BSA A65 engine crank and bottom end components inspected and discussed.

With the crankcases split, it was finally time to take a look at the crank, big ends, main bearings etc. Surprisingly, things were not as bad as I have seen on some which I have stripped previously, but they weren't great, either and the timing side journal and bush will be attended to, while the big ends may still be within specs, although I will let my regrind guy be the judge of that!

[@user-bn6bb8un4z]

A very interesting series of videos.. Thanks Paul..

[@norsehall309]

G'day from Australia, Paul, that rebuild of the 650 will be a job well done and looking forward to seeing the bike on the road again running right, cheers mate, Neil 🤠.

[@TheYorkie1954]

bloody hell Paul you are digging through a complete pile a do do there

[@brockett]

A very interesting series of videos.

[@peterparsons3297]

for some reason the timing side bush failure on my A65 involved the bush working its way out of its steel shell and becoming food for the timing gears... three times. thinking back if instead of a bush in a steel shell a solid phosphor bronze bush may have cured whatever the cause was. mine had hi comp pistons big valves and spitfire cams, went well.... when it was going

[@mickbrown8249]

A10 only Beezza big bike UK ive had TO THRASH:~] for 3 days loaned But enjoyed @ 18yr old CAPE Town..talking to guy below ..

[@davidmarkwort9711]

Try getting in touch with Angus Campbell, he does a lot of Beezer stuff, maybe he has the shims, or maybe he can help you regarding the welding.

[@BLUESBOYBENFIELD]

How many moles could a mole-grip grip, if a mole-grip could grip moles?……

[@onemanhisdub1969]

1?😉

[@hermangibbs8163]

Thanks Paul.

[@ianaristotlethompson4186]

A65, Lightening and Spitfire. The crank doesn’t look all that different to an A10 I’m working on.

[@neilmcintosh1200]

All seems reasonably good. Did the very first A65 Stars have ball journal drive side mains, followed on by A65B with roller bearings with shims behind the bearing, rather than the bush side ? I think you have a normal layout for a fairly early engine there.

[@grahamseward1388]

Did one rod have the oil hole in it Paul? Should be drive side, I belive the later engines didn't have it

[@phil291254]

As I said in last vid a amateur has rebuilt that enine with little attention to detail Paul - con rods wrong way round when theyre marked whattt the guy who paid for that rebuild was taken to cleaners big time...

[@onecookieboy]

To be fair, con rods are symmetrical and it is unlikely to make any difference which way around they are, all that really matters is that the caps are on the correctly oriented to the main part of the rod.

[@martinowl]

Without knowing the full history of who did what & who claimed to have done what, much speculation on this one. I wonder if a previous owner acquired it with it needing some major repairs. He/she is just an enthusiastic biker & not a ‘proper’ mechanic, (a bit like myself!lol ), they carried the repairs they were aware of, but didn’t have the knowledge to identify the issues that someone as capable as Paul can find. Maybe we will never know. On the other hand , if this has been sold by a dealer who claims to be a classic bike specialist & it was described as being fully rebuilt, different story.

[@phil291254]

The cracking casings and use of plastic metal / damaged barrel gasket ( punched dot left on mating surfaces) would be very worrying to me if it had been assembled by a professional business. I dabble in rebuilding my own engines and whilst I don’t actually make parts or machine now basic assembly and checks in a methodical manner should not allow these sort of mistakes - but who knows?

[@onecookieboy]

@@martinowl Agree, you would hope that a trained mechanic would have built it to a higher standard than we see here, it looks more like a home mechanic who quickly assembled the engine on the kitchen table and really just wanted to get it running enough to sell it for a quick profit.

[@jwbakker5100]

your camerawork makes me seasick . Please get a stand , and a good lamp.

[@paulhenshaw4514]

No can do, sorry.