Hitchcocks Forum

Having just rebuilt a Constellation Engine i find that it is a lot like the old Train Steam Engines,it smokes
and spits oil out of the exhaust.Wear have i gone wrong !!!
New rings , valves , guides.
End of crankshaft breather has been blocked of at some time !!!
Breather on the side of the crankcase did not have the two disc inside when i brought the bike,but dose now.
Vent pipe fitted on top of the primary chain case now blocked of.
Large breather pipe now fitted into the oil chamber as Interceptor.
Spent more money on this bike than small country earns in a year .
Please help there must be someone out there who knows something !!!

Well, where to start. It doesn't sound like breathers are the problem so forget that, although I'd unblock the one off the primary case, that area gets hot so leave a vent for air to escape. Remove the two discs from the crankcase vent, they do nothing. If you are burning oil that much the problem is definitely in the top end. Did it burn oil before? What did you do in the rebuild? Are the piston rings gapped? did you replace the valve guides and valves? Lets start with those questions first! REgards, Mark

--------- and are the rings the right way up ?? ie}--- did you check for the etched markings on them ??.... A few years back I had exactly the same symptoms with a little Honda 50....Eventually got to turning the rings up the other way and ------------------- instant cure !!

From the original Enfield information "An engine which uses less than one litre of oil to 600 miles should be considered normal" Bloody Hell really?. New valves and guides, that is OK then!, perhaps not a great improvment can be had by fitting stem seals to the inlet valves. New rings, did you de-glaze the bores? if not it needs to be done, if you did it will take a few hundred miles to bed in, how worn where the bores?, did you check with a micrometer are they worn oval or worn tapered? if so then a rebore is needed. Also as Mark says reinstate that crankshaft breather.

I have 350 Bullet and wonder if you have the same type of seal that separates the big end side to the timing side where the timing shaft comes thru the crank case into the timing side ? Mine had a bronze bush where the tolerances of 1 or 2 thou work.Any more and oil leaks back into the crankcase and out thru the exhaust as smoke.
Simple remedy I used was fit a neoprene lipseal in its place as I did and it works great and no need for such close tolerance. Hope this helps

Rich the Connie engine oil system is different to the bullet and the oil is pumped from the crankcase directly to the oil tank.