The Joys of Restoration Work- 1966/7 G15CSR

Information relating to the Matchless G15 or AJS Model 33 750cc twin. This also includes the G15 Mk II and the G15/45
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Gerard Harrison
Posts: 72
Joined: Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:45 am
Location: Nassau USA

The Joys of Restoration Work- 1966/7 G15CSR

Post by Gerard Harrison »

Well after enduring a holiday season head cold now on the wane, I felt sort of well enough to wander out to the garage yesterday...and it was sort of warm enough to justify the trip. I commenced to attack the CSR with wrenches and lukewarm enthusiasm to further pluck parts off of it for assessment and cleaning or trashing.

Today's exercise was getting the inner and outer primary case covers off with a "stretch-goal" of getting the transmission out of the cradle.

The outer case came off without a hitch and very little oil...the allen head screws are nice quality aftermarket and I will clean them up and reuse them. The stator seems okay...exposed coil type, 6-pole/coils....needs 3 bullet connectors re-soldered on to it..... The rotor seems a bit anemic.

The outer Primary cover is chrome plated....poorly chrome plated and now aged...I do not recall seeing anything that supports the idea that the G15CSR came with chromed covers....but anyway and otherwise the chroming acted as a hard shell and managed to keep the outer cover in excellent shape from a scratch-gouge-and-dent perspective...guess I will drag that off to Nassau Chrome in Mineola and have it de-chromed

The inner primary is secured by the classic 3 countersunk flathead screws....which had been replaced with bigger countersunk screws as the originals had,, at sometime backed themselves out judging from the residual evidence of some sort of mechanical mayhem occuring inside the primary. I am certain a prior owner went ape with bigger-is-better (American approach to nearly everything) and some kind of silicone caulk to secure the jumbo screws.

There is no other attachment point for the inner primary...just the 3 lousy screws....a truly Panglossian, if not downright brainless arrangement by the visionaries at Plumstead....I will fabricate a mid-point securing stud arrangement to the tranny plate (which itself was never drilled to serve any supporting function for the inner primary)

The gear-pulling tool got the rotor off the crankshaft end...the securing nut offered little resistance as it did not have any washer other than the collar. The gear was hit with a hand torch after I had it under moderate pressure with the gear-puller...that released with a "pop"....clutch and clutch hub came off with little resistance...no washer on the hub nut...clutch plates are vestiges of what was once utile.

Striking Oil!!! Well I was glad when I originally got the bike since the oil tank had been thoughtfully emptied....turns out the thoughtfulness had more to do with the Oil Pump allowing the contents of the oil tank to wet-sump into the crankcase...upon removal of the lower of the 3 inner-primary securing screws,,, a thick steady stream of crude came flying out....screw went back in quickly and old oil bottles and a small funnel got most of the oil into containment and not on the garage floor....I was thinking as the seemingly endless supply flowed out "So this is how the head of BP must have felt about the Gulf spill...the only question being: when is this going to farking stop!!"

Finally the inner-primary was removed....now tired but working under some strange momentum and driven by fear of sub-freezing weather in the days ahead I tackled the tranny....I removed the tranny drive-gear/pinion securing plate...the retaining screw,,,a slot-head, had been badly buggered-up by prior owner maintenance...so I went after it immediately with the impact driver and with one solid whack I was able to loosen it....it is now getting colder out...I am now tired to the point of getting sloppy...I took a large box-end spanner to the nut securing the drive gear/pinion and got positioned with the hand sledge to give it a solid freeing whack....spanner slips off the nut...flies downward with force and my thumb became the impact-cushioning element between the spanner and the crankshaft end...there is a blue spot materializing under my thumbnail as I write this....I retreat from this endeavor and decide to just get the tranny out of the cradle

So I assess the transmission assembly mounting arrangement....there was no longer a cross-bolt & adjuster assembly present that would adjust the position of the transmission,,,,gone...long gone....I thumbed the thick layer of grease and crud away from the hole in the plate to see if the bike ever had a cross-bolt assembly installed...well it did...there was just a circle of missing paint from where the washer once was on the mounting plate to attest that it had existed but had left the bike years before...discarded by a prior owner after being assessed as some useless appendage that had no purpose...maybe like the factory's assessment of the need for a back-end securing stud for the inner primary

Prior owner had reversed the upper and lower stud and bolt assemblies...the stud for the lower pivoting mount was used up top and the bolt was used below...prior owner must have had one of those "eeny-meeny-miny-moe" moments on reassembly. I suppose I should be grateful that the prior owner saw the need for both an upper and lower attachment scheme...he could have just assumed competing pressure/tension between the primary and final drive chains would hold the tranny in the right place........

Once freed of its securing hardware, I attempted to wangle and angle the transmission out of the cradle...no luck...one of the rear plates needs to come off...thumb is throbbing now...it is sending out a steady pulsing beacon telling me to get off the garage floor and call it a day....I decided to listen to my thumb...it knew better than I did that it was time to call it quits...but it had the painful education that allowed it to offer perspective my brain was lacking

It is supposed to be warm again tomorrow...I will consult with my insulted digit to see what lays ahead


Edited by - Gerard Harrison on 02 Jan 2011 05:53:23 AM
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