Stefano

There you go, you learn something new every day

Martyn, I think you're referring to the photos of a bike in France. The in line supressor in the pic is standard WD fare. They're usually marked ERIE and are not too difficult to get hold of, every now and then they pop up on Ebay or possibly on the M20 Website. The HT lead also sported a two piece immobilizer - now I would really like to find some of them.... Stefano

Right ho then. These pictures haven't come out in order but you can see that anyway. Next step was to get the cases bolted together with some slave bolts, then everything got cleaned off with thinners and masked up, and all that lovely clean aluminium got sprayed with S.C.C. 2. Pathetic. After that, out with the slave bolts and in with the proper studs and nuts, in goes the gearbox (sorry, forgot to take pics), followed by the primary chaincase and drive, the flywheel magneto backplate and the piston assembly. A couple of touch ins with the spray gun and the bottom end is basically done. As for the rest of the bike, I've still got to sort out some bearings and spindles for the hubs, and once I've managed to get the wheels finished it looks like it'll be time to start thinking about screwing the blessed thing together again. It's nearly all painted and all I've really got to do is make a few studs and fasteners. After that there are still quite a few niggly bits and bobs to sort out but the bike really needs to be in one piece to be able to do them. More pics to follow, Stef

Now for the engine build. The photos are pretty self explanatory really. New bushes reamed to size, new gearbox seal and new bearings. Had a bit of a problem with these actually. The bearings are quite a tight interference fit on the crankshaft, and added to that of the cases it meant that the crank wouldn't turn when the cases were all bolted up and had cooled. In the end I got it sorted by using C3 bearings (RHP - only the best). The gearbox pinion and selectors have to go in before the cases are bolted up.

Just in case you were starting to think that I'd binned the James, here are a few pics of progress... First off, if anyone wants to know what the original saddle used by the M.L. looks like, here it is. I'd originally bought one of those horrible repops, but looking through the spares catalogue the saddle pictured seemed familiar, and it turns out that I had one hanging about after all, with a lovely cover complete with original plate (it's a Mansfield, by the way), and the correct springs. Every now and then things work out quite well.

Going on a delivery rate of 500 motorcycles per month, the chances are that the contract N° S6603 would have been finished off in early 1944, which means that it was very likely to have been painted in S.C.C. 2. As for who it ended up with when put into service your guess is as good as mine. Airborne units certainly had them, as well as the Commandos and the Admiralty.

That's new to me I must admit. I've got a '39 Sunbeam Hi-Cam and a '39 Square four that are both completely unrestored/never been mucked about with (the 'Beam in particular), and they're still decked out with their original Lucas MT110 rear lights that were designed for single filament bulbs, and narry a brake light to be seen. It's true that the manufacturers made you pay "extra" for a speedometer which was in fact obligatory from 1939 (I think), but motorcycles were still rolling out of the factories with MT 110's or 211's (with number plates in fact designed around them) up 'til 1952/53, and I can't find any references to widespread fitment of stoplights prior to that date (excluding Vincents). BTW, another use of the ST20 that has come to mind was on the '34-'35 Rudge 250, that used supposedly inferior Lucas lighting equipment for their cheaper model (makes you wonder what they were drinking up in Coventry back then)

Woodsey, The Lucas ST 20 was introduced by Lucas for the 1932 season although I don't know when it was deleted from the catalogue - it certainly never reappeared post war. It was operated by a N° 20 switch, which was a pressed steel barrel shaped affair in two halves, held together by it's mounting strap. I have always associated these lights with BSA - the 1934 BSA catalogue certainly depicts a few bikes with the ST 20 fitted, albeit as an extra, which is how it was listed by most makers until 1937-38 when any mention of stop lamps seems to peter out. Of course, THE bike with the stop lamp as standard was the 500cc Rudge, but it used Miller equipment, which was probably even better at self-disassembly than even Lucas stuff was. I'm still looking for the infernal rotary switch for that to be able to finish off the installation on my '36 Ulster. I saw one of those ST 20's up on Ebay a while ago, but it went for more than my bid which was a shame, since as you can tell I'm quite interested in prewar electrical bits. In any case a nice find, and seemingly complete, which must surely be a rarity these days. All the Best, Stef

Looks like you're right Richard, It doesn't seem to have the roller bracket for the winch cable on the front l/h dumb iron.

Mike, Yeah, that's what I've been told as well. My CD/SW had a plywood floor in much the same style albeit totally different in detail of course - we're talking about Morris's here. Is the early CS8 in the picture the one that belongs to Dave Ballard? I saw it at Beltring, a wonderful thing.

Thanks alot for posting these up - they will come in very handy

Are we talking about Royal Enfields here? I didn't even think that a Bullet engine would fit in a WD/CO frame. In any case, Bullets have got decent oil filters so I would have thought that any good quality 20w/50 would be fine

Sigve, When I (eventually) go down to see my WOT2 I'll try and take any photos you may need - B.T.W. you wouldn't have a spare rear axle hanging around would you? Stef

Scott, OK, this is a start. - The rear frame is a later verson that takes the clamped on type of field stand - not a massive problem - happens quite often - but is not correct for the year, and really only makes sense with pillion equipment. - The handlebar levers are all wrong. I'm not sure if the BSA combination levers were still being used by the end of 1941 - probably not - but it's either them or the standard Amal solid levers and single screw clamp choke and advance levers. - The twistrip is late 50's on - the earlier ones have a distict ridge in the casting - The toolbox is missing - the front engine plate cover is missing - The headlamp is postwar issue - the proper one would be a Lucas DU42 with a strip steel clip holding the rim on - Ammeter and light switch - both wrong - The regulator is wrong - it should be a Lucas MCR1 - Kneegrips are wrong - postwar issue - Footrests should be rubber - the solid ones arrived later - Tappet cover should be a flat steel plate, but is correct for the engine, which is from a much earlier contract (C 5110 1940) - don't expect matching numbers on a WD bike, it doesn't happen alot - The wheel rims are those infernal Radaellis with flat sides - hate 'em - The fork damper knob should be bakelite - check it out - Chances are that the horn should still be mounted under the L.h. saddle spring - Rear carrier is missing - either the original small one or the pannier type - Rear convoy type is missing (obviously) - The saddle is later fare but proper W.D. issue - the front mudguard needs work at the front end - Personal note - I have a profound hatred for painted fasteners and it also looks as if the bike was painted against a wall. - Lastly, a bike with two frame numbers would already have me running for cover Running the gauntlet of being called a rivet counter (not that this bothers me overly much) - there's probably going to be more besides. The best thing to do when looking for a WD bike is get the appropriate spares catalogue for the contract (C 9310 in this bike's case) and get yourself fully acquainted with what you should be looking at. As for the price, that really depends on the sort of bike you're looking for. If total authenticity is not your bag and the Beeza runs like a train then it's merely pricey. If you want a really good one, look elsewhere. Hope this is of assistance, Stef

The DS and SV age related numbers came from Peebleshire and Kinross-shire respectively, because they had loads of left over numbers that could be used up. BF is an interesting one however, because it was originally issued to Dorset County Council in 1903, and for reasons that I can only guess at (Bloody Fool perhaps?), there was a big fuss and the combination was withdrawn in 1905, with Dorset getting FX in it's place. BF was only issued again from 1960 to Staffordshire County Council, but of course by then it didn't have long to run before the A plates arrived.

"When the winner of The Best Human Teapot of the Year Award went on tour he received mixed reactions from the public"

Interesting pics, very similar to my WOT2. Has it been converted to Hydraulic brakes?

The awfulness of the Anzio/Nettuno landings springs to mind, but Hollywood would never tell it like it was.. the best bet would be to get the Germans that did "Das Boot" to do it.. now that would be a corker of a film.

Hiya, The accepted opinion is that prior to the outbreak of WW2 RAF motorcycles were either gloss blue-grey or army bronze green, and when the shooting started anything even remotely shiny got plastered with the first camouflage paint at hand as soon as humanly possible, which quite naturally would have been either matt green or matt earth ('plane colours), or dk grey / dk. brown (hangar colours), the first vehicles to undergo this treatment being obviously those based in France and Southern England. The transition was probably complete by the time the Battle of Britain was underway. As for the machines coming off the production line, these were delivered to the RAF without any deviation from standard practice, therefore Khaki green G3 to late 1941 /early 1942, S.C.C. 2 Brown from then on to early/mid 1944, and S.C.C. 15 olive drab from there to the end. After the war the transition back to peacetime colours was not as quick as might be suspected, and initially the motorcycles still in service would have had a better chance of getting a coat of bronze green than RAF blue. I'm useless on anything postwar, so I can't tell you when RAF blue-grey was brought back to stay, but there are surely lots of people on the forum that will be able to give you a better idea. Of course this is the official version, and in reality there could be any number of variables (caunter scheme, light stone, desert pink, tunisian mud and maltese drystone wall spring to mind). Hope this helps, Stef

I'll have the Super Snipe... and the Quad... and the Albion... and the Comet.... and.....

Nice one The manual you're after is "Repair aids for service vehicles" September 1940. I've got a pretty poor copy of one that came with my CS8, so somebody must do them, although the best manual for the engine is the later CS8 & C4 publication, which is available from Groucho publishing. The CD/SW spare parts book is not up to much as it only covers the engine, chassis and running gear and only has illustrations of the major sub assemblies, but still useful. Owners manuals ("C.D. type range six wheelers" - green cover) come up for sale on Ebay from time to time so shouldn't be too difficult to find. The best people to get in contact with will be Rory Ballard or Tobin Jones - they might even have the literature relating to the Bofors tractor body. If you have no joy I'll get copies done of mine and send them out to you. Good luck with the CD, it really is a wonderful thing.

Pictures please please pretty please

It wasn't intended to be denigratory, far from it. It's just that engine swops aren't generally allowed in Italy. As for the European aspect, I agree absolutely, and would have thought that the FBHVC might want to take up some aspects of what's been talked about on the forum, via the MVT perhaps.

I'm going to start off by saying thank you to Antarmike for having the patience to look into things and tell them like they are, not how we would all like them to be. Something about piano players comes to mind.. Whatever, as you can tell from my signature I badly want a Quad, and yes, I have every intention to use it once I've got it. So this is a potted rendition of the law in Italy (the rest of Europe may or may not be the same, but I think that it could well be similar): Every axle must be braked, period, and having an emergency hand operated brake as opposed to something that comes into play when you hit the pedal is probably not really an option, so that's basically that for the 25pdr in normal road use. On top of that, every trailer must have a seperate logbook (therefore numberplate), unless you get them classified as "appendici", or adjuncts to the towing vehicle (this means that they cannot be attatched to any other vehicle, ever again). I'd have to look into weight limitations but there may be a chance that I'd get away with being able to use the N° 27 on the road like that. However, seeing as the N°27 probably weighs more than 750kg with tools and equipment (no shells lads), I'll need to add the E to my C licence (still working on that, there's been a bit of a hiatus with testing since the end of last year). BUT, (and this is the good bit), if the Quad, limber and 25pdr have undergone an examination that certifies that they are as good as they came out of the factory or thereabouts (so no diesel engines or other funny stuff) they can be issued with a temporary registration certificate that basically exempts them from most of the above, as long as the vehicle is used going to, during, and coming back from a rally that has been officially approved by the powers that be (the Prefetto - I doubt if there is an equivalent in the UK). This means that your insurance policy also covers you in the same way. Since I honestly can't even see me taking up that much of the law (two trailers on Italian mountain roads - no thanks), I'm quite a happy bunny. All I've got to do is get my E licence (and a Quad of course) And Mike is perfectly correct - the law has been getting steadily more lenient as time goes on - If we'd tried to take a tank onto the roads twenty years ago we would have probably gotten shot at, rally or no rally, because it would have been the easy option to trying to recite the amount of laws we'd broken in one fell swoop. Anyone got a Quad? Stefano

Have I missed something here? (the answer is probably yes I suppose) It doesn't seem to me as if the Dennis is over endowed with shock absorbers, so the chances are that I would think the more friction there is between leaves the better it will drive...