BSA Golden Flash

Well, my pocket book has finally opened, though not much actual work has commenced.

I placed my “mondo order” with SRM Industries in the UK. They had a lot of what I needed…the order total came to about $2,600. Cough, cough. My only complaint thus far has been a lack of communication regarding the status of the order; they do not seem to monitor their email very well, and that leaves expensive and late night phone calls to try to find out its status. I’ll be interested in seeing whether my credit card was charged the minute I gave them the number, or whether they’ll do the more gentlemanly thing and wait until it ships. I know what my guess is…

[Follow up: They didn’t charge me until it shipped, and I am satisfied with the quality of the goods they sent. I would recommend them, no hesitation–perhaps an order of less than 100 items might expedite things!]

I also sent my tank and toolbox off to Ross Thompson Metal Finishing in Canada on the strong recommendation of a friend. I couldn’t find anyone locally here in Seattle who would chrome a used motorcycle gas tank, and both it and the toolbox need the light touch of an artisan to straighten them out. Ross quoted me (without seeing the tank) $300 US to chrome it, and possibly $50 or so to fix it, depending on whether my idea of “light damage” meshes with his!

Some actual work that has been going on doesn’t even have anything to do with me. My friend Jim has been taking pieces of the bike that were painted in for sandblasting during his lunch hour, not really in exchange for anything, but I have been lending my E-Type knowledge to his ongoing restoration. Now I have two bins of blasted parts–one without damage that can be prepped and painted, the other with minor problems that need to be corrected before painting.

My remaining tasks in the prep department include:

• Bead blasting the cast aluminum parts of the motor and transmission
• Taking the polished aluminum parts of the engine to a plater to make good; I tried my hand at it, and do not like the very iffy results I obtained
• Chemically stripping the fenders and frame
• Painting the black items myself, such as the cylinder barrels and side-stand

My hope is now to deliver everything to a painter in April; because the parts will all have been stripped, and the metal work needed isn’t so great, I’ll be revisiting the $1,500 quote that I received from my preferred source. I hope to get it down to under $1,000.

The engine is waiting the arrival of the SRM parts; I have no idea what the machining costs on that will be, but I’m hopeful they’ll be in the $500 range or so. In addition, I’m guessing I’ll end up buying another $1,500 in miscellaneous bits. So my budget, set originally at $6,000 or so, will have ballooned to $8,000…sigh. All I can say is, thanks, Mastercard.

I had better get an OBE for this effort!

Running expense list:

    $1,630 (previous entry total)
    ------
     2,000  SRM order (nearly everything needed)(estimated)
       500  Ross Thompson work (estimated)
        70  Shipping to Ross
       100  Rechroming of kickstart and gear levers
    ======
    $4,300

Running time clock*:

hours   48 (previous entry total)
      ----
         5 (misc.)
      ====
        53 (total to date)

*I work at a leisurely pace.