Barry Brown

10 August 2011 at 11:57 #48432

Did the M45 always use 2 tail lights?

Barry Brown

24 July 2011 at 01:27 #48392

Colin, That is exactly the type of priceless info that I am looking for. Thank you for sharing it. Barry

Barry Brown

23 July 2011 at 12:03 #48390

Colin, Can you please elaborate on on the M45 circulation mods ? Thanks, Barry

Barry Brown

19 July 2011 at 22:07 #48373

Laurence, Where are you located? There is a company in Cleveland that specializes in gaiters etc. That is who will be making mine. I will post the info or email it to you if you are interested. Could be a bargain the way the US dollar is going! Barry
PS thanks yet again Colin!

Barry Brown

8 July 2011 at 09:52 #48350

Thanks for taking the time to look. From what I can gather it would appear that “butted’ or tapered spokes first appeared on bicycles in 1896 so who knows maybe Wilbur Gunn was using them from the getgo on his motorcycle. Too bad that little beauty did not survive!

Barry Brown

28 June 2011 at 23:22 #48326

Thank you Colin, It looks promising and yes I am a member. Thank goodness I can avoid the vat at 20% but of course with the shipping and our own dreaded GST it works out equally painfull!

Barry Brown

28 June 2011 at 01:30 #48323

Well you can forget about all that bragging from me about having a perfect gearbox! Closer inspection revealed a few missing teeth on the herringbone gears. Owch! In the past with Harley and other motorcycle boxes I have successfully built up teeth with a specialist oxy acetylene rod , called “sif bronze” on this side of the pond. I suppose I will give it a go as long as there are not 2 adjacent teeth it seems to hold up. Of course if new gears are available I will go that route.
Thanks for the info guys, it’s a great help.

Barry Brown

27 June 2011 at 01:47 #48319

Eddie, Thanks for the interesting insight into potential problems! I will take you suggestions to heart . I really appreciate you and others on this valuable forum putting up with what must seem to many stupid questions! Unfortunately there will be many more unless the moderator steps in. Cheers, Barry

Barry Brown

25 June 2011 at 10:37 #48317

I am not an engineer but if the engine seized at 500 miles I would suspect inadequate piston clearance especially if the pistons were forged. Whatever pistons I run I will have treated with a thermal barrier on the crown and special skirt coating. There is a company called “Swain” near Rochester New York that does this. Google their webpage, you may find it interesting.

Barry Brown

14 June 2011 at 12:42 #48295

Here is the T9 gearbox on my M45. It seems to be in superb shape. I thought about an Alvis box but why change it if it has survived this long? It appears to be a very robust design and I hope I can master double clutching to keep it together!

Attached files

Barry Brown

14 June 2011 at 00:01 #48289

Thanks for the quick reply Eddie . Much appreciated.

Barry Brown

2 June 2011 at 15:52 #48257

Thanks for the info Julian. All of what you have said makes the car even more appealing to me as this “matching number ” thing seems to be an obsession with some. Vintage motorbike legend Titch Allen once commented that a mismatched number bike often had a more interesting history! That said I’ll look for the number anyway out of curiosity! Cheers, Barry
PS I am looking forward to visiting LMB

Barry Brown

19 May 2011 at 00:32 #48241

Here in North America the removal of zinc from most oils is a cause for concern as that is what protects cam lobes and lifters from excessive wear. Fortunately, for now over here we have available Shell Rotella 15W 40 oil formulated with highly stressed diesels in mind and possessing the needed additives for our elderly designs. This subject has been widely discussed on many other forums and not being a petroleum engineer can not comment further . I do believe the philosophy of using any cheap oil is incorrect.

Barry Brown

16 May 2011 at 16:38 #48236

Thank you gentlemen, very interesting, I have 2 Brough motorbikes, one of which the frame was swapped at the factory and another had a refurbished used engine installed at the factory . Both were sold as new! Must have been the economic times rather than skullduggery although from what I gather George Brough was a bit if a rogue . I still can not find a Meadows number near the flywheel area so would appreciate a photo as I may be looking at the wrong area. It appears the aluminum has remnants of some sort of silver paint. As the number M45/17 does not match the engine number on the bulkhead plate can I assume my engine was changed ? The gearbox numbers are very easy to see. Are there any surviving factory records of all this or did the blitz take care of that ? The Brough club is fortunate in having most of the works record cards and just about every component on each bike was stamped.

Barry Brown

15 May 2011 at 17:03 #48230

At the pace my recommissioning/restoration is going lucky dice may be a good idea! The mystery deepens. Thanks for checking. Could you also check the location of engine numbers? The only number I can find is M45/17 near the oil filler which I have been told is the Meadows number. I can’t find the Lagonda number.