The latest addition to the Moss family arrived on August 8th. A healthy little girl and we’re all very happy. She’s not been in the workshop yet but I intend to indoctrinate them both to make sure that their idea of a family holiday is to share a damp tent at a racing circuit. I’ve taken a couple of weeks off for paternity leave and as well as spending some enjoyable time with the family, I also managed to get the Norton model 18 gearbox shell down to a local machine shop to (hopefully) have it fixed.
I’m a little nervous about giving it to the guy, not because I think for a moment that he’s not capable of working a lathe or a mill, but that unless you are going to prepare and supply an entire op sheet that details every check, every measurement, the way you hold the component etc, you are relying on someone really working to engage with the context of a component to make sure that they actually address the problem.
It’s not that I’m a control freak, just that I’ve found that people who are sparky enough to really engage like that are the exception rather than the rule. Anyway, I’m very excited at the possibility that I’ll be overwhelmed with satisfaction at the job!

Tomorrow, the Norton will dismount the bench having used its quota of time unwisely by presenting me with damaged gears and casing, rather than allowing me to put it all together. The Scott Super Squirrel racer will go back on so that I can check it over prior to its appointment with the dyno next Thursday morning.

I don’t really have a clue what it’s going to tell me, but I’m thinking that it’s likely to be over 30 BHP. The most interesting thing though will be to see the actual torque curve as the one I got from the last dyno test I did, which was prior to all the flow and port work I did over the winter was really strong at 3500 rpm and then everything tailed off well before 5000 RPM. I think I’ve got more revs now, and have lost some at the bottom. It’s going to interesting to see.

Also, to recap, I know that my inlet port area is 25% bigger than the cross sectional area of the carb, so I’m going to try to get it all ready for twin carbs for the last meeting and get the extra gas in. I’ve got to have cables made, carb machining work, float chamber/ carb flow testing before that can be finished which is why I need to get it back on the bench! I also want to get it back on the dyno before I go.

Hopefully the rest of the bike will be ok. The rear tyre did suffer at the beezumph as it was quite hot and large chunks get ripped out if it starts to hop around. I’m pretty sure that the last meeting in September will not be so hot that this is exacerbated.

Anyway, loss of sleep is taking it’s toll so I’ll sign off.