Over a year without a post.....

I'm amazed it's been over a year since my last post but I guess life got in the way. I have been doing little bits and pieces on the bike and today I ticked a few more off so this post is meant as a catch up and progress report. I'll be totally honest and admit that I can't remember exactly when I did what so some of this will probably be out of sequence, you may be able to spot it in the photos

The last post had the bike back together on it's wheels again although the chain wasn't back on and it still wasn't running. The main issue with that has been the carburetor as I didn't know what it was so didn't know where to start with setting it up. I recently purchased a couple of books and some original sales info that have really helped, I'll do a post on all the literature I have to go with the bike at some point. One is a general Villiers engine manual, it covers several models of engine but explains full disassembly, reassembly and adjustment in much more detail than the user manual I already had. The other one is the original French manual for the bike which gives a full spec of the engine (since it's a Villiers made under license in France it has some subtle differences). This one has been the key to making some small steps towards getting it running as I now know the timing and points gaps are different for my engine than a British made 10D. These are now set correctly although I didn't take any pictures of the setup which involved a dial indicator to measure TDC and then position the piston 6mm before TDC then boting the flywheel on whilst aligning the timing marks. Finally everything was checked by sneaking up on 6mm BTDC and trying to squeeze a 2 thou feeler gauge into the points to check they were opening at the right point. In theory this is all correct now.

So that should be the spark covered, which leaves the other important part of combustion, the fuel. The carb that came with the bike (below) isn't what Villiers would have spec'd (their own 3/4 single lever) but it also isn't what Automoto would have spec'd (a Gurtner M20) and the only markings I can find (Aluvac?) haven't helped in identifying it.

 As luck would have it, this week a Villiers carb popped up on eBay which I won for 99p plus a fiver postage. I *think* it's the correct one and I was fairly sure there were some bits missing but it was worth a try. That arrived today and I was right, the main return spring is missing along with a couple of other bits but I still tried it on the bike after a quick strip and clean and, unsurprisingly, it didn't work. I'll keep hunting....

At some point since the last post I cut the right footpeg off as it has some of the worst 'bird-shit' MIG welding I've ever seen so there was no way that was staying.

I now have an almost matching one to go on the left side too but I want to work out what I'm doing with the stand before I mount these as I think the stand bracket on the right side has been cut off. When they do go back on they'll be fillet brazed as per the rest of the frame rather than the horror show from before. Another work in progress......

After the new carb didn't work I decided to have a look at a couple of minor bodywork issues that would be quick to tick off the list. First was fitting some bolts to hold the front mudguard to the forks. I didn't have any old looking M8s so these will have to do for now

Whilst I was looking at the front mudguard I had a rummage in some old Sturmey Archer spares box and found a couple of thingies that will work for holding a front numberplate (the mudguard was already drilled).

The next thing was the chaincase. This is another part I'm fairly convinced isn't correct for the bike and I have a feeling it came from the same donor as the rear mudguard section as the chaincase is blue inside too. There is also a non-factory cutout on the rear mudguard to make room for it and there are three mounting holes for the gearbox when the gearbox only has two. The chaincase was sitting too low so any suspension movement would make the chain hit the case, it was too close to the tyre, it was touching the rear suspension unit AND it was twisted. Sorry, I don't have an before photos but you'll have to trust me, it didn't fit at all and you can probably see that in previous posts.

First I offered it up where it needed to be to make the mudguard cutout make sense and marked and drilled the mounting holes for the gearbox. 

Then I had to adjust the small strap (again not factory but not badly made) that held the rear end. It needed more offset to clear the suspension unit and one of the holes needed elongating

Finally the cutout for the tyre. This was started with a holesaw and tidied up with a bit of filing. It's not quite where I would like it as I decided to finish it before the end of the ridge that is pressed into the chaincase (hard to see in this shot) as I think this looks better. It now has good clearance to the tyre which is the main thing.

I also worked some of the twist out but I think I will need to revisit this at some point. The strap probably needs slightly less offset and I need to work out how to get the whole thing a bit straighter. This is definitely a case of doing the best with what I've got so I'm fairly happy with how it looks and it now clears everything it should.

The exhaust was originally chrome but mine is mainly rust so I decided to wrap it, essentially to hide it. I stupidly didn't where gloves and regretted it as soon as a few fibreglass fibres made it onto my hands and arms, damn that stuff is itchy. If you're thinking about wrapping an exhaust, my recommendation is don't, make someone else do it instead.

In order to do a lot of this work I've put the bike back on it's trolley, propped up the rear end of the frame on blocks so the rear wheel can turn and ratchet strapped it down. This means I can now rotate the whole bike to work on any part and I know it's not going to fall over either

Hopefully the next post won't take me so long and *whisper it optimistically* maybe it'll be the one where it finally runs. I have been better at tweeting little updates so check out the twitter feed if you want to keep up to date.