Blogs

Stainless Steel Petrol Tanks We regularly have enquiries from people asking if we can make stainless steel  petrol tanks for their vintage and veteran cars or bikes. Our reply is “of course we can, as long as you supply have a pattern or drawing”. Manufacturing custom stai

Motorcycles through the ages have metamorphosized to produce what we have today. But sometimes this is not the principle of what the buyer wants, but it is close, hence people find Stotfold Engineering is the place to find that enhancement or modification to there custom bike to bring

Performance tuning a Ducati Mach 1 The first thing to do is lighten everything throughout the engine, but not compromise on the strength and reliability of the working parts. The project was carried out by me to contest a Ducati Mach 1 in a two stroke class racing against Yamaha TDIC’

Basic servicing After purchasing or inheriting an air arm the first thing to do is to oil it. WD40 is ideal as it can be sprayed onto surfaces and mechanisms, left to soak and wiped away. WD40 doesn’t seem to attract dust onto mechanisms and is good for washing away dust residues that

The bicycle in question, ripe for a complete restoration is a 1954 Rory O’Brien racing bicycle. My father purchased the frame and forks for £17.10s unpainted. The frame was manufactured from Reynolds 531 tubing and all the tubing was brazed into ‘Nervex’ lugs. The work was carried out

Grease nipples are manufactured for use where the article to be lubricated can not be broken down easily thus upsetting fixed running clearances or difficult to reach parts. I have had a look at some early i.e. 1920’s nipples from a KTT Vellocette that wanted exact replication. First

A 1930 s triumph tank was brought into the workshop with the customer saying he cannot find anyone to restore it to it’s original fuel capacity. The problem being it had been “Petsealed” 30 years ago and the modern fuels containing ethanol were attaching the old style seal

Following a steady season in 2009, when significant improvements in times had been achieved, I decided that some more speed was required so asked Terry Ives to investigate the compression ratio in the JAP engine. I had thought, but never checked, that I was running at about 13:1 which

Recently we were asked to repair an  umbrella stand. The left hand stay was missing. Replacing parts on cast iron objects can be expensive. To cut down on costs and avoid having to go to a foundry to have the part cast I decided to replicate it in steel. The steel would be then colour

A customer approached me with a gearbox problem and initially I thought great, just the sort of job I like. I love working on gearboxes, understanding how all the internal parts work and how all the different selecting methods operate to obtain a given gear. As we walked over to his c

What different types of lawnmower are there? Cylinder & Rotary mowers are the most common types of lawnmower used today. These two mowers come in many guises, the cylinder type mower is either, an electrically operated one or is mechanically operated via a petrol engine, they are