classic motorcycle forum

Hate to argue with Alex but the gear lever on the right had nothing to do with riding on the left side of the road.
Its very simple. Very early motorcycles had a direct belt drive from the engine to the rear wheel on their left side. As transmissions, chain drive, clutches and gearboxes etc, were developed the drive to the rear wheel stayed on the left and the means of changing gear was installed out of the way on the right hand side. This was practical as hand change was employed in those days and as most people are right handed it suited nicely to have the gear change where it was natural for most people to use it.
When finally the current style of positive stop foot change was invented in the late 1920's it just replaced the right hand side hand gear change that existed before it. It was an option you bought that bolted onto the right hand side of the box where the hand change entered the box. This caused new problems because at that time most bikes had the rear brake on the right hand side as they are now so the lucky rider with the new fangled fancy foot change had both to brake and to change gear with the right foot and do both at the same time. Obviously this didn't work that well so the makers took the cheap way out and just simply transferred the rear brake across to the left hand side.
This arrangement lasted from the 1930's to the late 1960's when it became more and more obvious that British motorcycle manufacturers had to get in line with the rest of the world and have the foot brake back where it was operated by the right foot like it is in every other vehicle on the road. Cars, trucks.buses, you name it, whatever you drive, the right foot works the brakes. To do that the foot gear change had to move across to the left.
So the old British style of controls was just one of the many steps in the development of the modern motorcycle and thats all there is to it. It met the needs of its day but then things moved on.
Cheers,

Yes, thats right. Excelsior were but one of the manufacturers who used the watercooled Villiers 250 engine in their range. I have the relevant sales catalogue somewhere.
Off the top of my head SOS, Excelsior and Vincent all spring to mind as users. I'd like any one of them but I confess the thought of turning up at a Vincent rally on a Villiers powered Vincent is high on my bucket list.
I've been told Vincent made half a dozen Villiers powered machines. The first had the standard aircooled 250 fitted but they were unhappy with it. In his autobiography Phil Irving describes how they found this engine didn't have the required stamina and when ridden hard would go off song but the watercooled version did not and was a tireless performer. Times were hard, they were desperate for sales so they made a batch to keep the factory ticking over. Times improved so no more were made.
Cheers,
 

I confess I'm not a fan of aftermarket oil filters. I believe nowadays most old singles don't do the mileage to warrant them and regular oil changes are more than adequate.
I believe far more in air filters and think they are far more important. In the old days air filters (if fitted) were the first thing to go so as to 'improve' breathing. No wonder our engines wore out comparitively quickly and got full of muck. A modern K&N airfilter mightn't look in period but they do a terrific job.
As for your T piece question, I don't really think it matters too much. There is barely any oil pressure to speak of in any roller bearing engine, so the difference in pressure before and after the filter is pretty small.
It's been a very interesting discussion so far, I look forward to a few pictures.
Cheers, 

Hi again,
You possibly have two problems.
1  Slightly too little valve stem/guide clearance
2  The upstairs lubrication pipe layout.
An easy way to check the valve stem/guide clearance issue is to buy yourself an aerosol of CRC silicone spray. Take the exhaust rocker box off and spray silicone down the valve guide and stem. Reassemble and see if things improve. I suspect the exhaust valve as you say it just runs out of power. If it was the inlet you tend to get some spitback through the carb before the engine stops.
The upstairs lube pipe layout you describe is a pretty standard Ariel race layout. It is fine for racing which is in short bursts but not so good for everyday road use. The standard layout goes to the exhaust side first for good reason. It needs more oil than the inlet. The incoming fuel cools the inlet and provides a tiny bit of lubrication. The exhaust always runs much hotter and needs more. I suspect your inlet is getting the lions share of oil and the exhaust side is struggling. Change back to the standard factory layout.
We'll talk about how you regulate the supply to upstairs another time.
Cheers,

Hi Codfish,
This is a casting number, not an engine number. You are far from alone in confusing the two. Its very handy to know the difference between them as there are several casting numbers scattered about your bike.
A casting is always made from an individual pattern and that pattern has its own individual number. This is to prevent mistakes in the foundry. The pattern maker deliberately attaches raised numbers to the pattern so every casting made from it shows the same pattern number over and over. A raised number cannot be confused with a number stamped into the casting because it an integral part of the casting. If you look around your engine you may find a similar style of raised number on both the barrell and the cylinder head as these are castings also.
Engine, frame, and gearbox numbers are identifying numbers and unique to each item. No two have the same number. They serve a different purpose to the casting number so are visually different from them.
Just remember casting numbers are always raised and part of the parent metal and identifying numbers are always stamped in to the metal. Casting OUT, identifier IN.
Once again, you are far from the first to confuse the two so hopefully this long explanation will help other people also.
Cheers, 

Doesn't make an atom of difference. The FB and Excelsior engines are identical. Although the engines are identical Villiers had a numbering system to identify who they originally sold the engine to so it is easy to check them out. Its only nowadays when people make such a fuss of 'matching' numbers that the 'right' numbers are of concern.
In the days when Villiers engined bikes were everyday transport no one worried about such things and would cheerfully swap engines around. For many years when  Villiers powered bikes were just cheap transport and not collectable it wasn't economical to rebuild an engine if it wore out. It was so much cheaper to just buy another  secondhand engine and put that in, consequently there are many Villiers powered bikes fitted with the right engine but the engine has the  'wrong' numbers.
If you supply the frame number of the Excelsior we may be able to say what it was originally fitted with. Villiers engines are so interchangeable its possible you bike was originally fitted with the larger 197cc 6E engine.
Cheers,

I must be going blind. I completely overlooked the numbers you gave in your request.
Your numbers are not quite right but I suspect the problem lies in you misreading the number or poor stamping or somesuch.
The frame number prefix for 1946 is BK as yours is but the 1946 engine number prefix is AP, not A3 as you have put down. As above I suspect this is just a minor hiccup and not a problem.
Having toured many, many miles on a 1940 VB outfit plus owning a slightly later telefork version of your 350 I admit to liking Ariels very much. I think they are a very underrated bike.
Cheers, 

Personally I think tinning went out with button up boots although I agree desperate problems bring desperate measures. Nevertheless, Loctite make a broad range of products primarily aimed at fixing problems like this and are quick simple and easy to use. Why tin when you can Loctite? Plus Loctite is easy to clean off.
I think I've spent so much of my time fixing up the mess after bodges like tinning, centre punching and the like that it makes the hair rise on the back of my neck when I see it.
The worst of the lot though is the  bloke with a welding torch. What some people do with a welding torch doesn't bear thinking about. My worst was the bloke who stripped the timing side L/H thread on the crankshaft of an early Matchless single so bronzed the timing pinion back in place. He then managed to do the same to the crankshaft nut on the driving side so had bronzed that back in place also. The result was an engine impossible to strip down. As any early engine is precious it took a long time to get it apart without doing further damage.
The message from all this is, if you do a job, do it right. Don't make life a misery for the next poor sod of an owner.
Cheers,