Two into one

[laverdakeith]

Had a what apeared to be a nice unspoilt series 2 Jota in for a service and ignition upgrade this week, nice day on the bench, good sort out, carb overhaul, fettle and all well again I thought, nice easy job for a change... turns out what I got was a series two motor built into a set of series one cases. The gearbox was in trouble because there was no support for the end of the mainshaft and as a result it had done its bearings so the motor had to be split. Had the gearbox bearings been OK I would have modified the primary cover to take an outrigger bearing, turns out it was fortuitous that I had to open the cases as I also discovered the retaining pin for the selector fork shaft had been omitted and the shaft was only prevented from falling out by the clutch hub...was also pretty filthy in there. I machined some bosses and welded them to the cases to accept an outrigger bearing spider to support the end of the mainshaft on the other side inside the starter clutch case I  machined the cases and made a doo dahd to retain the starter freewheel then put it all back together again. All well now but shows again you never know what you are going to find when you open these old bikes up. The owner has had the machine for over twenty years unaware of the potential disasters lurking inside, there was no spring clip on the camchain  he just hadn't used it much because it didn't run very well.

  Keith

 

[lawrence]

Amazing discovery, Keith.  I'd say there was a guardian angel looking over both the man and machine 

 

[Paddy]

Absolutely agree with the statement "you never know what you are going to find when you open these old bikes up " nearly all of them have had a touch of home mechanics by now. I stripped a bevel the other day and found a piston ring in 3 parts in the sump. some one must have lifted the barrel, the ring dropped in so they replaced it and put the barrel back on. strange thing was it must have been during re assembly because the clutch centre nut was finger loose and there was no woodruff key on the primary drive / crank so it was driving just on the tapper.. :

 

[lemonjelly]

did numbers match then?

 

[Davo]

did numbers match then?

Obviously 1 does not match 2.

 

[Rob]

Extraordinary discovery, Keith - and a lovely rescue job! 

 

[Scrumpy]

1980 Jota that has been thru your workshop currently advertised in December's Classic Bike

 

[shedbob]

I know that. It's mine !

 

[Yeti]

Many, many thanks to everyone's replies, I'd like to pursue all avenues with all who have, be in touch after xmas, once again many thanks.