24tcs

[whitehillbillies]

Well finally dug my old Greeves out from Under the house.
With Cost of riding an event, insurance, Fuel getting to and from Trials here in Aus, plus my Acing, aging body it's a shame to let the Greeves go to waste after 30 years of owner ship.
Gave it a wash and took it down the road and back with a smile on my face, then rode it into to the Shed.
Some of the new parts I sourced from Villiers Services found and the "special' tools
Time to put it on the road and ride it again.
Had a look online and a couple more wiring diagrams came up, so will see if I can get the two lighting coils working together. They previously didn't and ran on a Makita 7.2V battery and it was tucked inside the toolbox. It gave me 15 minutes of light if caught out in the dark. Brake light worked fine on the other single lighting coil. Ordered a couple of cheap LED's to see if that helps at all.
The great thing where I live in Aus is its similar to the Old small Towns and winding B roads around Cornwall where I grew up, and happy to plod around at 45/50 mph like I do in my Old Series Land Rovers and my 350 Bullet.

whitehillbilly

[whitehillbillies]

I heard about the Greeves when Visiting my Hometown of Bude in 94.
The Australian Federal Police decided that they would Send me back for a 'Holiday' as the paperwork to live here had ran out 7 years prior.
A quick look at the Bits in a back shed, confirmed that with the extra lead ring on the flywheel and the full circle crank, it was a trial model with some extra goodies. 100 quid and the paperwork changed hands.
It was going to replace my old James I had built up from a 56 Roadster Captain frame with a 6E Villiers motor, and used it Pre65 events here in Aus, selling to a mate before leaving. It is rumoured to be still plodding away in Qld, at Pre65 Events with several new owners.
I fully restored the Greeves, with bits from Sammy Miller, Competition Classics, Villiers Services and Appollo Engineering who made the repackable exhaust system plus Several Old GRA members who made parts, before being allowed to Return to Aus a few months Later. It was not what I knew but who, that got me back so quick.
The Greeves was Stripped down and along with extra bits, tools and riding jackets, packed into a 1mx1m wooden box, then after the necessary import paper sorted, Shipped to my Aus address as furniture freight, the cheapest way at the time, taking about 4 months to get here.

whitehillbilly

[IanCordes]

A good story, Whitebilly. Checking your profile, I see you are still a young man (!) so you should have plenty more years of Greeves riding yet to come! I live just 30 miles from Bude, in Bodmin, with friends in the Bude area; Widemouth Bay, Kilkhampton etc. That was good going, packing the bike into a 1m square box! Keep it coming! A scary time for you, not knowing if you would get back into Aus, or not?

[Phil Hyde]

Nice to see a reference to Apollo Engineering. The late Fred Giles was a Reading guy and a very talented engineer as well as a good scrambler. He moved down to Cornwall where he continued to turn out quality work. He had a very smart Greeves MES with CZ wheels and his own engine plates that themselves were a work of art.

[Phil Hyde]

A picture of Fred’s MES. Taken at one of the memorable Farleigh Castle, Grand Prix weekends.

[whitehillbillies]

Hi Phil.
I used to visit Fred on a regular basis.
That MES sat in the living room where he lived along with his Beautifully restored TA, from memory.
He always had a cuppa of tea/cake ready had a good yarn to tell. I was amazed how small his workshop was and how much was in it. You could not pass each other.
I was fairy youngish in those days and he was a great help with my restoration.
I had picked up a STD 250 Barrel at a swap meet. When I cleaned it up, with a new piston and fitted, on assembly, the piston sat 1/4 in above the top of the barrel.
Out to Fred who explained someone had removed the 1/4 from the bottom to add to the 9e motor make it a 250 short stroke. Come back tomorrow and I will have a base plate made for it.
You can see the plate in the pics above.
He charged very little for work done.....Dont worry about it he would say, I make plenty of money from the Truck companies who I do alloy welding for.
The early day of my Greeves in Australia gave me a few problems. As it was road registered, I had issues with the Piston Seizures. Lucky for me an Old engine rebuilder had a look and discovered who ever had machined of the bottom 1/4 had not done it square to the bore. He made an alloy boss to fit inside the bore, into his lathe and squared it up.
I kept in touch with Fred on My return to Australia by phone, then he stopped answering. Had wondered if he had passed.

whitehillbilly

[IanCordes]

I knew Fred, too. He had a bungalow in Wainhouse Corner, between Bude and Camelford, with his little workshop in the garden. He had bikes, frame jigs, all sorts in there. He made a few bits for me, too. I didn't know he was no longer with us. Another very skilled man lost to us. Sad.

[whitehillbillies]

I Ian.
I found this.
Fred Giles (forumotion.com)

[IanCordes]

Thanks for that. Over 6 years ago, too. Sad. His funeral was in Bodmin, just a mile from me. My Mum's was there, too. Small world.

[whitehillbillies]

I spent today going through my Old Tool box 2 boxes of spares I have.
found and tidied up the wiring loom I had fitted when last registered, along with the front and rear lights, speedo, and brake light switch and gave them a clean up.

[whitehillbillies]

Later in the afternoon, removed the flywheel and lead weight. I had wondered what the Tool I made was for?
And pulled of the armature plate with the Ignition and lighting coils. Just now need to try and work out why 2 coils did not work.
Removing the insolation tape they look ok and produced 1.0 ohms on all three, on my multi meter.
To double check I popped to town to an old Engineer/ Auto electrician mat who came up with the same but does want me to varnish the coils then use cloth tape and another coat of varnish.
That is after testing them one at a time fitted to see if any power is produced.

[whitehillbillies]

Bit of an update.
Removed all old, soldered wires to the coils and soldered up new.
Left long tails and marked wires. Once back together, position as per diagram, all 3 produced 7V high tick over.

[John Wakefield]

Two of the coils are wired together for main output and go to large pin on socket. The other lighting coil is for brake light and or battery charging if fitted) and goes to small pin. Here is wiring diagram

[whitehillbillies]

All coils run N to S and all have the earth wire on the S end. All coil wires are wound in the same direction.
The brake light Coil, at 9 o'clock in above diagram looks different to the other two, have what appears lees turns.
If I join the two lighting coils together, get 0V, but if I join the brake wire to either of the two lighting coils I get 7V.

whitehillbilly

[whitehillbillies]

Thanks John.
I believe the coil position in that diagram is incorrect. To work as it should, the two lighting coils should be positioned at 6 and 9 oclock and the brake light coil at 12?
Do any members have Direct Lighting on a 32A motor with coils wired in the position showed in the diagram?
Thanks.

whitehillbilly