Model 7 Reserection

Hi Guys, about 5-6 years ago I brought this model 7 which the seller told me he had purchased off a retired engineer who had lost interest in it and as the seller had not done anything with it I thought it would be a simple project to get it going - "WRONG"



Some interesting history, the bike has matching frame and engine numbers and has the J for 1954 but as it stands now has all the model changes for 1955- Alloy head monobloc carb tank badges glue on knee pads [only fitted to 1955 models] and a fully enclosed taillight bracket. further more this bike was first registered as a new motorcycle in 1957, it also appears that it was last registered for road use in 1976, this must have been when the " engineer' started his rebuild.
As I was doing my 650SS resto that I featured on this forum it took me some time to get around to going over my latest project, anyway when I did I was surprised to find not a trace of oil anywhere, by this I mean it has not filled with oil since it was apart so for a bit of detective work as I had the original ownership papers that were issued with any vehicle registered here in New Zealand before the late 90's I found a name in the phone book simular to the last registered owner and rang him, Right first time I had found the retired engineer who explained he gave up on the project as there was a problem with swing arm alignment, as soon as I got off the phone and went and looked you could see that the frame had pulled out off the swing arm casting and allowed the swingarm to both drop and move to the left but worst still was that somebody had welded and gusseted the frame in this position way out! so my easy get going has now turned in to a major rebuild-
It took some time to find somebody that I felt could do a frame repair of this calibre and for this reason I did not disassemble the bike until then, anyway finally I was told that Terry a guy that I had loosely known for a long time had a frame jig and had previously built a frame for his Seeley Gold Star to such a high standard that Colin Seeley signed the bike on a recent visit to New Zealand. Terry was able to take before measurements then I stripped the bike so he could apply his magic, Terry cut the frame spliced in new tubed and brought everything back into line-


So from here the project begins-

Hmmm, I was given a broken frame like that (plus a few extra breaks).
Must be a common problem ?

We look forward to seeing more of it, good looking project.
Are you going to restore it as is, it looks good with all those updates.
As any avid owner would have done back in the day...

We might take issue with that speeling ov resurrection though. !

P.S. Do you have a seat for it ?
There has been a bit of chat on the NOC about seats and brackets to suit these years,
and how the seat seems to have no points of support to the frame.
And the discussion hasn't ended yet. And no-one has produced pics of precisely what is required either.
I was given an el cheapo Enfield dual seat, which seems to fit rather neatly.
But since its nowhere near a goer, haven't actually fitted it to see if it works as required.

Sounds like an interesting project.

Hi Rohan, spelling is not my strong point, yes before I pulled the 7 down I purchased a seat from RK Leighton which I am happy with, yes I have been part of the NOC discussion re front seat brackets and after several attempts Terry has manufactured a front bracket that we are happy with I will try and post photos tonight.
Al

Again in reply to Rohan, as this bike was not sold new until 1957 I believe it already had all the 1955 updates, maybe it had been robbed to keep another bike on the road and as sea freight was the only option this could explain it but we will probably never know but it is staying this way.

This is the seat that I got from RK Leighton
I am lucky that I have a friend with a restored 54 Model 7 and a restored 77 yes the " bike that supposedly was never built"
as well as the remains of another swingarm model7 from which we found a seat bracket that we copied-

I don't know if this was a ES2 or early M7 bracket but It didn't fit right so after several days looking at any M7 picture that we could we cameup with this-

Hopefully it will all lign up.
Al

Interesting seat details, thanks.
What is that bracket shown in the middle of your 3 photo set,
its not the same as the one fitted to the nose of the seat ?

Model 77, the rigid one ?
They'd be a bit thin on the ground over your way.
Didn't one get squashed in an earthquake or something.
They'd have had a single seat, stock (?).

Yes it's a rigid single seat 77 stamped 13, the middle photo is of a bracket that we copied from my friends model 7 parts bike, it attaches up the tank tunnel but not sure what year/model it was for as there appears to be some plunger parts with the parts bike.
Al

I procrastinated for some time on weather to split the motor and box as they had been "rebuilt" but in the end as all the fasteners needed replating I decided to lift the head to find centring indentations in both pistons, off with the barrels to find that the pistons had been lathed back to 035 to match a worn bore dam!, best we go further and split the cases!

Don't you love all the previous owner improvements in these old beasties !!

Do I have the details of that 77, have a NOC printout of all of them,
including which Dealer they were initally delivered to.
Could some of them possibly have gone to NZ ?
One went to NZ not that long ago, but it didn't survive Christchurch ?

Will ask for s/n but my friends one did come from Australia some years ago, maybe the same one?
Al

Will be interested to hear.
Ask if he bought from a ?
I heard the Christchurch one got squashed ??

Hi Rohan, the 77 came from Ipswith, are we talking about the same one? he is going to email me photo's will post when I get them
Cheers Al

Sounds like it could be the same one.
We seem to have strayed from your swingarm resto though !

Friends Model 77

I am beginning to suspect that Engineering was not the retired Engineers true profession and that he may have been better working with "meat".
When I went to split the cases first I have found that there was no triangle washer or plate behind the crank pinion gear instead just a large machined washer so removing the pinion gear was a major! having finally removed the gear with the help of a friend we split the cases and removed the rods, underneath each shell was silver tape-

Of Couse I thought the worst but when I took the crank to my engineer the crank journals turned out to be standard and in good condition, though later when he went to clean out the sludge trap he found the oil gallery completely blocked so I am very lucky. more to follow-
Al

Silver foil, thats a new one on me...

Thanks for the pic.
Smart looking bike, interesting colour. !

While the frame was being repaired and due to my favourite chrome platters being due to close I stripped the wheels and had the rims replated, the spokes zinked and the nipples nickled along with as much other relating as i could done as well. I cheecked the stauntions by rolling them along my wifes glass table [not recomended when wife is in the room] to find them slightly bent so off they went to my engineer who trued them, while this was happening I pollished the legs on the buff in my garage.

With my previous bike projects I have relied on my close friend Shurk to do my painting but as he is now no longer painting I had had to find another painter that could do a quality job at a reasonable price, I settled on Murray of Muzza Bikes who had been doing painting for my friend Jim with the '77, it is a pleasant surprise for a painter to complete my work time that he said he would, with out pressure from me! then Len Renolds was able to respoke my wheels, a new set of tyres were purchased and I was able to start bolting it back together-

I forgot to mention that I stripped the covers off the rear shocks to find that they were in really good condition with plenty of resistance so with a coat of paint they will do another few decades [hopefully]

Looking good !

What do your springs in those rear shocks look like - description, probably too late for a pic !
Have a set here that appear to be square section springs, which seems somewhat elaborate..

Sorry Rohan to late for a photo but are conventional round section wound springs nothing special though quite heavy.