1942 BSA- A little off topic

[Brit plumber]

I used to have a 1940 WM20 but sold it as finding all the special 1940 parts was very expensive and with already owning 12 WD Royal Enfields it wasn't really in keeping with the collection.

Your bike has been modified for the Volkes air filter system which mounted on top of the tank, hence why one side at the rear has been removed. Are you aware of Henk Joores website and forum? There are people on there who have quite a few of the original Key cards and maybe able to give you some history of your bike. I think you can also ask the MOD for it's record too but more than likely it would just be the basic details of contract details and disposal date.

Do lots of research before you buy any spares as the post war M20 was a little different, anything with a YM or ZM20 prefix is post war.

[Brian B]

A quick update. I worked on the bike all day on Saturday draining and replacing the fluids. I pulled the sump filter and removed a lot of gunk out of it. It was leaking badly and I cut out some new gaskets out of a sheet of cork I picked up at the auto store. The oil tank was really bad and it took a while to get it clean. I also cleaned out the fuel tank. It is solid, but I need to replace the seals in the shut off valves. I tried to get the bike running on Saturday night, but no luck.

Had a few minutes tonight after a full family day and was able to finally get her to fire up. I had spark but replaced the spark plug with a new one. I played with the timing advance based on advice I received from the M20 forum. Once I got enough fuel to it, it fired up. It didn't run well, but it ran!! Will work on it more this week to get it running more smoothly so I can take it for a test spin. Here is a quick video

[Peter Laidler]

Did you/can you ever find out how it came to be in the US Brian?

While I was in Singapore, the transport workshop from 25 Company RCT next to us at Alexandra had a load of ex-'census' vehicles such as Bedford OY's and QL's and Austin K5 3 tonners and K4 ambulances. They also still had some old 'census' motorcycles that retained their old C- xxxxx census numbers that were never reallocated post war numbers. This was because, so said, they had been left behind/captured by the Japanese in 1942 and picked up again when we came back in '45. The VRB's (the Vehicle Record Books) had all been lost so they couldn't be allocated new numbers such as your xxYExx type. I expect that these were just sold off cheap along with everything else when we left. Mind you, not as cheap as when we left them in '42!

I expect that if you are careful lifting the paint on the tank you'll find traces of its past. Anyone tell Brian what he can use to lift one layer of paint at a time?

[Brian B]

Peter,

Not sure how it arrived in the US. The previous owner purchased it from a gentleman who had it for 20 plus years. I am going to try to track him down to see if I can get some more history on the bike.

I am tempted to leave the bike in as is condition and ride it. Undecided on how to proceed, so I think I will wait and think about whether to leave as is or restore.

Thanks for all the help,

Brian

[Peter Laidler]

I've said many times that my brother has an old Bedford but that is restored to c1950's BAOR spec in gloss deep bronze green paint of the era. Very nice too but it ain't 'genuine' because it started its life as an RAF issue Bedford! I'm sure that if you do decide to restore it, you could safely take it to exactly what it was simply because it's there before your very eyes and dead right too! If you took it back to its wartime guise then you'd really be guessing what census number it had.

The really good bit about post war is that you could match the divisional tactical signs (known as the tac signs) with any unit of your choosing that were in Germany of the era! Great project

[Brit plumber]

If you still have the old suppressor fitted in the ignition lead then take it out as it isn't need in this day and age and it just messes up the ignition anyway.

If you haven't split the crank case to clean it and it was pretty gunky, I'd be tempted to run it with some cheap oil and do regular changes until most of the movable crap is out. I split one of my cases down that looked to be pretty clean and found the sludge traps were well and truly full. It's said that modern oils with detergents can wreck an older engine by pushing the gunk through the big end if it's not been stripped and cleaned but it's not totally true, the cleaning agents carry the carbon deposits away but don't tend to remove the gunk that's built up in the traps.

As for not running well, sounds pretty normal to me, well at least that's how mine run.

[Peter Laidler]

Army issued oils had a detergent included, hence the D in the OMD spec. It was said that this didn't do civillian car engines any good. Whether this was just to stop you using the same 'free' oil in your car or bike is another matter

[Brit plumber]

It's the forty odd years since they were released from the Army that causes the build up. As far as I know it's true about the OMD not being much good for your own engine unless you know it to be clean. From what I understand, civilian oils were often based on vegetable fats which broke down and built up in the sludge trap, if you then put OMD in the engine it could move the sludge and block the oil galleries and the quill to the big end with dire results. Like you say, how much of this is a scare tactic to prevent people from pilfering military engine oil I don't know. I've always stripped my crank cases down, I find it therapeutic to strip a dirty engine down, clean it, replace parts as required and rebuild it and then wonder where the extra nuts should go. Thank god for digital cameras, they got me out of a few rebuild messes!

[Bill Hollinger]

Nice bike Brian and I'm like you, I like the way it looks as it sits.

BTW, not off topic at all.