Forum

[Dennis C]

Before you start pulling everything apart to remove the tappet block it may be worth checking if the tappet will come out after removing the cam spindle.

[Jezyorkshire]

Removed the rocker cover and put pushrod back in damaged tappet end, turned engine over with kickstart and the exhaust valve is working as normal.
Looks like the only damage is the exhaust tappet and some metal particle(s) to find.
Just need to ascertain best way of changing the exhaust tappet, top end strip down or is it possible to change without stripping top end and removing tappet guide from timing chest ? cheers, Jez

[Dennis C]

See above post?.

[Jezyorkshire]

Hi Dennis, yes i have noted your post and after ascertaining
that there is no more damage than the tappet i was also putting forward what you had said so others may comment, thanks for your input, Jez

[Adrian]

This is a bit of a b*gger, the other thing the Electra-X/AVL cam followers/tappets are prone to do is have the feet snap off, which can do a bit of damage as the foot clatters around inside the timing chest. Ask me how I know. The classic Bullet cam followers usually work fine, I don't know why the design was changed for the AVL engine in the Electra-X



Replacement, apart from recovering the debris, is a top-end strip with the timing cover off, you need to remove the cam spindle as well as the tappet guide, our hosts should have extractors for them both in the engine tools section.



I'm having an Electra-X engine built from spares by Bullet Whisperer at the moment, coincidentally the crankcases were sold to me with a broken cam follower stem still in place... One of the items on the job sheet is to replace the cam followers and guides with proper ones for a classic Bullet engine, a more robust design. This means some quite accurate boring out of the crankcase to fit the larger O/D of the guides, as well as some 500 Bullet pushrods with the tougher ¼" BSC adjusters modified for the AVL pushrod tops, which I shall fit when I get the engine back.



A.

[Dennis C]

Ah well looks like Adrian knows they won't just come out from the bottom, yet more poor design from Enfield India.

[Jezyorkshire]

Thanks Adrian, apreciated, Jez.

[ric]

"they won't just come out from the bottom, yet more poor design from Enfield India"

Just how exactly how is the British design superior when it comes to cam follower replacement Dennis? Last time I looked the cam spindles also required removal on the Redditch models - unless I was looking at an ebay ringer.

[Adrian]

Dennis,



as ric points out, the layout is the same as the original Bullet, which the Indians kept for the classic models, the problem is the redesign of the cam follower itself, which is a needlessly fragile item compared to the classic Bullet component. If they had kept to the original ⅜" stem diameter instead of reducing it to 7mm (why???) there wouldn't be the instances of



1) snapped feet;







Yes that's the right side half of the cases I bought with the snapped cam follower.



2) broken ends where the pushrod sits.







Photo lifted from the French forum.



If our hosts are looking for some ideas for new products which are a bit more use than some of the more blingy bits, may I suggest a beefed-up cam follower and guide set for Electra-X (and AVL Thunderbird) engines?



A.

[papasmurf]

There appears to be more than enough "meat" on the guide to bore it out to accept the old design follower. (Or isn't it that simple.)