23/01/23 Hear ye...Hear ye! Gather round for here's a BSA parts supply tale. A tale of 'What did ya expect?...What did ya get?...and the frustrations of an old skool engineer living in a modern world...an 'It'll do world' ''let's do the minimum effort to earn Big Mc vouchers......maybe enough spondulix to buy a Costa Coffee wi' artistic sprinkles imaging what looks like 3 x monkeys arses....
Ahhh....apart from being at the mercy of Internet Dick Turpins I've found mi' self at the receiving end of some Government bad press this week. Yes! Taken it personally. The very government that has an ex chancellor evading paying his tax share.. ta tune of several millions..Ain't the news brilliant!! So, how come ya Old Uncle Alb fell onto the wrong side of goodness? I'll tell ya.....It won't have escaped ya attention that over the year of 2022 UK inflation went sky high..banging the door of 11%...why?? (Hey....I've lived thru far worse ya set of wooooooosers!..cut ya cloth by binnin' ya I'phone for a start, followed by Netflix) According to government bullshit news-bites it's the fault of those that don't work. Aye...Mi'self and apparantly all the others like me are causing this inflation bollocks. Fact- Becoming a full time Vintafaker meant something had to give...I gave up being an employee to be a stalwart in the fight to save old shiite from the crusher...at my expense....yep!! self funded...surely m'lord that's a good thing??? Didn't realise likkle old me was pivotal to the uk economy. Oh...and unlike that tosser ex-chancellor Nadhim Zahawi (Mr "careless and not a deliberate mistake") which is where I came in...Careless, greedy....and anything but trying tha' best.....Easy route...One day my friends there will be more than a worm turning.
Back to the 'quality thing'. Not gonna throw about aspersions on the internetty. Just facts. Heavy going on the grey cells? Could be but I think most day's ya gotta put ya'sen into zones that work the grey cells..!!! Don't tell me ya' don't???? I'd ordered 4 x BSA cylinder head hold down bolts. Part No 66-0115 from a very well known UK supplier. Opting for the steel version rather than stainless after reading on-line that stainless may not have the correct properties for the job....Expansion rates etc..These were priced at £12.82 + V.A.T. each + Post. (Cost me £61.54 all in) Comparing with stainless at same supplier at £15.40 + V.A.T. each + Post or alternatively on Ebay from different supplier £112 + £4 Post per set of 4 stainless (claimed correct grade)..Hey, I didn't go for the low cost option I thought these were more fit for purpose.
Problem discovered whilst doing the Blu-tac worm ....(read previous blog for a quick catch up) the bolts wouldn't screw into the crankcase...Got the feeling that winding in with a spanner would damage the casting threads, thus spoiling what has survived for 65 years so far. STOP!!!!! was the general consensus among those that witnessed the event. Let's think, take a step back and do it right!! I must add that the 'original' BSA bolts screw into the threads lovely, which ever hole any were placed. Oh. m'lord mustn't forget the old bolts fit the front wheel spindle nut lovely too. (same thread size) Not so the new version (too large again)
1st step on arriving back at 'The Old Sidevalve Bar' was to measure the thread external dia with a micrometer. Then compare with the original BSA part. I'm measuring in pre-brexit millimeters.....after 50 years of anti-imperialism it will be hard to swap back to post brexit inches, furlongs, farthings and sixpenn'orth worth.
New hold down bolt - 17.42mm convert to old skool and thats 0.685"
Old hold down bolt - 17.20mm convert to old skool and thats 0.6772"
Reference the reading to a thread chart and see what's adrift. Thread size - 11/16 20 TPI. BSC. Major thread size 0.6875"
Oh, the new are nearer to the required diameter than the old.....Strange and stranger...Surely the old guys at BSA in the '50s could read a micrometer. Well, in for a penny in for a pound as the saying goes. Gonna invest in a die and run it down the threads. As you can imagine dies to match rarely used 'Cycle threads' are not easily come by. Once again I'm not getting involved in second best..Carbon Steel is a no... High Speed Steel only. Not direct from India or China either, sourced from a proper tool supplier not ebay. Sharp intact of breath whilst purchasing...£48!!!! Anyway tools are for life so it doesn't count.
The die was run down the new bolt threads..Hey, what do we have here. 'SWARF' !!!!! The die is shaving part of the thread. Ah ha! knew it!!! Please note m'lord that the die was held in the wrench by the centre fixing screw only so as not to reduce it's pre-set diameter.
Guess what...after a shave the bolts screwed into the crankcase as if they'd been manufactured at 'Small Heath'....
That's banged the cost of believing to buy the best into a different league...yes, could have gone for correct grade stainless and been no worse off. steel -£61 + £48 repair = £109. Blingy stainless all in £112.
Phuffffff. There's more to this cutting threads malarkey than meets the eye so it's just my story draw ya own conclusion.
