Hitchcocks Forum

Hi again this probably sounds totaly dumb but I havent been game to start the beast yet as I am wondering if there is any way of making shure I have some oil flowing round I turned the eng over on the kick starter about 60 times with out spark plugs just to se if a bit of oil might flow out of the quill bolt, but no show so I decided to ask you guys first, right over to you chaps.

The old singles can take forever to get flow showing so expect similar on the twins..

If your worried about the bores and rings you could squirt in a drop of oil through the plug holes.

I usually walk the bike in first gear around the car park listening for any unusual noises, until the oils moving..

One of these are useful if you have a welder and starter motor and time to fashion a frame, solenoid and foot switch..

I usually give it a few kicks with plugs out every time I pass it. The Twins seem to take a long time to return oil, when it is running you should see it it intermittently spitting out of the return pipe in the filler neck. The Manual recommends loosening the rocker feed bolts slightly to see oil is getting to the rockers as well as checking the quill bolt. I really could do with some starter rollers though, to speed up the process!

REgards, Mark

Blue as Mark says keep kicking it will come.

Shouldn't take long at all,if you fill and lube up the oil pump cavity
before fitting the timing cover,remember the pumps are below oil tank
level so oil should be trying to get into the pump on it's own with out
any help.As to the scavenge mine ('51 twin) takes all of 2 seconds to
start pumping even after a month of inactivity.
You could remove the pump cover and disc in situ,oil should flow out,these
pumps will suck air before oil(flawed design)so check gasket and all holes
line up.Make sure the crank pin of the pump is straight,these motors after
high milages tended to loose oil pressure on the drive side crank journal
resulting in white metal blocking off the oil hole,(i've seen 1/2" slugs
jammed in them)eventually excessive pressure could bend the oil pump piston
pin,the disc then can lift slightly as it rotates resulting in loss of oil
pressure,tookm me months to pick that one.
Seriously the quill is only 3 inches from the pump so something is amiss
cheers
colin

Colin makes a good point, when you assemble the pumps make sure you put plenty of oil in them, I then fill the oilways in the cover and rotate the spindle to make sure the pumps are working and you get any air bubbles out

Right thanks again fells ile pull the timing cover back off and check it all out as apart from the crank and conrods every part is new, Ime suspecting a bit of an air lock, I will let you know how it goes