The existing footrest and kickstart rubbers have been on the bike for at least fifteen years. They split fairly early on and have been held on with tie wraps. Now most of the other jobs are done, I thought it was time to replace them. I put an order in with Steve Surbey at AMC Classic Spares and a day later, a parcel was left in my porch.
A parcel from AMC
I sent Steve some photos and he told me that all the rubbers I had on the bike were wrong, the rider’s footrest rubbers were from a pre-war bike, the passenger ones from a much later lightweight and the kickstart rubber was a nasty, cheap import.
The timing cover gasket and spark plug are spares for my stock. The footrest rubbers are the same except the front and rear pairs have different sized holes.
Steve’s advice was to use some oil to ease the rubbers on, and to make a small hole in the end of each rubber to let the air out. I used a 2mm drill in the middle of each end and some engine oil on the inside of the rubbers, and on the shafts. The kickstart rubber was the hardest…I never thought it would go on. A word of warning: make sure you have a piece of tissue over the end of the rubbers, because as you almost have the rubber pushed fully on, you will get a spurt of oil from the hole.
The neoprene foam primary chaincase seal is a much more flexible option than either the original seal or the ‘Buckingham’ seal; both of which are comparatively firm. There are lots of opinions on the correct way to seal the primary chaincase…this seal worked perfectly for me, so far. You will need a longer bolt to clamp your chaincase surround in place, as the foam seal is thicker.
I haven’t shown a picture of it fitted, but the small rubber ring in the plastic bag, is to go under the ammeter on the headlamp. Here is a slider covering the items mentioned.
