Douglas 1917 Parts ?

[Lew]

Hi to all

Im new to this site so please bare with me, I live in a small Bulagrian village, I'm British and have aquired what I think is a 1917 Model W in much need of resteration. The engine number is ...33086  and the Ram No is 33344, having looked at information on this site it tells me that the bike is a 1917 W model ?

My next question is I'm in need of certain items to start the restoration, these are as follows...Headlamp,Carbs, Stop light, 1xhand brake handle, and dynamo just to start with. I realise these parts will be very hard to get hold of, but I know there are lots of experts on this site so I wondered if you could give me a few pointers in the right direction !

I look forword to hearing from you.

Lew

[Chris]

Hi Lew
      Very few machines of this age had a dynamo and although Douglas did experiment with an electric lighting set on a 2.3/4hp model I am not sure that they went back as far as 1917. I believe your model would have had a gas generator providing acetylene gas to a gas headlamp. It may or may not have had a gas rear light as I don't think that they were compulsory at that time. My 1916 does not have a rear light. They certainly did not have stop lights which did not become popular or a legal requirement for several more decades. Gas lighting sets are readily available although good well restored generators and headlamps are now getting expensive. They were an extra and did not come as standard with the machine.
    Douglas used a number of different carburettors including AMAC, B&B and Binks. Period instruments are available from autojumbles and you well find a source from this site.
    If you have not yet joined The London Douglas Motor Cycle Club you might find this to your benefit as their Pre-war Spares section does have a good range of parts to keep the most popular models running. Mainly consumable items but some cycle parts as well. Good luck with your restoration.    Chris.

[Lew]

Fantastic Chris, a lot of very usefull information very much obliged, I will try Autojumbles and see what they have available

Once again a big thank you for the info.

Lew

[borleyfolksworth]

Lew
How are you getting on with the restoration then. I have been restoring Douglases for over 30 years and am doing two at the moment, a 1916 and a 24 TS. We are fast moving into the situation where there are more projects than parts recognisable as Douglas components. I am new to this site as well but have been pondering the remanufacture of castings and have for instance just recast oil sight glass ends for the 13-20 machines. The WW1 machines of course were nearly all the same model as the factory was under contract to the Munitions Dept for vertually the extent of the war. Many got canibalised to provide parts for running machines and when they returned even more were put together with bits on the shelves to sell out until production re started in 1919. If yours is a 17 then it will have WD arrows stamped on things like the mag etc. My 1919 had arrows on it but was actually a 17 engine but the machine was not sold until 1919 as a civvy bitsa created out of war time parts. Keep chatting
Colin Borley.