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Once the kickstart has been put back together…

The rest is actually a doddle. The kickstart disassembly was only really an excuse to demonstrate how it goes back together (spot the deliberate mistake) but shows how the manufacturers actually thought about the tasks of the assembly and service during the design process, as much as the actual usability of the parts in service as a complete machine.

So, the kickstart is ready to re-fit to the cover, which is already on the bike. There is one small problem on this box, as the oil-filler-‘gutter’ is placed so closely to the nut on the top right that holds the quadrant on, that a little ingenuity or some modified tools are required to get the nut done up tight. The long bottom one and the one on the left are not a problem at all. I used a 7/16″ size long-reach 3/8″-drive socket, as my Whitworth sockets are short, fat 1/2″-drive jobs. NO CHANCE! An appropriate tube-spanner with carefully ground or ‘bashed’ down ‘corners’ on one half will also do the job. There’s always one, isn’t there!! On the MSS, its one of the Magneto fitting screws which requires the special skills of a Gynaecologist to remove unless the barrel is off!

One thing that I forgot to mention, in relation to this issue is the importance (assuming that you are actually working on a functioning and correctly assembled machine) of noting which screws/nuts/bolts came from where. Velocette and other makers seem to have a thrown a veil of secrecy over some procedures to entrap the non-initiated into making mistakes, so that they eventually, in frustration and grief, bring their machine to a dealer to get what was previous to some innocuous repair functioning correctly again!

In this case, I tend to use a bit of cardboard scrap with hole punched in the pattern of the part the screws or bolts came off. This also stops things getting lost or rolling of inadvertently into secret hiding-places that the universe opens up, only to be discovered ten years later when you mop up an oil spill or something…

VERY IMPORTANT if you haven’t worked on Velo box before. There is NO black art to gearbox-rebuilding, but there are a few things to watch out for. The GTP gearbox and some other Velocette items, have a plethora of bolts which seem to have been randomly chosen. This is NOT the case and it is IMPERATIVE that in a gearbox that was formerly working, that the bolts go in exactly the spot that they came out of, WITH their respective and CORRECT washers. This cannot be emphasised enough. In the case of the GTP, the critical one is on the right, over the gearchange-camplate inside the box. IF a bolt that is too long (only needs to be 1/32″ too long) goes in here by mistake, you will LOCK UP THE GEARBOX.

You may get 1st and neutral, but nothing else after reassembly. IF the gearbox is mysteriously locked up after replacing any of the nuts for whatever reason, or having had the cover off, THIS IS THE FIRST THING TO CHECK!

I usually mark that one well and note the washers under it very carefully.

ThackeryWasher

Often there is a double coil ‘Thackery’ washer at this position (above) .

If the box still locks up after trying all the bolts, take the shortest on that you have and place another flat washer under the spring washer already there or grind the end off of the bolt enough to let the box work again. The same goes for the MAC/MOV gearbox, but thankfully not the -5 or above. (MSS/KSS/Swingarm)

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I digress…OK, so the K/S is back on, now the mainshaft-cover-thingy can be screwed on using the appropriate spanner borrowed from a truckie… A one inch socket would also work if the K/S-spring retaining-pin-nut on the top of the boss were not in the way…

Having done that, a quick wire-brush over the nut and it can be re-painted once everything is properly done up, like the rest of the bolts and nuts damaged by the spanners.

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So firstly the gear-change is replaced (easier if the kickstart is moved back a bit to slide the pivot into the hole) and the nut and large washer can be done up on the back to retain it in the bush.

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Then the exhaust goes back on, not forgetting the tube behind the exhaust mount that goes over the square footrest-bolt and the little ring-gasket inside the exhaust at the engine end…

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and the nut on the drop-out for the rear mounting…

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and last of all the footrest itself over the top of the remaining distance tube and the large nut done up tight with a bit of red Loctite on the dry thread.

All that remains is to fill up the gearbox with an appropriate transmission oil and then have a good walk-around the machine to inspect and check that nothing is left over (!), wipe off any extraneous grease or gasket-goo, refit the battery, check the coil-connections and any other things that may have been knocked or taken off during dismantling and she’s good to go!

GTP+me

Job done! (new haircut, too!)

© peter gouws 2013

Made on a mac