'68 BSA Victor Build..... Bloody 'el mate... You 'effin daft or sommat?!?

New scrambler bars just showed up. Yes, they're not the factory bars, but they are period correct. Back in the 70's when I had my first Victor, about everyone was switching to 'em.... so they'll do.


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Duro HF-307 dual sport. Looks close to the original knobbies without having to give up your first born male (read that cheap). Never used 'em before so I can't comment on 'em other than they're cheap. And if you factor in they gave me 3 for the price of 2, they're a pretty good deal. ;)

https://www.cedarrapidstire.com/product/duro-hf307-trail-mx-offroad-motorcycle-tires/
These were a good idea at the time I thought! They seem a little squirrels sometime, even at my relaxed pace. Might be the wider bars or new pegs or morning DTs. ShinkoTrail. We will let @Ben1 check them out early next month.
And I see they offer a 3.25/19 front which was the early XS front tire size. Retro.
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Little bites. We'll get there....


Never pointed it out, but I could tell the clutch wanted some money soon as I removed the discs last year. Not 100% positive but here's my best guess on what led to this mess....
These little Victors have a heavy clutch as I recall. In an attempt to lighten the pull, the PO loosened the screws on the pressure plate. They're secured with safety wire. Soon as I cut the wire, I could see the screws moving around. I actually tightened 'em a full turn before they snugged up. So my guess is the PO did that intentionally to try and take some spring tension out of his clutch lever. Here's a pic of what it looks like.


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You can't tell about the spring tightness from the pic, it's jus' for reference to see how it all fits together. Anyway, he musta had some hellacious slipping issues, 'cause I could see the basket and plates had been beat to hell and back. Received the basket puller today, so the basket is off.

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First the discs...


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Notice the "ears" have been rounded off? Yeah, they're supposed to look like the ears on our XS clutches, a nice clean rectangle to 'em. But these are toast. Completely useless.
Same with the basket. The slots the plates slot into have seen better days....


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I can honestly say I've never seen a clutch this bad.... all 'cause the spring tension was almost non-existent (my best guess anyway). Everything just rattled around and beat itself to death.

When the front primary sprocket came off, the seal that separates the engine oil from the primary case was just hanging on the crank... just floating there. And hard as a rock, 'tis.


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And the front drive sprocket was loose. Took about 2 turns to snug it up before I removed it. The sprocket was just rattling around on the tranny output shaft. The lock tab was bent over, locking the sprocket nut in place, for all the good it did. Fortunately, there doesn't appear to be any damage on the shaft.


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The sprocket, while usable, has a bit of wear. Considerin' you have to remove the clutch to replace it, I'll go ahead and order that too. It's only money after all... sigh. ...and the tranny shaft seal. So off to do a marathon research and order mission. That'll burn up the rest of today unfortunately.


On a brighter note, started polishing up some of the engine covers (see what I did there).


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And since we're burnin' through money like a drunken sailor, I found some fenders. New, made in India fenders and stays.


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They're for a Starfire, but from what I've read, they'll fit the Victor also. Since the advert had the "make offer" button, I haggled it down to $245, taxed and delivered. Jus' waiting on a slow boat from India.
NOS and that lot would have been well over a grand... if you could find 'em. Even used in "fair" condition runs about $500, so let's see if I get lucky.
 
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Don't push me bro....

So, with the addition of the 2mm compression reducing plate, and since this is a pushrod engine, the pushrods need to be lengthened accordingly. I scrounged up some #4 washers. Two of them come up to 1.78mm and they're a slight interference fit inside the end caps. Close enough.


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The end caps were a tight fit. It took a heat gun to separate 'em. Then used a punch slightly smaller than the ID and tapped 2 washers down inside each cap.


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Jus' to hedge my bets, I smeared a small amount of J B Weld on the end of the pushrod and tapped the caps back into place.


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I'll let the J B Weld set up overnight and clean up the excess.


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Ordered a stupid amount of stuff last night from Draganfly and Ebay. We'll get there.
 
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