June 2024

 

June 24

 

The beginning of this month has been quite busy with trips to work with Coops, hospital appointments, a clutch change on the Burton and one of the Wey Valley Bike birthday celebrations and the usual first of the month Observed Sunday.  First of all was Motor Bike day at Cobham on the Saturday with ride outs from Yamaha and BMW plus other electric models.

I was inside on the club shop to support the day. There was a bonus to the day in that other suppliers were present and I bought a Chainmate to assist lubricating the Kawasaki chain. It greatly helps in getting the grease into the chain and not everywhere else. 

On the Sunday I used the Buell to see if my home made silencer strap held together. It did but there was no high speed riding to really test it. This was a biking weekend and feeling fit enough I launched in to the Burton the following week and it took me that long.

 Like a 2CV you need to take the bonnet and wings off then take the engine out to separate the gearbox and gain access to the clutch. There is a lot of work to do that job. With new thrust race and diaphragm clutch reassembly took just as long. I am not as agile or as fast so the job absorbed six very long days. I could not entertain paying someone to do that job especially when some of the trim needed to be removed from the foot well to gain access to a captive nut that was no longer captive half way down the wing and a broken throttle cable. I put the captive nuts in place specifically to aid removal of the wings for work on the engine. Not necessary for a service A as the plugs can be accessed through ports in the inner wing and oil filter buy removing the sump plate. Doing all the is not a one man job and I have to mention my able assistant Ashish who helped me with the muscle power to make the job possible.

After many aches and pains from crawling or more like diving head first into the foot well I had a few days off before blasting down to see Coops in Whitchurch on the Kawasaki. I should have ordered the stuff before the visit, running out of thread and fabric. The hood has been completed for Registers Day, but not the sidescreens and these are proving to be much more complicated to do on an industrial sewing machine. So far one has been almost completed and the results are amazing with a zip in the screen for access to be able to pick up car park tickets or motorway toll tickets without having to work around the almost one metre wide side screen.

Registers Day May 2024

 

Registers Day May 2024

 

End of May Bank Holiday made Registers Day a four day escape. I had hoped the new hood and side screens would be finished in time but events conspired against us and only the hood was completed. I have reported on some of the details and I will do a full report for the 2CV Club but also the supplier of materials. They are just as interested in the projects customers undertake as a show case for their products. Coops had finished the hood to an incredible standard incorporating all the modifications I had asked for and more. Gita drove down to Whitchurch with me in the C3 Aircross to collect the El Cid from Coops and then drive on to the venue on the Friday, put up the tent and leave the El Cid there and drive on to Bristol to visit my brother Adrian. It was not as easy as it sounds. There were problems every way we travelled  instead of M3, A303 my usual route Tom took us via Newbury then towards Southampton. Successfully collecting the El Cid we headed for the venue at Martha’s Down only forty miles Tom diverted us to avoid queues but not closed roads getting us both lost until we stopped and asked a local farmer which way to go then Tom got it together using the A36 then the A303 joining beyond Stone Henge. We got to the post code which was in Cricklade and found the sign post for  Hindon. We found the camp site from the wrong direction. A one hour trip was two hours. We registered, pitched the tent and found a pub, the Lamb, in Hindon for something to eat. It was 5:30 by then and had forty or so miles to get to Bristol.  We arrived at my brothers house about 7 pm. Adrian got back about 8pm after visiting his wife in hospital. Events were conspiring against him as well. He was due to come with us the next day for a few nights away but that was no longer going to happen.

There was no food available at the event so a visit to Morrison’s on the Saturday morning to stock up. Back to the site for the afternoon and lots of social interaction before a trip to the other pub in Hindon, the Grosvenor Arms, for our evening meal.  Sampling a local brew at the bar back on site it was getting cold so we retired to the tent and put on the gas stove to keep us warm before an early night. Sunday was cold and crisp. Gita cooked a monumental breakfast off egg, bacon and sausage filling a ciabatta roll. There was so much meat in it, it kept me going all day. Now my camping gaz had finally expired after many years. Time to buy a refill. The washing and toilet facilities were excellent proper showers with hot water and flushing toilets. Such luxury.

Most of the day was taken up talking cars and explaining about the new hood. I did not win any prizes but Coops did for his Mehari. ‘Hooky’ John had the best modcon with his Dagonet. During the prize giving  a heavy shower drenched the proceedings and later on continued to rain most of the night.

It had dried in the morning and I was able to pack up in the dry. The El Cid was inspected for leaks and did not show any. The join between the cab and rear sections remained completely dry after such heavy showers overnight. The storm flap with velcro seal worked very well. The short video shows how far the water progressed. This was an excellent test of the new hood. First it is water tight with no leaks at the stitching on the top. It has a taught fitting and does not flap and because of that the car is noticeably faster. Congratulations to Coops  for an incredible job. We dropped the El Cid back to Whitchurch on the way home for the final part of the project. The sidescreens.

London Classic Bike Show May 2024

 

London Classic Bike Show May 2024

 

Following on from the Observed Sunday and the handing out of vehicle passes for the show I had tidied up the paint work on the Valiant engine cover to remove the petrol damage to the paint all was looking good for the day. Friday was set up day and get the Valiant on the stand ready. James’s BMW outfit was there already. Gita came to pick me up and we had a nice pub meal at the Admiral Hawke in Sunbury. The Admiral Hawke was the meeting place for the LE Club pre Covid and is under new management. They have transformed the pub but have still kept the range of ales. Much appreciated. Saturday turned out to be a fine day. Gita delivered me to the show before eight in the morning and nearly everyone was there. Chris was the last to arrive with his T100. We were now set and ready for the day with a Harley Softail Slim, a Norton Fastback, two Triumph’s a Bonnevile T140Vand the T100SS, two BMW’s an R60/7 and the K110 outfit and finally the CanAm Spyder. The view of the stand was similar to the last show but enhanced  by a giant cardboard birthday cake. The theme for this year was the fortieth birthday of Wey Valley.

Quite a busy with a stream of people interested in the club. Chris Arthey  was selling his book “Highway 35” the story of him and his wife’s’ horrific accident and their road to recovery. Late morning I wheeled the Valiant to the start up area for the obligatory fire-up to make as much noise as possible to entertain the assembled crowd. I took three videos of the walk round of displays featured on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Why call a platform X?

 The afternoon was consumed along with homemade cakes. Denis Frost was around doing the question time with the man who has  progressed development of the Norton rotary engine. For me this was most interesting doing some major rework of engine components. As always the Rumi stand is a joy to see along with scooters and their racing bikes. Some very nice Italian machinery shows how far they were ahead of us in style in the fifties. Ducati, Gilera and MV leading the way. For the club there were no prizes to take home but we did have a record number of people interested in joining the club.

Once the prize giving concluded it was time to pack up and head for home. The day had warmed considerably which the Valiant did not like. I had to stop several times to let the engine cool. The engine was so hot at times I could hear the big ends rattling. The time is coming for a big rebuild. I will have to wait for the club engineers to come up with someone who will take on  the role of crankshaft repair and rebores. I understand oversize pistons will soon be available for the Valiant but I won’t hold my breath.