I called them up last week, and ordered a set of stainless steel spokes for the rear wheel on my Interceptor.
They don't stock spokes for Enfield wheels, but they'll make a set for anyone who wants one.
As long as it's for an Interceptor. They don't have specifications for spokes to fit any other model of Enfield. (until now; if you have an Enfield with 19 inch wheels at both ends, and 6 inch brakes)
I had to send them two of the old spokes from my Tomahawk so they could duplicate them.
The Tomahawk has 19 inch wheels front and rear, and 6 inch brakes front and rear, so both wheels take the same spokes.
Got the Interceptor spokes in a few days ago, and they're making the spokes for the Tomahawk as I type this. Time to start cleaning up some hubs. (the rims have been ready since February)
Another bit of progress I've made is that I got the Tomahawk's crankshaft out. I'll take some pictures. There's some nasty, but repairable damage to the inside of the drive side crankcase caused by a thrown rod, which wasn't fixed when the rod was replaced.
Check back, I'll add the pictures to this post when I have them.
I don't know how some guys ever get any work done, stopping to take a picture every 10 minutes. I prefer to work first, take pictures later.
Pictures of the damaged crankcase.
First, the washer on the timing side that the end of the crankshaft was rubbing on.
The broken area near the cam tunnel on the right side crankcase half.
This is a view from inside the crankcase looking up into the hole where the cylinder spigot goes.
And some marks on the inside of the crankcase where bits of metal bounced around.
The oil return baffle. There are two screws missing, and it's bent.
And here's the crankshaft with rods. One dirty, old looking rod, one shiny new looking rod.
So that's it. Needs new bearings, and some welding. The rod bearings feel ok. I'm not even going to take those off.
I guess you could have easily ordered spokes from India from the 3.50 19" rims for the RE bullets where they are always in production and possibly cheaper. Granted, not everything from India is great when it comes to QA, but it takes a lot of talent to screw up a set of spokes or rims.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics Carl, thanks again. It is unusual for the bottom ends on these engines to go. My understanding is that bottom end problems were usually due to faulty oiling, with leaking around the crankshaft oil spigot bolt seal, causing oil to leak into the timing case and reducing pressure to the crankshaft. Sometimes poorly fit gaskets on the timing case can plug up the oil ways, with the oil pump located in the timing case. I believe this was particularly problematic with the 500 twin and Hitchcocks has advice /parts on how to deal with the oiling issues. When well-oiled, these bottom ends are truly magnificent. On the wheels, as Sarath mentioned, you can get the wheels and spokes from India. But with the spokes you are better off getting them made like you did, ie like the originals. I got a stainless wheel from India that is quite nice but the spokes and nipples are way oversized and nothing like the originals. The Indian spokes are a much larger diameter as are the nipples, which are much larger, and IMO they protrude too far above the inner rim surface into the tube space. I also had to drill out every spoke hole in the wheel, because the holes as provided were for the smaller original- type nipple. Who knows, maybe the Indians just sent me the wrong spokes? It has been known to happen. :( All the best, Steve
ReplyDeleteI bought the spokes from Buchanan's because I've done business with them before, and because I wanted the best quality stainless steel spokes.
ReplyDeleteThe price is worth it.
There are many India made parts that I wouldn't hesitate to use, for example, the casquette fork crown/headlamp that I'm going to put on my Interceptor with the Suzuki fork legs adapted to fit. I've already determined that it's just as good as the original English made one that came with my Tomahawk.