A ROYAL RESTORATION - PART 1 - by John Phillips

For more than four years a collection of boxes and bits has been collecting dust in the back of the workshop, it is reputed to be a 1921 Royal Enfield 2 ¼ HP Gentleman’s Model 200.  Rediscovered after a bit of a tidy up in the workshop I think the time has come for an attempt at resuscitation.  First job to find out what bits are missing and what bits are not worth keeping, plus in my experience what bits are nothing to do with any of the others.

The first picture (Pic’1 is not of very good quality, was taken at the time of originally unloading, with a Polaroid and scanned four years later) shows the collection of parts, the red being either red lead primer or rust. One thing that was in its favour was an original 1921 registration number and an old buff log book along with a first issue V5, which was immediately sent off to the DVLA and I now have a current V5C.

All the bearings were removed from the steering head and wheel hubs, and then the wheels, frame, forks, handle bars, mudguards, and several other bits were then taken to Bob at J Tec. who is one of the few commercial people I would trust with parts in this delicate state.  On the return the frame was in good order, the forks spindle holes were worn and the rear rack and handle bars were very badly pitted but still sound.  The mudguards were not only missing a detachable section at the forward end of the rear mudguard but the front mudguard forward of the valance was more holes than metal but luckily the valance section would stand repairing, this front mudguard was not quite the design I expected to find on the 1921 model and a bit of research revealed that it was a pre-20 mudguard from a RE 2 3/4HP model and only had the rear half valanced, and no magneto splash guard fitted, but in this era you got what they had on the shelf at the time of assembly.  The wheels although sound were badly pitted so at this point the decision was made not to attempt to restore the machine to concourse or even original condition as most of the plated parts were too badly pitted to re-plate, and coupled with the fact that all the chain covers were missing, along with tool boxes, exhaust system, one of the inverted levers, and a lots of smaller parts, it would have cost probably twice what the machine is worth.  So it looks like it is a “get it back on the road” project, fill and paint all the pitted bits (even the original plated parts) use any parts to hand, make all the missing bits I can and buy as little as possible.

So first order the things that I need in the early stages, a riders handbook and spares catalogue from Annice in the VMCC library, a 3 inch mudguard from Renovation Spares, and a trip to an old friend who runs a small engineering company for a short off cut of ground 10mm  EN8 (for the fork spindles) as there is going to be no attempt to restore to original only get back on the road then I’m afraid the luxury of imperial fittings will have to go by the board, for example to restore the fork spindle holes the forks would have to be bored out to remove the wear, re-bushed and reamed to 3/8 inch but line them up in the lathe and re-bored straight through at 10mm removes all the wear in one operation and is ready for 10mm spindles without re-bushing etc, and the same will go for damaged threads etc they will be taken up/down to the nearest metric size. (weep!! all you purists)

Picture 2 opposite (click to enlarge) is the only one that I could find that was of good enough quality to reproduce but is of the 1922 onwards model, this differs in that the saddle is attached by a different method as is shown by the small sketch.

The model was in production with very little alteration from 1914 to 1939 but one thing they did alter at the end of 1921 was the saddle fittings. The original design featured a two part rear mudguard the larger piece being fastened to the rear rack, so that in the event of having to remove the rear wheel you only had to slacken two bolts on the rear wheel lugs and the whole rear section which included the rack, mudguard, number plate and light etc lifted off in one piece. At least that was the original idea, unfortunately no one told the chap who designed the saddle and it ended up with the front fastened to the frame top tube and the rear to the rear rack…Oop’s so in 1922 they extended the top tube rearwards a couple of inches and mounted the saddle on that, giving not only the quickly detachable rear section but a saddle that was much easier to adjust.

Click here for a useful list of firms, people, products and odds and ends that I have used during this restoration that might just help solve the odd problem you come across (pdf).

To Part 2 of “A Royal Restoration”