Puzzle, some help please?

[Charles uk]

Well said!

[Oyster 49]

Yes well said Jeremy. What is needed is a balanced economy, the early 70s ended up with all the old industries left to fail with no support from the government, cheap imports allowed to come in, and in the early 80s a push to Service industries..the pendulum swung from one extreme to the other.

That said the "Old" manufacturing could and should have avoided this by investing heavily in their products in the good times, and ensuring working practices were constantly evolving. They didn't and the rest is history.

As for our beloved Seagulls - Look at the model line up in 1955, it hadn't changed much in 1975!

As for motorcycles, all the technologies that made Honda's so good in the 1980s was available in the UK in the late 1930s - Gear driven DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder etc. All in the Merlin before WW2. Why didnt Triumph and BSA take this up in the 1950s or early sixties?

That said I ride a new Triumph, only the badge remains from the old firm. Clean sheet fairly unique 3 cylinder design from the UK, global supply chain to ensure competitive cost. No oil leaks..

[Gannet]

Yes, quite so.

DOHC and 4 valves per cylinder was actually first demonstrated to be a successful layout when Peugeot won the 1912 French Grand Prix in a car with just such an engine.
So, as you wrote Adrian, the information was there.

This probably wouldn't appeal to many voters; but would we best be served by simply copying the Germany model of banking, company structures, industrial training, education, taxation etc etc.?

Especially when one considers the technique of benchmark. Perhaps as a country we should simply copy whoever does it best?

Jeremy

[Charles uk]

The crankshaft & the other parts I bought from Stelious turned up on Thursday, only 6 days from Athens, not bad.

On first inspection before disassembly, there are signs of blueing (heat distress) on the crank web around the pin on the drive side of the crank.

After removal of the 2 remaining ball races (1 top 1 bottom) it was only the top lower ball race that exhibited any sign of slippage on the main journal, whereas the lower (drive side) main journal was between 0.015 to 0.025mm undersize due to corrosion, the drive side ball race had broken down completely (can't tell wether this was due to corrosion or the crankshaft extraction method used), the top lower race was crunchy & past it's best.

The big end pin removal took a supprising amount of press pressure for a Seagull built crank, the caged needles were in reasonable condition, no obvious flats, though clogged with rusty mud, though the pin showed considerable wear on the high pressure side, both the pin, rod & all the bearings were beyond all hope.

I then cleaned both crank ends to remove all external corrosion & traces of Stelious's WD40 & took them across the road for crack testing, the lower crank half had the start of a crack from the pin side about 1/3rd of the way down the hole on the OD of the crank web in it's thinnest area (wall thickness 2.9 mm)(side wall thickness circa 3.9 mm) so that end's ****ed!

I'm editing this post as I hadn't looked at the crankshaft flywheel retaining thread until after dissassembly.
The flywheel retaining thread showed some signs of hammer expansion at the very end due to unprotected flywheel removal, & was slightly bent over the length of the thread probably caused by using a hammer off square for flywheel removal.

This is the first pin I've seen with this type of damage that wasn't attributable to flattened rollers.
But as it was an export model & ran with the smaller 416 or 418 carb & an 8" pitch prop with a long shaft leg it might have revved quite differently to the UK versions I've seen, 420 carb, 10" pitched up prop, short shaft. Another 3 to 5 hundred revs might have aged it quite rapidly.

These were painted before the CDI, recoil mechanism & flywheel were fitted, so often had over spray the bottom of the flywheel taper, this crank had traces of Monza blue same as the UK models but no traces of the same colour under the darker blue on the rest of the motor, so this motor might not left the factory with this crankshaft.

[Stelios_Rjk]

Charles, the homemade extractor (and I) applied little force on the lower bearing. Actually with heat and little effort the crankcase popped off the bearing.

Also.. Never WD40, Permatex for something that I care for or lidl lubricant for not so important matters!