Hitchcocks Forum

how do you refit your engine into the frame?
do you fit engine and gearbox minus barrel and head,
fit gearbox first then engine ?

Put mine back in fully assembled (complete with 5speed gearbox, barrel and head) using using a cheap 2 ton trolley jack, as advised by others on this forum. Bike on the stand, big cross bolt and 2 triangular plates on top of the gearbox removed, big pinch bolt that clamps the underside of the gearbox slackened off, both front engine plates removed. Slides in a treat on the jack (nice and controlable, providing you steady it with a hand on cylinder head). A bit of a wiggle and its in! I had to spring the tubes apart a little to slot the two triangular plates back into place above the gearbox, then bolted it all up.

Forgot to mention that the clutch and primary cases were NOT fitted, and that I put the engine in from the timing side.

Also its worth running the engine at idle for a minute or two with all the mounting bolts loose so the engine and gearbox can find its own natural position in the frame/mountings, ie. where it wants to be not where you've crow barred it into. This will help with vibration problems once the mounting bolts are tightened.

As a test once I fitted one with the rocker boxes on as well. It went in no probs

thanks lads, I had abit of trouble getting the footrest bar through, never had any trouble before so I put it down to the stroke I had a few years ago which left my r/side weak.

Don't remove the footrest bar, no need

I have just done this following an engine strip to replace mains and big end. I put it back in the frame as soon as I could, just engine cases and crank with gearbox bolted to them. Gearbox goes first, then support the front with a car scissor jack to get the engine plates and studs lined up. Advantages to doing it this way; 1)it's as light and compact as possible, which makes for easy handling. 2) It is then held in place while you finish rebuilding it.
I had never done a complete engine strip before except on a Bantam, which is about as easy as it gets, but I found it pretty easy doing it that way.