Villiers beach cruiser

[fasteddy]

Got an email from the Villiers repair shop in England and the chap who I bought the motor from wrapped it in two layers of bubble wrap and put it in a box and the shipper managed to smash some of the fins off the motor and may have warped the cylinder.

The repair shop is trying to figure out how bad the damage is.

Steve.

 

[harry76]

Thats no good at all!!!! Im sorry to hear that. I hope they can fix it. And the fins are what make this motor so nice imo, so breaking a fin really sux....

Im having my own dramas with mine, i did have it running previously on a stand. But now its installed it doesnt seem to want to start. Im going to pull it back out tomorrow to have a closer look.

And i spent my bike budget this pay on the Honda GX160 i bought. So i may have to wait a week or so to buy the parts for a jackshaft which is what i need for this. Im going to redo my sheave brackets when i go back to work. And i might try and source something for my tank tomorrow as its my last day off tomorrow. Ive been a little slack but im keen to get this project rolling again...

 

[harry76]

And MSRFAN, yes we are big fans of your work. Fasteedy hit the nail on the head, your bikes have a very factory look. Everything seems thought out. I meant to ask you previously in this thread when you showed your collection of Maytags, have you ever thought of using one of these engines on a bike, like Buddfabs Maytag bicycle. That thing is awesome. If i had a maytag thats what id be interested in building.
YouTube - Maytag Bicycle

 

[Cam Nz]

Timing slips pretty easy, may be your problem, and the points seem to corrode really fast as well.

I would love a copy of the booklet mate, cheers for asking

Unfortunatley two fins are broken on my motor as well, really does suck!

Hope the little motor works for you harry, and thanks guys for the kind words

 

[harry76]

Timing slips???? What do you mean? Do you mean the aerator (i think thats what they call it) gap?

I had this motor running just fine only a couple of months ago, and all the points look ok. No corrosion. This motor is in really really good condition.

I did take my flywheel off so im wondering if i put it on wrong or maybe damaged something?

 

[harry76]

And Cam if you private message me with your name and address i can photocopy it when i go back to work thursday and post same day. It would be my pleasure as Silverbear was nice enough to send me one, and of course MSRFAN was nice enough to put it to paper.

 

[silverbear]

Fasteddy,
That's a disappointment for sure about the motor. You wonder sometimes what people are thinking when they pack something up for shipping. Let's hope your motor man in England can make things right with a donor cylinder. Once we all have our bikes on the road and running like tops, we will have earned our bragging rights. I'm still on the lookout for a kiddie bike to find a wee pedal sprocket of 36 teeth to see how the Villiars sits in the frame. I'll also be stopping by the local small engine guy's shop to see if I can find a donor exhaust manifold of the right size. The Villiars is larger than the ones on either the Happy Time motors or the Hua Sheng. I'd rather not have to have a welder make something up from scratch... best to find an old one and then have a dogleg welded to it. When that is sorted out and I know the engine will fit, then I can see about having mounting ears welded to the frame.
SB

 

[silverbear]

Harry,
I was watching this short video of budfab's 1905ish build and noticed the sheaves are done with bent pieces like you're doing. Cool bike, home made engine, nicely done video. The Sea Gull carburetor would have been made by Villiars, yes?
SB

 

[silverbear]

YouTube - 1905ish Homemade Motorcycle
Forgot to paste the link...
SB

 

[Cam Nz]

The Sea Gull carburetor would have been made by Villiars,yes?

Yes, some parts off a seagull will fit these motors as well, i have sparkplug caps off a seagull that came with my atco villiers.

I meant on these motors the flywheel has timing marks on it, if you have removed the flywheel then you might have adjusted the timing, but im not sure if you know how to time these or not so i wont go into much detail till i know, i had to re-time mine when i put it back together.

Cheers, Cam.

 

[harry76]

I thought that may have been the case. I found tdc and lined up the mark on the flywheel with the mark on the motor. Am i on the right track? Otherwise you may as well fill me in. Otherwise i was gonna go back to the library. When i first bought the motor i got out a small engines manual that covered Villiers.

 

[Cam Nz]

Yes they are not too complicated to time, just line it up with tdc, there is a mark on the end of the crankshaft i think that is supposed to line up vertical, and one on the flywheel that lines up with the one on the magneto backing plate behind the flywheel.

Is it getting spark?

Cheers, Cam.

 

[harry76]

Oh thats what that mark is on the end of the crank. Ill have to see if it was vertical. But i did line up the marks. It is getting spark. But not a great spark. Ill refit the flywheel tommorrow and make sure the crank mark is vertical. Thanks

If it still doesnt fire i might buy a spark plug, i should buy a new one anyway i guess.

If still no luck i might redo the ignition lead. It doesnt have the strongest looking connections, and i did move around the motor a bit, and Villiers leads are in a position where they could be damaged if not laid carefully. Plus i have a reel of cloth covered wire for an ignition lead

 

[Cam Nz]

I had a problem like this, it was the connection with the coil and the lead, has a piece of carbon and a spring mechanism i recall, i took that out and replaced it with a bit of 3mm solder wire,

Since then i have set mine up with a very small screw soldered, and glued to the coil, then i drilled out the lead screw in thing on the magneto backing plate and shoved a hi tension lead down and screwed it into the coil, i still have to find something old looking to cover that wire

But anyway yeah that is where the problem existed, it would get weak spark when i spun it over with the spark plug out, but wouldnt run, hope it helps.

Cheers, Cam.

 

[harry76]

I have a roll of cloth covered wire. When i send you the booklet ill see how much it is to send with the wire and if its not much ill send enough for an ignition lead. And no need to repay me. Like Silverbear said to me pay it forward to someone on here if the occasion arises.

Ill have to have a look tomorrow about what you are describing. Electrical is definitely my weakpoint.

 

[harry76]

Thanks Cam, I refitted my flywheel, this time with the notch on the crank vertical. And she fired straight up. It's awesome, sounds great, I can't wait to ride it

 

[fasteddy]

Cam, if you can find an old iron you can cut the cloth covered cord off, you can use the covering to to cover your ignition wire.
I found one in our local Salvation Army store.

Steve.

 

[Cam Nz]

Thats awesome dude, i guess it was timing then! i really like the sound of these engines as well

Yes we have one somewhere, i swear i saw it last week! the same thought came to me a few days ago, but i have not had time to look for it unfortunatley

Wish i could get further on my bike, however work has picked up and i still have to see the guy with the other motor, as i would really like two donks.

Time for a video harry, maybe?

 

[harry76]

Plenty of time but no way of filming it.

I had to just give it another stationary run while sitting on it (lol i should probably be working on it rather then imagining riding it, but thats my work ethic) and did notice that it would idle then the rpms would increase (throttle not moved) so i would back the throttle off to idle, then it starts to lose rpms and wants to stall, so increase throttle to idle and then it wants to raise rpms again. And this cycle continues. Idles for about 10 seconds before revs change by themselves.

Any ideas? Carb?

 

[Cam Nz]

Maybe the throttle slide is jamming, other than that im not sure, mine idled very low i can tell you that,

Cheers, Cam.