villiers engine ID

[aGooner]

hi there,,not had much luck on the villiers site can some1 ID my villiers engine, number on casing = 935/18884D also there is a number on the barrel= P 7138 year and model please thanks 4 your help Alan,,....

[esometisse]

should be a 122cc 10D of 1950 or 1951 as used in the Francis-Barnett Merlin 52/53 of these years

[aGooner]

thanks 4 your reply , forgot 2 mention this engine is in a excelsior frame

[33d6]

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,