Amateur Manx 40M preparation

The Comet is an easy starting thing, first kick when done according to riders handbook. Practicing bump starts will be on the CB250 racer, PITA to start cold. even contemplating to get a roller starter.
While waiting for carb needle, Royal Mail and Nordpost takes time if it ever arrives, some notes on some hopefully final adjustments.
Never use stainless steel nuts and bolts. When they disappear down in the bellypan you can't get them out with a magnet.
To remove barends on original Manx clipons you can't use a bar and hammer as you can on most modern clipons. Instead drill and tap a hole in the bar end, fit a grease nipple and use a grease gun.
Rear bolt on chainguard going from the inside through a tapped hole in the frame gusset. Make slot in the threaded end and use a screwdriver. Much faster.
Silencer was built mimicing the original megaphone. Will be used when running in and for parade laps. Hopefully meets dB regulations. As the bike is rebuilt resembling what it looked like in the period -64 to -68 with scars and scratches keeping the patina, a spray can of heat resistant silver paint was used. Best parts of two short megaton mufflers lying around was used.
Silencer wheights 1.2 kg. Probably will need an extra stay at the rear.

Only BSA bikes I've had was a B34 Clubman and BSA B44 Victor Special. Back to the real thing.
Got the tank back from the welder. He did a good job, no leak anymore but of course paint did not like heat. It is 20 months since I started this project so I filled oil and petrol in her. Tried to start it. No success. Found that I forgot to remove the plug I had put in the air intake. Tried again. No success. Checked the spark plug. No gap. Adjusted gap. Tried again. No success. Checked the spark plug gap again, nil. Put an extra washer on the plug. Tried again. She started and run. Did some adjustment on the Gardner needle and get her running as well as you can expect from a cold engine. When she got a bit warmed up, a fairly big cloud of smoke came up. I was standing a bit to close to the exhaust pipe so my trousers had caught fire. No big problem as it was cotton, so easily extinguished. My son did some dB measures on it, possibly might pass track limits. As a well known Vincent guy says: Racing is the process of turning money into noise. This bike has not been cheap to build so it should make some noise.
My son will race next weekend, so we put the Manx in the van beside the classic Honda CB250. Plan is to hopefully get some parade laps running it in. Will see what happens.

Answer: Plug is a NGK B10EGV.
What happened at the race. Talked to the Gardner guru. He told me to warm it up and bring it over to his paddock place. I tooks a couple of laps in the paddock and he started adjusting. Told me in his 20 years of Gardner experiance he have found that float level is critical and it was incorrect. After some work got the float level right. Warmed her up again and help with next needle adjustment. On one occasion he stopped the engine, did some checking and told me to start it again. Draw it back to compression, took five strides, released clutch and she instantly fired up. After some more fiddling he told me to not start it again until ignition timing was spot on. Unable to got it done properly in the field, it will be done at home.
There are some progress though. Bike passed the scrutineers without any problems. So she is allowed to go out on the track complying to modern safety requirements.
Carb settings are close to what it should be. Of course handling can't be evaluated from a couple of laps in the paddock, but it was a fun to just sit on her. With a high first gear she is not happy with low speed going, but a Manx is not built for that! Another test next month.
A lot of people liked the look of a real classic racer in as raced battered and tattered condition. Every scar she has is a part of her history. My son calls it a 50/100 finish. At 100 Mph and at 50 yards distance it should look good.
There was a finnish rider there with to race two Manxes. One oversized in the 750 class. Total loss of front brake in first race. Got a frame break and gravel from the sand pit into carb.
His ultra shortstroke 350 was really fast but engine failure in second race. Not the best race for him.

Don't think there is anything wrong with that reach or tip. I was wondering if someone had installed a BP10 instead of a B10. Maybe you should pick up some spark plug indexing washers and use them instead of an extra plug washer. I have no idea what the details are on that piston/combustion chamber. All of my stuff is older long stroke, so don't know if this makes sense. Maybe you can index the plug with the ground electrode in a position that gives you more clearance. Perhaps Jalsteve would know the answer to that. Or you'd have to pull the head to verify it makes a difference.If you are just wanting track time, then I would just use the indexing washer to give you some room. Keep in mind that piston will get closer over time. Might be an idea to get a gauge in there and determine exactly how much room you have. Surprised that they would let it out the door like that.