Pictorial title below

                                                                           NOT


                                                           

                                                          That would just be too saucy

Yes, after another extended delay I thought a "catch up post" was in order and I wanted to give it a pictorial title to keep the pictorial theme going. I say theme as there's going to pictures in this post, lots of pictures, probably too many pictures, but that's catch up for you

Before I start with that though I have to say I was pleased to find a monkey on a bike to illustrate the catch up (you've got to love a monkey) and also non red ketchup, nothing against the colour red, well maybe a little, so all in all a positive start.

Now back to Izzy.

Although I haven't posted for a long while she has progressed from the last post, which, if I remember right was timing based, its all in the timing. 

Eh hmm.

Many "life" things have got in the way again, causing another lengthy delay, mostly very good things I hasten to add, but they have all been distractions (as highlighted in my other blog) and halted progress severely. 

Before the excitement gets too great I should say that she isn't that much further on from where she was when last pictured, but the pace I do things anything is progress right?

So following on from we we left off, with the barrel etc going on and the timing being tinkered with it was the crankcase covers turn to be fitted, after a gasket went on of course.

Closely followed by crankcase cover

There's not a plug missing, its a clear one for checking oil level. No idea if it will work or not but I do love a gimmick so thought I would give it a go. 

Still the cover, just a different angle and with nuts on, as in fastened. 

Now originally (when I started this post) ... (not that long ago granted) I was going to do all the "catch up" stuff in one go. I'm not going to now, it will be too much, picture wise, word wise and also I have other stuff to do so ignore the comments at the start about lots of pics. I will post again very soon, I don't mean soon for me, as in "about a year" I mean a few days, certainly within a week, yes really a few days. In the mean time, one last pic.

Its a box of shiny stuff, exciting eh, shiny stuff that came back from the chromers (not Cromer) the chrome platers. Excellent as usual and I will divulge the contents of said box and explain something you can see in the picture that may have you wondering at some point in the future, probably :-)

Dish Shaped Washer

Or "oil thrower washer" as it's referred to, though why someone would want a dish with a hole in it beats me, equally, why throw oil around? but call it whatever you want, its in place sitting over the drive side of the crank, not that you can really tell due to the reflective qualities of new shiny metal....

The next pic shows the drive sleeve in place

Then the front sprocket

Followed by the spring collar (bottom)

Then the spring and spring collar top

All topped off by the drive side bolt and washer

Nothing particularly exciting but its a bit more done, next up is rear sprocket and chain.........

Words and Pictures

While thinking of a title for the post, the chosen one seemed most apt, it does what it says. Trouble is, as soon as I thought of it, I couldn't get the opening titles of the 70s (it also went into the 80s and 90s) children's tv program out of my head. I can still hear it now as I am typing and as I am suffering you can too "Words and Pictures" assuming you are reading and click on the link, if not, well I will just sit here with it going around my head and ponder if I need help.

Anyway, back to the post, (I can still hear it) last time I mentioned the long delay and this time I will explain (partly) why and also bring things up to date.

Initially, I had put an old (spare non working) engine (as mentioned in a previous post) in to the frame to line up cables etc due to the cost of (and yet decided details) associated with putting the actual engine in that was staying. In theory, harmless enough plan, enabled me to do bits, in reality, completely pointless. Pointless due to the fact that I didn't want to re assemble too much more of Izzy until I could check the electrics (this not being my strongest area).....(like many others linked to this project lol) so I figured I was left with a few choices. Gamble (that everything was fine electrics/cable wise) and just carry on with the build. Blag (a running engine) that I could "pop" (yes I know its not as simple as that hence part of the reason for not doing it) in the frame and check everything. Or finally, do it properly, something of an alien concept where Izzy is concerned as I probably haven't been doing much of that in places, still, I'm happy and having fun :-)

So, the picture above is my answer, actually it's not, it doesn't tell you anything does it, except that no engine is present, not even the old non working one which I took out (pointless exercise that was lol). What it does show is that I didn't take the gamble option, I can also tell you I didn't take the blag option either.

Another pic that tells you nothing, well it shows that the front wheel looks out of line but there is no air in the tyre yet, thankfully I didn't inflate it when I fitted it, it was that long ago it would have needed re inflating anyway...........

The decision was, do it properly, as in, put the engine in that's staying in. This is mostly (though not wholly) why there has been such a delay, pennies, or lack of. I knew the engine would be the dearest part (given the paint had already been done and paid for many years before) and I also knew to do it the way I wanted to (more on that in the next post or few) would need money. Given as us nurses don't earn a lot anyway, coupled with my dearly beloved (DB) being a student (nurse) for the past 3 years and us being reliant on 1 (my) wage, money has not been flowing freely.

I should say at this point that I have not spent much at all (DB may read this) probably about £20.00 maybe £30.00, either way I am sure it was less than fifty pounds altogether to get everything I needed for the engine (as stated, more on this in a later post) so not much money at all, "nudge nudge wink wink" ..... cue another link...... a nods as good as a wink to a blind bat........... a bit like words and pictures, as soon as I thought nudge nudge (etc) that sketch immediately came into my head.

Moving on, the first step (after getting the pennies) was to get the cases vapour/aqua blasted, after all, if I was spending all that money (fifty odd pound.....remember, DB may be looking) I didn't want to put all those goodies into dirty old cases. No, that's not something I can make a link to, thankfully. I did actually just google it (dirty old cases) as I thought, there must be a band called that, nothing immediately obvious (band wise) and some things I (wisely) chose not to look at, focus man, stick to the task at hand and finish this post.

I found a guy relatively locally to do the vapour blasting, very good price, very good job, very nice man, would recommend him. I am really pleased at how well it came out, obviously there are a few marks, scrapes and scratches (and gouges as seen above where the kick-start has rubbed) but given its over half a century old, its not bad, in fact its bloomin marvellous really.

As you can see, the cases are ready to go and totally bare except for new (shiny) engine mounts. I took the case to somewhere else relatively local (at least not too far) to have the mounts fitted and like the vapour blasting was pleased with the outcome. I went for the longer engine mounts (as opposed to the short ones originally fitted) to provide reduced vibration and a smoother ride....... I'm saying nothing and certainly not putting in a link.

I didn't want to attempt fitting these myself (therein lies a possible broken casing if I did) as its best left to those properly equipped to do it (which I am not) hence me getting them done. I will be doing pretty much everything else myself (engine rebuild wise, well all of Izzy) although may get some assistance if needed, to risk damaging anything (as with the engine mounts) or if I get really stuck.

So that's it, I have reached the end of the post (hooray I hear) didn't it go on, sorry about that, I rarely use 2 words when 23 will do :-)

Shiny, shiny.......

I was quite surprised how well they (the dirty links) came up with a bit of effort. A Dremel is a wonderful thing, certainly made the task of cleaning them and making them shine (in places) a lot easier.  As you can see below (in a pic of one of the links back in the forks), once I had cleaned all the decades of grime off, they were returned to their rightful place.

Along with new bushes and bolts, new springs were fitted to the forks as well as new bolt in buffers. It made for an interesting time fitting the links back into the forks, with an uprated spring and large buffers top and bottom (used this combination before and makes for a stiffer suspension with a nice firm ride, works for me). I know people that do undertake this procedure without a fork spring compressor but I'm very much of the opinion that making things as easy as possible for yourself is sensible. So I do, ok maybe not in all aspects of life, or even all aspects of rebuilding IT, but as far as the forks go, easy as possible all the way thank you.

The next pic is the last of this post and isn’t particularly exciting, but I took it anyway so its going on the screen, if you don’t want to look don’t, I cant make that decision for you. All I can do is tell you what the pic contains and you can then make a choice whether to look or not. Its a pic of 3 wonderful items that made putting the links back into the forks much easier (than it would have been without them). The spring compressor, the trusty rubber mallet and a clamp that I used to pull the links into position so I could put the bolts in, first time I had done it this way, goodness knows why I hadn’t sooner, made it sooooooo much easier, no scraped knuckles, scratched paint or expletives, all very civilised.

                                                                   Thanks for looking