I’m a little late to the party, but I just discovered your channel. I’ve worked on British bikes for many years, mainly twin cylinder Triumphs. I have a 1959 Cub project at the moment. They are an interesting little bike. Regarding your Speedo and Cable not playing nicely, it’s not surprising. Much of the reproduction items that come out of both the UK and India come up short on actually fitting or working or both. Actually, it isn’t fair to point the finger at the UK or India without including many other countries of origin. Maybe the biggest challenge in rebuilding/restoring old British motorcycles is finding a vendor(s) that that does not sell, shall I say, substandard parts. It is a pleasure watching you overcome challenges that would stop many a person. Thank you for sharing your ingenuity and skills.
So many people see mistakes as failures. I see that as a sad thing. Making mistakes is like going to school. The more mistakes you make, the more you learn. That is, as long as you learn from your mistakes. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Don't be embarrassed about making mistakes. ( We all do it.) as long as you learn something from your mistake, It's not a failure. It is gain. Any gain is not a fail. It's a success. This is the most important thing that I have learned in my sixty years on this planet.
@@paulbrodie Oh. Don't get me started. Wisdom comes with time. And only if you make a lot of mistakes along the way. I have made so many mistakes in life that I wonder how I made it this far.
Watching you take the top shine reminded me of time I had to complete a Gustav Sticley inspired half size chair for a china cat to sit on a display at a famous flower show, and had just one night to finish paint it and deliver it next morning. So it was supposed to be a slightly faded antiqued matte baby blue finish, but all I had was gloss paint that was too dark. Mixing in white and a bit of yellow got the right shade, but the only way to get the matte finish was to blow tons of baby powder at it with an antique fan, and dab it with a cotton glove - all whilst it was still wet! Next I gave it another cost of paint, deliberately dry dragging the brush, repeated the powder, fan and glove process, and then I cooked it on all sides with an old electric bar heater. Of course I got no sleep, carefully loaded it in the car and delivered it to the famous flower lady at the famous garden show. She took one look at it and cried! Then she admitted that she didn’t think anyone could achieve what she’d asked for, and would have paid four times as much for it…! I hate painting. I’m always nervous I’m going to totally füükk it up. My problem is that I never like doing practice pieces. I experiment on the finished job! Love your Tiger Cub Tank by the way. I wish I could spray that well.
G58, that's quite the story! Yes, painting truly can be nerve wracking at times. It really does take a certain mindset, which is completely different from a fabricators mindset. I don't think many people truly appreciate the difference.
You just dredged up another memory. I remember hand painting replacement badges when I was working in a British bike shop in the 1970s . I also remember changing the fittings on a tachometer cable, pain in the b. But it worked fine . Little heat soften the vinyl and aluminum remover fitting swag out the old crimp swap part and recrimp. Soak pads in hot water then use a rope in the grove on the pad to pull rubber over the edge .
“It is what it is” is a restorer’s philosophy when using original parts! Those original parts bring a charm to a finished project that NOS can’t. That tank looks great, nicely done Paul! I have a ‘76 Bonneville that I want to use to make a rigid project out of. Being able to put the stock bike back together to serve history.
I had -58 Cub 40 years ago. Did same tankjob with similar screwdriver! Silver bottom and dark blue ( Ford Transit colour that my friend was painting, easy choice). Painted badge (two bars/net back) letters white. I think they were factory painted. That red looks good also. Early eighties was hard to find parts in Finland. Thank you, I enjoy watching you working, good stuff. (sorry my "english")
Tank and acoutrements came out really nice, will be a pretty bike when it's done. I've just finished up a '72 Monty, not quite as old as your cub, but similar problems and really pretty.
A bucket of warm water with a squirt of washing up liquid is the trick for those rubbers ,, softens up the old rubber and helps it move , and softens it enough to stop it splitting ,, .
This is a great tip. When working with old rubber pieces for my vintage bikes I often keep a pain of very warm water and some detergent close at hand. The heat dramatically increases the pliability of the rubber parts and the detergent helps them slide on easily. I used that trick last week on my 1971 OSSA Pioneer, in fact.
If you cover a 1" or 2" disc (acrylic or aluminium) with some lint free cloth, bunch and turn the cloth so it is very very tight at the back and moisten the face with the relevant thinners it makes a handy tool for wiping the excess paint off the Triumph letter raised sections.
Hi Paul though I would chime in and tell you of some of my past, talking about hi and low pipes, I bough a new BSA 441 Victor which had a high chrome pipe . One day after a long hard ride I tried to put the bike in my garage through the man door, I proceeded to get my leg between the muffler and the door frame, I still sport the scar ! You cub is going to be a beauty!
A good laugh from the in the shop line “you never see me anywhere else” As productive as you’ve been in your life a truer statement has probably never been spoken.
Maybe bottom swing-arm bracket is available as ( if it is )a casting or you could cut it out- cast it solid and machine axle /downtube holes through. Possibly....
Of the many impressive feats you do on this channel, be it machining, finishing or even riding, I have to applaud your bravery at painting that thin viscosity black paint whilst wearing a clean white shirt.
Paul makes things, Michael. I think he's as mad as a box of frogs, but hey... You could go out and buy a perfect trials bike. Do you? Bugger that! I can make one for half the price...
Most speedo cables you can pull the core or drive cable from the housing which would allow you to confirm that the nut on your speedo cable is the correct thread pitch for the boss on the speedometer head. As for the fitment of the drive cable into the speedo drive (part that mounts to axle that drives the cable) and the speedo head and the speedometer cable housing the nuts on the speedometer cable housing should screw down tight to both the speedo drive and the speedo head. The drive cable should slide into the drive and head without having to force it at least halfway to three quarters depth to ensure good engagement of the drive cable. I have in the past had to fit the drive cable to the speedo drive or head which is not ideal but then again when working with parts old and new from all over the world such is life. Additionally the cable drive ends should be chamfered slightly and the be lightly lubricated with a light grease. PS my favorite paint for motorcycles, bicycles, as well as car and truck frames is still Imron despite its price and safety precautions required for spraying or painting it with a brush or roller because of its durability, as my granddaddy would say it’s tougher than woodpecker lips.
@@paulbrodie My Poppa’s Poppa had a way with words that sometimes could be repeated in polite company and sometimes could make a sailor blush but the man was genius with his hands. As far as Imron goes it’s the only paint that I have seen that doesn’t bubble up and peel aways when brake fluid is spilled it provided it’s washed off in a reasonable amount of time and it almost stands up to nitromethane which will destroy every other paint that I have ever seen it spilled or dripped onto it which is why top fuel dragsters have rubber diapers that are placed on over the body of the car while fueling them.
As always, thank you! On the frame I'm building, I needed 3/8" deep dimples in 16 g sheet to be welded into 1" x 2" 16g steel tubing, and I found that simply clamping 1/2" x 1" steel bars to 2 sides completely avoided rippling the parent material. My job wasn't as large or as deep with as much stretch as your job, however, so, perhaps you can stiffen the parent sheet by braking some 1/2" flanges and weld the corners. Just a thought, I haven't tried it. Another random thought... if you make the central hole of your parent material bigger, it will resist stretching less, and the stretch will come from inside the part, rather than puckering the outside. This may thin the part too much, though. Along those lines, maybe the thing to do is have a tight fitting center hole, but trim the outside closer to the net finished part, and let it pull the material down into the die. I'm no expert on die forming, so take that with a grain of salt! RE: knee pads, and rubber in general. A friend swears that wintergreen oil will restore flexibility to tired old rubber.
Thanks Alan. I have to be careful how big the central hole is, because the final size is 1 1/4". The size of the header pipe. If I trim the outside smaller it will distort more. I will work on it!
The tank is actually a dark burgundy, but with the lighting and very long exposure to create a nice image, plus Photoshop editing, the color changed quite a bit. Thanks for your comments.
Imron is a great paint. Heat certainly makes the paint harden faster, whether or not it gets harder, I'm not sure. You don't want it too hard, otherwise it loses its' "flexibility" and can't absorb the hits from rocks and other road debris.
FWIW, I had a brass washer that fit on the gearbox end of my cable. I took up the slack in the cable. My MGB uses a brass washer on the speedo cable where it attaches to the gear box, as well. About the size of a #10 machine washer. BTW, my T20M had folding footpegs and the "eyebrow" style tank emblem. I love Tiger Cubs and wish I had one now
I usually have fork tubes ground, replated and ground. The chrome is better and u get to keep the factory part. I've made a lot of fork tubes over the years and some forms are not easy/not possible to replicate.
3:00 just had exactly the same problem with a new speedo cable for my ST2, the square shoud have been 2.6mm x 2.6mm as was the old one but the new one was 2.5mm x 2.7mm - 30 seconds filing on the 2.7mm flats & we were golden.
Another fun video. It's already been mentioned about speedo cable, first time I've seen a new one with Nylon(?) stop, only seen brass previously. Does the outer have a larger ID at wheel end for the nylon to fit into? I seem to remember the tank pads fit from the 'sharpest' angle (at the back) fit along base and around curve at top then finish at the front top? Never seemed to make a lot of difference and always had gaps though. You may be able to glue up any splits as 'Superglue' (cyanoacrylate?) it really likes sticking rubber. I found old microwaves and refrigerators often have a high quality stainless steel 'shell' (the non-magnetic ones) which is a really cheap source of stainless sheet (I'm not cheap, I'm broke LOL)
I meant to say this last week: that mistake makes me hurt....just as if I had done it. I would have done the same thing afterward...those mistakes won't leave you alone. You keep coming back to them. Which makes them great for experience. Glad you were able to semi-distract yourself from it for the rest of the episode.
Hi Paul Love your channel just watched your tank assembly, were you intending to use the early badge on what appears to be the later tank. I can see from the engine is the later engine with points housing in the side of the crankcase this model had a tank with a more domed top like you have the earlier models which had a tank with a flatter top. your tank should have a larger chrome badge similar to what is what was used on the larger models Tiger 110, T120 Bonny. etc. check out Tiger cub on Wikipedia you can see the difference in badges Hope you don’t mind me pointing this out Keep up the good work Best regards JB
Thanks John. I don't mind you pointing it out, but you have to realize I'm not being a stickler for authenticity. I'm using what I have, and if it's not perfectly correct, that's ok. I have a '59 frame with a '65 motor with '67 internals, so nothing really matches. I'm just having a lot of fun in my shop, and that's what matters.
Re speedo, can you shorten the inner cable to allow both outer end flanges to butt? Dont want end thrust on the inner as it could overload the bearings.
Do you think carefully grinding the flats on the end of the speedo cable inner to suit the Indian speedo would do the job? Probably only need a lick or two,...... hopefully.
I got nervous just watching you at 17:00 trying to put the knee pads on with that screwdriver. 🤣 If only it slipped I wouldn't like to see that nice paintjob get wrecked
Cheers Mitch, Paul doesn't get a thank you this week because last week he shared a mistake to the world, how dare he be human, shame, shame, shame! But seriously, as always, thank you. I think I'd rather watch Paul make mistakes every week than watch someone fake it.
After restoring a vintage Kenwood cake mixer for my mother, I came to the conclusion to never trust the colour a painted item may be after 70 years... I dug around for some paint that hadn't been exposed and noticed it was significantly whiter than the yellowish-cream the rest of the mixer had become.
Yes, paint can change color over the years, especially from UV rays. If I didn't get the color perfect, that's ok. I'm just having fun with the Cub, and not going for absolute authenticity.
Well, I will use a fibre washer between the gas tank and the fuel tap, so that is a kind of a seal. Apart from that, no, I do not do anything "special".
So true when I changed from British to Japanese motorcycle repair I was amazed how well the parts fit ! No longer had to trim piston rings or finesse everything to get them to fit properly.
@Alfred Wedmore Yes but that's comparing apples and oranges. The C.B 750 was an old Battle tank compared to a Gold wing as well. The comforts and smoothness can not even compare even though I'd rather own the C.B.
Is the cable in the tube the right way in? Had that problem with a a car speedo once. got the cable out and I put it back the other way and it fitted just right.
Hiya Paul. An empty mind. Yours is currently my favourite channel! I had a classic bike magazine that featured the Cyclone which amazed me I was unaware of the racing Excelsior and thank you for that. As a long term Ducatist Roundcase 750GTs bevel drives have always fascinated me tho the Vincent is also a favourite so it has to be V twin engines even better if bevel driven. Currently having an engine built round case with 860/900 barrels and desmo heads with shell big end bearings and uprated oil pump. Regards Gulley the mad Aussie biker.
@@seldomseen7835 Thanks for liking our channel. I just read a very interesting article about Vee Two that came out recently. Definitely a good read. Yes, I am a V-Twin fan like you.
Mr. Brodie. That frame was a "Big mistake"? It's only material and can be replaced. At Uni a careful fellow student lost a couple of its fingers ..was it in a lathe or a bandsaw?.. ages ago. Now that is a big mistake. We also had pieces being catepulted out of lathes because the student either didn't fasten them correctly or the key was still left in. So count your blessings :-)
I got a smiths speedo and tacho replicas frim India just to see if they were any good, absolute rubbish (and that's putting it mildly), non of them worked. I striped them to look what was in side. it looked as though it should work, but there were no magnets or anything in there, just bits of bent metal held together with pop rivets, I did get my money back though. I paid the cash and got a proper UK made Smiths unit.
Quite nice? Not bad? You've clearly hung on to your native English understatement, sir. Not perfect but gorgeous. Why did Hitler bomb Coventry? Poorly fitting kneepads...
Nice work, but could have told you about the speedo, they are absolutely worthless!! even when you get the cable to fit, it will give the wrong speed by 20 mph. easily! don't ever, ever buy anything from India.
@@paulbrodie Ok, I have been following you for years, saw the Excelsior live at Montlery, but even Geert didn't dare to race it! so another friend did, it's awesome! let me know what the Cub used for a speedo, and maybe I can help you! thanks for the vid's I really enjoy them, Alex. I will email you about it.
I'm thinking that You're actually putting an original "patina" look. The same can be done by using 0000 wire wool and a paste wax. Old Antique restorers trick ; - )
