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Messages - cardan

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 89
16
British Bikes / Re: Troubleshooting a JAP Special
« on: May 14, 2025, 02:59:45 PM »
"I'm just pondering the wisdom of splitting the crank up to check the big-end bearings..."

Yes it's a tricky one, perhaps depending on what you want to do with the bike. If you do pull it apart keep in mind that it is tricky to get it back together and running dead true. If you've not done it before best left to an expert? I've done it lots of times, and most often it's gone ok. Only once did it defeat me entirely (i.e. no better than a couple of thou run-out on the shafts after trying everything I know) and I had to pass it on to the expert who used appropriate (unknown to me) magic to get it running just so.

The epoxy is interesting. Often cases an an engine can be quite porous to oil and painting the inside with something (glyptal, expoxy of some kind) can keep the outside clean. Hopefully there's no major corrosion being covered up.

Leon

17
Identify these bikes! / Re: Villiers stationairy engine
« on: May 14, 2025, 09:27:00 AM »
Thanks 33d6, very interesting. I wonder if Villiers reset their numbering for the GYF engines, if only because of this bike that is claimed to have engine number GYF2612: https://www.handh.co.uk/auction/lot/61-1937-francis-barnett-plover-41/?lot=10584&sd=1

That said, I only take numbers seriously when I have seen them for myself! Plenty of scope for mis-reading or mis-transcribing.

Also difficult is engine swaps: I assume the '1939' Andy Tiernan bike could easily have an earlier engine fitted at some time?

Anyway, my interest in these little 147/148cc engines come mostly trying to understand better the little Australian bikes of the 1920s, mostly Elliotts here in SA and Waratahs in NSW. Engines are now under control, but frame numbers are problematic. Waratah had mostly just Sun numbers, having been built (I believe) in the UK, whereas Elliott built up their own frames and stamped their own numbers, sometimes very badly! But after half a century of cobbling together cheap and cheerful little vintage bikes its a bit hard to make sense of some of them. Others with established provenance make perfect sense!

Cheers

Leon

18
Identify these bikes! / Re: Villiers stationairy engine
« on: May 13, 2025, 04:54:22 PM »
There seem to be a lot of GY-prefix engines used in little Francis Barnetts in the 1930s, like this one: https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/29728/lot/229/1933-francis-barnett-148cc-lapwing-27-frame-no-c27176-engine-no-gy-4934/

Some of them have a GYF prefix. What does the 'F' mean, and was there a serial number reset to go along with it?

Leon

19
Identify these bikes! / Re: Villiers stationairy engine
« on: May 11, 2025, 07:49:17 PM »
I'm no expert, but I think the XII-C was introduced in about 1931, and this one might be c1933? No doubt 33d6 can be more authoritative. As i mentioned above, start dates are useful, but it's more interesting to know for how long a particular style of engine was built and used... Always interesting to see an engine like this in its original bike, so that the bike dates the engine rather than vice-versa.

Leon

20
Identify these bikes! / Re: Villiers stationairy engine
« on: May 06, 2025, 08:33:11 AM »
Soooo many engines!

Sorting out info on the various Elliott (Adelaide) and Waratah (Sydney) bikes from the mid 1920s - mostly the 147/148cc models in the mid-late 1920s - has left me with many questions!

Both Elliott and Waratah used the little Villiers in Sun "miniature" cucyel parts (the extremely light set, with no rail under the tank) from the beginning of 1923 for Elliott and mid-1924 for Waratah. When they stopped is another matter - maybe 1928-29.

The weird thing is that the engines could be Mk VI-C (H prefix), Mk VII-C (L) or Mk VIII-C (W). We know about when they started (1922 for VI-C, 1923 for VII-C, 1924 for VIII-C), and we know that the VIII-C ran on through the 1930s, but what of the VI-C and VII-C?

I've seen an Elliott that looks pretty original with an engine number H24xxx (very large number for a VI-C) with "1924" stamped after it. It looks like this engine was maybe built in 1924, or if not built into a bike in 1924, by which time the VII-C had come and gone and the VIII-C was available.

I wonder did Elliott buy "old style" VI-C engines in 1924, or were they just left-overs of a 1922 batch?

Ditto for VIII-C engines with high numbers like L10xxx, built into bikes that seem to be 1925 or later.

I guess we'll never know for sure, but I'm pretty sure that dating a bike to 1922-3 because it has a VI-C, or 1923-4 because it has a VII-C is a bad idea! Looks like Australian manufacturers (at least) were using these engines in their bikes well after the VIII-C was available.

Cheers

Leon

21
Identify these bikes! / Re: Villiers stationairy engine
« on: May 05, 2025, 09:50:11 AM »
The Mk VIII-C was the little Villiers that ran from the 1920s until after the war, 55x62 I think. This looks pretty close, but I'm far from expert - not sure about the numbers on the crankcase. There's not another number on the flange under the cylinder, just above the drive sprocket?

Leon

22
British Bikes / Re: What is this?
« on: March 09, 2025, 08:07:19 AM »
The big hole is about 1/2" - pretty big for a bracket on a bike - so maybe do a lap of the bike with the mystery part offering it up anywhere there is a 1/2" nut! Then hang it on a a nail on the shed wall.

How about a pic of the bike?

Leon


23
British Bikes / Re: Waratah on fleabay
« on: February 05, 2025, 06:23:10 AM »
Yes the price is silly - perhaps if the owner had some guidance during the restoration he might have saved on costly, unnecessary plating. The similar bike in the NSW Museum shows a bit more of the original purposeful finish. https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/61186

Interesting that the eng/frame prefixes are the same on the two bikes, but the numbers are so different. A reminder of course that without provenance we can't say if the bike started life as a Waratah or an Excelsior?

Hope it finds a new home, at maybe 1/3 of the listed price.

Leon

24
British Bikes / Re: Villiers 172cc brooklands engine?
« on: January 13, 2025, 06:51:54 AM »
I should add that Browning says the Brooklands "padded crankshafts", so maybe your full-circle cranks are correct. Nothing said about the con rod, but I'd expect it to be something a little more special than the one in the engine?

Leon

25
British Bikes / Re: Villiers 172cc brooklands engine?
« on: January 13, 2025, 06:45:10 AM »
Hi Ralf,

In "The Villiers Engine" Browning makes it quite clear that the "Sports", "Super Sports TT", and "Brooklands" engines use, respectively, a one-piece cast-iron cylinder, a cast-iron cylinder + a detachable alloy head, and the shrunk-on aluminium jacket on the cylinder and a "high compression cylinder head". So your head and cylinder combo is at least "pretty much Brookands".

I notice that your head has a little more beef than some others we've seen: the bosses for the bolts are more-or-less level with the top of the fins on your head, but the bosses are a little shorter on, for example, the Excelsior Brooklands we've discussed here previously. Not sure is this is a variation between a SSTT head and a Brooklands head, or maybe an early head vs a later head.

Browning says the engine number prefix is BZ for SSTT, or Y for Brooklands.

He also says that the engine was "made specifically for racing events, the number produced being comparatively small".

Cheers

Leon

26
British Bikes / Re: Villiers chain ?
« on: December 18, 2024, 09:30:54 PM »
Hi Ralf,

That's interesting. The roller diameter of 8.51mm equates to 0.335" - spot on, and the width is quite close: 5.21mm is 0.205" vs the British chain at 4.75mm (0.1875" or 3/16"). The extra 0.46mm/0.018" width is not too bad, so the chain would probably work ok?

Cheers

Leon

27
British Bikes / Re: James ML with no spark
« on: December 16, 2024, 05:50:09 AM »
Quote from: ramwing7 on December 14, 2024, 07:11:00 PM
It may be that the flywheel is not going onto the crankshaft far enough, but I don't have a reference to determine this.  It looks like the lighting coils are only covering about half the magnet.  It is about 1.5 cm from the outside edge of the flywheel to the front edge of the ignition armature.
Does anyone have any pics of a flywheel in place or any other suggestions.  I'm pretty much stymied at this point.

This doesn't sound right. The pole pieces in the coils should be centred on the magnets in the flywheel, and presumably the flywheel should sit quite snugly with its backing plate. If the flywheel is not riding on it's key, it might be a mismatched flywheel? The tapers should match such that the when pushed home the flywheel is firmly located - no looseness or rocking - even before the nut is tightened.

Leon

28
British Bikes / Re: 196 super sport inlet manifold
« on: October 17, 2024, 01:37:45 AM »
Aluminium drink can + scissors, with a smear of non-setting gasket compound.

Leon

29
British Bikes / Re: Villiers chain ?
« on: August 02, 2024, 06:34:22 AM »
Hi R,

I have a length of chain with 0.334 rollers, but only long enough for a (shortish) primary chain. Sorry, I don't know where to get more in Australia. Plenty of 415 and it's heavy duty brother the 415H, but all with the smaller rollers.

Leon

30
British Bikes / Re: Dunelt and Barnstormers
« on: July 19, 2024, 04:56:49 AM »
No numbers, because the blipping thing is still high in the air. If I were doing anything with the bike, I'd just leave the gearbox as is, unless it was no good in which case a Sturmey Archer FW could go back in.

I'm pretty sure the gearbox in the Miller electrics illustration is also Albion, something like this one https://auctionet.com/en/3007648-albion-gearbox-england-1920-30s . If so, funny that it appears in an advert telling us that all Dunelts use Sturmey Archer 3-speed gearboxes.

Leon

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