The end of era (for me) .... the start of one for someone else?

I never thought this moment would come.
I love my Vespa - My very first motorcycle.  I learnt a lot with her and on her, and we had some fabulous rides together - why on earth should we ever be parted?... Im still asking this question now...... even now that she has been sold and belongs to someone else

I have to admit that the Vespa hadn't come out of the shed for nearly 2 years;  Now that I have the Royal Enfield I much prefer to ride a bigger bike.  But nevertheless, it is fun and cool and just 'easy' to jump on the scooter for a little buzz around, and so I imagined that I'd always keep her for those special moments when only a scooter will do.  However, in recent months my mind has started to wander (again) and despite not yet finishing the Trike (although it is making good progress) I am starting to yearn for another project...... a big one this time (but more on that another day / another blog).

It started to dawn on me that if i was going to start another project,  i would need both cash and space, and as much as I love the Vespa, it was nuts to have her just sitting idle in the shed - and so I put her up for sale.
I started with eBay - I put her up several times - got load of watchers, and several offers, but no buyers.  Eventually I decided to try Gumtree instead (eBay was charging me each time she didnt sell, whereas Gumtree is totally free) With Gumtree I got quite a few offers, and a handful of genuine people actually coming out to see her.

Saturday 12th July 2014
Paul - very nice chap - and his mate turn up, ride her up and down a couple of times, have a cup of tea, hand over cash and load her in the back of his van - simple as that!
It was all over and done with within the hour and I didn't even have a moment to pine / doubt / cry!

I did manage to pat and say 'goodbye' to her - i'm not ashamed to say that I always talked to her - particularly to say 'thank-you' for a nice and safe ride - and although I was sad to see her go, I think Paul seemed like he was going to look after her and enjoy her :-)

So in conclusion;
She came to me on 5th May 2010, and left me on 12th July 2014 .....
thats 4 years, 2 months and 7 days together...... 1529 days
and in that time, I rode approximately 3760 miles on her
I sold her for £1350.  (I lost track of how much she cost in the rebuild, but I don't think I've profited other than from the experience and pleasure)

..... Next project?.... watch this space

Awesome - 'nuf said

Couple of interesting points to come out of this first drive;
1.  It really is a fucking awesome feeling
2.  She seems to start well - does this mean i could start her on a small motorcycle battery?
3.  foot positions - on the chassis tube, without pegs or boards - feel good
4.  the steering is not nearly as heavy as id worried it might be
5.  the increase in steering rake doesn't feel as bad when rolling as it does when stationary
6.  the reach on the tiller handlebars isn't as bad as I'd worried it might be on full lock

So, all in all, its all pretty fucking awesome! :-)

Distributor drive shaft alignment

Reliant, Rialto, 850cc, Distributor, Distributer, Driveshaft, Positioning

I put these tags in above to help someone one day find this post in an internet search, and benefit from my learning process, and not have to learn the hard way..... as I did.

I have been using an old Haynes manual to help me rebuild the engine (its actually a Robin and Kitten 1973 - 1979 manual - I cant find a Rialto manual - but it does give a nod to the 845cc engine).  Its a pretty simple engine and there isn't much you can get wrong really, but nevertheless, I carefully followed the step by step reassembly instructions.  But I have to admit a bit of head scratching when it came to trying to understand the instruction for inserting the distributor / oil pump drive shaft.

Once the crank and the cam shaft are in place and positioned with the timing chain, its time to drop the distributor shaft in from the top of the engine to engage with the cam shaft..... this is what the manual tells you to do

I found this simple instruction rather ambiguous  (it becomes more so, as the shaft rotates as it drops into place - so are we talking about a position before or after it drops down?) - but I thought it through and made my interpretation of it.

A few weeks later, when the engine is all rebuilt, back in the frame, all wired up with a jury-rigged ignition circuit - I tried to start her. No joy :-(  After a couple of nights tossing and turning, it occurred to me that maybe my distributor was firing at the wrong moment - there was yards of spark at the plug, and plenty of fuel in the cylinder.  So I decided to see if I could 'reinterpret' and reposition the distributor drive shaft - this involved jacking the trike up, dropping the sump (complete with oil) removing the oil pump and driving the roll pin out of the shaft retaining collar (or as Haynes likes to call it, the "Thrust Muff" which sounds a bit saucy to me)

I reassembled it all again - tried to start her...... Still, No joy :-(

Finally, this weekend, I was determined to get this sorted.  I methodically went through everything, and still she wouldn't start.  Hugh came over and we scratched our heads together... then my neighbour came over and we all three scratched and shook our heads - we are becoming Umarells (and i rather like it)

My neighbour looked at the manual, and said "but what about if you were standing looking at the engine from the front? then '5 past 7' would be in a different position" He was right!  '5 past 7' could be anywhere depending on where you looked at it - I had assumed it was from the side of the engine.

We played with this idea.... but still weren't completely convinced about where the 'large D section' was going to end up.  The sun was shining, it was mid afternoon, and I needed a beer - so I gave up for the day and planned to go the following day to see a man who might know the answer.

Reliant Services are great.  Not particularly cheap, but full of knowledge and advice (and you cant put a price on that) - I took my manual with me, and asked Jim to tell me how to interpret the instructions.

"I dont do it like that" he said...... so I asked him to explain his method..... So, for those people who are new to assembling a reliant engine, here is the clear and simple method for getting the distributer shaft in the right position, first time ......

1. Rocker cover off
2. Rotate engine until BOTH tappet rods - of cylinder No.1 (thats at the fan end of the engine) can be 'twizzled' (this indicates TDC/compression stroke) - personally I simply put my finger over the sparkplug hole and feel when compression is happening.... but I like the 'twizzle' method better)
3. Make sure the timing mark (on the timing chain cover) lines up with the 2nd notch (for 850cc engines) on the pulley
4. Drop the distributer shaft into position so that when the distributer is in place, the rotor arm points to cylinder No.1

Simple as that - forget about big D's and little D's - I'm sure these are good references when you know what you are doing, but the bottom line check is to put the distributer loosely into place and see if the rotor arm points to No.1... if it doesn't, withdraw the shaft and move it round until it does.  And when it does, then you can fix it in place with the roll pin and 'muff'

So I came home, and within 2 hours (jack up, sump off, pump out, muff removed - reposition shaft - muff back, pump back, sump back.... distributer in, leads on)..... I tried to start her again.

Joy :-D

Nearly 7 years since she last ran..... she came to life :-)  Oh boy, that is a good feeling :-)

Silent progress

I haven't written on here for ages.
I quite like writing up my notes but 2 thoughts occurred to me;
1.  my time is tight enough - surely if i have any spare time to write, then wouldn't it be better spent actually working on the trike??
2.  I cant imagine people are particularly interested in the minute detail of procrastination I make, and each hole I drill..... people want to see step changes. (it always amazes - and frustrates - me when I see in magazines, a complete project / ride across a continent story told in 3 pages, including photos and a good 1/4 page of title and 'witty' introduction :-( I can only assume that the readers dont want detail)

So I haven't written much, but I have been working on her

And I have given the engine a complete rebuild too.
I wasnt intending to, but when I actually looked under the rocker cover - I was worried by what looked like evidence of either running with no oil, or running with no water - things were pretty burnt in there.

So I stripped her down, de-carbonised pretty well everything (it was all baked on the inside of the crankcase too!), put new main bearing shells in and new piston rings.
Im loosing track of how much this is costing me now (probably a good thing) but the engine rebuild is probably in the region of £200

And then I did a carb rebuild too - jet and needles (£50 from SU Carbs UK)

So all this has taken me a while, and while I have lots of photos to show my slow progress.... its all a bit boring to show here.  Suffice to say, its all back together again now - and much more pleasant to man-handle

Oh and I did have another engine project on the bench at the same time (making a coffee table from a Renault Clio engine) No wonder this trike is taking me such a long time to do - I should learn to not be so distracted!