I miss my old Elsie - RD250LC parts project build.

[steelerd]

Hey everyone long time ^-^

So a few will remember I had a rd250lc in Mars Bars that I absolutely loved ended up selling it to fund my Aircooled 250c with the plan of eventually rebuilding my other 250lc properly as a few know our family print company went under the other year so been helping dad with house stuff an having a mini career break which means things have been a lil tight.

Was so nice out today I decided to get my 250lc frame out an see how far I could get from a few bits I had an some old rough bits.

Managed to get all the chassis together an luckily got most of the stuff for the engine just gotta get all the cables send my pump off an get the engine seals.

Oh an some tyres which is gonna eat up the none existent budget haha so the plan is to get her running then deal with the bodywork tank is solid one of the side panels is a right mess originally she was mars bars like the other one but undecided between mars bars or the rz black and gold colour? What do we all reckon

How she was when I got her 12 years ago with a engine on the point of nipping up.
An everything was pretty much a mess on it.
Cant complain though uk bike matching numbers an no crank case damage.


Today's progress rebuilt the forks did the swing arm bushes an got all the chassis together.

[veg]

Rz black for me love it as a colour scheme. How’s the Brit bikes?

[marsbar350]

welcome back tom

[jonw]

Good to see you back posting here Tom

[Tobyjugs]

Welcome back Tom i like the Mars Bar colours best myself.

[steelerd]

Thanks guys sorry for the absence

Brit bikes are going brilliant the 650ss is running sweet as a daily an sold my Harris TZ to fund a WW2 RAF Norton 16H was in Mcn a few weeks back which was pretty cool!



That's the latest Norton project one I'll never sell actually managed to get the original wartime tank number for it that's unique to the bike something I never thought I'd manage as all the RAF Norton records were destroyed luckily a researcher had a handful of keycards including mine

Handpainting the roundels an numbers was an interesting experience! Learnt alot about painting as well which cool although a few pain barriers haha! Was all original Wd parts just in civi colours so been able to just chip away at that one cosmetics wise at a stop on the ww2 bike now though as I need a few bits for the carb.

Gonna sell my laguna seca Dainese 2pc to hopefully fund a few more bits for the Commando the elsie an the 16h.

[veg]

That is brilliant. I remember meeting a chap called Ian Wright (not the ex arsenal player) in Normandy (Ouistreham) he owned ark motorcycles (they deal/dealt in ww2 bikes mainly M20’s) he was in full in Don R regalia this was in the mid late 90’s I remember him trying to persuade me to buy one. I always regret not doing so esp as they aren’t cheap now. Lovely chap v enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
You going to take it abroad? Got the regalia and uniform to go with it or just going to finish it and ride it?

[dusty350]

Welcome back Tom.
I watched the Guy Martin "D day Landing" programme last night. They dropped a super rare WW2 Paratroopers bike out the back of a C130 - thankfully it survived (again !!)
Shame you sold the Harris, that was a lovely looking bike.
Good luck with the Lc build.

Dusty

[veg]

Was it a wellbike dusty? Shall search that out and have a watch.

[oldbritguy]

Good to see you back Tom and another nice project on the go as well

Will be following this closely as I'm also assembling a 250lc bitsa project. Always watching for ideas and top tips.

Love the 16H too. Enough there to keep you busy as well

John

[dusty350]

I missed the first part of the programme - didn't realise it was on. I started watching about 2 minutes before they pushed the bike out the back of the Hercules. Don't know what the bike was but apparently its uber rare ! The owner collected lots of memorabilia, including complete ration packs the Paratroopers were dropped with, which included chocolate laced with Speed ! Also had the uniform button that unscrewed to reveal a tiny compass. The Germans found out about them and used to unscrew them when they suspected them. The Brits then designed them with a left hand thread, and the Germans never found one after that !!
Like all Guy's programmes, well worth a watch !

Dusty

[dusty350]

Just Googled it - Royal Enfield "Flying Flea".

Dusty

[jon]

In that picture above of the clocks on their own, it looks like your pointing at the 120MPH mark

Jon

[steelerd]

Thanks guys yep hoping to go to Dunkirk on her an to all the events I've actually got to know Ian Rik Sven etc the wd bike scene seems really great all very helpful reminds me alot of our Elsie group.

Guys program was brilliant last night wasnt it love stuff like that.

Sort of at a little bit of a stop now on the elsie after yesterdays progress till I order a set of engine seals later
So hopefully if the weather is good on tuesday / Wednesday I can start to put the bottom end together really excited as I miss my other elsie alot.

Need to order the tap to deal with the thread on for the rh footrest as well.

Guessing the yambits ones are still naff? So will get genuine

Oh yeah just noticed that Jon

[jon]

May 31, 2020 9:15:42 GMT 1 jon said:

In that picture above of the clocks on their own, it looks like your pointing at the 120MPH mark

Jon

Another weird fact on that photo, looks like the oil light is on?

Jon

[veg]

Wow so Ian is still going? got some good pics of him and an M20 somewhere will look out for them. I would love a g3, interesting fact the triumph gp500 which was based on the speed twin but had a different head, and was used by Ernie Lyons post ww2 in some of the earliest gp’s was an auxiliary power unit used by the RAF and I believe used in Lancaster bombers as well as a generator.
Enjoy the bike I’m v jealous 😁👍

[steelerd]

Yep I was thinking that Jon haha sun was crazy bright! Isn't that the light for exceeding the speed limit in Japan?

Wow that's ace Veg. Didn't know that oh yeah I love the g3's hoping to get dad a g3l at some point so he can come along to all the events.

That'l be next year though looking at moving to Cornwall or Scotland trossach's / dumfries/galloway at the moment I'm gonna miss the cat and fiddle!

[seang14]

What's the exhausts on bike in First Pic? Are they from the Late type YPVS???

Cheers Sean G

[steelerd]

Hi Sean they are f2 pipes Actually got those on my 350lc had to knock the centre stand brackets in on that an lengthen the bracket holes seemed to run nice with them though at Oulton Park.

[steelerd]

Today's progress painted the exhausts  

[veg]

Tom just watched your 26 youtube films lovely watching it come back together. Enjoy it, oh and made me laugh you started of wearing yamaha tops and by the end it was a khaki norton t shirt.

[steelerd]

Haha thanks mate glad you enjoyed them only a small channel not got a clue how to grow it but it's been really fun doing it was mega self conscious in front of the camera but slowly getting better

Been sticking a few up of the other classics to the 650ss, Commando an pretty sure there's still some of my old LC miss that bike!!
Popped Norbo a message over a few bits all the seals for the engine an gaskets etc,

Just ordered the paint so really excited to give that a whirl wont be perfect with painting outside but least it sticks with the ethos of the build on this one just to get her into riding condition but least it wont look horrendous as the tank does currently with primer showing.

[steelerd]

Lil bit of progress today

Got the order in with Norbo an did some work on the side panels

The dayglow yellow wouldn't shift in the end I tried some thinners I had from the wd build with wire wool worked great, gonna nitro the tank tomorrow an do the mudguard an the tail unit.

Quite fun progress so far.

[steelerd]

Did a little bit of work on the tank today great news is its solid!

Need to do a bit of work on the side panels gonna sand them more then try the adhesion promoter at the moment the high build is cracking straight away as the paint from the previous owner had.

Will sus it out

[oldbritguy]

Good news on the tank. Sometimes when the paint is stripped off, there are 30+ years of horror stories just waiting to be discovered.

[steelerd]

Oh yes I was dreading it mate seems good though nice an clean on the inside to long as there are no big dents on the side we are onto a winner! Just need this hailstorm to stop tomorrow then I can have another go at getting the panels all the way back to plastic an trying the adhesion promoter stuff.

Most of the stuff is here for the engine now gotta just wait on some circlips I forgot for the tachodrive.

Can't belive how excited I am though really giddy over this one was saying to dad I didnt realise just how much I've missed riding an elsie.

[jonw]

make sure you clean the oil off the plastic with a wax n grease remover product before adhesion promoter.

[steelerd]

thanks Jon thats a good idea I'll give that a whirl hoping this hail stone stops so I can have another go.

[steelerd]

Fair bit of progress yesterday.

Repaired a stripped footrest bolt on the frame.

Spent ages going through all the boxes looking for the stator wire clip unfortunately it must have been binned with the old Stator.. damn! Gonna hold me up slightly till I can get one luckily everything else is on the way pretty much.

Stripped the tank some more as well that's nearly stripped and looking good!

[steelerd]

Making some progress today got a workshop upgrade cleared a bedroom out an stuck a table in it. With all the engine bits laid out.

Here's some of the nos parts on gonna be using had these tucked away for ages just as spares that I got 12 years or so ago when I got the bike but decided might as well use them.

Nos cyldiners
Nos head
Nos 250lc carbs
Nos pistons
Nos rings 1 side need to get the others.
Nos gaskets
An a new pattern but high quality crank from fondseca.

In other news the paint went missing in the post which is driving me nuts hopefully they get some new stuff out soon!