Ah - the sort of pearls of wisdom the chap at Piston Services, Cinder Bank, Netherton (gone nowharrymuffin wrote:The gudgeon pins are off centre, so you cannot use any old piston that happens to have the same bore. People who have used Guzzi pistons to make 550's have come to grief in a very short distance because of that. A useless piece of information for you all is that, landrover petrol pistons from the Mk2 have de saxe bore (like the Morini) and it just so happens these pistons fit The Sunbeam Coupe de la Auto grand Prix car of 1913.
) would probably have known about. He used to have an AJS *car* parked outside his premises (shed). In a similar vein, you can put a 350 Panther piston in a 1929 Raleigh 350, though you may have to saw a bit off the skirt.Hmm. The small hatch sounds a bit like Perrys. Their workshop used to be on the first floor and all the bikes had to go up and down on a lift. Never knew they had such esoteric parts though. I bought an AJS 16C from them in (consults notes on flysheets of "Tuning for Speed") 1970. There was also Roy Peplow at Carters Green (trials Tiger Cub expert) but he had a counter as I remember it. Then there was a shop in Smethwick (The Globe?) that had loads of stuff for old British bikes including shelves of Hepolite piston's for obscure lightweights. I can remember when Vale Onslow still had a shop in Soho Road Handsworth. Then there is Chris Williams (of Aunty Alice Panther vintage racing outfit fame) at 'Autocycle'. I think he (or his brother?) are still in business in Netherton.harrymuffin wrote:I knew the place well. But, do you know the 'shop' in West Brom that had a small service hatch when having asked for some obscure part for a 1907 Triumph would disappear and come back in five minutes with the part wrapped up and brand new. It was a place of last resort if Vale Onslow did not have it, trouble is, thinking back to the 1960's has caused brain fade and I cannot remember the name of the place.
Ah yes I remember it well. I did more than drool. I bought (on tick) a used T100SS from that branch of Greys and later traded it in (with slightly bent forks - a long story) for a Suzuki B100P.Ming wrote:More hijacking - but I bought my first helmet (Silver Cromwell 'Pudding Basin') from Vale Onslow on the Soho Road, also drooled over the bikes in the window of Greys (I think) on Wellington Road down by Perry Barr.
