SUNBEAM S8

The smudger

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Well, I finally got a Sunbeam.

Collected it yesterday from an elderly gentleman, he had had it for 40 odd years, it has never run whilst in his possession...


I decided to do a step by step regarding getting the bike running. It was very cold this morning, but at 7:30 the bike was calling......

On opening the garage I was greeted with a strong un-nerving smell of petrol. I added about 1/2 a gallon of fuel last night and it had been leaking. The culprit was easily found, its the steel pipe from the plastic hose to the float bowl. I want to keep it as original as possible so i heated up the ends (they were soldered on), and removed them. All I need to do now is source a bit of pipe then re-solder the ends on. So, i decided to remove the air filter and the carb. The screws holding the air filter on looked quite rusted, I had smothered them in penetrating fluid last night but still they would not budge, so a careful twist with a pair of pipe pliers saw them out.

The carb is original an Amal 276? On inspection its fairly clean, so using a bowl of fresh fuel I just cleaned it up. I will need to fit a new throttle cable but internally the carb is good. I had taken off the twist grip as the rubber had completely perished, but a good clean up revealed the clamps and the tube are serviceable. I am adamant that I want to keep the bike as original as possible, OK i can buy a new twist grip clamp and tube for 14 quid, but its a chinese copy and will no doubt be crap...

I had a better look round the bike this morning, and a little 'spit and polish' here and there revealed a really quite clean original horn (it works as well, i tested it last night with the battery on), and the pump brackets are on the underside of the tank as well!!

So, I've sort of stopped there at the moment. The next step will be to get a new fuel pipe to get it fuel tight, check the oil, make sure I have a spark then I might just attempt to start it...


Some pictures from this morning.

1. The fuel leak. A clean up revealed the culprit, a holed fuel pipe.



And yes, it was cold!!




So, I thought the easiest way to do this was to remove the ends and renew the metal pipe. A wire brush off revealed the soldered joints,





So, out with the blow torch and with a bit of gentle heat the ends came off..



Then with the carb off, I gave it a real good clean, inside and out, and checked the internals (float valve, float etc.). That looks a bit better...



2. The twist grip.

A good clean up suggests this can be used again, the throttle cable is very stiff bit I might try oiling it first, it would be nice to keep the original cable.








Original fuel taps, not leaking and functioning OK.





Front pump peg,



And the rear...




The bars will clean up I'm sure.




3. The Altette horn.

I think theres a really nice horn under here, the original bracket is there as well.




A few more pictures. Note the plugs for the battery connectors, are they the original? can someone tell me how they connect to the battery???

Also the battery box still retains the strap that stops it from falling open!!



The oil switch...



I will post more as I go on. Apologies for the poor quality of some of them, the iPhone camera is to blame, not me!!![/quote]
 
So, I can't resist going out there but its started to rain now so i'll leave it for a while.

I removed the plugs to check them, I honestly think the KLG one has some sort of historic value!!! I can remember when KLG head office was on Roehampton Vale, just past Kingston hill, now that was a long time ago. I am going to keep these as a reminder of how not to tune an engine, for goodness sakes they are even different plugs!!!


At least the plug lead wires were the correct original ones, albeit a bit perished and split. They even still had the shakeproof washers on!








Do you think someone had an eyesight issue when gapping them?





Now my first thoughts as to why there was no plug gap were a bit scary, maybe something has clouted the gap shut from inside :eek:hmy:

But a closer inspection suggested that as there were no tell tale marks that this was not the case, just bad workmanship???

I did a finger compression test (finger over the hole, feel for suction followed by pressure), it felt good and in the correct order.

I then removed the cap. Now looking at that Lucas rotor arm brought back some memories, I used to work for a Jaguar garage in my apprenticeship days, seen a few of those..... The points gap looked good, i'd say from experience about 15 thou. The carbon brush for the HT side centre in the cap was a bit worn but i've seen worse running.

Then I checked the oil. The oil level is correct, and using a torch i could see the bottom of the sump, it all looked very clean in there..

Next off was the tank. I was glad i had kept this spanner from my younger days, its had more use today than it had in twenty odd years. This was the spanner size for battery terminals on most cars...




The underside of the tank is in really good order, no accident marks, the oil spray from the engine has sort of protected it over the years..








Under the tank looked good, all nice and original..





So, lets take the rocker cover off and have a look? I was really surprised at this, its as clean as a whistle, good tappet clearances (A noisy tappet is a happy tappet!!), no free play at all in the rocker arms when off load, good clean chain, it all looks really good!






You know what I'm most impressed about so far, I have not yet found one rounded off, burred nut or bolt or one stripped thread!! :cheer:

Happy days!!!
 
Good one ... you have our attention :thumb

Overall piccie of the bike?

:beerjug:
 
Well done Steve, wishing you all the best with it :thumb2

I'm not an expert or anything but give me a shout if I can help.
 
Is that the main frame member? :eek:

Yes, i nearly shit myself as well when I saw that!!

Sunbeam being Sunbeam.. When they run the harness along the bottom of the frame, they put cork around the frame to stop the clip rubbing through, what you can see is the cork rotting away.

They dont build em like they used too......
 
Congratulations on your find! I will be following this restore/re-commission with interest :beerjug:
 
Yes, i nearly shit myself as well when I saw that!!

Sunbeam being Sunbeam.. When they run the harness along the bottom of the frame, they put cork around the frame to stop the clip rubbing through, what you can see is the cork rotting away.

They dont build em like they used too......

Thank fuck for that! :thumb2
 
Talk about projects, this is one. So pleased you ave found a "beam" looks very original. I think we need some video evidence of the transition from today to a lovely runner.

Steve
 
Hopefully this one will have good castings.
A friend of mine has an S8 that had porous engine castings. He said the contaminated alloy gradually goes bad over time. He managed to source a new crankcase but having it deep cleaned and vacuum impregnated with anaerobic resin can work. It's not a certain fix as the porous metal will be literally full of oil but it can work.
 
I would love to be there when you get it struck up.....A YouTube video would be very much appreciated....:thumb2
 
Looking forward to this one....good luck with it...


May all your bolts come undone.....
 
I bought one in 1972 in Broughty Ferry, it was 20 years old then. (So was I)....

It was actually in good clean condition.

Issues:

Generator: field wiring would break (jumper between coils) and has to be soldered a few times.
Distributor: check the adv-retard plate fit on the splined shaft. Mine was sloppy.
Don't overtighten anything ever....
oil leaks, etc....
Good fun to ride and Stewarts gave good parts service even in those days.
Sold it after a year or so, went Jap......
 
S

I removed the plugs to check them, I honestly think the KLG one has some sort of historic value!!! I can remember when KLG head office was on Roehampton Vale, just past Kingston hill, now that was a long time ago. I am going to keep these as a reminder of how not to tune an engine, for goodness sakes they are even different plugs!!!

The old KLG site is now an asda. :( They developed and made the spark plugs for the concord engines. No, don't ask me i haven't a clue.

I've got a couple of brand new KLG plugs somewhere, my neighbours husband used to work for them and when he died and she cleaned out his shed she gave them to me for using on my bikes. :D

Stewarts engineering used to be in Putney.
 
This looks like a wonderful project. Good luck.

I liked the pic of your dog with his ball at his feet. "Dad's got a new bike so I suppose this is redundant for a while…." Great.

Fluff.
 
I had an old Pre Unit Triumph & did much the same as @BinRidin. Got fed up with leaks & things falling off so went Kawasaki.
If I had another my first special tool would be a thread insert system. I prefer Timesert to Helicoil. Then use them everywhere.
Loctite 518 anaerobic gasket is great stuff. Get a decent size tube and use with every gasket. Belt & braces.
 


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