I think that the pivot stub for the lever is for too close for that to happen, its only about 60mm above and to the front of the pulley but you have more of an idea about these things than I do.
the wear is very concentric ( if that's the word) around the sprocket side of the pulley suggesting that something had been running it it or the brake was engaged while it was driving. I will try get some picture tonight. Pictures of Lewis's machine would probably solve a lot of my queries.
Greenfield time again, just removed the little G40 and the bonnet in preparation for removing the very rusty deck bolts. I will endeavor to get some more pictures tomorrow when I resume work on him. As a side note has Mr Lewis been online in my absence?
Here are some pictures i just took showing the deck and engine. Are the stickers for the G40 still available and is bracket arrangement on the deck similar to any other newer models or do i have to reproduce those bits as well? any help would be greatly appreciated.
The deck mounting was one of the things they changed a few times in the very early years.
Your rear stay bar is mounted to the deck via a ninety degree twist in the bar. My early girl (and I assume gml's as well) have a welded bar attachment. Later they went to a welded cylindrical bush arrangement.
To that end you'd need to refabricate if needed to keep it looking original. Wouldn't be too hard for someone with a vice and an oxy or mapp gas torch.
No chance the rust will clean up?
Not sure about availability of Honda stickers but I'm sure silensmessor will be able to reproduce them from photos and measurements.
Evening, made some solid progress with the engine, finally managed to loosen the rusted open exhaust valve after MANY soaks with penetrating oil and much gentle persuasion. Sadly the valve seat and valve are pitted with rust so i will have to explore a few options with that. Also we managed to get a fat blue spark out of it with a bit of cleaning up of the points. I also snapped a pic of all the dirt that fell out of the cowl when it came off just so you can get an idea of the condition of the old bus.
Morning, I think thats what I'll have to do partly due to the inability to access parts. I have acquired a G65 so I will be comparing valve sizes to see whether they are compatible.
Made myself up a bit of a Molasses bath, about 15L water and 2L molasses in an old bucket. I placed the starter cup off the Honda, a file and rasp as well as my dads old Plumb axe which is cracked. I'll try to add progress picture if i remember.
Just as a bit of an update on the Molasses bath, I photographed the file as it cleaned up the best. The black splotches is where the rust has been removed, all I did was wash the molasses off. Also I read while I was reading up on rust removal that its best not to place aluminium in molasses as it will get eaten so I have placed a sacrificial victa head in to see what happens
I have no updates on the old red, been busy with other projects but I have lead on some engine spares and I am hoping to get back working on it soon.
As an FYI on the molasses bath, after 6 months the Honda starter cup was wafer thin and rendered useless, the rasp and axe head were rust free and after 12 months the Victa head had completely dissolved.
I have no updates on the old red, been busy with other projects but I have lead on some engine spares and I am hoping to get back working on it soon.
As an FYI on the molasses bath, after 6 months the Honda starter cup was wafer thin and rendered useless, the rasp and axe head were rust free and after 12 months the Victa head had completely dissolved.
Cheers Greenfielder
Never put Aluminium in a molasses bath, it eats it
I See it now, I was looking at the wrong machine, its my new one, the Mk1 version. its got a cut off square post in that front corner same as would have been there for that clutch None of the pics shows evidence of the retaining hooks, but i will explore a bit more tomorrow
you can see in the picture that that there is a large pulley inboard of the frame on the drive side. This pulley has visible grooves cut into the inside tapered edges that leads me to believe that the brake may have been very similar to GML's setup but instead of engaging on slots in the disk the piece of flat on the end of the handbrake rod just pressed into the inside of the pulley?
My Early also has that hand brake system, literally a piece of belt to act as a brake shoe runs in the groove of the extra pulley on final drive axle,
When the photos of fxxxrr’s handbrake photos were posted a couple of weeks go it answered a question that I couldn’t answer for the life of me when the handbrake discussion first arose when greenfielder first bought his machine and there was a discussion with gml about it. I just couldn’t see how a pulley would be utilised as a brake. I agreed with you greenfielder that the best guess was that a circular section bar would rest in the pulley. The real answer is way more ingenious! What a beautiful piece of imaginative bush engineering! I love it. . The million dollar question is.....how well does it work.
When the photos of fxxxrr’s handbrake photos were posted a couple of weeks go it answered a question that I couldn’t answer for the life of me when the handbrake discussion first arose when greenfielder first bought his machine and there was a discussion with gml about it. I just couldn’t see how a pulley would be utilised as a brake. I agreed with you greenfielder that the best guess was that a circular section bar would rest in the pulley. The real answer is way more ingenious! What a beautiful piece of imaginative bush engineering! I love it. . The million dollar question is.....how well does it work.
Cheers,
I put my hand brake on yesterday as the lever was in my way while i was doing something cont remember now exactly what, possibly removing the transmission covers , or when fitting the springs , fast forward to today when i realised it was still on, ooops i had left the handbrake on while playing with the drive system, getting it running and moving it back and forth while testing, pushed it in and out of the shed while i tidied up a bit, sio i guess the answer to that question in my instance anyway is , It doesnt work LOL when clicked on it makes zero difference to the rolling resistance what so ever, when pulled on on hard past the locating slot, it barely changes it, i guess when the belt section is new it would work ok as a park brake, but if as i suspect it has been used as a brake in general and is worn out it dont work so good
Edit***********
Just had a thought looking at the photos, and it would be fairly easy to bend the lever to allow it to work again and rather than it be worn out. i think the lever has been bent during use causing the predetermined slots to be not effective
I guess the fact that the arm has been bent out of shape by folks trying to exert enough pressure on the brake to make it work suggests it probably wasn’t a very successful design.
Also, if it was a go-er ol’ Theo would have used it on later machines, I guess.
I’m curious to see if straightening the lever arm and perhaps a nice fresh belt section (brake shoe ) makes a difference. If not, I still give Theo 10/10 for the innovation and for giving it a go.
