It being cold in the garage I can only spend a couple of hours a day in there and also feeling less than 100% since getting my Covid jab, I cannot get stuck into the Monster so the 3 1/2 is getting all the attention at the moment.
The strip down continues but was waiting for delivery of a jack to sit beneath the frame rails so I can get the forks out. Ebay delivered today and it seems to work well.
The footrests, centre stand, side stand, exhaust hanger brackets have now all been wire wheeled back to bare metal and given a coat of phosphoric acid to get rid of any residual tin worm. Just the rear light carrier and the front mudguard struts to do now and they can all get coat of etch primer.
Two unforseen problems arose during the strip down, first the swinging arm bearings have a tad too much side play and second the frame appears to have been bent in the region of the side stand bracket.
The wheels are in line in two axes so it is not too much to worry about. It looks to me as though at some time during its history a car has reversed into the other side whilst the bike was on its side stand which then dug in and twisted the frame. Since all the paint is coming off anyway I may try to use my brazing torch to see if I can get it hot and see if the frame returns naturally to the right shape.
Back in 1972 I had a mate who raced a 750 Norton in a Manx frame which he fell off, breaking his wrist and bending the frame when the front wheel hit an armco barrier. the front wheel was touching the two front down tubes. We all thought it was scrap but he wrote to Ken Sprayson at Renolds who said bring it up and he would see what he could do, no promises.
When we got to Birmingham he was called from his office, he was obviously the Works Manager in suit and tie. He took us down to the shop floor to a room at the far end of the works with a huge surface plate c12' x 10' with clamping channels machined into it. He took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves and after the frame was clamped down took an oxy acetylene torch to the frame, starting by heating around the swinging arm pivot point and slowly working his way forward.
Ever so slowly you could watch the frame take on its original shape after about an hour or so he checked the alignment of the steering head with a mandrel through the bearing tube. At no stage was any force used just the oxy acetylene torch. The man was an artist and would not accept any payment although we popped back later with a couple of bottles of good whiskey