Geoff S Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I had a lot of sidecar outfits, or perhaps a lot of bikes to attach my Steib S350 sidecar to. The hairiest was a 1949 ex works BSA trials outfit. It was only about 3 feet wide, very light and I often rode it on my own with no passenger to lean out on left handers or over the back wheel on right. In fact right handers are far more dangerous because if the back wheel lifts you can't get it back down. My technique for roundabouts was to lift the sidecar on the left hand entry and ride the right hand section as if it were a solo, then put the sidecar wheel down for the exit - simple. I'd love a modern sidecar outfit with a bike with enough power for easy 70 mph cruising but, alas, I'm too old and I don't want it enough to spend the £1000s it would cost. Had a couple of A10 BSAs, both 1958 models. The first was new and bought for me by my grandmother without my knowledge (it's complicated) and I bought the other s/h some years later. Nearly all my bikes were ridden in long distance trials at some time in their lives, even my BSA Gold Star. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 stick on soles for shoe's and replacement heels,segs also..that were made for work boots until all the youngings started to fit them and make a racket when walking down the road..and the back step of our house was worn in the middle where the knife used to get sharpened...for carving the beef joint......c/w dripping that we all loved to dip bread in.......and gravy you could stand the spoon up in.... ken anderson...ne....1..... memories dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trebor Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Red X, I used it all the time in a mk 4 cortina estate otherwise it would keep seizing up. Traded it in to a Ford dealers as I couldn't bring myself to sell it private. Did you have any problems with the A10 rear wheels with a sidecar fitted ? I used to pop the rear roller bearings out due to taking corners too hard. If I remember there was a thick locking washer with a thread on the edge just holding the bearing in place. I used to strip them all the time and just welded the roller bearing in the wheel. Taking left handers was an art in itself. One left hander I'll never forget is on the old Manchester Road from Huddersfield to Oldham near the border into Lancashire. You are supposed to slow down just before the corner and accelerate the bike round it but this bendy corner never ended, it comes back on itself on a hill. As I tried to accelerate round it I knew it would be too fast but if I slowed down the sidecar wheel was popping up. In the end I was half in the sidecar trying to keep it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trebor Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Posted by Geoff Sleath on 03/01/2016 11:32:10: I had a lot of sidecar outfits, or perhaps a lot of bikes to attach my Steib S350 sidecar to. The hairiest was a 1949 ex works BSA trials outfit. It was only about 3 feet wide, very light and I often rode it on my own with no passenger to lean out on left handers or over the back wheel on right. In fact right handers are far more dangerous because if the back wheel lifts you can't get it back down. My technique for roundabouts was to lift the sidecar on the left hand entry and ride the right hand section as if it were a solo, then put the sidecar wheel down for the exit - simple. I'd love a modern sidecar outfit with a bike with enough power for easy 70 mph cruising but, alas, I'm too old and I don't want it enough to spend the £1000s it would cost. Had a couple of A10 BSAs, both 1958 models. The first was new and bought for me by my grandmother without my knowledge (it's complicated) and I bought the other s/h some years later. Nearly all my bikes were ridden in long distance trials at some time in their lives, even my BSA Gold Star. Geoff I still have my Matchless 500 single I passed my test on but sadly no sidecar. I did the big end and main bearings a few years ago and I was shocked as to how fast it will go now. After running in I found myself doing 80 in the outside lane overtaking on the A303. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 This story to my shame is definitely in the section dedicated to dodgy bodge job. A good mate had had a bump in his Mk II Cortina and had no cash to repair or replace. First the chassis was a bit bent and the front end somewhat squished. So we chained the rear to the stanchion of a farm shed and then used a tractor to yank things back into place [ more or less] then liberal amounts of filler to smooth out the worst of the remaining wrinkles. One problem remained,a section of the chassis rail was to far gone due to rust and not having a welder at that time a piece of 2x2 timber was inserted and covered in filler with ton's of underseal on top! Dam thing passed two more MOT's like that and went on to serve as farm runaround for a couple more years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 leaking radiator....couple of spoons of loose tea usually did the job.. ken anderson...ne...1.... typhoo dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hopkin Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Posted by ken anderson. on 03/01/2016 17:03:55: leaking radiator....couple of spoons of loose tea usually did the job.. ken anderson...ne...1.... typhoo dept. Tea............... Tea!!!!! Should have been an egg................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 The tea probably wasn't to fix it Dave it was so Ken could have a brew by the roadside.....cheaper than visiting the Cafe & you know what these Geordies are like for saving a few bob!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Posted by Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 03/01/2016 17:46:24: The tea probably wasn't to fix it Dave it was so Ken could have a brew by the roadside.....cheaper than visiting the Cafe & you know what these Geordies are like for saving a few bob!! ............................................................................................................................................................................................. methinks the Mods should have a bit more respect for my bespoke thread......i remember my mini ovrheating due to a duff rad...all we had was a bottle of lemonade...so in it went...good old days...lot of handy tips on here dont you all think?. ken anderson...ne....1 ...lemonade dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 also a recollection from the late60's was my friend getting his first car for £20.00!..a Standard 8....jet black it was and looking at very smart...anyway we went to collect it paid the dosh and away we went........comming down the road i thought it was a bit draughty(air con)...i lifted the carpet and yes...there was the road.......ala flintstone style.... we turned around and went to get his money back.. ken anderson...ne....1 standard 8 dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trebor Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I just thought of a nice mk2 Capri, I gave it a spray job at work at the weekend. Chicken wire and filler up front, I sprayed it on a damp day and the first frost we had it came up like a pin cushion looked tidy from a distance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Nobody's mentioned Trigger's broom yet...... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 They have now. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangster Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I had three floors on the drivers side on my old moggy minor van The original had turned to lace so someone had welded on some sheet on the outside there seemed to be a gap of varying distances between this and the original As well as the floor being spongy with the rapidly increasing lace effect the void between the two always had water swilling around inside. I acquired the aluminium back from a freezer took out the seat and pop riveted this over the lace floor covering the whole area. Copious quantities of under seal filled the void and sealed the fridge back the carpet (from a saloon moggy) was virtually under sealed down. I decided seat belts would be a good idea so got some from a Ford Anglia three point fixing bolted through the floor and pillar and the outside bottom fixing involved an exhaust u bolt through the floor sandwich with two wing washers on the outside. The old girl having done many miles as a posties van then with me in its bodged state went through a few mots without fault. Talk about triggers broom it had three gearboxes in my time. The third one was finally decent Edited By gangster on 03/01/2016 20:34:21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangster Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Another episode with the old moggy minor. As apprentices we all drove old bangers just about any key would open them and start them this lead to a few people making mischief by moving the cars during the day. Having had the van moved I wired a relay through a hidden switch to the horn and a short loop of thin hook up wire. Turning on the ignition caused the horn to sound and the vehicle to fill with pungent smoke. The trap was in fact sprung the next day. I never fell foul of it myself as I fitted new barrels on the door and ignition and a real immobiliser over the weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangster Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Red x. Apart from being fun poring it into the card. Did I read somewhere that it makes good after run oil for model engines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Posted by ken anderson. on 03/01/2016 18:02:15: Posted by Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 03/01/2016 17:46:24: The tea probably wasn't to fix it Dave it was so Ken could have a brew by the roadside.....cheaper than visiting the Cafe & you know what these Geordies are like for saving a few bob!! ............................................................................................................................................................................................. methinks the Mods should have a bit more respect for my bespoke thread......i remember my mini ovrheating due to a duff rad...all we had was a bottle of lemonade...so in it went...good old days...lot of handy tips on here dont you all think?. ken anderson...ne....1 ...lemonade dept. Three of us were driving down to Portsmouth to catch the early ferry to Ouistreham to go on a lad's cycling week. The Renault 16 had a piece of copper pipe as part of the cooling circuit to the radiator and it sprung a leak where a rivet cam adrift. We fixed the leak by moving the flexible hose but we were short of water. So, using a drinking bottle off one of the bikes, we replenished it from a human source - actually 3 human sources. We caught the ferry but the bottle was discarded as of no further use for drinking We had a great week in the Auvergne and never went thirsty. IIRC we got the car checked out at a Renault garage and the radiator refilled with a more conventional fluid. There's a lot on entertaining tales here of very misspent youths doing bodges that were strictly illegal even then. I wonder if kids today still have the practical nous (and shortage of cash) for them to be telling similar stories in 20 or 30 years time. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area 51 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I remember as a lad my brothers friend (Steve) used to visit our family home, he had a Ford Anglia 100E, this would around 1970 I guess. Anyway, I was too young really to hang about with them, but I did have a look inside one day and commented the passenger footwell was full of water, the "carpet" was more or less floating. He had a tool kit in the boot did Steve, on hearing my comments I reckon he was a bit embarressed; out came a hammer and LARGE flat headed screw driver.. You can guess the rest, he opened the passenger door, aimed the screwdriver in the middle of the floating carpet and whacked it with the hammer.. water flowed from the new drain hole in the Anglia and down the road.. It was black the Anglia.. hand painted black and yellow! As a lad barely ten, I thought it looked like a giant wasp from my folks garden! Never forgotten that one... There was another friend of my brother who rolled his three wheeler "Clarkson style", most times he went out... Didnt last once his old man caught up with him. and we hear facebook and twitter is "fun" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Seems a lot of us had similar experiences..I can relate to several of the stories above... I remember buying a gearbox, set of long primary chain cases and a large cardboard box of sundry bits for a Tribsa I was gradually collecting parts to build - and went to pick them up on my little Honda 175. I started off after balancing the miscellaneous parts across my knees, while resting against a wall and set off the 10 miles or so home knowing that I couldn't afford to stop anywhere - fortunately I picked the right route with no traffic lights or awkward junctions and made it home to come to rest against the wall of my house, luckily avoiding the attention of the boys in blue. When I started RC flying I was quite happy running around on my '68 Bonneville but realised that I needed something to carry my models to the field - couldn't keep relying on a friend to pick me up (thanks Brian!) and "invested" in a Dell Boy style Reliant Supervan III as I could drive it on my motorbike licence. After several impersonations of the antics of the outfit boys on 2 wheels, a couple of months later I ended up doing a proper job when a girl in a Mini (car, not skirt) pulled out across my path and between her and the chap behind me doing a PIT manouevre, the Supervan ended up on its side and seriously rearranged. So I bought a Regal saloon from a mate for next to nothing...but he wanted to keep the engine and transmission for a sidecar outfit he was building...and part of the deal was that he'd have my BSA A10 rolling chassis (for which I'd bought the bits in the first part of this tale) into which he was convinced he could graft the Reliant engine and transmission! I lost touch with him before the project ever came to anything so I don't know how he got on. Out came his bits, in went mine and I was free to get my models to the field again. Until I hit a puddle one rainy morning, went through a road sign, back onto the road on its side and literally ground to a halt. I wasn't too bothered (fibreglass repair kits were cheap and I had a spare windscreen) until I realised I had crushed my hitherto unbreakable and battle scarred Lumpers trainer which was in the back. Two days later I holed one of the Powermax 11:1 pistons in my Bonnie for good measure - not a good week! I soon had both back on the road and eventually "upgraded" to a Bond Bug. That did a half roll after leaving Henry J's branch in Potters Bar due to brake failure but I (sort of) straightened it out until I eventually decided to get a new top half (somehow I roped it on to the roof of my Mum's old 101 Victor - no roofrack - and brought it back from Harlow to St. Albans - again avoiding the attention of the boys in blue). I was seriously embarrassed when collecting my Mick Reeves Hurricane kit from the local model shop proprieter at a club night when I found there was no possibility of getting the box in the car - thanks again to Brian who dropped it round to me the next day. I'd faded out of model flying by the time I had a car licence (got that 6 days before my first solo glider flight - a much better week!) and moved on to an Austin A40 - which came complete with an interior lake in the passenger footwell with a resident worm! Even that car has a tenuous link with aviation - the seller flies at Old Warden displays and (it's a long story) we have a tradition of swapping the locking fuel cap between us when we meet up. By 'eck, as those Yorkshiremen would say, kids these days would never believe what we went through running our old vehicles - constant repairs and bodging was the order of the day - they seem to buy what we would have considered nearly new and totally unattainable cars as a matter of course (or should that read Corsa?) for their first cars and the concept of spending their weekends wielding spanners and large hammers must be as alien as life without a mobile phone. Edited By Martin Harris on 04/01/2016 00:23:41 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Now you mention TriBSAs, I built one from a Tbird engine fitted with Bonnie cams and an A10 swinging arm frame using a plunger era BSA sprocket to get a duplex primary, a police spec chaincase with the alternator mountings, polished dural engine plates, high level exhaust, alloy rims and scrambler style bars. A lovely bike for anything up to 50 miles, at which point I had to stop and tighten all the engine mounting bolts. Another 50 miles and stop again. That made a tour of the West Country fun! My mate Ian had fitted the tallest ape-hangars we had ever seen on his A10, which gave us all a laugh as they swung forward every time he braked, and then swung back again as he accelerated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 my very first mode of motorised transport was a Lambretta LI150...bought for £5.00....... needed tiding up etc...i was told to make sure i got a reciept for my dosh! ...i spent a few weeks with the help of my fellow 16 year olds getting it ready for the road..... i remember getting a 175 cc from another scooter at the local m/cycle shop that had been wrote off...for £7.50....at the time there was an advert in the scooter mags for a conversion...you sent off your engine barrel...to be rebored out to 200cc...it came back complete with the new piston.......we put the engine back together and attempted to kick start it and nearly broke our ankles due to the higher compression...needless to say it knocked out the big end on my engine and several others...so that was that...of course there was the numerous occasions when we came off the things and went home with our pants shredded.....all good fun say i through rose tinted glasses.....my friend still has the scar from when he disapeared from sight having failed to get around a sharp bend...and ending up in the local farmers yard......having gone through the wooden fence...we still say yet there should be a blue plaque installed at the spot ....... ken anderson...ne....1 LI 150..... dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levanter Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Me and my apprentice mates would have died laughing at the very idea of having a car serviced! Two memorable events were a failed gearbox and a failed clutch. In the case of the gearbox I could only get two out of the four gears (2nd and top if I remember) No problem I still had two left and that worked fine on my local trips. I did however make home runs from time to time from North Devon to Southampton, a round trip of 320 miles, so with the fearlessness of yoof (in those days it was youth) I scrounged a Haines manual and set to work. The car was a Mini so a bit of a mind boggle but in the end I found a bolt in the sump that should have been locking the selector fork to the selector rail. It went back in very tight and no more problems while I owned it. The second was a failed clutch. This was a bit more problematical but I knew it would be at least 2-3 weeks before I had the money for the parts. There were some big car parks in Westward Ho close by so I practiced driving without a clutch. A bit tough on the starter motor for setting off in first and reverse but I did two trips to college in Plymouth (round trip 120 miles) and one with a fellow apprentice. Having completely forgotten there was no clutch I dropped a gear and overtook another car without a second thought. He remembered however and took his revenge next time it was his turn to drive and scared the living daylights out of me. Once in Plymouth I dreaded the traffic lights going red on me. Finally the new clutch was a doddle compared with the gearbox. Happy Days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area 51 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I'm having a good chuckle reading these.. Good start to the week thanks all.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 After reading all above I don't feel so ashamed of my actions knowing others were bad boys as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area 51 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Agreed John, I reckon its called "character"... not sure what the twitter/tubeface term would be for it nowadays.. I'll stick with our version on here though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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