Forum

[John M]

Well the flywheels are back, they went to Alpha Bearings on the advice of Andy Berry and I am pleased with the service. They fitted an RE15 bearing, so I'm still not sure what the flywheels are from. Alan Hitchcock tells me that the very early 500 flywheels are 0.25" thicker at the crank-pin than the later ones, so still a mystery......I had an alternative distraction to-day, replacing the drive side bearing in the gear-box.

[Chris Tindal]

Here's my 59 500 crank for comparison, looks different.

[John M]

I think mine will have started out very similar to yours Chris, before the metal has been removed. The main discrepancy is that yours has a shallow depression on the half opposite the crank-pin, where mine is flush, I don't think that mine has had any metal removed from this area as all the corners are radius-ed............ and mine doesn't have a really really expensive con-rod.

[Adrian]

That looks like a Carillo rod, not a bad idea since they're not making replacement Redditch 500 crankcases any more... A.

[Chris Tindal]

That was the reason for forking out for it Adrian. Finding an original 500 crankcase is near impossible, even Indian versions are hard to find :-0

[Adrian]

Guess I was lucky with my NotaFury project, even if they are E/S cases! A.

[Mark M]

John, your flywheels have been milled, the radiused corners are a consequence of the rotating circular tool cuts. That's why I say it's probably not a garden shed job. The removal of metal nearest the crankpin is a Works technique to reduce weight overall but leave mass nearer the circumference to aid torque when "plonking" as they used to call it!

REgards, Mark

[John M]

The re-build is progressing slowly but steadily, I have found a few more anomalies with my engine, firstly Andy Berry pointed out a non standard oil-way drilled from the timing chest into the top corner of the oil tank and after ten years of ownership I have only just realised that it has a non standard cush-drive in the clutch centre and a four plate clutch. Clearly I realised it had these parts, I just didn't know that they were not standard on 1956 350 Bullets. My bike also makes do with just 3 clutch springs rather than six as listed in the parts book, I don't know if it was made like this or it has lost three over the last sixty years.

[Leon Novello]

Sometimes engines disassemble themselves.

[John M]

Slowly making progress with the re-build, decided to give it a fresh coat of paint whilst I was at it.