Hitchcocks Forum

My bullet is losing oil from the pushrod tubes at an alarming rate. If I take the head off can I simply clean things up, use some gasket sealer and put things back together, or is it essential to replace the head gasket? I don't have a torque wrench, and was thinking about buying a budget wrench for around £20, as I can't see me using it for anything else.
This will be the deepest I've delved into the bike, but I have a workshop manual and plenty of time and a dry workshop. Everyone tells me it's a simple job, essentially just six nuts, not counting tank removal etc. What can possibly go wrong?
All help graciously accepted.

If you have a good clean work area and the time to do it the job is very easy - have a look at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8ML5I3_7LM

When I did my Enfield 350 I bought the following items from our hosts:
1 New style composite head gasket
2. New washers to go under the head nuts
3. New rocker cover gaskets
4. Valve compressor
5. Grinding paste
6. Valve grinding tool.
7. selection of dowty seals.

and yes a cheap torque wrench which did the job very well.

Preperation is the key, removing all the old gasket and dirt from any mating surfaces and polishing them clean – try to avoid any over use of sealant as this may block the oil ways.

If you take care cleaning all the surfaces there should be no problems, off with the tank, drop the carb and release the head steady everything is accessible. I would recommend a de-coke and drop the valves for a re grind whist you are in there.

I did mine 2 and a half years ago, but it’s only done 750 miles since a full re build – however it is totally leak free, oh yes and put dowty seals on the head oil feed banjo bolts.

Good luck - regards - Nige.

Yes,get the torque wrench,too easy to strip the studs without. Composite gasket doesn't need sealant or re-torquing. Certainly get the better washers. The old ones will be squashed and may give you grief lifting the head. No point in lifting the head without grinding the valves and have a good look at the bore while you're there. You'll need a valve compressor too. Where are you? You could possibly borrow the tools. Good idea to make sure the head is flat with a piece of MDF (or glass if you have it) covered with wet and dry. The iron barrel should be flat but make sure it's clean. Oh, and check the rockers for wear as well. Sorry, rambling it bit.

Thanks lads, not sure I want to get too involved with the valves as the bike has only covered 15,000kms, mostly by me, and has no issues. Performance is good and a gallon of fuel gets me about seventy miles. Reckon I'll go or a new composite gasket and a little non-setting sealant. Also new washers. FYI I'm near Barnard Castle, Co. Durham.
Thanks for such valuable advice.

Wilf
You may find it difficult to remove the cylinder head - be gentle otherwise you could lose some fins. Use ally or wood drifts. I tap mine up a mm at a time with an ally drift under the inlet-then-exhaust ports, slip in thin ply wooden sheet then attack the other side - takes a while though. I also used our hosts hardened washers for the cylinder nuts in the head recess but they also bit into the head so proved less useful than drilling out the head bolt track by a mm and having special washers made. I guess it all depends on whether the head bolts are straight or offset (it's Indian, what do you expect).

You can get away with a spring balance instead of a torque wrench - hook one end into a suitable length spanner (drill a hole for the balance hook) - all you need is to approach the 20ft-lb tension. That's how I replace the rockers to the correct tension (7kg on a 9cm spanner).

Maybe you need to flatten off the head on a sheet of 200 grit paper stuck onto sheet of plate glass to stop the pushjrod tunnels from leaking. You could also do the barrel but need a sheet with a cutout for the spigot.

When I modified my head to get a metal-to-metal joint, I found this invaluable (but I also had viton rings set in grooves cut around the pushrod tubes in the barrel). Wellseal too is excellent stuff as it stays maleable over time.
Good luck, ChrisD

Nice technique with the wedges Chris. Am I right in thinking that you fix the spring balance to an immovable object, hook the other end into a hole 12" from the business end of your spanner/socket, and tighten til you reach twenty pounds on the scale?
Back to my original question, can I reuse the original gasket, which seems to be doing it's job OK, just leaking oil from the pushrod tubes.

Back to my original question, can I reuse the original gasket, which seems to be doing it's job OK, just leaking oil from the pushrod tubes. ------- No and when you fit the NEW gasket a tiny smear of sealant round the oil drains might not be a bad idea

If the original gasket is solid copper then yes, you can if you anneal it properly and it is undamaged.
A composite one would be better though.
15000kms is plenty for the valves to need a bit of a grind.

From experience i'd say use the original copper gasket although others will say different.Regarding gasket sealant, I recently had a devil of a job getting my old Triumph twin oil tight using the modern silicone gasket stuff.The answer was to buy some real original red hermetite - not the new silicone one - for less than a fiver from a dealer on fleabay. Just the merest smear on the pushrod oilseals and she is now virgin tight whereas before she was an incontinent old lady dripping wherever she went!

Wilf: no, you don't do it like that - at least if I've understood your description correctly. What ChrisD was describing is this: find a spanner at least 12" long. Drill a hole in it, 12" from the business end (actually the middle of the jaws at the business end). Hook your spring balance into the hole. Pull the other end of the spring balance by hand. This will turn the spanner and tighten the nut. Pull it until the spring balance shows you are pulling with 20lbs of force. Torque in lbs-ft is the pulling force (20lbs) multiplied by the lever length in feet (12" = 1ft), thus giving 20 lbs-ft of torque. You could also use a 2ft long turning lever with 10lbs of pull (10lbs x 2ft = 20 lbs-ft), or a 6" long lever with 40lbs of pull (0.5ft x 40lbs = 20 lbs-ft). In reality you'd probably use a socket set, and the same argument applies: pull it with 20lbs of force, 12" from the middle of the ratchet. HOWEVER - don't do that! It's a ridiculous amount of faff and massively inconvenient. Just get yourself down to your nearest Machine Mart and buy a cheap torque wrench. Money well spent.