Hitchcocks Forum

Please can anyone advise on a problem I am experiencing following a recent piston replacement on my Indian Bullet 500 (2000 vintage). The engineer replaced my current worn out piston with an new piston bought in India, he reported he honed the bore after measuring clearances but now when running she kicks out a lot of blue smoke, oils up and cuts out after driving round the block. The Engineer suggested wet-sumping though I carried out an oil change and run her with 2 litres of oil as suggested by Hitchcocks advice on wet-sumping, this still failed to resolve the problem, in fact brought little improvement. Grateful for any thoughts, should I have bought an over-size piston and had the bore honed to suit? Regards, Mike

I'm missing something here, you had a worn out piston which came from a worn out bore, (probably) which your mechanic honed to even greater diameter and now it smokes..

Its possible that all is within tolerance and maybe the return pump isn't clearing the sump. Have you checked for oil pressure at the head rocker feeds?

I just have a feeling that you will need a well made forged piston and the services of a reputable motor engineer to rebore and hone the cylinder properly..

Oil control ring upside down?

If you are putting a new piston in a bore, it should be an oversize piston and the cylinder bored and honed to suit. Your bore will be worn unevenly, and not dead round, honing will just follow the ovality, and remove even more metal. Putting in a new piston of the same size will result in more clearance, hence the blue smoke, which is oil burning.

As the others have stated, it really needed a re-bore with piston to match. Fitting new parts to worn parts is asking for trouble.

I think the clue may be in your explanation, you say the piston was bought in India. Frankly the quality of most Indian stuff is very poor. From my own experience I'd also say that Indian piston rings are very badly made and will take forever to bed in, in fact them may never do so properly. They may measure up ok but the metallurgy is just not right for the job.

REgards, Mark

Easy, take it back to the guy who did the work.
His excuse of wet sumping would only have the engine smoke for a few minutes before clearing.

Don't let him tell you that you have 'slippy' oil that sneaks past the rings either!!!

Ask the mechanic to carry out a compression test, while you watch, or buy a tester and do it yourself
I expect that you will see lower than recommended compression!
If you do need a Rebore then be careful where you buy your parts

You Must buy a Piston, rings and gaskets from somewhere reputable, Hitchcocks for example the piston and rings need to go with the barrel and take it to a decent engineering company who can measure things properly and Bore and Hone the cylinder properly , the correct clearance and correct crosshatch honing pattern are critical for correct bedding in.
I would ring Hitchcocks, if they can't vote the cylinder for you I am sure that they will know someone who can.

It is not worth wasting money on parts of dubious or unknown quality as they will not last and you will end up paying out again !
There is a saying Buy Once, Cry Once !

I know certain motorcycle cylinders require the use of Torque Plates, to clamp the cylinder down, In the same was as when the head is bolted down, these ensure a distortion free cylinder!
Only someone experienced with bullets will be aware of this, and whether it is required.

There are some things that you just can't cut corners on

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Yes, they cut the corners on those Hossack engines and look at the pistons on them!