you to run farther between topping up the oil.  Fiddler Fred went to extremes and added an oil cooler and an oil powered grip warmer.  I was looking for a quick solution that doesn't disturb my original machine too much, but just enhances its range and tolerance to warm ambients.

So I was thinking.  If I add some more fins to the engine, I can make it cool better.  The sump pan is already pretty low, so I can't add much, but its the most logical place.  Its a nice flat area where I can strap a heat sink.  The trick was how to attach it.  I drilled hole at the back of the heat sink to locate the rear center sump stud.  This keeps the heat sink from moving around.  Then I made two clips to pull the heat sink to the sump securely.  This locates the heat sink left and right, as well as keeping it secure.  Thermal Mastic compound (a.k.a. "monkey shit") is a must!

It's a fairly inconspicuous modification and easily reversible.  I'll have to take it out on a hot day and see if it helps.  Any little bit of energy rejection has to help.  The heat sink is rated for four Solid State "hockey puck" Relays, which handle 10 amperes a piece.  It will handle more watts of energy in this application, but it will also be running at a higher temperature differential.

From the side

The ground clearance is only reduced by about 1.1".  And no one will really notice the mod unless I point it out.

Valve Adjustment

KYL95 was getting a little clattery in the valve area.  I hadn't adjusted the valves since I put it back together, so I figured it was time.

They didn't seem to be too far off.

SUNBEAM bonnet letter spacing

Here you go Andrew.  Hope your Imp is doing well.

Here's the spacing as close as I can measure on my '66 MK2.  I know the bonnet has been repainted so I'm not sure if these measurements are 100%, but they look a damn site closer to "correct" than my wife's '67.  Linwood tolerances.... ;-)

Some are measured from the flats of the letters, some are from the serifs.  If I drew I line through the serif, then its measured from the flat.

How the S7 Deluxe looked in a period photograph???

This is my best attempted this evening to imagine what KYL95 may have looked like in period photograph when it was "new".  Black and white, a little blurry, the edges of the film not quite developed...