greeves help

[craig]

your casting is very neat , I still now think this is original , if anyone wants to take a look you are more than welcome , I am in Birmingham and will not be touching the bike till next year , it will stay a greeves if the history looks correct , my brother has now found some missing parts/spares , I will keep the engine even if I put a triumph lump in , thanks again for all your help and I am joining the club so will be riding the bike (maybe not that far) still on these tyres front and back

[craig]

Note the pristine casting - Greeves 'beams were shell-moulded, you don't see casting faults in them ............... they where sand cast upto @ 1964 , the frame looks like a sand cast to me

[John Wakefield]

Craig, my advice is firstly to contact DVLA to see if they have a record of LEV 112C (I am sure its LEV not LEY)
If they have it you are home & dry, just fill in form V62 & £25 to get a V5c
If DVLA dont have a record, then you need to contact Essex Records Office & get an authenticated copy of the registration record for LEV112C from their ledger. (they will make a charge for this)
Having got a copy of the registration entry, which should show the frame number, (Essex usually recorded these) you can then recover the registration via the V765 scheme, again John Collard is your man.
With regards to putting in a Triumph engine, if you do this do not make any irreversible mods, as should you find out later that it was a notable works bike you really dont want to destroy its provenance.

[craig]

thanks I will look into this , this frame is sand cast of that I am sure .found this on the net , green sand ?

[scott151]

Very interesting machine

I think you have a great project there.

As to the frame number.. I have seen others not to straight.. And indeed it is not a usual Greeves frame number as Greeves only officially offered the TFS for the 65 season..

The smoothed part of your frame number is not unusual as many of my bikes are the same due to the clutch cable run...

Your bike looks like a pukka TFS to me except... Your bike has not got the hub ribs machined off as the TFS.. ( I can only really see a bit of the rear hub )
Your bike has an iron barrel and matching TE type exhaust.. (TFS had challenger head and barrel)

Crucially Your bike has the TFS footrest setup. Also the TFS drilled engine cradle. AND the unique to the TFS cable operated rear brake cable fittings..and the TFS speedo binnacle unique to the model

The evidence from trials rider points to the bike being built for a certain event..and the TF could point to the fact it has a sum of lesser parts.. The barrel and exhaust..

Personally I would restore the bike as it is.. I'm sure with the iron barrel it will be a lovely bike to ride

Great find!

Scott

[craig]

thanks to the help from club (which I have now joined) the bike will be saved and I will be riding it , I bought it for the chassis only but things have changed

[Colin Sparrow]

Note the pristine casting - Greeves 'beams were shell-moulded, you don't see casting faults in them ............... they where sand cast upto @ 1964 , the frame looks like a sand cast to me

Greeves used shell-moulding from the start in 1954. See pages 19-21 of my book "Greeves - The Complete Story".

[craig]

even stranger , this frame is sand cast , can some one give me accurate measurement across the front beam at a given distance so I can measure this one here , also the weight of this section , I'm not sure this one is alloy it feels very hard (with file)

[craig]

i have taken the tank off (no rear brackets on the tank ) for a closer look at the frame , imperfections abound and is nowhere near the perfection suggested ? this still looks sand cast to me , any experts near Birmingham care to take a look ?

[Colin Sparrow]

The sacrificial two-piece mould used for each beam was made of sand bound together with a resin and formed around a pattern. This shell mould was then heat treated in an oven. Consequently all Greeves beams have a sand-cast finish. You can see it on my beam.

The book explains it properly.

Welcome to the GRA, by the way!

[craig]

so this is ok and what you would expect to see , I need to look at another greeves

[scott151]

Looks fine

If you want it to look prettier I'd recommend vapour blasting it.. It will look like New!

[Rob]

Craig,

Not too sure what's been said on here already as I'm a bit busy to read it all.

However, not withstanding strange stamping or missing letters, the fact that TFS 359 had engine 4129 and yours is 4130 makes it a good bet yours is TFS 357. Greeves didn't often seem to run engine numbers in an accurate sequence judging by most records. I expect the stamper went off to smoke something, came back and forgot where he got to (maybe that accounts for the strange stamping too!)

Please see the attached drawings. Note that there is no such thing as a front frame loop for a TFS - the TES frame loop continued to be used.

Craig - I'll send you full size versions to your mail address.

From my second shelf: "Greeves - The Complete Oracle!"

[Brian Thompson]

Oi....!!!!!!

I expect the stamper went off to smoke something, came back and forgot where he got to (maybe that accounts for the strange stamping too!)

Now look here Rob...it wasn't my fault......the lads in the comp shop put something funny in my bananas.....

(Sorry Craig, but I had to stick up for Bubbles....and it's not the first time either....)

bRiAn.

[craig]

back again , can anyone post a pic of the kick start I need for this machine , the foot rests are not the fold away type , I see some are being made but I'm not sure they would fit/work on this model