[Rick Parkington]

Hi Bob,
Have to say I agree with Kbryt; except perhaps that in my opinion if making the bike into something more sporty would make it more what you want then, provided you don't lose/sell any of the bits or make any irreversible alterations, I don't see any harm in it.
To be frank if the bloke who said it was 'just a bit of paint and plating' has dropped off the radar you have probably had a lucky escape. I differentiate 'rebuilding' from 'restoring' because you can restore a bike simply by pulling it apart, sending half to platers and half to painters, bolt it back together and enter a show with  a complete pile of junk that won't run. Rebuilding is, to me at least, a more honourable task that involves finding anything that isn't working properly and fixing it. Whether the end result shines or not is down to your priorities and budget.
I have spent many hours discussing the hard life of the restorer with Chris Odling and I imagine his reluctance to get involved is simply that for a specialist, while 'unit repair' - gearboxes, carbs, magnetos whatever - can just about be viable because all are usually subject to the same predictable faults (plus the occasional horrors) enabling you to predict time/cost etc; with a complete machine not only does it take up a lot of space in your small workshop but - being a cluster of unit repairs - there is a far greater opportunity for the occasional horrors to accumulate into a nightmare.
I hope Kbryt will agree that being a pro-restorer means you either do the job to the best of your ability and, effectively, lose money or you bodge it and profit.
For example I recently machined up two clutch keys for a 3 speed gearbox from EN16T round bar. By the time I had milled and hand finished them about three hours had passed. At a modest labour rate of,  say £30 ph in today's world,  those two keys will cost you £90 plus a fiver for material, £95 the pair - does that sound like good value to you? Didn't think so - especially when, no doubt, someone else will saw them off a length of mild steel square bar and sell them on Ebay for a fiver. If you don't ride the bike much they'll be fine...
So, I have to look at them and split the difference between what they cost me in time and what 'the market will stand' to reach a figure that will hopefully not cause a seizure.
Multiply this by every one of the hundreds of jobs involved in a restoration and you can see why a restorer either has to swallow the fact that he's making a loss on every bike he builds or become known as a 'rip off merchant'. Those pro companies who charge their hourly rate whether they are rebuilding a gearbox or going to get your parts from the blasters are the devils of the old bike scene but do you know a builder who says, 'Ooh, that extension's a 30 grand job...but that's an awful lot of money...let's call it ten.' If you do give me his number!
Chris Fisher is a mate, a Sunbeam owner and a very good guy but it sounds like you need local help and he's as far away as you can go without getting wet feet so I think your VMCC mates are your best bet. Sure you can get crap advice from VMCC members, as you can from web forums, but there are a lot of clever people in the VMCC too and I know from living in Scotland that it's a pretty close network up there. Your friends who suggested you 'project manage' are spot on; the worst you can do is give the whole bike to someone and say 'call me when its ready' for the reasons above, it will be either too many years or too many pounds. Break the job into chunks and I'm sure Chris (O not F) will be happy to take them on.
Finally, is it really worth going down the restoration route? Especially with an un-restored bike, I'm a great believer in doing a crap paint job on replacement parts (brush on satin 'no primer needed' garden gate enamel from DIY stores) to blend in with the rest and as Kbryt says, the un-restored look is more popular nowadays, so why spend a load of cash restoring the bike to match a new mudguard when you can paint the new mudguard to match the rest?   
Cheers Rick

[kbryt]

I'd suggest before  you do anything, reassemble the lot as far as you can, even bent bits. sit back and take a good look at it.

I used to restore bikes for a living and would think very hard before I ever did it again, which is why m Sunbeam is in the same ratty state I got it but everything now works.
I can ride it, not polish it and I won't ever have people coming up to me and saying that's not right, that should be black/chrome/ nickel  or whatever.

It's important to be able to ride it. paint won't make it go.
Paradoxically bikes in an 'as found' state are more sought after and often fetch better prices than restored stuff.

You could put it back together and ride it next year, or you could spend the next 5 years spending money on it.

There are "restorers" and "restorers". Study their work well beforehand; [and don't get talked into powder coating or epoxy paint].

I used to be in the VMCC; Never again Nor  would  I  take their advice on anything after my experiences. My first full scale restoration was ruined by 'advice'  regarding plating and enameling from a certain revered person. Set me back years.

Shame you are in Scotland, as I am also near Swindon. I would NEVER give advice on a project like this over the phone, personally it would drive me nuts, its one reason I quit the bike trade overnight back in 1984.

Personally I would put the bike back to it is in the photo, it looks nice, it has all the right period kit which my in my view is better than some pseudo 'racer'.
Why replace original Sunbeam parts with repro when there is no need.

As an after thought, use security bolts on your tyres.

An afterthought

clubman-racer specification that it could have been ...

the emphasis being COULD HAVE BEEN, but probably wasn't, any basis for that first advice?

.

[VicYouel]

Chris Fisher who lives in Swindon could be the person you need with very good engineering facilities and knowledge

Vic

[chezet]

This is my first post on this Forum, but I'm not a newbie to old bikes, Clubs and online Forums so please presume a fair amount of general background knowledge.

I am after intelligent and perceptive advice and guidance to help me get my 1925 Model 6 back on the road.  Please forgive the quite long preamble before I get to the point, but if I explain the background and context it should enable any responses people make to be on target.

The photo attached shows the bike in 1999. The big bars were a short-term measure whilst I found someone to unbraze and refix the links on the steering head to raise the bars a few inches - the original owner had much longer arms than I do!  And yes, I know the saddle should be a black leatherette small-size Lycett rather than a Brooks.  Otherwise, however, when I got the bike in 1988 it was largely "original and unrestored".  I ran it, maintained it, and arranged a (very expensive) engine rebuild after the half-time pinion shed its teeth in 1990.  It's the only really old bike I have ever owned - most of the rest of what I have is 1960s-1990s Jawa-CZ two-strokes, which I know very well and regularly reconstruct.

In 2001 I crashed the bike at about 45mph after a rear wheel puncture - the tyre came off the rim.  Apart from the destroyed rear rim most of the damage was relatively superficial, but the insurance would only cover repainting of the damaged parts and the result would have been a dreadful mish-mash of weathered-down old and shiny new.  I thus concluded that the only way forward was full cosmetic "restoration".  I discussed this with a number of knowledgeable people including the late Titch Allen and a well-known Sunbeam expert (I live in Scotland), with the outcome being a decision that the "restoration" would take the bike to what I learned was the full clubman-racer specification that it could have been from new rather than the semi-touring form in which it was actually supplied.  Thus, a square-type ML magneto rather than the Lucas MD1 lighting set, an AMAC twistgrip rather than a thumb-lever throttle (I have both items), no carrier, and a plain exhaust to a can rather than the cylinder below the front of the engine.  The person I had lined up to do the work was then saying "no problem, not that big a job, mainly paint, plate, a new exhaust system and reassembly".

My life and work then took some unexpected turns, and around 2003 I missed my chance in the person's work programme.  I later took the bike apart into large lumps for dry storage, where it has remained for the past 15 years.  By 2014 life has settled down and I attempted to contact the person to whom I had previously been talking, but received no reply to several letters.  I tried again earlier this year, this time getting a reply that he was booked ahead for a year and not thinking beyond that, with there then being no reply to my follow-up "can I go on your list?".

Recent discussion with friends in the VMCC has lead to me considering a different approach, which is that I should project-manage the restoration myself and outsource what I cannot do.  Since the Model 6 went into storage my skills and workshop facilities have both improved greatly, although I have to make it clear that I am no engineer and no restorer.  I can handle the spanner-work of assembly and maintenance, but that's all.

I am, however, left with a problem.  In engineering terms I don't know what's "right", and as a first-timer at restoration - as distinct from assembly, which I can handle with confidence - I do not know where to start in finding the right people to do or supply what's necessary.  I recognise that what I need is a "buddy" who is a good engineer, who is familiar with restoration work, and who knows Sunbeams well.  I'd like to be able to start the project with such a person spending a couple of hours with me looking at the "large lumps" and advising me on what needs to be done, who could do it, and helping me make a plan for the project.  I'd like to be able to call on this person over the phone or online for advice as the project proceeds.  As the bike comes together, I'd then like this person to be able to help me set it up right and check that nothing has been missed.  I am quite prepared to pay someone for their time, just like I expect to pay, for example, for a specialist to check over and as necessary fix the engine and gearbox, the forks, and so on.  What I can't work out, however, is how to find such a person, which is why I am posting here.

My first choice would of course be Chris Odling, whom I have met once and corresponded with, but sad to say he does not seem interested.  I say this merely to avoid people suggesting that I try an approach I have regrettably concluded isn't going to work, albeit for reasons I do not understand.  I would be really grateful for any and all practical suggestions. 

Bob Clark
Ayrshire