I am going to use this blog on a Velocette Viceroys as a testament of how a vintage motorcycle can be recommissioned fast and efficiently with plenty of dialogue between the owner and me, you will note from the dates of the to from dialogue through the emails that I am committed in sharing information while I work through the project. You will note with my emails that they are sent after work hours as I do not like to pass the costs on to the owners.
I can kill two birds with one stone by writing a report on the work being carried out and using the report as a blog on the website. By doing it this way I hope to show honesty and efficiency to suit both parties.
Pictures are also at the end. This conversation is ongoing so this blog will be updated later on.
On 22/04/2020, John wrote:
I hope you are all surviving the current global crisis. Would it be possible for you to give me.a ball park quote for restoration of a Velocette Viceroy fuel tank. It was last run in 1977, but has been stored dry ever since. Externally it is not bad, but internally it definitely has some rust. Based on a cursory inspection it looks like it should be liquid tight.
On 23/04/2020, John wrote:
Hi Terry, Thank you for the speedy reply. I’ve now had a chance to look at the rest of your website and see that you do complete restorations. I know it’s a bit of a “How long is a piece of string” question. But can you give me an idea of the costs to get our Velocette Viceroy running again?
What I do know – It’s not super rusty, and the engine rotates (By hand) The left hand cylinder is missing one of the cylinder head studs (Either missing or snapped, not taken the head off to look) It’s completely missing the Front brake cable (No cable guide, or cable) It has a lot of 1970s era electrics added to it (Indicators, headlight switches etc), I am happy to deal with the electrics myself.
It’s current got all the bodywork removed, so I could look at the state of the underlying engine/gearbox. I’ve not gone any further with stripping it down. My original plan was to take the engine and gear box out, and send them off for refurbishment, but you guys are only about 40 mins away from me (I’m just outside cambridge), so I thought I’d start the conversation
On 23/04/2020, Terry wrote:
you have picked the right man as i love engine and gear box work and hate electrics as it is so time consuming and costly. I recon i can go through your Velocette Viceroys and do what needs doing to the engine for between £300 to £500 as a guess. turnaround at the moment for engines is 4 days.
On 25/04/2020, John wrote:
Hi Terry, That sounds great. Hopefully you also love Brakes and Shock
absorbers? Are you guys still working? What I would like to do (if possible) is to bring the whole bike (Less the bodywork) over to you, fo you to take a look at. Once you’ve got the Engine/Gearbox/Fuel tank off it (And ideally the brakes and front forks too ) I’ll come and take the chassis away to wire brush and paint it. That way, I don’t mess it up by taking any bits off and loosing them Then once everything is in working condition again I can brind the chassis back for refitting. Without the bodywork on, it’ll happily fit in the back of my van, and I’m sure we can do an appropriately social distanced hand-off. If that sounds ok with you, then let me know when might be best to bring it over.
On 25/04/2020, Terry wrote:
John when you bring the parts over when it suits you. You will see that we have the machinery to do everything in house.
On 27/04/2020 , Terry wrote:
update of what we have done. removed exhaust system, this will be overhauled tmoro. worked out why there is no drive to rear wheel as drive key has sheared but no prob as easy fix, carb has been stripped and rebuilt with new gaskets , a little problem with missing ferule on twist grip but i found one so need to mod the cable, make it a
little longer . starter motor works after a little cleaning of terminals, petrol tank is cleaned out of all rust. spring fitted to choke lever. rear suspension works perfectly now it has been lubed up. tomoro is look for spark , make head stud, fit exhaust. I think what we think is ignition switch is actually steering lock as ig switch is small
toggle switch on left hand side of dash. This is a really nice machine to work on and i like the whole design. is it ok if i can write a blog with no names mentioned for the interest of readers. You will note from my blogs that i like to state the ease or difficulty of removing or servicing parts regarding the machine i am working on. so far i cannot knock your bike but i am bound to find something.
On 27/04/2020, John wrote:
Hi Terry, Wow, that’s great for just a few hours I’d be happy for you to write it up as a blog. I think there would be people interested out there as the Viceroys are really rare, and it’s hard to find anything much on the web about them.
On 30/04/2020, Terry wrote:
All is done, engine start tomorrow as been out on site work today.
On 30/04/2020, John wrote:
Hi Terry, That’s great. Please let me know how the engine start goes tomorrow. I guess that means I could pick it up in the afternoon assuming all goes well?
On 30/04/2020, Terry wrote:
no reason why she wont start but will report back tomorrow.
On 03/05/2020, Terry wrote:
There is some added work to do as i think the condenser has gone down as it started to show open circuit as there were some fat sparks coming from the points contacts. I am now in a bit of a predicament as i need to get your engine going but i have to play with the electrics to do this. I have ordered a condenser. so all i can do is wait for the part. will keep in touch.
On 03/05/2020, Terry wrote:
Hi Terry, OK, Thanks. Keep me informed how you get on. If the new condenser doesn’t fix the issue, maybe I should come get it back, and work through the electric issues here, and then bring it back over once we’ve got a reliable spark.
