Hello,

I recently acquired a 1960 Greeves Scottish. I live in Washington State north of Seattle.

It is in pretty rough shape but its not locked up and most all of the parts are there. My mission is to clean it up, get it running and ride it. Perhaps get into a few pre 65 trials.

As I bought her (minus the Villiers carb and air filter)

Tore it down to the frame. Cylinder is on the standard piston. Bore looks ok. Will probably go first oversize.

gearbox is another story....lots of cleaning needed.

Gonna ditch the points and get an electronic ignition. Probably the Greeves unit. 500 bucks!

Any suggestions out there? This should be a fun project.

Mike

i'd look at the nametab ignition rather than the greeves and it should be $$ cheaper

Wish I knew how to put pictures on here I have one of me 44 years ago riding one of these no helmet no fancy clothes ,ciggie in gob ..what memories

Does the nametab ignition have the capacity to run lights? Got the cases open today. Im also going to look into getting a Norton Villiers crank kit. I have a bit too much slop in the big end for my liking. I see that the cranks are called "Full Circle" I assume the crankwheels are shaped circular instead of like half moons. Is there any advantage to this? Maybe higher crankcase compression...Also having small end caged rollers would be a huge advantage over the current solid bushing....

Also just got a 12.1 compression cylinder head from ebay uk. Instant power upgrade!

Ill look into the Nametab.

Mike

Does the nametab ignition have the capacity to run lights? Got the cases open today. Im also going to look into getting a Norton Villiers crank kit. I have a bit too much slop in the big end for my liking. I see that the cranks are called "Full Circle" I assume the crankwheels are shaped circular instead of like half moons. Is there any advantage to this? Maybe higher crankcase compression...Also having small end caged rollers would be a huge advantage over the current solid bushing....

Also just got a 12.1 compression cylinder head from ebay uk. Instant power upgrade!

Ill look into the Nametab.

Mike

Dont usually use high compression head on trials engine. I'm running a square head and barrel and use a 2mm spacer between head and barrel to lower compression. Plenty of power still. If you are looking at doing a "fun" budget rebuild then why not use a Motoplat ignition off an Ossa? Just need to turn an adaptor to suit the crankshaft. This is a very popular mod here in the UK. As for the full circle crank i am using one from Simon Bateman (nametab) yes it gives more crankcase compression but the main gain is a much much smoother motor. Some guys here prefer the "bobweight" crank that you have as firstly they are a lot cheaper but they also give a much softer motor. All depends on the sort of power charicteristics you prefer.

Edited December 4, 200916 yr by Old trials fanatic

Dont usually use high compression head on trials engine. I'm running a square head and barrel and use a 2mm spacer between head and barrel to lower compression. Plenty of power still. If you are looking at doing a "fun" budget rebuild then why not use a Motoplat ignition off an Ossa? Just need to turn an adaptor to suit the crankshaft. This is a very popular mod here in the UK. As for the full circle crank i am using one from Simon Bateman (nametab) yes it gives more crankcase compression but the main gain is a much much smoother motor. Some guys here prefer the "bobweight" crank that you have as firstly they are a lot cheaper but they also give a much softer motor. All depends on the sort of power charicteristics you prefer.

Thanks. Any chance you could point me in the right direction for the Motoplat mod? They are easy to come by here in the US. A step by step link would be great.

Ill probably just go with a full circle crank and rod kit from Norton Villiers unless there are other options. My big end has enough room to stick a toothpick in one side.

Thanks,

Mike

Off topic but had a good dirt bike ride today...heres some vids....

Dont know the whereabouts of a step by step guide but it's just an adaptor from the Villiers taper on the crank to the OSSA motoplat fitment. If you buy the crank from Simon he can supply it with the shaft already machined to suit the Ossa motoplat flywheel.

Personally have always been happy with Simons service plus the crank will be genuine Alpha and NOT sourced from China like some are. Mine has done 2 years regular weekly competitions with no probs at all so thats why i recommend Simon.

You can of course choose to buy from whoever you choose.

Good luck with the rebuild.

Hello gentleman,

I have yet another question I hope one of you could help me with. I would like to remove the races from the steering head. This is a 1960 Greeves so it uses ball and cup not tapered bearings. The cups appear to be pressed into the aluminum steering head. I look into the tube but dont see any ridges where the edge of the bearing cup would be. It appears to be a smooth tube. This is where the bolt goes thru.

Hopefully one of you fellows could nudge me in the right direction. Its too late to call Frank Conley 9 PM. Heres some pics of the offending cup(s).

Thanks,

Mike

As it turns out I had chipped teeth on both the layshaft and mainshaft. Ordered NOS from Frank Conley. should be here soon. My armature plate and flywheel are in old Blighty now getting the electronic ignition treatment from Peter Savage.

Boring .20 over soon and will button her back up.

Mike