Machined some brass bar, soldered it to a bracket to make an ammeter housing for the A7.

Going for the 50's bob job look on the A7. Been out for a spin, all good so far!

Thought I'd have a look to see how the exhausts I picked up off Tom last weekend would look on the A7.

With a bit of fettling they should work well.

I've mainly been messing with the timing side of the B31,  a couple of bushes were quite badly worn and the exhaust cam lobe was in a bad state.

I got the Beeza bobber back up and running, front end on the A7 nearly there too.

"New" cylinder head valves etc, rebored to +20 Harris T140 piston (the "Hepolite" piston and bore were worn out after 2000 miles), newer downpipe and re-positioned saddle with new springs.

Sympathetic bobberisation of the A7 going ok.

Taper rollers in the headstock, fork shrouds changed for ones without headlamp ears, bracket fabbed and small brass Raydot lamp fitted.

Been out for a couple of short rides on the A7, but it keeps killing right hand spark plugs.

It's the same cylinder that had the valve trouble and heat seized piston. Have put a hotter plug in hoping it'll bed in and sort itself out.

After months of procrastination I took the head off the A7 to investigate it's lack of compression.

The bores and pistons look fine, it's on 1st oversize, not too bad for a 68 year old bike. The problem seems to be in the right hand combustion chamber, either the valves aren't seating properly, or the head's cracked. There has been some brazing inside the head, not sure if it's to repair cracks or to hold the valve seats in. Oh, and the silicone fairy has been everywhere!

A7 day today! The bike I originally went for didn't seem to be getting anywhere, and then this one came along. Thanks to Mike for the bike and to Brian from the British Ironworks blog for his advice.

The bike came back from South Africa, they were sold to Commonwealth Police forces all over the world, see 2nd picture (stolen from www.sumpmagazine.com).