Restoration

Firstly, a view of the sidecar body as first obtained.

The roof unit is hinged so that the passenger can get in and out of the sidecar.

This is practical, especially for using the sidecar regularly in all weathers!

However the aim was to restore the sidecar to its original condition, so the roof unit had to go...

The first step was to remove the built-up platform that had been added to take the hinged roof.

Fortunately, this platform had been added to the top of the existing bodywork. 

After removal of the platform, the original outline of the sidecar body was revealed. Note that the lifting scuttle and

screen had been replaced by the hinged roof and would need to be recreated from scratch. The original seat back 

had also been removed. Basically the outer panels were in good condition, as was the underneath of the body. 

The main work would be to restore the interior of the body to its original condition.

Looking into the seat pan, from above. The original door mechanism can be seen. Generally things look

rather tired and all the interior panels need to be replaced.

Work has started on replacing the boot floor. The curved metal floor panel lies over the axle. 

Polystyrene is being used to fill the gaps between the inner and outer panels, to try to avoid vibration of the 

inner panels.

The first of the covered inner panels is being tried for fit. The map holder is a non-original addition. 

Note that the seat pan has been removed for repainting. Made of steel, it was in good condition and just needed

some light sanding before it could be repainted.

Here, a sheet of thick card is being formed into a template for the rubber floor covering to be used for the nose area.

Cutting slots into the sides of the card makes it easy to push down on to the floor of the nose so that the 

shape can be marked in pencil.

Sealant being applied to the seat pan before re-installing it back into the floor of the body.

The frame for the new scuttle is well underway here. It's temporarily screwed to the top of the body sides to 

ensure that it aligns correctly. The design of the sidecar is such that the body sides are not parallel at this point.

With the scuttle still screwed to the body, the first layer of 1.5mm ply is being screwed to the spars. 

After all the screws had been fitted, they were removed and any high pieces in the transverse, curved, spars were

removed. Then the ply was glued and screwed to the scuttle frame again.

The hood tray is also temporarily installed, with the clamps being used to hold it in place so some extra

adjustments and fitting pieces can be made out of card - as templates for the final pieces.

A close-up of the hood tray. This is more difficult to construct than first appears! 

The body sides are curving towards each other in the horizontal plane. The seat back is also inclined backwards

and the rear bulkhead is also inclined backwards at a slightly different angle.

Another view of the scuttle, with the first sheet of plywood now glued and (temporarily) screwed into position.

Note also the temporary strip of wood (marked "RIGHT") ensuring a steady pressure on the edge of the ply to

ensure that it is held in place whilst the glue sets.

A view into the boot, showing the interior panelling, almost completed. Nickel-plated screws and cup washers

are used to hold the panels in place. The small cover seen at the front of the boot, on the left, is covering up the 

block and carriage bolts holding the fore and aft, wooden floor panels against the metal floor panel over the axle.

Below is an early version of the scuttle, made out of thick card and cardboard. This was constructed to see how the scuttle 

might look. The actual scuttle is shown below and its construction is quite different in many ways.

The top of the scuttle is covered with two sheets of 1mm thick marine ply, with an outer skin of aluminium. This was softened

by annealing and then curved to shape by using a pastry roller with the sheet lying on a pillow inside a black bin liner bag. 

This is shown being carried out below by my pal Clive Taylor, who's run a Norton Model 19S and Watsonian Avon sidecar for years.

Annealing is a heat process whereby a metal is heated to a specific temperature /colour and then allowed to cool slowly. This 

softens the metal which means it can be cut and shaped more easily. Care must be taken with metals such as aluminium as 

they will melt if heated for too long.

For aluminium, the flame should be held at a distance to the aluminium so that it gives a generalised heating to the metal. 

A ‘trick of the trade’ is to rub soap on to the surface of the aluminium and then heat it on the brazing hearth. It takes only a 

short time for the soap to turn black. The brazing torch should be turned off immediately and the aluminium allowed to cool 

slowly. It is now annealed and should be very soft and malleable.

Below is the upper surface of the cardboard mock-up, followed by a view of the actual scuttle.

At this stage, the scuttle was still not finished. The rows of pins needed attention. The heads were reduced in thickness with a 

Dremel grinding wheel and tapped further down. The resulting shallow depressions were filled and the aluminium was painted

with etch primer. The imperfections in the curved edges of the wooden spars were also corrected.

The new seat cushions have arrived and are in position for the photographs. Obviously there's still much to do on the body so 

they will be stored away until the rest of the body is complete. In order to ensure that the cushions were a good fit, the body

was sent to the upholsterer so he could try things out, as the cushions were constructed. The material used for covering the 

cushions is the same as that used for lining the interior body panels.

The nearside screen mounting bracket can be seen here, together with the latch holding down the scuttle. The bracket was

made from light alloy and bent in a vice. It took several attempts to get the shape and bends correct. 

The assembly is surprisingly strong. Care also had to be taken with the positioning of the two parts of the latch so that it

would hold down the scuttle reasonably tightly, when it was closed. It was also necessary to ensure that there was material

below the scuttle outer surface, into which the screws could grip.

It's late May 2013 and the chassis has been attached to the bike for a trial run. The contraption steered very well but...

When the body was put on the chassis, it wasn't level. The rear was too low by several inches. By looking at old photographs

it became clear that the leaf springs were life-expired, having lost much of their curvature over the years. Close examination 

showed that they weren't even the same design and had obviously been repaired over the years.

New, bespoke springs were made by Owen Springs in Rotherham, who were great to deal with. The new springs were a perfect

fit. The final price was also significantly less than their original quotation as they used raw material that was much smaller than

their normal metal strip. (Their usual business involves springs for buses and vans). A new and old spring can be seen below.

The flatness of the old spring is apparent.

Holes for grease nipples were drilled and tapped.

Then the new springs were attached to the chassis and the body was mounted.

Still without a hood frame or hood, the outfit was equipped with a tonneau cover. 

At the end of August, off we went on the 150 mile journey to Heysham. We sailed over the Irish Sea, with the Steam Packet ferry, 

to soak up the atmosphere of the 2013 Manx Grand Prix. Here's the old crate at Port E Vullen, with Ramsey visible across the bay.

The remaining months of 2013 were taken up with other jobs but the new year saw work resume on the sidecar.

The final step was to make a new hood frame and hood. Below is an original BSA 22/47 hood frame, which the owner let me 

photograph. It was also possible to take some measurements.

The new "wiggly" mounts have been fabricated and mounted on the body sides. Once these have been powder-coated, the

seat cushions and interior body panels can be replaced.

Here's a close-up of the "wiggly" mounts, fashioned from mild steel. The wiggle was produced by heating with a gas torch,

mounting in a vice and hitting (gingerly) with a hammer. Countersunk, brass wood screws are used to hold the mounts to the body.

Fast-forward to positioning and assembly of the hood supports. The two rear loops were made from 6mm mild steel round bar,

with separate, flat end pieces welded on. The front bar is more complicated and has been made from two straight, side pieces 

and a curved front bar, which lies in front of the windscreen. This has another piece welded on to it, which locates on a bolt in

the centre of the windscreen surround. The side pieces have yet to be welded on to the front, curved piece. Green garden twine

is being used to temporarily locate the three supports relative to each other.

After welding together the three parts of the front support, the hood frame parts were powder-coated black. The new

frame was re-assembled and the interior panels were replaced. The next step was to create templates for cutting out the

material for the hood. Black "double duck" material is to be used for the hood. This is formed from a layer of rubber 

sandwiched between 2 layers of canvas. It's appropriate for a 1940s / 50s sidecar but the colour is prone to fade.

In order to make the templates, some cheap vinyl material was obtained. Its thickness and stiffness were not too

different from double duck and its pale colour was easy to mark up with marker pens. The difficulty at this point was to

ensure that the templates were reasonably accurate at the first cut. Full accuracy would be ensured at the next step.

Velcro tape was used to join the sheets temporarily.

Below are the panel templates, in fawn or red vinyl, lying on top of the black double duck hood panels cut oversize. The red

vinyl templates replace the original fawn ones that were not sufficiently accurate.

Nearest the camera are three straight strips cut for use behind the seams. The panels have been lettered A-F and the seams

have been numbered 1-10. Chinagraph pencil was used to mark the double duck material, though chalk would have been better.

Producing the accurate templates from the rough ones shown above took about 4 hours. Marking and cutting out the

double duck material took a further 2 hours.

The first assembly of the hood panels involved sewing them together lightly, so that adjustments could be marked on.

Then the stitching would be removed, the panels modified and then re-stitched.

In the picture below, the panels are being marked up so that the final edges can be produced. The two chalk lines (drawn

with dressmaker's chalk) show the position of the front support bar . The final edge of the material will protrude below the

lower line by about 1 inch. The first fit was surprisingly good but some material needed to be removed at the rear corners.

The hood has been back to the stitcher who's made some adjustments and stitched up the front edge. Everything's getting closer

to the final size and the final bottom edge has been marked on the side. The press studs will be attached at the next stage in

order to obtain the correct tensioning.

Below are three views of the finished hood, with push studs attached along the side and rear edges. The hood is attached to

the front bar by five M4, countersunk-headed bolts. In the first two photos the bolts there are cup washers underneath the 

heads of the bolts. A piece of alloy strip was subsequently used to spread the load and replace the cup washers. This

can be seen in the third photo.

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