whats in an exhaust

Ok so its an exhaust. So what. But just look at this lovely peice of work. It's what makes the Moby such a great thing to work on. It's only about six inches long and sits so snugly under the engine that you would hardly notice it. And yet its a work of art. Fine sheet metal work with a handy panel for filling with muffler stuff. I can't wait to hear the tune it makes.

Clean boy clean.....

Now there all at it. My son has taken it upon himself to tend to the finer details of the rear wheel.

Well not really, it's just a photo opportunity, but 'H' will be taking part in the engine re-furbish later on.

And then there were two....

Two days in a row, thats got to be a record. The girls are hard at work cleaning the frame ready to be sanded down. Theres very little rust to contend with. It makes me wonder what the history of the bike is. I know its a UK import. You will see the engine shows the bike is an 'AV'. If it were a'UV' it would indicate a machine deemed for the French market. 

All hands on deck!

You know , you can't better the help of your children. The heavy handedness, the concentration span of a goldfish, the complete lack of any attention to detail. It's a great reminder that we can take things perhaps too seriously. My youngest helped me today and stuck at it all afternoon. I just had to let her down gently that we would not be riding it today....

It's all in the colour , says Pierre

After looking at the Moped Army web site I emailed the guy below who was kind enough to reply to me with this information....Thanks Pierre. (The link takes you to the online Mobylette hand  book).

Hi Paul

To tell you the date of manufacture for your AV44, I need the engine number. Your picture is big enough, but I am not sure for the first number. Is it a 3 or a 5 ? I don't think it's a 6. Could you try and clean the rivet with a old toothbrush or something at the left of the engine number plate ?

On the second picture, it seems the main color is "Crème" (cream), and it help to think the first number is a 3: the AV44 was "cream" till to 1964, and dark grey after.

If the first number is a 3, your AV44 was produce at the beginning of 1963.

If the first number is a 5, it was produce mid 1966 but the color must be dark grey.

I hope it can help you. If you need something else, send me an other mail.

Here is a link for the part list:

http://www.bibliotobec.org/gallery/index.php?/category/192

Regards

Pierre

Strip!

Started stripping down Moby. I can't believe what good shape the bikes in.

I needed an extractor for removing the fly wheel and magneto housing and found one on Ebay for sixteen quid. A look inside after the removal of the flywheel indicates the machine is going to be as good on the inside as it is out.

Carb dating...

Further to finding the date on the engine badge, I have found from the net that engines were up to two years old before they were installed. A more acurate way of identifying the date of manufacture is the carburretor. On this I have found the date 04/62 so it looks like the machine was built in '62. The make of carb is a Gurtner and heres a picture of the assembly.

When were you born...

OK so the first thing is to acertain what the Moped is....I know its's a Mobylette, but what type? What model? My initial questions are answered when I looked at the engine. On the Cylinder head is a badge showing its an AV 44 made in 1960 in October, also you can see the cc of the engine.

Before the storm

Take a look at the bike as it was before I pulled it apart.