Hitchcocks Forum

hi all electra x sage,s,this is the query,on the left hand engine case is a stump of a non tapped crankcase breather ,is it poss to open this up to the crancase?would some kind of valve need to be fitted other than just a duckbill pipe ?if this is poss ,would the breather from the oil tank still be needed ?if its not poss is it best to run the catch potfrom the oil tank with a duck bill exiting the catch can ,on stripping the engine had a fair bit of mayo but had mainly been used for small jaunts,i would get shut of the pipe to the non existant timing gear train any thoughts welcome atb paul ,i don,t want an oil slick on the rear tyre!!!

Paul,
I always drill them out, the really late cases don't even have the nipple. We are just running a hose from the breather and out to the back, keeps all the messy oil off everything. You can do the same with the tank breather

hi norm ,so you just put a duck bill on both?(after drilling casing stub)and totally ditch the catch can,thanks paul.

Yes Paul but as we usually fit 'O"ring chains we try keeping the breathers away from the chain so we run them out the back

hi norm ,just another question ..what oil do i require in the 5 speed box ?also what engine oil do you recomend ?i usually use 20/50 on my iron barrelled bullets 15/40 on the diesel,im very scottish so would it be poss to run either of these oils in the engine i think i read somewhere ep 90 for the box? atb paul

Hi All,
any chance to see a picture of these mods ?
thanks

G12, Electra X manual says 450ml of EP90 in the box spec APIGL-4. 15W40 is recommended for the motor.

Paul.

cheers for the info paul,i,ve not done the breather mods yet ,have just finished the rewire ,getting rid of the plastic switch gear fitting the earlier type minda on the left hand side of the handlebars,electric start kill switch all removed,small battery fitted ,classic tool boxes fitted,atb paul.

hi ,one and all today i drilled the breather stub out and filed it round ,now heres the deal ..just looking at the inside of the crank cases i notice that a hole is drilled from the area that houses the crank webs to the oil tank above the oil level ,i know this is for the oil tank breather now comes the question ...what if i blank this off ,and just use my newly drilled crankcase stub for the breather or would it be best to keep the oil tank breather and run duckbills from both ?i know that norm says run a pipe from each to the rear of the machine ..buti also know that in standard form these bikes are known to dump the contents of the oil tank over the rear wheel when used for a long period of time at high cruising speeds on motorways will using both breather points stop this problem or is the newly drilled crankcase stub enough? atb paul.

Paul, I had to go and check, I have had so many changes but the latest mod seems to work ok, duckbill on the under barrel breather onto the chain and oil tank breather out the back. My main prob with the tank breather was I had to make up an odd fitting because I had fitted a distributor, just for kicks and giggles and the Electra oil tank breather is directly under where the dizzy goes