Ever bought a bike and wish you hadn't? This '39 4G may well turn out to be one of these...I'd rather be getting on with '28 Model B that I bought back in the summer but I have to see this 4G restoration through to the end

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Decided to restore the engine over the winter months, so launched into it at the beginning of the week and should have read the owner's guide first. Head off, barrel off, pistons off, timing gears off, coupling gears off, all crankcase bolts off and then I split the crankcases only to realise I had not removed the front right crankshaft nut (the one behind the small round cover on the side of the engine), so I was unable to remove the front crank.
I thought long and hard about how to undo this nut with damaging anything and, in the end, re-assembled bottom end with coupling gears and used a 2p piece between the couple gear teeth to lock the crankshafts. Even then, I had great difficulty cracking the seal on that nut but it suddenly released with a 3 foot tube for leverage on my socket. I'd already tried heat etc.
This is well used and generally worn out bike. The gearbox was knackered as were the plungers and the engine is turning out to be the same. My crankshaft journals have not been reground but are oval, the camshaft is a mess, the 2 white metal bushes are std but loose. And the crankcases have quite a bit of damage. Some photos:






