1
Identify these bikes! / Re: L'il Villiers
« Last post by Rex on Today at 10:11:04 AM »A mate has the identical twin, other than his exhausts are standard low-level.
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2
British Bikes / Re: Troubleshooting a JAP Special
« Last post by Rockburner on Today at 10:11:04 AM »Looking good though.
Where was the meet?
Thanks!
With the short-track tank it's a bit of a looker, it's different to most Featherbed specials (Tritons, Norvins) because they almost always use the big Manx tank (or something like it, Lyta etc) for the extra capacity (and almost all of them are silver or bare metal these days).Down in Selsey, West Sussex, I think it was a bit quiet tbh, propbably because there was a lot of other meets going on along the South Coast (including the bike jumble at Ardingly which is popular)
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British Bikes / Re: Troubleshooting a JAP Special
« Last post by Rex on Today at 10:07:14 AM »Looking good though.
Where was the meet?
Where was the meet?
4
British Bikes / Re: Troubleshooting a JAP Special
« Last post by Rockburner on Today at 08:51:50 AM »Report from the weekend.
I snuck into the workshop late Saturday evening and did some more checking and tinkering.
I decided to try RTV-ing the rocker cover:
I also realised that the fuel line was very very close to the spark-plug cap, and then remembered that I'd seen a 90 degree fuel union somewhere... so dug it out and this is a lot neater (if needing a bit of a clean up)
I'd decided to forego the Ardningly bike-jumble in favour of actually getting the JAPton out and visiting the local classic meet.
So, Sunday morning I checked the oil:
4.6cm as a baseline.
Oh - and I added the finishing touch..
Made it to the meet alright (even though I went to the wrong location first..... D'oh!)
Got a fair bit of interest from everyone, mainly because it's 10x louder than everything else, so your arrival is noted....
On the way home I nearly had a KSI, I was coming up for the turning into my driveway, a right hand turn, so I stuck my arm out for at least 5 seconds (I learnt how to make VERY OBVIOUS hand signals a long time ago riding Dad's old bike collection), brought my hand back to make the turn, and the ABSOLUTE $%^ in the Merc CLK tailgating me OVERTOOK ME.
IF he'd been a microsecond less impatient, he would have had me over his bonnet.
I was so enraged I chased him down with the horn blaring and gave him a piece of my mind (the only bit working, sadly). Didn't really resolve anything, but I think I did get an apology out of him... (eventually, after I had to apologise for using bad words at him, wtf?? He was at least 30, has he not lived in the real world? :wtf: ).
Post-mortem of the ride: The RTV on the rocker cover seems to have worked, but oil is still pouring out of the engine somewhere. The most obvious location would be the base of the push rods, and it's got me thinking: I reckon it needs a crankcase breather.
The engine, as designed, has a crankcase that is (essentially) open to atmosphere, so the down-stroke pressure wave has somewhere to go. Now that my engine has the return pump blocking that exit route, and there is no longer a cable-operated decompression lever, there's no crank-case breather. The De-comp system in the timing chest was cable-operated, so there WAS a route to atmosphere through that cable (not great, but there).
I'm going to talk to one or two people about it, but I'm pretty sure I need to put a breather tube into the crankcase/timing chest, luckily, there's a very obvious and handly location for one.
I also reduced the amount of oil flowing to the head, siply to reduce losses but if the fitment of the breather works well, I'll wind it up again to make sure the head gets enough (it doesn't want too much otherwise the oil overwhlems the valve-stem requirements and gets into the head). I reduced it down to about 1 drop every 7 -10 seconds (it's difficult to get an accurate measure with the random tickover...)
I snuck into the workshop late Saturday evening and did some more checking and tinkering.
I decided to try RTV-ing the rocker cover:
I also realised that the fuel line was very very close to the spark-plug cap, and then remembered that I'd seen a 90 degree fuel union somewhere... so dug it out and this is a lot neater (if needing a bit of a clean up)
I'd decided to forego the Ardningly bike-jumble in favour of actually getting the JAPton out and visiting the local classic meet.
So, Sunday morning I checked the oil:
4.6cm as a baseline.
Oh - and I added the finishing touch..
Made it to the meet alright (even though I went to the wrong location first..... D'oh!)
Got a fair bit of interest from everyone, mainly because it's 10x louder than everything else, so your arrival is noted....
On the way home I nearly had a KSI, I was coming up for the turning into my driveway, a right hand turn, so I stuck my arm out for at least 5 seconds (I learnt how to make VERY OBVIOUS hand signals a long time ago riding Dad's old bike collection), brought my hand back to make the turn, and the ABSOLUTE $%^ in the Merc CLK tailgating me OVERTOOK ME.
IF he'd been a microsecond less impatient, he would have had me over his bonnet.
I was so enraged I chased him down with the horn blaring and gave him a piece of my mind (the only bit working, sadly). Didn't really resolve anything, but I think I did get an apology out of him... (eventually, after I had to apologise for using bad words at him, wtf?? He was at least 30, has he not lived in the real world? :wtf: ).
Post-mortem of the ride: The RTV on the rocker cover seems to have worked, but oil is still pouring out of the engine somewhere. The most obvious location would be the base of the push rods, and it's got me thinking: I reckon it needs a crankcase breather.
The engine, as designed, has a crankcase that is (essentially) open to atmosphere, so the down-stroke pressure wave has somewhere to go. Now that my engine has the return pump blocking that exit route, and there is no longer a cable-operated decompression lever, there's no crank-case breather. The De-comp system in the timing chest was cable-operated, so there WAS a route to atmosphere through that cable (not great, but there).
I'm going to talk to one or two people about it, but I'm pretty sure I need to put a breather tube into the crankcase/timing chest, luckily, there's a very obvious and handly location for one.
I also reduced the amount of oil flowing to the head, siply to reduce losses but if the fitment of the breather works well, I'll wind it up again to make sure the head gets enough (it doesn't want too much otherwise the oil overwhlems the valve-stem requirements and gets into the head). I reduced it down to about 1 drop every 7 -10 seconds (it's difficult to get an accurate measure with the random tickover...)
5
Identify these bikes! / Re: Miller Waratah headlamp bulbs ?
« Last post by 33d6 on Today at 02:41:35 AM »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,
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,
6
Identify these bikes! / Re: Miller Waratah headlamp bulbs ?
« Last post by cardan on July 26, 2026, 12:43:50 PM »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...
There must be a bit of overlap: here's a "postwar" number running vertically down the back of the gearbox, on a very original postwar Acme, maybe 1947-ish. 351/1287 is a pretty low postwar number, so I assume they were on the back for a while before moving to the end plate of the gb?
Leon
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Identify these bikes! / Re: L'il Villiers
« Last post by 33d6 on July 26, 2026, 12:26:28 PM »That’s more like it, including the matte black silencer with slimmer tail pipe.
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Identify these bikes! / Re: Miller Waratah headlamp bulbs ?
« Last post by R on July 26, 2026, 09:18:45 AM »Thanks.
Ah, so the headlamp bulb is 6v.
With no markings on it, is there some designation to obtain a new one ?
AI suggests this could be 15/15W (if you trust AI)
This LED one does look to have the correct base fitting.
https://www.oro2u.com/media/catalog/product/cache/fcb5851806c6fc4802571d138709ed85/4/4/44-295-led.jpg
I doubt this will ever do much night time running, so just switching on from a 6v battery will suffice to start with.
Constant loss, as it were. Battery charging, I'll work on it ...
Ah, so the headlamp bulb is 6v.
With no markings on it, is there some designation to obtain a new one ?
AI suggests this could be 15/15W (if you trust AI)
This LED one does look to have the correct base fitting.
https://www.oro2u.com/media/catalog/product/cache/fcb5851806c6fc4802571d138709ed85/4/4/44-295-led.jpg
I doubt this will ever do much night time running, so just switching on from a 6v battery will suffice to start with.
Constant loss, as it were. Battery charging, I'll work on it ...
9
Identify these bikes! / Re: Miller Waratah headlamp bulbs ?
« Last post by 33d6 on July 26, 2026, 07:44:46 AM »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,
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,
10
Identify these bikes! / Re: Miller Waratah headlamp bulbs ?
« Last post by R on July 26, 2026, 06:10:36 AM »Only $30 for a bulb, and $15 postage
Blimey !!
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/R-AAAOSwX-Bf7ebG/s-l1600.jpg
Wattage might be too high.
Not sure that the 2 little pins are in the right spot either .....
Blimey !!
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/R-AAAOSwX-Bf7ebG/s-l1600.jpg
Wattage might be too high.
Not sure that the 2 little pins are in the right spot either .....