IT FITS

What service, the day after the order being placed, the tyre ordered from Longstone Classic Tyres was delivered on Thursday. Complete with inner tube and rim tape brilliant. It is much slimmer than the Bridgestone Battleaxe bike tyre, but with the flat profile more rubber will actually be in contact with the tarmac. Just need to get it all down to the fitter sometime and then I will Ebay the old, but good condition Bridgestone bike tyre

Early last Friday morning the crane was unloaded from the car and bolted back together again and the engine was easily lifted out of the car and deposited in the front of the garage. There would be no time to do anything more until Monday, but that would come around soon enough.

First job on Monday was to suspend the engine over the oil tray and give it a good wash with paraffin, a following wipe down, showed that like the rear wheel hub, there are areas where the paint has blistered off, mainly on the crank case, cylinder and head. I will have to devise a plan, as sadly it is not presentable in its existing state, but plenty of time for that.

What I did next was to trial fit the engine to the chassis. The crane gently lowered the engine into place and the front bolt slipped in easily, a little lower and the rear bolt holes were lined up. The right hand hole in the chassis had to be opened up a tad with a file before the bolt could be persuaded to go all the way through, IT FITS hooray. The bike bolts are too long, but I have checked that 150 and 220 mm long x 12mm high tensile bolts are available and when I know what other bolts I will need for the front suspension, I will order these. In the meantime the engine can stay there whilst other jobs are attended to,