VB Ariel

[not faz]

Probably about time I posted up my Ariel project.
Ok for those that didn't check the spelling this project is not an antenna made out of VB cans!

I purchased an Ariel "bitsa" a few months ago and thought I better start a thread. More because I would appreciate information from those in the know with tips, hints and pitfalls I should avoid.
I'm going into this project a little blind as information on 70 year old bikes is hard to find on the net.
Planning on joining the VMCC soon, so hopefully that will introduce me to people with good knowledge of Ariels.

So the details are: The frame is somewhere between 1937 and 1940, the forks are post 1946 (being telescopic, not girder) and the engine is 1955 (but still the same VB 600cc single side valve design).
So excuse the bad phone camera photo's that show the condition I bought it in.

[Fat Pat]

My neighbour is into restoring old bikes, I may be able to find contact for his club if you like .... drop me a PM if you like

[El Skitzo]

Absolutely awesome, I love it!!

[BERT]

Colour me green, thats great

Bert

[brethren22]

great bike mate! so are you planning a full on restoration?

[Ozboy]

Thats sweet lookin Faz, I would get some good pics of it before you start, just so you can look back and see the work was worth the effort.

And always get pics just after you finish, she'll probably never look as good again. Best of luck with the resto mate.

[CBT]

I'm pretty sure that my old man had one of these with a sidecar. He tells stories of heading off to the grandparents place for Christmas in the UK, with my mum on the back of the bike, 2 sisters in the sidecar, Christmas pressies pushed up the front of the side car nose with the Christmas turkey right up frontmost in the sidecar nose... good on you for having a crack at this... good luck !!

[Tbird tracker]

Good on you for having a crack at this... good luck !!

Good to see another old Britt in here (I still have to start my thread yet), I like the old bangers, I have a 1958 Triumph Thunderbird Im "Restyling" IE: not restoring. There is plenty of potential with the old iron if your prepaired to spend some time and money on newer technology. I'm not sure if you want to restore to original or not (which might be a bit hard given the range of year model parts you have) but you should cousider a CDI/ digital ignition if one is available for your bike??? as it will make it much more reliable. Many of the digital ignitions for old bikes are designed to hide in the old magneto casing etc, I am replacing my magneto with a new housing for my CDI and I will be running coils to but they will be tucked under the tank.
I think it is in the latest issue (May/June) of Old Bike Australasia that there is an article on squish patterns for older engines including side valves, with the right squish pattern in your hear and piston you can have better running(cooler), power and better fuel economy.
Don't know if this info is any help or not but it is something to consider. I am happy to offer any advise I can given my limited knowledge of old Brit bikes.
You could also look at making an awson custom banger out of it!!!!! Just a thought.

[Desmo]

Yeah, instantly subscribed as soon as I saw the first pic.
Magnificent.

[not faz]

great bike mate! so are you planning a full on restoration?

Within budgetary constraints yes. I've stripped it back to the frame but not going to rebuild the engine or gearbox till they fail.

I'm not sure if you want to restore to original or not (which might be a bit hard given the range of year model parts you have) but you should cousider a CDI/ digital ignition if one is available for your bike??? as it will make it much more reliable.

I've already spent $550 on a magneto rebuild so yeah modern ignition isn't a consideration now. I did consider it before the rebuild but was swayed by the speech from the guy that did the work. To paraphrase: "The original magneto lasted 50 or 60 years so you should get another 50 or 60 out of a rebuild."

Trying to get it back to as original as I can within reason. The rear wheel is 18" not the original 19" (the rim on it has a pretty serious dent) so that will go back to 19". If I could find some girder forks I would love to replace the telescopic forks, but I've been told my chances are not good.

Things that won't be original and may be considered sacrilege are; the paint I'm choosing for the tank and guards is graphite and anywhere that I have to replace a stripped or worn bolt I'm going to re-tap them to a metric thread. Probably going to make a few people gasp but not having spanners or sockets to fit the different nuts and bolts on the bike is annoying.

[not faz]

When I bought the bike it didn't run. It had very little compression and no spark.
So after a magneto rebuild, a quick valve regrind and a new head gasket, it fired up! *wipes sweat from forehead*
For a bike that had been sitting in a shed for 17 years it now starts reasonably easily, with no sign of smoke from the exhaust.
The straight through pipe is a little raucous so might look at putting some form of muffler on it. Though I want to keep a similar profile to as it is now, so won't be trying to a replicate an original exhaust.

So time for more photo's:


Unfortunately because of the seat down tube I had to seperate the gearbox from the engine to remove both from the frame. Its a bit of a chore as the clutch and primary drive need to disassembled.

[not faz]

Here are some photo's of the surprises you find when restoring a bike:
Can't get that tail light to fit? Ah just hack it!


Don't have any more steel guard? Just bolt on a bit of alloy with a different profile!

[Tbird tracker]

[/QUOTE]I've already spent $550 on a magneto rebuild so yeah modern ignition isn't a consideration now.

Things that won't be original and may be considered sacrilege are; the paint I'm choosing for the tank and guards is graphite and anywhere that I have to replace a stripped or worn bolt I'm going to re-tap them to a metric thread. Probably going to make a few people gasp but not having spanners or sockets to fit the different nuts and bolts on the bike is annoying.[/QUOTE]

Fair enough if you have spelt the money on a mag rebuild allready!!
I wouldn't worry to much about it not being totaly original unless you are out to win the concourse, but the 19" rim will balance the look nicer ( I have 19" rear but a 21" up front on mine, both allow rims), paint is totaly up to you, you could allways go a 60's phycodelic custom paint job just to piss off the purists.lol.
As far as tapping out the threads and fitting metric fasteners, that could cause problems if its own and solve some as well. If you allready have the taps and dies then go for it and yes it will get gasps from some.
Good to see it started easy after the mag and valve touch up, I'll be watching with much interest.

[Triple]

Here are some photo's of the surprises you find when restoring a bike:
Can't get that tail light to fit? Ah just hack it!

haha its an XS650 tail light, looks like the mount was bolted on upside down!

[darkfibre]

Things that won't be original and may be considered sacrilege are; the paint I'm choosing for the tank and guards is graphite and anywhere that I have to replace a stripped or worn bolt I'm going to re-tap them to a metric thread. Probably going to make a few people gasp but not having spanners or sockets to fit the different nuts and bolts on the bike is annoying.

I am not a purist, but I find the idea of changing a few of the fasteners to metric a concern. It can be annoying when working on anything that has lots of different threads. If you choose to do it, why not a systematic replacement and standardize the bolt and thread sizes?
On my build I am even trying to minimize the amount of different tools needed.

Following with interest

[not faz]

If you choose to do it, why not a systematic replacement and standardize the bolt and thread sizes?

That is pretty much what I'm planning to do, almost every fastener on the frame will be standardised to a metric thread. It's just that there will be some bolts that will not be an easy swap out, so will remain as they are.

[El Skitzo]

That rear guard doesn't surprise me, some people really are dodgy...

[not faz]

So after fully stripping the bike I sent the frame off to be sandblasted and powdered coated. The frame was actually in pretty good condition already (due mostly to the thick layer of oil and grease preserving it) and I could have got away with just a little touch up paint on the some of the top tubes, but figured I'd do it right once and not have to worry about it again.


Some mis-communication between myself and the powder coater meant some areas that weren't meant to be powder coated were. So I'll have a little work to do to fix that, but at $120 to sand blast and coat I'm not complaining.

Whilst de-greasing the engine my "custom engine de-greaser jig"* (*ironing board) failed so half a day was lost while I cut and welded some pipe to repair it. Luckily I still had hold of the engine so no damage was done.

[Lorenz]

nice bike and project, I am looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
in terms of the girder front end, would it be easier to get one fabricated rather than find one for sale?

[El Skitzo]

Frame looks beautiful. Who did you get to do the blasting and coating?