LOOKING A GIFT AJS IN THE MOUTH
THE AJS THAT was on offer had been restored back in the early 1980s, when leftover new-old-stock parts for the then un-regarded AMC singles were still, if not plentiful, resting in reasonable quantities and wrapped in greased paper waiting to be used.
The tank had been brush-painted, there was plenty of rust on the silencer and the dynamo had lost its magnetism. It had, it appeared, covered less than 2000 miles since restoration. Some of the wiring was a bit confusing, with the same grey wires used for connecting many things, but the actual wiring job was very well done. The original badges and transfers graced the tank, panels and mudguards, and everything was as it should be. It all looked good, as long as the price was right, and as long as it ran.
The reason the dynamo had stopped working was down to a long lay-up. The AJS had been ridden occasionally after restoration until 1989 and then, when the tax ran out that year, it was parked up and left. The long period of inactivity had led to the magnets inside the dynamo losing their magnetism. The original restorer had sadly died recently, and his son was disposing of his collection, with the old 16MS the last to go. The original registration number had been sold and a new number issued, which was a bit of a shame, but on the other hand it meant the price I had to pay for the AJS was going to be lower.
On the residue of 1980s petrol it started after a couple of kicks, indicating that the Lucas SR1 magneto was probably up to the job, and the oil could be seen circulating through the return pipe. It wouldn’t run on anything but full choke – that was put down to the main jets on the monobloc carb being clogged up with gunge after three decades of rest. A current from a battery charger showed that, apart from the dynamo, all the electrics were working. A reasonable price was negotiated, and a few days later my AJS 16MS turned up at my house in the back of a van.
There were a few things to resolve. First, I needed to sort out the fuelling. The cork-sealed push/pull fuel tap on the right-hand side leaked badly, and if I filled the right-hand side of the tank, petrol dribbled constantly out of the carb. The leaky tap was, in all probability, down to a dodgy cork while the dripping carb indicated a float valve issue. I also needed to work out how to get the tap off to overhaul it, and I would need to find some new corks and some fresh petrol pipe as the old stuff was rock hard.
Normally, I would just go to a bike show or autojumble with the old tap, match things up and pick up what I needed, but 2020 hasn’t been like that. I had to buy things sight unseen from the internet. I wasn’t keen on taking the tap off at this stage, as most of all I wanted to see if I could get the thing to run, so I found a cheap workaround; buying an inline fuel tap designed for a lawnmower to stop the dribbles. I ordered a length of 3/16 inch Viton fuel pipe from an Amazon seller. Then I dismantled the carb to clean it, and it really wasn’t that bad. Certainly, there was a lot of brown varnish coating things, but this was easy enough to remove with a little elbow grease.
Stripping out the float valve showed that the previous owner had fitted a plastic float needle, of the kind briefly used on Amal Concentrics in the 1970s. In this case the needle had been too long for the monobloc and it appeared it had been crudely trimmed with a razor blade, making its ability to stop fuel flow when the float chamber was full, optimistic at best. Of course, when the bike was restored in the 1980s, we didn’t have internet sellers and Amal spares might not have been quite as easy to get hold of as they are today, which explains this bodge. A few minutes on the Burlen Amal website secured the required O-rings, washers, gasket, filter and a Vitontipped brass float needle.
The carb was reassembled, bolted back on and... the new float needle had stopped things dripping, so it was ready to start up. The AJS ran, briefly, and I was able to raise the choke slide by degrees, but it was clearly going to take a little while to get used to using the choke lever. This was a new one to me, as both my other Brits function without choke at all and rely on the tickler. Starting procedure was going to be another steep learning curve.