Slow progress, or maybe not!

All done? Well actually no, still a long way to go. This is my M120 and Panther chassis which I’ve had for probably 37 years but it’s something to aim for with the Wreck.

The major parts of the frame were rubbed down and any rusty areas treated with Kurust which allegedly converts and neutralises the rust. It was then hung up and given a couple of coats of primer followed by three coats of black cellulose, all sprayed on.



Spraybooth, the old greenhouse. (Note the sidecar.)
 

You cannot assemble the springer frame without having the gearbox to hand unless you want to take half of it apart again so I turned to that. In addition I was waiting for the plating to come back.
Externally the gearbox was white with alloy corrosion but dismantled easily. The internals were found to be in very good condition and just needed a quick clean. The corrosion on the cases came off easily using a rotating wire brush bolted to an old washing machine motor. This gave quite a nice shiny finish. As is common the threads for the chain adjusters on the bottom mounting were stripped so these were helicoiled to 5/16" BSF, a coarser thread than the original Cycle thread which is easily stripped.
The brush was also used on the rusty ends of the kickstart and gear change spindles. Reassembly was quite straightforward and it clicked cleanly into all gears when finished. I replaced the sprocket which was badly worn and fitted the short clutch pushrod which was missing. The gear lever is rotted through and went onto the scrap pile.



Gearbox parts



Kickstart case parts



Finished gearbox.

Finally the plating came back. Many of the parts, particularly the shrouds on the shock absorbers were quite deeply pitted and were unlikely to clean up sufficiently for chroming so everything was zinc plated and passivated. Some parts that were beyond saving were replaced from the boxes that litter my garage. It's very frustrating when you know you have something but can't find it anywhere.


Plated parts.

Anyway all parts are there for basic assembly of the frame.