Engine is finished!

Here it is the finished engine, and it looks like the job was done correctly, it even starts!

Rebuilding the engine - 2

The roller assembly plate was bent, and would jeopardize the integrity of the engine, so I replaced it by a part I had, and put it in with the single effect clutch

Next comes the Stator Plate, which was ok, but was bead blasted and de-greased. The points plate was completely bent, so garbage for this one and a replacement was installed:

Finally, the cylinder head, carburetor and pump were installed as well as a new rotor, since the engine must have fallen down and some of the rotor winglets were bent or broken and even after heating and bending them back, I thought it would be better to use one in better shape

Here it is almost ready to go, with its fuel lines and a brand new gas tank. Still missing at this point is the engine mud guard which I stripped and primed, sanded and painted. It's drying and will go on after a coat of clear in the coming days:

Rebuilding the engine

Once all taken apart, each piece has been bead-blasted when possible or thoroughly cleaned and put back together, including the fuel pump and the carb... Here is the whole engine ready to be assembled:

First off, a new bearing in the crank case, install the engine mounting plates so that I can put the engine back on the wall stand. The engine side plates have been sandblasted and repainted prior to getting these on.

Next, the piston and cylinder will go in:

First Step - Engine

The first step will be to work on the engine of the Canadian Solex. It is in need of TLC, although it is not seized and moves freely - it has some compression, but not a whole lot. I will give this little guy a complete makeover.

This is what it looks like before doing anything to it, just held on my home-made engine stand:

It is dirty and will need a throrough clean:

And so it starts. I took it apart to find a couple of things unusual, first, the clutch is of a 'simple-effect' that was briefly used by Solex and it is only the second time I see one. The other engine I have with this clutch is my 5000 version US Specs

A couple of hours later, all is taken apart, and it looks something like this. A word of warning, if you intend to attempt this, remember that you need to heat up the crank case to extract the bearing, and you need to be gentle, a shop press will greatly help. Otherwise it may break and that will be the end of that story!

Fortunately for me no problems here. Quick inventory:
- Bearing are good for the garbage, 6202 and 6203 will be replaced with new ones
- Piston rings will need a thorough cleaning as they are somewhat stuck (which would explain the compression)
- All gaskets will be new ones as well as the pump diaphragm and the spark plug
- Stator plate with the coils will be taken apart to be cleaned and de-greased and all the parts will be bead-blasted with glass beads to clean them
- Cylinder will be sandblasted and painted with high temperature black paint
- Front engine mudguard will be sandblasted, primed, painted and clear coated
- Pump will be checked and cleaned
- Carburator and fuel lines completely cleaned/blasted and reassembled
- Tank will be replaced with a new one since it is cracked and good for the trash can

Good luck to me!

The bike

Here is the bike as sold - these pictures are courtesy of Jim, the seller. The bike is interesting for its provenance, but that was a good buy for me because Jim also had most of the dealer tools, including something that we rarely see even in France a special 'screwdriver' used to crank the cable of the front brake.

The bike has a damaged side frame arm, but I have that in my inventory of parts, so no worries there. the front light does not look stock, but the V1 had a plastic front light like the Solex 5000 which was and still is notorious for breaking (and I also have one in stock)

It is a V1 based on several things, the frame number is in #803XXXX and the engine number is in the right range as well, finally the brake levers are the same as the other solexes, whereas the next version V2 and V3 had modern Magura brake levers.

Right away, the air filter cover is not correct, it comes from a 3800 and the flywheel cover is white where it should be black like the tank. The rest seems correct.

Here are the tools:
- The original 21mm Spark Plug tube key which also doubles as the clutch tool
- A bearing removal tool for the 6202 which sits in the stator plate
- A fly wheel removal tool
- The special front brake tightener
- A clutch immobilizer
- And another one I had not seen before the stud installer/remover to install/remove the studs in the crank case
- A crank shaft immobilizer
- Finally a decompressor valve cleaner

Next step will be to take the engine apart and inventory what is ok and what is not..

The Southern Canadian

I have been looking for a Black version of the Velosolex sold in North America for a while. Solexes are not super uncommon in the US, but you usually see the Orange, Yellow or Blue versions and often in the Ohio/Indiana/Michigan area, remainder of the sales from the early seventies, mostly in these mid-western states.

Funny enough, in Europe and in France, the most common color is Black. Colors only got thrown in the 5000 version of the Velosolex, most other ones were black, from the beginning in 1947 to the end of production in the eighties.

Long story short, Black is the new black for Solex in the US. And finding one is unusual. So when I saw one, in pieces and in dire need of restoration on Ebay, I immediately contacted the owner. A gentleman in Alabama named Jim. We agreed on the price and the bike was on its way.

It happens that this Solex was actually originally sold in Canada by Laniel, who at the time was selling Velosolex bikes as well as distributing Candy and Soda machines.

For the story I contacted Laniel, and the Mr Laniel himself answered very nicely - the company does not have anything left from this era, just in case you thought of calling them for some parts :)