classic motorcycle forum

Given Rupanyup is in the middle of nowhere and too far away from anywhere to be in actual riding distance by Malvern Star I wouldn't be surprised if it was bought but never registered and never got outside Rupanyup. Is the place even big enough to rate its own cop shop to keep an eye out for such blatant lawlessness as an unregistered autocycle?  It would be hard to think of a more impractical motor vehicle for the area. Perhaps it was just used to come in from the farm to collect the mail or some such. I suspect the novelty quickly wore off and the wee beast spent most of its life sitting in a shed.
Go back and ask. Leon.

Why even bother to start unless you have basic trade skills to do the job. Elderly orphan two-strokes such as this are possibly the most awkward restoration prospects. Equivalent four-strokes are simple in comparison. As the necessary 1932 Owners Handbook and Spare Parts List is available for free on the New Zealand Barnstormers site I'd look through it very carefully before I started driving myself barmy with that engine. You may think it better to fit the alternative 250cc Villiers engine Cov Eagle used that year in the same machine.

Just a thought.

Thank you for the response. I hope you diagnose the problem quickly.
I had a bit of a thing about lubrication of early valves and guides at one time and found it far more subtle than I expected. Looks simple but not so. The lubrication of inlet valves is entirely different from the exhaust. I'm talking single cylinder engines here.
A sticky inlet shows itself by ferociously sneezing back through the carb immediately before the engine stops as you've lost compression. Any lubricant introduced to solve the problem gets washed off by the incoming fuel so needs to be either continually applied (very messy with exposed valves) or be both a lubricant and fuel resistant (bloody nigh impossible). It took years to stumble upon high temperature silicone grease which combined with the basic design of my Matchless, (fixed head with valve caps and a simple penny in the slot valve cotter) made whipping out the valve for a quick grease every now and then an effortless doddle. Problem minimised if not entirely resolved.
The exhaust valve is different. As the engine has total loss lubrication via a Pilgrim pump and no oil control ring by design, (why do you need oil control when you keep pumping the stuff in anyway. An oil control ring doesn't help), you can appreciate that the exhaust valve has a constant light spray of oil coming past it. No lubrication worries there. Nevertheless I'd have these mysterious stoppages every now and then for which I could find no answer. By the time I rolled to a halt, got the bike off the road, took off my helmet, put it on its stand, blah, blah, blah it had cooled down enough to have compression back and start but immediately nip up again so the cycle repeated. It took a long time and repeatedly checking out possible fuel and ignition issues before the light finally dawned. A sticking exhaust valve. A quick clean of the valve stem and problem solved. And the occasional clean keeps it that way.

Same engine, same lubrication system, same valve set up, same everything but absolutely opposite problems. One valve hopelessly under lubricated and the other over lubricated.

No wonder I enjoy proper vintage motorcycles so much. So much challenge from such idiot simple components. They make you think.

   

I disagree with the 'reinforcing the weak spots' idea. Why spend money, time and effort shoving reinforcing tubes inside other frame tubes when a more thoughtfully designed headstock lug and fitting decent grease nipples would have prevented the whole issue happening in the first place. Not much chance of that happening in British lightweight world was there. Their whole world seemed to revolve around their race to the bottom of cheap and nasty. Price seemed to be the sole criteria for the majority.

My '39' Montgomery is a perfect example. I never appreciated how a firm could use the one rear axle lug for every machine in its range, from a 125 two-stroke to a 1000cc vee-twin. And make same universal lug right or left handed by bashing off the the various unwanted bits to suit either the left or right side of the frame. Or how one could further cheapen a set of pressed steel forks seemingly identical to those on my Excelsior by not fitting the friction dampers used by Excelsior and eliminating all means of link and spindle adjustment with an anti-rattle Thackery washer on the end of each spindle. I won't go on to mention the centre stand made of angle iron nor the saddle mounting using the same angle iron. In the end its just so nasty you have to love it. Its pure runt of the litter territory.

We do digress. Its a pity we don't have the frame number. I'm curious to know whether this Waratah is one of the mis-war imports or immediate post war.

One final note. Leg shields were a standard fitment on the Excelsior version. They don't show up well on the usual catalogue illustrations but they're there. They were attached to the front down tube by the usual clamp on cross pieces. One look at the carburettor position and you can see why Excelsior fitted them.   
   

I think we have it pinned down. All that remains is to find out the frame number to confirm it.

The 8D/9D engine did much better in the ISDT than you think R. The Dutch make Eysink, were the other user besides Excelsior and the record is 1937, three Eysink entered winning two bronze and the other retiring with a frame breakage. 1938 saw one Eysink and the Excelsior entered, both winning bronze. 1939 was the ISDT run on the verge of WWII where the entire British contingent left before the event was over. The Excelsior owner "retired" on the second day but we don't know whether he actually retired or left when told as no one really reported on the activities of private entries. It was all about the official teams. Those representing the country, the Army teams, Club teams and the like, private entries rarely got mentioned much and rarely photographed. Usually they just turn up as background in the odd photo. No Eysink were entered for 1939. Finally Eysink had three 9D  powered entries in the first postwar ISDT and won a Gold and two Silvers.
Not a bad effort all up for a 125cc Villiers.

I look forward to any reply from the auctioneer. It'll make interesting reading.

Yes, that would be the earliest postwar number I've seen and never seen one stamped as per the WD engines before. It's always tricky to pin down exactly when Villiers made changes. I think changes were gradual, as they finished off current orders they introduced the new system. There would have been a tapering off of the old way and an increasing use of the new. At least we know now that Villiers had decided on a new numbering system a little before they were completely ready to implement it as we know it today.

There's always something new to learn with that 9D engine. Along with the 98c JDL (Junior de luxe) autocycle engine they were the only two to be produced throughout WWII and it shows in a number of odd little ways. Nothing dramatic but interesting to the sad Villiers obsessive (me).

They also seem to have survived in surprising numbers.

Cheers,

That immediate postwar period your Waratah/Excelsior hails from can be maddening. As Carden rightly points out it was a time of shortages and confusion so what was fitted was what was available, not necessarily what the factory said should be there. On top of that Villiers made a variety of lighting systems for the 9D so you have both the desperate times variations plus the factory standard variations and on top of both these is the regular dry battery parking light arrangement that accounts for your odd little Edison screw in bulb.
We'll deal first with your parking light bulb. The Edison screw thing. This is just an ordinary torch bulb of the time meant to run off two 'D' size batteries. Same as found in any hand torch of the day. If you remember in your childhood, shops sold these funny flat pack batteries with two 'D' cells side-by-side for bicycle use rather than the separate two in line as normally found in hand torches. One of those flat pack batteries clipped in behind the reflector inside the headlamp and powered your wee little edison screw bulb. A horrible set up but met English law of the time. You seem to have that one sorted anyway.
Now for your headlight. You need to ascertain what you have. All are 6 volt pf course. Firstly you have to check whether you have an 18 watt or 24 watt system. The armature assemblies of both are identical. The difference lies in the width of the flywheel magnets, 1&1/8" for the 18 watt version, 1&7/16" for the 24 watt job. What are yours?
Secondly we come to how the lighting coils are actually wired up. Commonly separate coils are used for the head and tail lamps so two separate circuits. Usually obvious as there are two leads coming out from the back plate. Red lead being the head lamp and the black the tail lamp. But Villiers also made some systems with a head lamp lead only so only having one lead out.
Finally Villiers also warn of poor earth connections. The earth lead of the tail coil is soldered to the side of the coil cheek and the earth lead for the headlamp coils is clamped between the coil cheeks and the armature back plate. Both are noted for causing mystery troubles.  Dim lights and mystery black outs.
That's enough to keep you occupied for a day or two, I'll be interested in your findings.
One last thing, What is the engine number? I'm sure I've mentioned this before but the initial batch of postwar Excelsior coming to Oz were fitted with ex-WD engines. Easily identified as the engine number ran vertically down the rear of the gearbox in the last of the AAA series, AAA****A whereas they then moved to the postwar engine numbering system found on a raised boss on the right hand side gearbox end plate. What is yours? Cheers,