Green Police LE Update 2

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org

Greenford Police LE

Update 2

The LE engine is now back at the Museum and I have collected the body parts or rejuvenation. It looked in quite poor condition and each time I looked at it more rust holes appear. I don’t mind cleaning up small items but this is a big job also I try to avoid breathing in too much dust so the best option is to have it sand blasted to save my energy and lungs for other things. 

The body has a battery case of rust and major corrosion in the lower mudguard portions that had previously been glassfibred in. I have a good mudguard portion that I can take panels from to get it whole again. There are some cracks around the front seat mounting point and the toolbox wire hinge will need to be fixed too. A small project had become a lot of work. The front mudguard has holes in it too. Headlamp and nacelle require some TLC and when I get all these back from being blasted I’ll need even more paint. In preparation I had to remove the strengthening tubes that edge the body also the suspension supports seat mounting bracket and the rain guard that was hanging on by a small screw and a rivet. The panniers need work too along with the front forks. It all adds up to a box of bits soon, I feel, to come back squeaky clean but with more holes in for repair. I have already cleaned up the headstock and fork yoke and after painting will reassemble them.

I'm not doing anything with the footboards. They are too far gone and new ones complete are £40 from the LE Velo Club.

All is not cleaning up the LE. I have been off to Norfolk again for a trip to the Broads again in the El Cid.

While away the Valiant became incontinent and was leaking fuel through the tap eventually adding more oil to the sump. I discovered that when I removed the carburettor only after removing the fuel pipe and the tap would not shut off the fuel. I removed the carb to check that the main jet on the right hand carb was seating properly. I just could not get the mixture right no matter what I did to it. It turned out that when the jet was removed there was not even ring of sealing at the point of contact at the end of the jet. On inspection I saw some corrosion and did my best to clean it up. The edges of the hole where the main jet was supposed to seal was dark and pitted. The left hand carb had a nice bright ring showing that it was sealing. I used a main jet thread size drill gently rotated by hand to clean up the edge and refitted the main jet. I’m now waiting for the wind and rain of storm Callum to go away before doing a test ride to see it my work has been successful.