[VicYouel]

Thanks, Vic. I'm rather relieved that the old Lion doesn't have the power of a Vincent in a way! I have now identified that the main output ball bearing has started to break up so I shall have to replace that. Now I've had chance to measure the layshaft bushes properly, they aren't too bad at all and will probably be fine.
See http://www.marston-sunbeam.org/sunbeamForum/index.php?topic=312.0
It's reassuring to know that the parts are available with a little searching - even if they are at Vincent prices 

Steve

I have been told in the past that Panther burman prices are less.... but you need to be a member of  the club.

[singleminded]

Things like bearings etc are available fro Draganfly motorcycles and other outlets..Shop around..John

[Greybeard]

Thanks, Vic. I'm rather relieved that the old Lion doesn't have the power of a Vincent in a way! I have now identified that the main output ball bearing has started to break up so I shall have to replace that. Now I've had chance to measure the layshaft bushes properly, they aren't too bad at all and will probably be fine.
See http://www.marston-sunbeam.org/sunbeamForum/index.php?topic=312.0
It's reassuring to know that the parts are available with a little searching - even if they are at Vincent prices 

Steve

[VicYouel]

A nice looking machine and these days there is a lot of interest in the thirties machines by newer members.  I have had a few problems with a post war Burman box (BAP type) on a Vincent Comet.... one of the selctors brazed itself to the intermediate gear.... think there was too much end float and then the clutch sheered off whilst I was riding along an Alpine pass..... the splines seemed too shallow. So I put a new shaft on (Maughan and sons had made some) and mated a Honda clutch. 

That mezac spring box on the selector side develops hairline cracks. Fortunately with Vincents, Ariels and Pantherswhich all use Burman boxes, spares are not too difficult.

My advice is to leave the gearbox alone until something actually goes wrong..... the meshing is prone to rapid wear by the nature of its design inmho.

Safe riding

Vic

[Greybeard]

Thanks for the reassurance, Paul. That's one less thing to try and find 
I'm pretty sure that I've narrowed down the un-Sunbeamly 'clatter' at tick-over to the mag chain. I'll whip that off and see how much it has stretched over the last 75 or so years.

Steve

[phutton]

Looks like a very nice machine, Steve, and will certainly repay the effort you might have to put in to get it how you want it. Don't worry about the one-piece barrel - it is correct fro 1937. They tried an aluminium head in 1936 and had  problems. Obviously they solved them as the ali head was back in 1938.

[Greybeard]

Hi, folks.
I thought I'd introduce myself as a new member having just acquired a 1937 Sunbeam Lion 500cc. I would describe the bike as almost an impulse buy and hope I don't turn out to have made a mistake - read on 



I was looking for a pre-war machine with proper forks and a side-valve engine. Hand gearchange would have been nice but you can't have it all. At least not at first  My last 1930s machine was a 1938 250 BSA whose cylinder head around the exhaust port would glow red hot in the dark. It never seemed to worry it as much as it did me and I was never able to solve what I thought was a problem, other than by riding it during the day only 
This machine will supplement my 1961 Matchless G80 and my late dad's 1953 G9  - both restored and running beautifully and having been owned for over 20 years - and a Hinkley built T100 Bonneville .
Back to the Lion. She's all there and the frame and engine numbers match the buff log book - neither have an A pre-fix (both start with 29) so I should be safe in assuming she's a pre-AMC machine - just! The barrel and head is a one-piece iron job which I get the feeling may be from an earlier machine, though if Sunbeam were using up old stock I suppose it could be original. A lot of money has been spent on it, including re-chroming of many parts, a nice paint-job on the tank, though the rest really needs doing properly to justify the tank badge. Mechanical refurbishment has supposedly included a new big-end and gearbox re-bushing along with new fork bushes and spindles and the mag and dyno being professionally rebuilt.
Having languished in a 'private collection' for years, quietly wet-sumping herself, it took most of Thursday afternoon to get her running anything like properly thanks to a heavily silted up pilot jet. Loose chains and wildly slapdash tappet clearances were attended to and the oil pump primed with lots of engine turning before the big event.
All seemed reasonably well. Much of the mechanical clatter I think stems from a worn magneto chain, and a 'silencer' that doesn't really fulfil its design brief, but is tolerable.
A first run out brought an accompanying wide grin. Absolutely delightful ---- in top gear. There just seemed to be a lot of gear whine in 2nd and 3rd. So that'll be the next job, unless of course the early Burmans are know for noisy intermediate gears. 1st is fine. The box is now filled with Penrite semi-fluid grease which seems a tad runnier than what was in it, though I've not tried her on the road again yet thanks to the British summer weather this afternoon.
All things considered I'm very happy with the old girl and hopefully one or two niggles can be sorted she'll make a sound basis for a restoration project. I've already replaced all the control cables some of which were in a pretty shabby state. Talk about spoiling a ship for ha'p'orth o' tar. Why do some folk do that?
I should confess that this isn't my first Sunbeam. I do have another amongst my collection of cycles dating from 1890 (a Singer). A 1909 gents machine in a very sorry state, but does have a letter with it from a nurse who rode it in France during WW1. With that sort of story, it's another Sunbeam worth saving.
Should anyone find themselves in need of a brew whilst in the wilds of East Yorkshire, please drop me a line and call in. The kettle is always on and I'm always ready to talk old bikes.

Regards. Steve