Hitchcocks Forum

Hi,

It's been a while since I dropped in, been far too busy enjoying myself in the shed!

Just curious if anyone has done a diesel conversion to a Bullet? from a mechanical viewpoint it doesn't look too difficult. It would appear it can be done with minimal or no modification to the frame, some approaches require a new input shaft for the gearbox but I've read it can be done without.

I'm also curious as the legal, MOT, insurance impacts this mod would have? At the moment this is an academic exercise as it were, just finding out the wrinkles instead of jumping in blindfold.

Any thought or experiences?

Cheers

Martin

You're a brave man asking that question!! There's a multitude of information out there on this very subject, but your biggest question should be 'why'?

If it's fuel consumption, it's perfectly possible to obtain 80 - 100 mpg from a standard Bullet, and with a diesel conversion you'd be getting around half as much again.

If it's because you've got a donor engine, then it's just a project for you.

One of the biggest questions is what engine and drivetrain you'd use. That'll keep the pub warm for hours!!

Good luck what ever you decide to do & keep us informed on here, I need some interesting Christmas reading..!!

Steve

Hi guys-------(H&S warning----the following posting is DEFINITELY written with HUMOUR in mind and contains NO MALICE AFORETHOUGHT !!)----If I'm lucky (more so than A.L.EDDIE, that is) then I'm posting this BEFORE young Mr.Paul (of GRUNDA 12 fame) has seen it.......Ah-ha!! he hasn't yet, it seems...Well, the words "Pandora's Box" and "Opening" spring to mind... Brave you are indeed WISEOWL....At this point all I will say is --a) Yes, it's been done in many different ways & not just in this country either and--b) Brace yourself for a deluge of FUN and frivolity !!-------As STB puts it }----- We need some interesting Christmas reading !!!---- KNOCK,KNOCK (Ah, here we go then ---------------------------)

Can't belive Grunda's not seen this yet. He'll give you more info than you can handle!

Enough air polluting diesel engined vehicles on the road without another adding its carcinogenic particulates

Have a look at dieselbike.net There are some great conversions some of which I would be tempted by if something catastrophic ever happened to my engine. It would have to be an exiting engine though, perhaps some turbocharged multi-cylinder type. Definitely not one of the lethargic Chinese cement mixer engines that most Enfields seem to inherit! For me it would have to be about the engineering, not the fuel consumption.

I shall watch this space with interest if it's likely to cause a stir!

It's more about the engineering than fuel consumption and as for the particles, well the idea is to run it on old chip oil, so quite green in that respect.

Drive train wise I was thinking around keeping the four speed box and "bodging" a chain connection to the existing clutch. (Don't take the word bodging too seriously, but engineer sounded too grand and pretentious!)

Cheers

Martin

hi wiseowl,i,ve been summoned to this thread,firstly if you use a chinese yanmar clone engine of 406 cc 10bhp geared for overall performance you need 25tooth front primary sprocket in the taper lock bush form ,gearbox sprocket of 17 tooth variety,thats the easy bit ,welding up an engine cradle that will support the beast is the first job after buying the lump mine cost £330 inc carriage from ebay (you need the 1 inch straight shaft crank (not the generator type tapered)as someone else said there is loads of info on the net,riding on salad oil etc dieselbike.net ,in my conversion i did it very cheaply as i hate spending unecessary money (unless restoring an electra x)i used the standard primary cases which can be spaced or unspaced anyway its quite an easy conversion and the drop in power if any is hardly noticable against a indian 350 bullet in standard form (i know i,ve had both on the road at the same time)anyway i,ve done over 5000 miles on mine in the dreadfull riding year that was 2012 notably getting done for speeding on the a5 on the way back from ton up day at jackshill cafe nr towcester ,i,ve done the big knock rally in west sussex ,a tour of the lake district ,mad mikes bike meet in leicester etc etc,there will always be detractors with ideas about these diesel powered marvels mine runs very clean,and i have tried a multitude of fuels ,chip oil from my deepfat frier ,parafin,white spirit and good old pump diesel ,i was born with diesel in my veins having been a diesel fitter and in the plant hire game for years ,so give it a go wiseowl i,m enjoying my experiment as they say it does it for me!!have only just seen this as i,ve been busy at the psychologists this morning then on to work for an afternoon m.a.g welding to give it its correct term,anyway i could talk sh..alday laters dudes paul.

Hi Grunda

good to hear you have done the mod.

I've had a look around the web and have been to dieselbike, riding on salad oil etc, most seem to suggest that there needs to be a 20mm spacer and a longer input shaft to the gearbox to deal with the offset. If I read you correctly you suggest that there is no need for the spacer on the primary case, if so is it just a matter of positioning the primary socket further onto the shaft, or is the engine offset by 20mm to the right? Not having it in front of me makes it difficult to visualise.

Also, am I correct in assuming that apart from making a cradle there are no mods required to the frame?

Cheers

Martin

-----------and so it begins !!