1968 BSA B25 Starfire
 

Figured I'd start a thread on this, as well. Gentleman is delivering tomorrow around noon. Pics and info to follow. It doesn't run at the moment........but it's a BSA so I didn't expect it to. As long as it's as complete as the one pic I got, good enough. After all, it's a project, right?

"but it's a BSA so I didn't expect it to....."

99.7% chance it's an electrical issue. Lucas was not called the Prince of Darkness for nothing.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/mainte...everyone-says/

Early this morning I was thinking about the motorcycles I have owned starting about 1967. All were Japanese except four: a Norton Atlas, a BSA Starfire, a Changjiang 750 sidecar and a genuine WW2 Zundap military sidecar. Plus my two recent Lifans. Probably about 20 Japanese bikes.

The three positions of a Lucas headlight switch:

OFF

DIM

FLiCKER

I'll grab my hat and coat on the way out.

LOL! Expected, believe me. Not just because of the Prince of Darkness, but age alone. The Bearcat's harness was dried and cracked up...and it's Japanese!

Fortunately, I'm not the first Chinarider to do a Brit Bike in real-time. The Oldies here will remember Fastdoc's disastrous relationship with his BSA 441 Victor Special. I'm looking forward to the project and the challenges it will present......if the guy shows up today.

If it arrives today? What, is it coming from Texas?

Delivery from Nevada.
He made it! Right on time! Super nice guy......and the bike is actually nicer than I was hoping for. Also, after doing a ton of research, it's not a 1968 but a 1967. Needs some TLC and I'll go through a few things since it's been in a container for years. The tires, tubes, and chain were new before it was stored and it's already been upgraded to electronic ignition. This is going to be fun and new......and I need to buy a set of Whitworth.

Very nice! :tup:

Really does look very nice .Let the swearing begin ,kick kick kick F@CK ,kick kick kick F@CK, kick kick kick F@CK , ..........
You know ,I bet a china engine swap would work well in there .I bet it could be done without cutting the bike up ,so the original stuff could be shelved for later install if desired .

Under 400 on the odo, but he wasn't sure if it was the original speedo or not. The bike looks like it was never used. Weird.

Not so weird at all ,that is 400 miles of trying to push start that bike before giving up and taking the bus to school .Nobody ever rode them because the family of gremlins living inside , didn’t allow them to be used .At least it’s pretty .

Just described my brothers' Tiger Cub.:lmao:

Nope. Not yet for multiple reasons.....like being Mrs. 2LZ schlep for the last four days she was off work. ;-) I've had zero time to mess with it. Hopefully today.

Biggest issue was I had to order a new metal tank for it. The glass tanks won't handle our garbage ethanol fuel without breaking down the glass and sending it thru the system. I could have treated one of them with something but they don't last from what I've read, and it's not cheap, so I just bit the bullet.

Yep, positive ground. I have a new battery coming......

I have found out more interesting things about it. It's not only a 1967, but an early 1967 model. It has the built-in compression release and they only did that until January 1968, according to my Brit Bike forum. Plus, the engine number starts with a "C" as opposed to a "B", signifying the C15 predecessor. So far, it's been a fun research project. I hope it runs someday. ;-)

Don't ya wish you had that now just for man cave art????

I need this sticker for it.....

I remember a comment from long ago on British automobile manufacturing capabilities:

The British do a fine job of making burled walnut dashboards.

Funny thing. Many moons ago, my X wife worked with a gal who was selling a white 1970 MGB, spoke wheels with knock-offs, and all. She wanted it badly. I put my foot down hard. "Nope! I'm the family mechanic and there's NO WAY that POS will end up in this driveway!" So, a week later, there it was. I was dreading it.

I popped the hood every morning before she went to the office and checked everything. Fired it and warmed it for her. That damn car never missed a beat in the two years we had it. Started every morning regardless of weather. Never broke down once. I was actually pissed when I lost it in the divorce. I ended up loving that little thing.

I also had a 1970 MGB, in British Racing Green. In China. It had been imported by an Australian diplomat and was right-hand drive. I was told it was one of only two convertibles in China. Also had it for about two years, 1984 - 86. Stuck a pair of nice sidedraft carbs on it. Ran great.

Good lord, no. I'd always be reminded of it.

Started some tinkering on it yesterday. Found a few things like the chain guard was just sitting there with no bolts. It looks brand new. No scratched around the holes or marring. Got her secure now. Better fine tooth comb the whole thing. 56 years is a lot of hands with wrenches.
New seat foam coming. The old one dumps dandruff on the swingarm when I sit on it.

So, I went checked out the Lucas wiring harness this evening and it looks super-clean. No marrs, scuffs, corroded connections. Looks at least as good as any China bike I've had, if not better than the Bearcat.

I've been all over the Brit bike forums and I do understand that Lucas stands for "Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices"....but I'll fine tooth comb it, clean and dielectric grease every connection. From everything I've readon the Brit bike forums, this is the best thing to make it a reliable setup.

Found a factory re-pop of the exact brochure of the same BSA B25, early 1967 bike, color and all. Had it laminated today. More stuff for the car show in July.

BTW...the new metal tank came in and of course, the color is as close as the fine folks in India thought it should be. Taking the tank, oil bag, and battery cover, to a painter to match it all up. Hopefully I can get him to match the tank to the side covers. He's "an old bike guy who does noting but custom paint and great work". We'll see.

Putting this here for your reference:

Thankfully, Mrs. 2LZ was kind enough to get me a small set of Whitworth wrenches and sockets from Santa. I never thought I'd need more of either.

I put all my Whitworth wrenches in the trunk of my 64 Midget for the suc...er...gent that bought it. Then I had to get into old British bicycles. At least a 5/16W x 3/8W and 7/16W x 1/2W open ends cover 95% of the fasteners. Anything else warrants an adjustable. Continuing with Whitworth, I found an old Whitworth thread gage in my tap and die drawer. I haven't any idea when or where I got it.

I had a '71 Triumph Trident, got to know Lucas electrical parts pretty well. That bike always ran great, but it could never keep the battery charged up. My headlight had only 2 modes off and flicker. I worked on electrics on both Triumph and MGB cars for friends because local mechanics wouldn't touch them.

LUCAs is also known as the Prince of Darkness lol

The biggest problem Lucas electrics had was they always lived in wet, humid environments and the connections were plated, I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong. In dry CA climates, with the connections cleaned, with dielectric grease, it looks just as good as any other harness. Fingers crossed.....

Truth be told i have yet to have any major electrical issues on my MG other then a weird issue i had when i was trying to install a headlight relay kit. I figure if i need to i will replace connections as needed with either Deutsch or Weatherpak connectors as needed.

Thanks to our garbage ethanol fuel here, I had to order a metal tank. Of course, the color wasn't even close, so I ordered the correct paint from some place in the UK. I'll do it myself.

Then I had to take apart the brand new Amal carb to see if it had the correct float that won't be destroyed by our gas. Of course, it didn't. I ordered one of those today too.....plus ethanol safe fuek line as well. I have plenty....in the wrong size.

Bottom line? All in all, I'm having a great time with it. Now that I have the tank and seat off, the wiring harness is very minimal but looks like it's in fantastic condition. I really think this bike was just stores for a very long time and not really ridden much.

I'm discovering many things about owning a Brit bike. The forums are bone dry. "Just the facts ma'am" (Joe Friday). I research info....then bail, so far. No real chatter like here. Dry, but lots of great tech info. Many of these guys are more machinists than mechanics.

Finally....
 

Some actual work today. Did some fine-tooth combing. I'm REALLY trying not to tear this one down like the other.

The Brit bike is amazingly simple, though it uses some different wrenches. Even the dreaded Lucas electrics appear to be minimal. Though the Brits speak the same language, Chinglish was easier.... I need a Brit dictionary of terms and slang slogans. At least the Chinese tried.

Even apart like that, it has good lines.

I see that Johnny Strabler is keeping a close eye on things, in the background...

Valve adjustment, etc....
 

Going over all the normal stuff. The valves, even back in 1967, set with eccentric (cammed) rocker spindles. Loosen the nut on the backside of the spindle, spin it with a flat blade screw driver till the feeler drags. Tighten nut. Make sure push rod still spins freely. Easy-peasy. After messing with two "bucket/shim" bikes in a row, this was a refreshing change instead of a major tear-down, just to set valve clearance. The rear cylinder on the V-Strom was a true challenge.

In the Brits infinite wisdom, they ran a long cable to the rear wheel for the speedo drive. It was routed by some ham-fisted mutant in the past, and was up against the exhaust. Fortunately it wasn't burnt. Fixed that and service the cable and sheath at the same time.

New, properly gapped, NGK B8ES installed of course.

Gutting all the oil lines, hopefully today, and replace with new. Also, adding an inline oil filter on the return line to the oil bag. I hear it's imperative for the B25 big end bearing on the con rod. So far, nothing has been hidden or terribly hard to get at on this thing.

Not sure why the pic isn't opening...???

Went over the entire wiring harness today, bumper to bumper. No stone un-turned. Had a big eyebrow raised over this part of the project, thanks to Lucas.

I sanded and/or cleaned every connection and frame ground, and then applied dielectric grease to every one. Then zip tied everything in place. Even disassembled the zener diode and got it cleaned up and greased.

It was amazingly simple and all in excellent condition. I didn't break or damage a single connection. I also found no rubbed or frayed wires anywhere. Everything look tucked where it should live. Not even any shade tree splices or jumpers over the past 57 years. Weird. I figured the odds would be that someone would have done something to it along the way.

One thing Lucas did right was the color coding. Every color has its meaning and as opposed to the Japanese stuff I've worked on, all the colors matched. No "orange to green" connections anywhere. Inside the headlight looked brand new. I expected to find at least spider webs or something. It appeared showroom clean. This is starting to worry me......

Spent some quality shop time today. The snow melted enough so I didn't feel like a fool trudging out to a frozen metal building.

Went over the entire throttle assembly since I have the carb off replacing parts with ethanol-resistant pieces. The throttle was gummy feeling, so I got all the pieces and bar cleaned up and lubed, cleaned and lubed the cable. She snaps back nice and quick now. Also took the slide off the other end to lube the cable, and checked the clip position. Glad I did. It was set at full-rich (lowest position).

Hope to finish up the rest of the controls and cables tomorrow.

Finished servicing and adjusting the rest of the cabling. Put gearbox fluid (80/90) and primary fluid (ATF) in it. So far, nothing is pouring out anywhere. It's a good idea to run three different color fluids in a Brit bike, so when something hits the ground, you know which fluid is leaking. I may go to purple gearbox fluid after I get it running. Also got the clutch push rod and cable all set up and feeling good.

Getting closer. DMV on Monday for fun and frolic. Oh boy......

Given that you are living in the scary-sounding town of Volcano (population 115), where do you have to go for DMV? Jackson?

Yup. Jackson and so far, they've been good to deal with.....but ya never know when walking in.
Volcano's population depends on which end of town you enter. One sign says 103. The other sign says 85. I hope the pics open someday. Feel free to click.

Geez.... I'm really beginning to think that it's not Brit bikes that are bad or unreliable, it's the morons who have wrenched on them over the last 57 years.

Example: While attempting to adjust the valves, per the manual and additional BSA TSB, I couldn't get the intake spindle clocked into what was supposed to be the normal range. I figured maybe the intake seat had been ground in the past, throwing off the rocker angle a little.

So, being bored a couple days ago, I removed the rocker box off the bike and disassembled both that box, and the one I bought off of http://www.ebay.com for research purposes. Come to find out, some moron reassembled the rocker box completely wrong! It's amazing to me with how utterly simple this bike is, how someone can get shit so bass-akwards!? Can't wait to see what else I find..... This bike is fast becoming a CSI project.

Sounds like the stuff I found on my brothers' Tiger Cub.