My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Information relating to the Matchless G3 or AJS Model 16 350cc Heavyweight
sztyga20
Posts: 36
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:42 pm
Location: Poland

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by sztyga20 »

I need your help.
I could not find any information about front and rear wheel offset (half width hubs), so I considered that wheels shoult be spoked simetrically. Now when I fit my front wheel I have on the left (drum side) 9mm wider gap between wheel rim / surface of slider than on the right.... It indicates that should be +4.5mm offset to the left. Similar situation concern rear wheel assuming that rim should be simetrically between surface of jampot sliders... So I going to re-spoke my wheel again, but could anyone confirm that front and rear wheel correctly are in simetrical posision between sliders?

Next problem: I haven't front stay of front mudguard (015015), I've tried find it on ebay, AMC spares, and our club spares - it is out of stock. So I have to produce it myself:/ I don't know what is correct shape of that part - is it tube flattened in the centre and ends or is it flat with round creases on the both sides...


Thanks.
sztyga20
Posts: 36
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:42 pm
Location: Poland

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by sztyga20 »

Two another great steps behind me.
I've finished rebuild gearbox.

Gearbox case after soda blasting. I prefer this techique over glass bead blasting which every time leaves small amounts of glass powder which is very hard to remove and may leads to bearing seizure or wear
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My workspace:)
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I forget to order gearbox main bearing, but my old one is in good condition, after cleaning and exchange grease I hope it should live forever.
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All bushes are new, I use as a material sintered bronze (is much better in comparison to phosphor bronze). AMES company produce a lot of bushes in variant sizes, so I've easly found few sizes which after treatment on lathe - perfectly fits to my gearbox, only fitting bushes of main shaft was quite complicated - these bushes must be perfetly pararell to each other. Originally parallelity (I suppose) was achieved by special long reamer after tight fitting bushes in sockets. I don't have special reamer so these bushes have specially 0.05mm wear between bush and socket surfaces, and they are fixed by bearing sealant - it allowes small movement in socket after mounting main shaft - (I hope you understand this complicated sentence:)



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Finished, everything works smooth and quiet
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Gearbox rebuild was much easier to rebuild than clutch...

First: hole for rolling bearing was oval with terrible wear. I couldn't find oversize rollers so I've made an experiment: hole was treatment on lathe, and rollers was replaced by bronze bush - (material Ba1054 - hard aluminnium bronze), I've seen clutches with bronze bushes in many motorcycles, so I hope it should works. If someone want's to try this method of regeneration must remember: bronze bush must be 0.1mm narrower than internal metal bush.

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Second: my clutch basket was worn like that one on this picture:
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I removed 10 old peripheral plates on lathe. Next I've made a project in CAD of one plate and ordered 10th pieces. Each plate was laser-cut in NVC1, 2,4mm hardened steel. According my old book about motorcycles' reastauration wear between peripheral-plates and internal plate teeths shound not exeed 0.2mm - It was very hard to riveting with such high accurancy, it has taken me a lot of time... but finally I've achieved success:)
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I've also got last two major missing parts

horn:
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and icing on the cake:
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sztyga21
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2023 6:34 pm
Location: Yorkshire UK

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by sztyga21 »

I'm coming back. Sorry I had to change my nick because I couldn't reset my password, for some reason the reset link wouldn't come to me.
The bike is already up and running. Thanks for the advice in the thread. In short, I will show a few more important stages that I passed during the renovation.


I bent the copper pipes and chromed them, they look better than some rubber hoses.
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My magneto was damaged, the winding was broken. I wanted to fix it myself and spent a year and a half building a winding machine:
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Here's a video showing how well it winds – wire 0.07mm (0.0028 inches ),
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ENfrkv ... sp=sharing
After the repair, I did not forget about the vacuum impregnation of the coil (with a refrigerator compressor)

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However, I was unable to repair the original voltage regulator, despite many evenings spent repairing it, it did not work properly. I made an electronic replica to make it retro most of the semiconductors are from the 60's and 70's.

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See you on the road :)
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Or sooner see you on the forum because in my garage there was something like this from 1951. I like AMC.

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User avatar
clive
Member
Posts: 5657
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 1990 12:00 am
Location: LONDON UK

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by clive »

sztyga21 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:28 pm I'm coming back. Sorry I had to change my nick because I couldn't reset my password, for some reason the reset link wouldn't come to me.
The bike is already up and running. Thanks for the advice in the thread. In short, I will show a few more important stages that I passed during the renovation.
I wonder if your membership expired as its a long time since you last posted. If not you need to email webmaster@jampot.com
clive
if it ain't broke don't fix
Andy G
Member
Posts: 358
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2020 9:42 am
Location: Aberdeenshire UK

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by Andy G »

That's some impressive (insane?) commitment to restoration, Well Done!

I particularly like this understatement:

"My magneto was damaged.... I wanted to fix it myself and spent a year and a half building a winding machine"

Great result.
Bombling contentedly around rural Aberdeenshire
56G80S
Member
Posts: 3354
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:45 pm
Location: N YORKS UK

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by 56G80S »

Brilliant.

Johnny B
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griffin
Member
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1998 12:00 am
Location: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE UK

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by griffin »

In your last image ..........don't forget to turn the front wheel around and have the brake lever on the left (UK nearside)
Edit ....Looks like in 53 they were actually on the right hand side . You live and learn. :oops:
Last edited by griffin on Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Expat
Member
Posts: 1033
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 2:22 pm
Location: Tennessee, USA

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by Expat »

Very impressive work Sztyga, true craftsmanship. Congratulations on your success and please keep us updated on the new project.
Steve
Keep shiny side up.

These are my principles, if you don’t like them, I have others. (Groucho Marx)
jerry
Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:00 am
Location: WILSHIRE UK

Re: My G3LS 1953 - restoration project

Post by jerry »

What a fantastic story, I love it. I suppose you made your own spray gun to paint it?πŸ™‚
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