1938 Rudge Ulster 4 valve.

[wink]

I havenīt got one but father decoked one in the 40s and he says he had to drop the engine in the frame to get the rocker box off! Two angled valves, two parallel valves and rockers everywhere. Does anyone know if heīs right?
PS Is Dave Spary still about?

[R]

"The Book of the Rudge" goes into some interesting detail about head and rocker box removal.
Seems your father is both right and wrong. !!

Eh ?

It says the cylinder head should be removed from all 3 models (of 500cc's) COMPLETE WITH OVERHEAD ROCKER BOX.
And that "the method of holding down the head is unusual. When the large hexagon nuts are removed, it will be seen that each cylinder head bolt has a small hexagon formed on it, the nuts  being recessed to clear this. A spanner is provided by which these bolts can be withdrawn from the head, which can then be lifted off."

Maybe you had to be there...

Furthermore, when refitting the head, with the engine out of the frame,  " it is possible to screw them in too far, so that the hexagon on the bolt does not protrude, so on the next occasion the head is to be removed it will be necessary to take the engine out of the frame."

Pictures don't show any detail of what this is all about - but it does show the head and rocker box being removed (sideways) from the engine - with the tank still on the frame, it must be said.

Strange stuff, you really had to be there ?!?

[wink]

During the war father left school and went to work at the original Lloyd Cooper in Watford. An army officer stationed at Bushey brought the Rudge in for a decoke. Father did this but perhaps it had been done before and the studs were too far in as you say. If the hexagons are at the end of the studs I donīt see how they can be screwed in too far because there would be no thread to start the nuts. I should have been there but I was 7 years late .
the officer left instructions not to touch the mag or the timing and to bump start it. the foreman said " Iīve never had a bike I canīt kickstart" and had to take some time off work with a pain in his ankle!
Father has many more anecdotes to tell but he doesnīt have to type them. Is anyone interested in stories about the AA or shall I post them on Friends Untied where there already is a topic?

[wetdog]

I would like to hear old AA storys if the include old bikes