A couple of nice parts just arrived for my WB30 project from Cairo. Including a rare original condition Burgess air filter. Thanks Hussein!:+1:

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Here's one fitted...I managed to get a modern filter to fit without much trouble..It can just be seen through the gauze...
Interesting features in the photo of the original B30 in Rons post are the 'drip cover' fitted to stop petrol dripping onto the mag and the unusual pattern of the outer gearbox cover which uses a different gear indicator plate to that fitted on the M20, being extended upwards to match the position of the pointer in the gearbox cover....I had both these gearbox parts which I sold to Gilbert Bredimus....Both types of outer cover and indicator plate can be found in original photos of B30s....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Nice find, the Burgess.

He (at least I think it was Hussain) apparently also had the very early Vokes Protectomotor (biscuit tin) but sold it to an unknown Englishman.
It is still a mystery who that was unfortunately as I would really like to have detailed pictures of it as well as measurements.

I do hope the present owner will make himself known, or contacts me off-grid if he does not want to have it public.

Cheers,

Rob

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl

I'd like one of the early cylindrical, louvred air filters often seen in 'Desert' photos...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I've only ever seen them on early Nortons:


Bikes that were used in North Africa / Middle East had all sorts of contraptions...

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

That's the one...I'd happily consider fitment of one to my M20 under the heading of 'artistic licence'...It probably happened anyway...By the look of some of the pictures I've seen I think filters were sourced from 4 wheeled vehicles in an act of desperation by REME ...I bought my M20 from an ex North Africa dispatch rider and he said engines only lasted a few weeks maximum without filtration...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

It seems they were only used on the 1936/37 manufactured WD16H machines.
1936 for the British Army and 1937 for the India Office as far as I can see.

Very nice Norton picture by the way!

There is a picture of a BSA prototype of 1937!

Cheers,

Rob

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl

The discontinuation of air filter fitment is a puzzle to me. My understanding of all the MEE tests that I've seen suggests no loss of performance or increase in fuel consumption. They were fitted to several small contracts, saw a certain amount of Home Service and then suddenly on the MoS listings for C9681 in early 1937..."Air Cleaners are not now required on the machines". No indication of who decided this, and why. There was obviously an extra cost. Perhaps they decided that it was no longer necessary for Home-based machines.

Ian, sent you an email…

Thanks Scott...most helpful....Ian:relaxed:

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com