classic motorcycle forum

You will not"warm" any wires although if you ran a very heavy load via one switch  for a long time the switch will get warm.

for those application thats where relays come into the scheme, but you won't need one.

The standard Lucas  encapsulated alternator will churn out over 110 watts on 12v quite happily, no need to change it.

get yourself one of those 60/55 halogen bulbs it will be more than good enough for your B40, higher wattages are availiable but illegal for road use. [ but by god they make those car drivers with their  blue gas discharge set ups annoyed!!]

Tha "board tarck" racer is exactly sums up why I get so cheesed off about these imports. What a pile of crap and the whole ad is a tissue of lies.
Its what happens when the trendy blobber crapper crew get near a bike.

As I said before often, I quite like 1930s French bikes, they were often innovative, despite the technology not being up to their ideas, their steel for instance was not as good as ours. But their castings are good, with wide joint faces, they had unit construction, decent electrics, wheel bearing that were ball race not cup and cone, big section tyres and were quite comfortable with large saddles.
France after all is a very big country, the french are skinflints so economy and reliabilty was high on the list.

If anyone is in the market for a decent french bike of that era, take a holiday over there and visit some of their larger boot sales and get a bike thats less knackered and more complete for far less money.

cylinder

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/cylindre-rond-moto-collection-TERROT-250-magnat-debon-/202067363311?hash=item2f0c2745ef:g:WkQAAOSwn-tZLEiT

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/MAGNETO-MAGNETO-FRANCE-TERROT-MAGNAT-DEBON-/222676935635?hash=item33d89463d3:g:tgEAAOSwinVZuEuD

Well, I have seen worse. I expected worse.
If it was a 20s brit bike I'd be more encouraging.

Originally I though you had a sidevalve job.

To me, and as someone who was a professional restorer decades ago, yuu seem to be going a long way round to the end result. Plenty of period magnetos around and as yours is a 2 stroke it won't need advance so look around for one off a stationary engine.

Brazing old french cast iron might be problematic.
I would not have thought it hard to find, [thats find not 'source' notice] a timing cover from France, French ebay can be useful over a period.

That gearbox looks very similar to others in the Terrot/Magnat range, expect it to be knackered.

Use the net for info, this link might help for a start; http://www.terrot.org/musee_terrot/main.php?ID_type=122 

I can help with difficult french technical terms.

Its a better project than I assumed from past experiences, but I still would not have paid what you did for it. Also be prepared for it to be a tad younger, the guys who bring this stuff back are pig ignorant about such things.

You and I are justifiably cynical Rex, but I get really angry about all this crap being shipped over from France. It will do the old bike movement a lot of harm in the end.

The French are selling this stuff because due to their draconian Bureaucracy  and the virtual impossibility of registering a bike without documentation now it is just scrap or spare parts. 
Even restored and registered stuff over there has limitations of use applied to them.
I can assure people here that the French will not sell anything half decent to us as they view it as their heritage.
Let's face it, to them we are awash with old bikes,  all theirs went to the scrap bin in 1940-44, possibly as reinforcement to the Atlantic wall. They have very little in the way of bigger bikes after 1945, just lots of tiddlers due to the then govt being very anti motorcycle.
The antiques trade is in the doldrums, so making a pile of cash out of mugs who buy half a scrap 2 stroke off ebay or at Kempton is a bonus. I regularly see on ebay french bikes being  sold as far older than they are, or badly misdescribed or bless them, hardtail chopper bobber projects.

You can still buy a small flat tanker for around 4/5k still,  a better 'investment' as you'll likely get your money back.

I am not anti french bikes just pragmatic; I have had a Terrot HST, a couple of 1950s Motobecanes 175 among others not badly made, quite good looking, but a real pain to restore but it gave me an excuse for lots of trips over to France for the weekend.  Damn me, I even had a 450cc FN with the rubber suspension.

Why no pics?

Magnat Debon and Terrot are much the same thing, bit like ajs/matchless so you might get some help from the Terrot lot in France.

I have given up trying to help out anyone who has imported one of these french wrecks not because I don't like them, I have had around a half dozen so am well aware of the drawbacks. What I have found is that an offer of books/magazines/handbooks meets with silence when the matter of price is brought up, or the poster gets the hump and  goes off offended when the obvious is pointed out to them.
In fact all the french bike mags I had,about 15 yrs worth, I dumped because I could not get anyone to pay the post for them even given gratis

If you look through the thread re french bikes on here I have several times  given addresses of reliable parts suppliers in france of whom most speak english, However don't ask for manuals parts lists in english they don't exist, not ever.

Lastly, give some of us old gits a bit of slack, I hate  things like,"touch base"  "source"  "vibes" "cool" and any americanism applied to motorcycle parts, turns me right off a post.

I forgive the Oz mob "carbies" " headies" and other diminutives because they don't know any better


 So, genuinely I wish you Good luck.  I know you could have bought the same bike cheaper and more complete in France. In fact all the french bikes I ever had ended up being sent back to France, no market for them here.
Did you buy yours from one of those opportunistic antique dealers who bring them back by the vanload?

Yes, the wilfreds served  a very useful pupose in a time of naional need, in fact they were still in production in the 1950s.

I'd give one a home if it was free but as for the  ridiculous prices being asked for them in some quarters.............

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-HUDSON-AUTO-CYCLE-98cc-1956-/263249474879?hash=item3d4ae4353f:g:V4AAAOSwbZJZpoCa

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NORMAN-98cc-Autocycle-Classic-Vintage-Junior-de-luxe-Villiers-Engine-/132334533901?hash=item1ecfc0bd0d:g:f7gAAOSwb3NZtSUA

Its good to see some dealers still have a sense of humour.