Hello

[Mikerobe]

Hi,

My first post and so a bit of an introduction. I first found out about Douglas motorcycles as my dad, who is in to cars more than bikes, got hold of one when I was a kid. Never had much interest until I discovered the joys of motorcycling in the mid '80's. This piqued my interest in the old Douglas my dad still had kind of languishing in a garage . I joined the LDMCC and made faint hearted attempts to get the bike going. Funds, lack skills and facilities and other distractions led to my losing interest sadly and the bike reverted to it's unloved abandoned in the corner state. A recent need to relocate stuff from the garage it was stored in to a new home has re-ignited my interest and desire to get the poor old thing going. So I have rejoined the LDMCC and just yesterday went to pick up the engine and a pair of gear boxes to see what I can do to get them tidied up and into a running condition. After that I suspect there is rather a lot to do to get the frame and running gear back in to shape.

The bike is a 1926 350 EW which my dad got hold of in the early 1970's. While the condition of what we have isnt too bad, as the bike had been partly restored some time in the late '60's, I suspect it is by no means complete and has quite a lot of key fasteners and bit's missing. Some time back in the mid '80's I visited a kind LDMCC member, one D. Rodgers, in West Drayton, Middlesex, and took a stack of photos of his EW so I have a reasonable idea of what is missing. The problem will no doubt be finding everything 

If you are interested in having a look at what the bike looks  like now then please take a look here :- http://www.mikerobe.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=62

As a complete newbie to vintage motorcycle restoration and Douglas motorcycles I would me most grateful for any and all advice and comments you may care to offer.

One last thing I am in Stevenage in Hertfordshire.

Cheers

Mike 8-{>

[Mikerobe]

I realise that it is usually poor form to reply to your own post but I hope you wont object too much. 

Tonight I started work on the 350 EW engine and gearbox. Taking it very gently at the moment. I have taken some more detailed photos of the engine and gearbox and was wondering if those with greater knowledge than mine would mind taking a look here:-

http://www.mikerobe.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=63&page=1

There are a few things I am not certain about:-

1) I seem to have two oil feeds to the cylinders, one front and one back, where most  I have seen only have one to the front cylinder. Was this a common modification?

2) I have a feeling the decompressor is missing can anyone confirm this?

3) You will see that there is some damage to what I have seen of the gearbox so far. I do have a spare casing for the damaged part but I think there is something missing that would have mounted on the portion of gearbox that is missing. What was it? The spare casing I have may be empty and just the case. Havent got in to it yet.

4) The kickstart quadrant is pretty mangled and has been welded back together again. Is this a fragile part? Are replacements obtainable?

Hope you can help.

Thanks

Mike 8-{>

[Dave]

Hi Mike,

I realise that it is usually poor form to reply to your own post but I hope you wont object too much.

No problem replying to your own post - the more information the better.

It may help others to respond if the questions and photos are displayed together. eg

1) I seem to have two oil feeds to the cylinders, one front and one back, where most  I have seen only have one to the front cylinder. Was this a common modification?



Note, link to external photo album no longer valid.


Then they don't have to flick back and forward between two places and can absorb all the information in one go

To display the photos in your post, just copy the URL and paste it in your post. Then highlight it and click on the "Insert Image" icon above the smileys. So the completed link looks like this.

Code: [Select]

[img]http://www.mikerobe.org/gallery/albums/motorcycles/douglas/engine_gear_box/20091021/normal_IMG_0823.JPG[/img]
I'll later add them to the database under your member ID.

cheers, Dave


[Add note that path to external image no long valid. 03May22, Doug, admin]

[Doug]

Mike,

In the order asked_

1) No difficult to do, but I would say having an additional oil feed to the rear cylinder was not that common a modification. The rear cylinder naturally received oil slung from the crankcase well, and seemed to get sufficient oil without additional means.

2) Yes. You can see pics of what the exhaust valve lift bits look like in-situ further down in this post-
https://www.douglasmotorcycles.net/index.php?topic=2811.0
and discussion in this post-
https://www.douglasmotorcycles.net/index.php?topic=2784.0

and here-

3) ...but I think there is something missing that would have mounted on the portion of gearbox that is missing.

Not sure what you mean by missing part. The gearbox mount did evolve over time. For instance the type shown in your photo gallery mounts on a flat platform in the frame. For the 1927 season this was altered and the transmission mounted directly on extensions of the engine bearer tubes. So you may have a mix of early and late transmissions and frame.

4) Yes. And No. The kickstarts are fragile and Douglas did make them more robust over time. Yours is indicative of what normally happens with folk jumping on the kick starter and mashing the first few teeth of engagement. One of the cover studs acts as the limit stop, and repeated slamming into this elongates the hole for the stud and cracks the casting. The bend stud does make it awkward to get the cover off too! Douglas intentionally fitted the lever in a near horizontal position when at rest. Folk would reposition the lever higher, to get more swing. They would then be more apt to hit the stop following through with a hearty kick before the lever was all the way down to the ground. You can just dress the teeth up and live with what you have, or find a gear blank of the correct size and cut down into a new quadrant and weld it to your existing shaft.

Additional posts about the EW oiling system (because that is going to be your next question!) can be found here-

https://www.douglasmotorcycles.net/index.php?topic=974.0

and  here-

https://www.douglasmotorcycles.net/index.php?topic=1002.0

Also in your picture gallery are some images of a plate retaining the tappet guides. These also evolved over time. The type you have thread in, and are prone to work loose as you can see. Later they were tapered and held in with a bridge clamp, similar in idea to the homemade version fitted to your engine.


-Doug


[update https links.  02Feb20 -Doug]

[Mikerobe]

To display the photos in your post, just copy the URL and paste it in your post. Then highlight it and click on the "Insert Image" icon above the smileys. So the completed link looks like this.

Code: [Select]

[img]http://www.mikerobe.org/gallery/albums/motorcycles/douglas/engine_gear_box/20091021/normal_IMG_0823.JPG[/img]

Hi Dave, Thanks for the pointer. I did realise that I could post the images here and how to code links on a forum. I can see the benefit of doing it but last night it was gone midnight and I'd just spent a couple of hours resizing and uploading the the images to my gallery. In my haste I got an attack of laziness and just posted a link back to my gallery. Sorry if caused you any hassle. I'll try and do a better job next time.

In my time I have moderated forums (on rugby league) and run club websites (for a rocketry club) so all too well appreciate the grief new and inexperienced users can cause and the trials and tribulations of site admin. 

Promising to do better in future.

Cheers Mike 8-{>

[Mikerobe]

Hi Doug,

Thanks very much for all the answers.

1) No difficult to do, but I would say having an additional oil feed to the rear cylinder was not that common a modification. The rear cylinder naturaly received oil slung from the crankcase well, and seemed to get sufficient oil without additional means.

I did figure that it was odd in the way that the fins have had to be hacked to fit the non return valve. I think I will leave it as is for now as I suspect it wont be straight forward to fill the hole in the cylinder wall.

2) Yes. You can see pics of what the exhaust valve lift bits look like further down in this post-
https://www.douglasmotorcycles.net/index.php?topic=2811.0
and discussion in this post-
https://www.douglasmotorcycles.net/index.php?topic=2784.0

Ahhhh so that's what it all looks like. I definitely don't have any parts that look like that. Are they something that is likely to be easy to find? They don't look too complicated to make, apart from the wire link. Is this the kind of thing that there might be drawings for? 

3) ...but I think there is something missing that would have mounted on the portion of gearbox that is missing.

Not sure what you mean by missing part. The gearbox mount did evolve over time. For instance the type shown in your photo gallery mounts on a flat platform in the frame. For the 1927 season this was altered and the transmission mounted directly on extensions of the engine bearer tubes. So you may have a mix of early and late transmissions and frame.

I should have taken some pics of the other gearbox to illustrate my point. I wasn't meaning the mounting of the gearbox itself. More that, on the section of the gearbox that has been broken off, (at least on the complete version on the spare gearbox I have) there is a mounting hole for something with a matching hole on the outer cover on the kickstart side. The hole is to the bottom left of the gearbox looking at the right side of the bike. I think I have seen something in the Douglas handbook but I dont have it to hand to describe it better.  It might be that it has something to do with a return spring  or similar mechanism to bring the kickstart lever back to it's resting position?

4) Yes. And No. The kickstarts are fragile and Douglas did make them more robust over time. Yours is indicative of what normally happens with folk jumping on the kick starter and mashing the first few teeth of engagement. One of the cover studs acts as the limit stop, and repeated slamming into this elongates the hole for the stud and cracks the casting. The bend stud does make it awkward to get the cover off too! Douglas intentionally fitted the lever in a near horizontal position when at rest. Folk would reposition the lever higher, to get more swing. They would then be more apt to hit the stop following through with a hearty kick before the lever was all the way down to the ground. You can just dress the teeth up and live with what you have, or find a gear blank of the correct size and cut down into a new quadrant and weld it to your existing shaft.

That makes sense the cover is rather difficult to remove and I did wonder why some of the studs seemed a tad less straight than others.

Also in your picture gallery are some images of a plate retaining the tappet guides. These also evolved over time. The type you have thread in, and are prone to work loose as you can see. Later they were tapered and held in with a bridge clamp, similar in idea to the homemade version fitted to your engine.

Looks like I might need to fashion a few more of them then ;)

Thanks very much for your help.

Cheers Mike 8-{>

[Doug]

Is this the kind of thing that there might be drawings for?

Yes, since you are not the first to be missing these items. PM (not post) me an email address and I will forward the PDFs for the drawings for the links and the lifting wire.

-Doug

[Mikerobe]

A little update on progress to date. As you might see from other threads I now have a gear box on the way to being in bits and have the flywheel clutch off. I have also taken delivery of a box of goodies from LDMCC and their rather splendid Pre War Spares service.

If you would like to see more photos they can be found here http://www.mikerobe.org/gallery/index.php?cat=55 There are quite a lot so I wont link to them all here now ;)

Cheers Mike 8-{>