Guidelines
Start

 

Guidelines

The pictorial parts list of the English Neracar Model A

 The goal of setting up the pictorial parts list is to record and show what a British Model A Neracar and its composing parts look like. It is intended to help other owners to restore their motor bike to a condition as original as possible. As there is always a trade off between the amount of work and the technical limitations to set up such a database on the one hand and the potential benefit to the user on the other hand, I drafted a set of guidelines which outline the limitations and benefits.   

  1. The pictorial parts list consists of photographs on which, where applicable, dimensions are drawn. This will save me time by not going through an elaborate process of creating technical drawings and it will allow those users, who are not skilled in reading technical drawings, to see what a particular part looks like and what its dimensions are. The photograph with dimensions should be detailed enough to enable a skilled amateur to make a replica of the part.
  2. Dimensions will not be added to photographs of every part, but just to those which are likely to be replicated, like e.g. the rear stand, head light, etc. Not many people will make a replica of the crank case, so adding all individual dimensions in that case is cumbersome and probably useless. Photographs and dimensions should give enough information to be able to acquire the correct item however.
  3. The parts list is made while restoring the bike and is not the primary goal; the primary goal is to restore my bike to its original condition. This means that I will make records of all parts which are dissembled, but I will not unnecessarily dissemble units just for the sake of creating drawings. In practice however, the vast majority of the parts will be included. Entries from other users are welcome.
  4.  Some dimensions are difficult to measure; in those cases where they are not critical, they can be approximated by scaling.
  5. Materials will be added insofar it is possible; the reader should know if the used material is steel, brass or bakelite. But I will e.g. not be capable of distinguishing between phosphor bronze and lead bronze.
  6. Feed back is highly appreciated and can lead to improving and updating the parts list.
  7. Although utmost care with be taken, I can not guarantee that all photographed parts are original. In obvious cases, like the front stand which I made a replica of myself, this will be clearly indicated on the drawing.
  8. If you need any information which is currently lacking, please let me know.
  9. Some parts have been photographed before restoration, because it is difficult to take contrast photographs when parts are spayed in shiny black. Scratches and rust will be helpful in focusing and give contrast to the picture.
  10. Where applicable, a brief description of the part is added.
  11. For the sake of clarity, dimensions and remarks are spread over several views; the drawings of a part have to be considered a set.
  12. Drawings are made using Power Point; as PP allows for just discrete steps, centre lines may be a bit off.
  13. When taking photographs, different sections of a part are seen at different angles, so we are not dealing here with a pure multi view orthographic projection, generally used in technical drawings.  This limits the accuracy of scaling in case dimensions are not given.
  14. In some cases, additional photographs are added to show the orientation of a particular part in relation to the surrounding area, e.g. the front stand which can easily interfere with the muffler, the foot brake lever and the engine’s bottom cover plate. In general, a small selection of overview pictures are shown. Often times, more photographs are available. If you need more details, please ask.
  15. The disadvantage of this approach is that it has no cross sections (I won’t go that far just for the sake of this pictorial), so uncommon ways of presenting some dimensions can be used.
  16. Where possible, I’ll stick to the assemblies (clustering), terminology and part numbers Neracar used in their parts list. Besides the Technical Drawings, I used my common sense in determining which part bears which number. The terms ‘left view’, ‘right view’, ‘front view’ and ‘rear view’ refer to the left, right, front and rear of the bike. A right view e.g. is a photograph of the part, taken from the right hand side of the bike. Parts are photographed upside up; where a part for practical reasons is photographed upside down, this will be clearly indicated.
  17. Dimensions of rough parts, like the rear stand, will be measured in fractional inches; those of machined parts will be measured in decimal inches. As dimensions are taken from parts that may show wear, dimensions of replicated parts may need correction for a correct fit. Tolerances are not given.
  18. Readers are encouraged to supply any missing information, in order to increase completeness. Where ‘TBD’ (To Be Determined) is mentioned, dimensions still have to be measured and entered.
  19. Although the utmost care has been taken, correctness cannot be guaranteed. Please report any errors you may come across.
  20. Upon request, photographs can be made available in high resolution *.emf format.

Remark: For wire diameters and metal sheet thickness inch dimensions are used.
It would have been better for smaller dimensions to have them in Gauge sizes.
Ref: Inch and millimetre dimensions for Imperial Standard Wire Gauge (SWG) sizes, as used for sheet metal and wire.http://www.clag.org.uk/swg.html

 

Norg, The Netherlands,     December 25, 2010
Slightly revised,                 January 6, 2012.
                                             October 15, 2014

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2011 Ben Geutskens