79x100

That's great, thank you...I can win a few arguments with this ! 🙂 Going back to the correct plug for a Peerless, all the inter-war sources that I have seem to indicate, as original a 7/8 ALAM thread which is very close to 22mm.

Would there be any chance of seeing the next page ? I've been intrigued for some time by why many inter-war motorcycle engines were specified short reach plugs and yet with a longer reach thread available. It looks as if the answer is a turn of the page away.

Is PUR not the polyurethane elastomer used in the bonding or seals ? ...as opposed to FKM (Viton) or NBR etc.

It's 37 or 57 and post-war Shell is unlikely.

Here you are, Lex ! Your chest, my filing system 😀

When you talk about 'set-up', do you mean the physical tools ? Beyond the vehicle kits, the next step up was, I believe the filled tool chest "Motorcycle, artificer's". Individual servicemen were expected to perform routine maintenance tasks, but they were certainly not expected to tinker too much. In Jack Dienst's book " A civilian in Uniform", he refers to himself as a 'Section fitter' (he was corps signals) and he seems to have had sufficient equipment to be able to carry out most repairs in order to avoid them going back to REME workshops. It's well worth getting hold of a copy.

Is the triangle painted onto the pre-July 1939 Dull Bronze Green ? The white triangle was the 1st Infantry Division formation sign...perhaps used by them when they returned to the UK after losing all their transport in France in 1940 ?

Doesn't that make you a 'Blank firer' rather than completely deactivated or was the surgeon careless ?

Where has it gone to, Ben ? Is it likely to be on the '1940' circuit ? The important thing is that it was saved from the fate of a French 'fairground attraction' paint job and an oil can holder on the front forks !

A Corps establishment included a Field Dressing Station, Field Hygiene Section and a Casualty Clearing Station but the Casualty Clearing Stations were removed from corps control during the autumn of 1944. They seem to have been equipped with 4x2 lorries. The old Trux Models lists show that the Field Ambulance attached to infantry divisions (one per brigade) had Three-ton 4x2 GS lorries but the Light Field Ambulance attached to an armoured brigade had 7x Three-ton 4x4 GS lorries. This would seem to imply that within XXX Corps, any 4x4 RAMC three-tonners would have been marked as Guards Armoured Divison with an arm of service serial of 89 or 90 on a black background depending on the brigade that they were attached to.

"Dunkirk" is a place, not a date...Perhaps there is something linking it to to the town in 1945 when it was eventually liberated ?

It's a BSA WM20 from contract C12424 which was delivered from mid-1942 onwards. The lack of headlamp masking suggests post-war but it still has the wartime serial number so probably earlier than 1948. I calculate the frame number should have been WM20 64556 which isn't on the WD Motorcycle website list of M20 survivors.

It should be fitted with the relieved, concave area inwards. It sits tight against the shoulder on the crankpin. The teeth on the outer edge of the gear are bevelled and this face is behind the oil pump worm. It might seem logical for Norton to have relieved the back edge to make it easier to use a puller, but they didn't..on later engines though, the opening in the case is large enough for the pinion to be left in place when the crank is removed. On earlier engines, it wasn't and this area is frequently found with damage to the bearing housing.

I do so love a "Happy Ending" 😁

It's still visible on Wayback Machine web archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20220419143549/http://british-army-units1945on.co.uk/ The post-2015 copyright is credited to 'Merlin Jones' Would this be him ? If so, then find Daimler Ferret 01 CA 03 and you have your man ! https://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/belt010.html

Things are racing ahead, but to go back to the Terry saddle for Nortons which is the one that I know best, The two versions of Terry saddle are confusing. Unfortunately, there are no markings on either frames or covers to show which model they might be. Clearly one of those drawings in the VAOS book is incorrect. I did wonder if one of the Terry saddles might be a Terry Big 4 replacement. Did later Big 4 have Terry saddles ? Not in the parts lists, as far as I can tell but if Lycett became unavailable as a replacement for the WD16H saddle due to rubber shortages, then presumably this also applied to the WD SWD Big 4 too, even though they were in decreasing usage from 1943 onwards. The component parts lists for the S801 and S203 saddles mention different main springs . The later arrival of padded kneegrips on the 16H would alter the cover number perhaps, but not the springs. The Big 4 of course had springs with a lower eye to accept a horizontal mount rather than the vertical studs of the WD16H. The 801 and 823 also had different covers and different centre plates which is even more of a puzzle ! Pre-war civilian Nortons had wider saddles from 1939...did the Big 4 also ? The original Lycett for the pre-war Norton had part no. LT11 but the late VAOS refers to the MT11/B - This could well just be the kneegrips added to the original LT11. The VAOS is fairly categoric in stating that the S801 was fitted as alternative to the Lycett LT11 so I think it's fairly safe to assume that what is fitted to my 1939 which you have used to illustrate the thread is indeed the S801. The odd kink in the Norton frame by the way seems to be simply to allow the oil tank cap to open.

Whereabouts are you ? If Tony Cooper is still taking new work then you won't get a better job for a fair price.

Norton introduced a prefix letter for machines and parts in 1946..."C" indicates 1948 which would mean that this is for the 82x113 alloy head engine rather than the 82x120 cast iron motor...The piston may well have changed.

Jan, it doesn't have an oil can holder bolted to it, and it's not painted in 'Les couleurs de la foire'. What makes you think that it's French ?

The Brooks / Lycett connection may explain the un-badged but Brooks-labelled post-war replacement covers which also feature the fine thin Rexine rear edge and lack the seamed top panel. These covers fit early-war Norton Terry frames but is that because they were specific with the 'TE' reference ?

BEF-abandoned in Le Havre...

The headlamp looks as if it started life on a late 1950s BSA C15...the mudguards are a fifties style too...The bike has clearly seen a lot of use since 1945. I think that I can see metric engine mounting bolts as well. This isn't one of those 'time capsule' machines. There were fields full of British motorcycles all across France, Belgium and The Netherlands in 1945, not to mention the British bases in Germany (and French and Belgian troops using the bikes there too). It would be far more convenient to be able to say that a vehicle had been abandoned by the Wehrmacht than lots of other possible scenarios. It's a worn-out bitsa and the value should reflect that rather than the unprovable back-story.

Has anyone investigated the OGEL system since Brexit ? The 'Will of the people' has screwed up so many things, it may well be that these exempt destinations no longer apply. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/824031/19-ogel-historic-vehicles-artillery.pdf

I agree that the bike on the right is an Ariel, Alex...the long adjuster on the front brake rod pretty much confirms it...primary chaincase could only have been Ariel or Triumph. This is the closest Norton that I have on file to C4393554 - it is C4393379. It was very shortly after this that the number plate fittings were discontinued and the military type rear light fitted. This photo gives a good idea of how these late C7353 machines looked when first in service (No half-ton of ugly pannier frames to lug around - still a sporting single 😄).

That's what I came up with, Ron. It's often puzzled me looking at other WD bikes that the owners rarely have anything on that terminal.