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[Isettaman]

Hi All
My first of many posts.
I have just removed the timing cover from my recently acquired 1951 350cc Bullet and am concerned to find that there are no thrust washers on any of the pinions. This, to my mind, will allow the pinions to grind away the timing case. Should washers be present and, if so, how many and where?
Thanks

[Yorkie]

Hi you are correct,there should be a thrust washer either side of the two idler gears.
Part No.19552 x 4
hope this helps
Yorkie

[PeteF]

Are you sure? They are only 5 thou shims and are easily missed sticking to the shafts.
In theory you are supposed to add shims "as necessary" to take up endfloat but I'm pretty sure the factory didn't bother.
I wouldn't worry about wear on the case as there is so much oil in there all the time. That doesn't mean you shouldn't fit them but perhaps the case is a bit tight and there is no room for them. You'll soon see as the shafts will bind if there is no clearance.
Make sure you fit the proper gasket on reassembly - there are some thinner ones around which do let the shafts bind. (ask me how I know)

[Bullet Whisperer]

Pete F, the 5 thou shims you are thinking of are optional ones for shimming the camshafts' to timing cover clearance. The idler gears to the magneto / distributor drive have much thicker [approx. 1mm] thrust washers, two for each idler gear, one either side, as already stated above. these are not optional and need to be present in these engines.

[Isettaman]

Thanks for the info. This doesn't look promising for the rest of the engine, what else could be missing, I wonder

[ChrisD]

Isettaman. Maybe its worth trying some plastigauge to see what thickness shim is required, especially for the cams.
I found that with a plastigauge-measured space of 8-10thou, once I inserted 5thou shims the cams started to bind and when running made a lot of noise. So the free gap needs to be 5thou or more.
Cheers, ChrisD

[PeteF]

Understood BW