Hitchcocks Forum

Hi all fitted our hosts gearbox cover strengthener at the weekend, everything went well and found why the gearbox had been weeping slightly all the inner cover screws were loose allowing oil to weep into the outer cover space, one leak down one to sort. After fitting the strengthener and drilling out the front cover and fitting it back on I went to fit the neutral finder and found it wouldn't go in, after checking it out I found when the cover was tightened it was causing the cover to dish slightly. So removed cover and fitted two 6mm washers as spacers on the Allen bolt that fits through the cover into the strengthener this has solved the dishing problem,
Adjusted the clutch and took Becky for a 30 mile run everything felt a lot better just needs some fine tuning, however when looking at the outer cover it still flexes slightly but no where near as much as it did, you can also see the grease nipple move slightly, has anyone else experienced this or done any other mods to it.

Does anyone know where I can get the neoprene gasket that fits in the tappet cover our hosts don't see todo one.

Steve you can always put an original Redditch (Albion) cover on. The only drawback is they are about 2mm smaller so leave a small step between the cover and the middle casing. If your not fussed about this then the bonus is that they don't flex at all.

I originally designed this bit of kit and it never took away all the flex but does reduce it by around 80-90%. This gives much more usable clutch actuation and does substantially reduce the issue where the clutch either binds or slips. Not quite sure where you've described putting the spacer washers but my suggestion would be to put them between the cover and the stiffener as I think the solid mounting of the stiffener is important. You want good thread depth into the inner cover and you can always find a slightly longer fastening to go through the neutral stop. The final design I came up with put the outer cover under a bit of tension when it was all tightened up but I don't think this actually makes a lot of difference to the final outcome.

Hi Chris & Simon thanks for your reply, Chris will keep that n mind, Simon yes you're spot on I did put the washers between the case and strengthener but may have to put another washer in and like you say try a longer fastener but it has already been a big improvement the only neutrals I found were the ones I was looking for👍.

I get a bit of flack for this but I swear on Tuning For Speed that in addition to the stiffener putting the cork clutch plates in is the total cure.they are £5 each and you only need three. I've had this set up in my 350 for a couple of years now and I haven't thought about the clutch or false neutrals or overheating the clutch after driving in traffic since then.

Simon looked for the cork plates but couldn't find them on the site.

Part no. H89K they aren't the old fashioned push through replaceable cork ones for which the clutch was originally designed but bonded cork. They are slightly thinner and so give more clearance and the cork gives a gentler take up which removes the propensity to lurch when the clutch is released.

Hi Simon thanks for your comments will it be better to use all light springs or a mix? My bike is a 2002 500 deluxe and as far as I know standard tune except for Amal carb and different exhaust.

I'd try it with the standard springs first as its a simple job to add three heavier ones later. It does make the clutch heavier though so if you don't get any slip I wouldn't bother.

Handsome machine. I like the monobloc Amal. I have a 389 on mine.