Reply To: Howard Gem Series V

[sidevalve5]

An update about the Gem. Found a chap with an ultrasonic cleaner who runs a garage specializing in vehicle electrics. Took a two Zenith 2T4 carbs, the Walbro carb and the petrol tap to him. He said the proper cleaning fluid is expensive, so uses dishwasher tablets and guitar strings to clean the jets. Went back to collect, the items were a lot cleaner, but the baked on carbon was not removed. Was told by someone else this method does not remove it. The Zenith carbs were dull, the Walbro bright and cleaner. He wanted £30-£40, gave him £30 cash. When I inspected the parts I could see he had not put anything through the jets and small orifices. A layer of carbon was still present, there were detergent marks on the surfaces. Had to give then another clean with petrol, then blow with compressed air. Managed to get some wire down behind the Zenith main jet and wiggle it about. Think this removed some white deposits sat there.

The good bit was the carbs perform much better. The Walbro had gum deposits blocking the emulsion tube, the Zenith on the Trusty had a seized main jet, so cleaning behind it helped the fuel rise more easily to the ventri. Overall very pleased, but did feel a bit done over by the garage. Think I may have to do as suggested and get my own cleaner. From research need one to heat to 80oC to remove oil and petrol deposits. A bit loath to have to invest in £100 for something I may use once a year. Have a steel fabricator friend who is into Japanese 1980’s bikes. He says they often have fueling troubles because the carbs are gummed up. So will let him use it and when I need a bit of welding, know he will willingly do it.

There was a big bulge in one of the new tyres where it had sat for donkeys years. When inflating, it went pop, so got a new inner tube. To my delight, there was no bulge, it was the inner tube that was creating it and something I had not figured out. So if you get a machine with flat bulging tyres, would recommend just replacing the cheaper inner tubes first.

Then split the engine from the rest of the machine and took the clutch off. This went very easy. The photo is of the friction plate. Saw the springs were compressed at one end, noted that I have to replace them the same way round. Got a new clutch plate from Howard Spares, but it did not fit over the pins. Asked Howard Spares what to do and was advised to tap the pins to fit. Decided to do some measuring first, the pins were fine, it was the clutch plate holes that were not correct. They had variations. So had to file them to fit the drive plate pins, ensuring they had the same contact area both ways. The old friction plate had cracked and did not want to risk overloading a couple of holes. Wanted the load to spread evenly both ways. Because it would have load two ways when using the reverse gear. It was a bit of a pain to do, especially after forking out £50 for the plate.

Put it all back together, fitted the engine, did a few small other tasks and fired it up easy. Ran well too. So took it to the ground to do some work. The clutch only operated with a small amount of travel, but did work OK. But got it stuck straightaway in a furrow, the wheels stopped driving. It was hard work pulling it out. The rotovating when very well, but kept loosing drive. When I went deeper, the machine shot forward. Finished the work and took it back. Read the manual and noted the springs in the wheel hubs should be done up tight, then slacked back half a turn. Its a safety feature, if you hit an immovable object, the wheel friction disks will stop the drive. Whoever fitted the new tyres originally did not do this and I just thought it must be correct. Looked at the manual pictures of the clutch springs, the coils had a consistent spacing. So think over 50 years the springs have lost some compression length, which explained the fully feel on the clutch lever. Contacted Springmasters at Redditch and they can help me out. In the winter will whip the engine off and send the springs to them.

Overall extremely pleased with how its all gone. The throttle linkage is very loose, resulting in poor throttle control that is very apparent when moving the machine around. But am going to fix that with some M5 ball joints and threaded bar. Will bolt the spring below to the operating arm too, the hole is enlarged where the spring loop goes through. Going to use it at the weekend to chop some weeds up in the ‘clean’ bit if the young orchard. My Trusty’s wheel gearbox finally gave up the ghost. But have a plan for that, more anon.