Forum

[Bullet thrasher]

Hello
Just fitted Mr H's breather kit, mainly because my oil consumption was high and I wanted to be sure I had oil in the engine on long runs rather than all over the back wheel. I guess my bike wet sumps but I use it every day so it's not a major issue.

Kit all fitted neatly, took for a quick thrash and struck oil, from my rocker cover! Seems a little odd? Could it be pressure in the cases not venting as quickly as before or perhaps the oil level is higher than ideal(new dippy) and the leak will stop once the level drops.

Every time I make an "improvement" or repair I seem to chase a problem on to somewhere else. I ride in traffic every day and i reckon that's about the harshest environment for a Bullet, my clutch requires daily adjustment at the cable, slips when cold, drags constantly.

Having finally chased down a charging problem my bike still seems to struggle for battery voltage even though I run all led's and dare not use my headlamp unless absolutely necessary and have a new gel battery and boyer box.

Still I love my Doris, a 96 500 and hope to gradually evolve her into a super Bullet.

Anyone any clues on the oil leak?

Cheers
(feeling it for you Northern Enfield jockeys)

[trevorch]

Hi Thrasher,

Perhaps your breather kit was treating a symptom rather than getting to the heart of the problem. You don't say what mileage the bike has covered but high oil consumption and the breather blowing a lot of oil over the back wheel might be due to badly worn rings. This would greatly increase oil loss and over pressure in the crank case. I would make a compression test or get my garage to do one. My last Bullet had covered 16,00km and never needed oil between changes at 3,000km intervals. Good luck TrevorCH

[Bullet thrasher]

Hi T

Thanks for your reply.

As with a lot of older Indian Bullets, this bike looks to have spent the best part of it's life in the shed. It seems to have had a few owners, none of whom could get it running right. Mileage was 3k when i got it and overall condition seems to support that. It has had a new alloy barrel and piston(I was informed and it looks so) in a previous attempt to tame her.

I have broken down on her too many times to count but always managed to get home somehow (even riding with the throttle cable inner held in a pinch between thumb and finger and riding more or less one handed). I've replaced fueltap due to meth breakdown of seals starving the carb, I've had new coil, alternater, boyer box and still had problems. Eventually found the smallest hardest to see split in the carb stub (which was a good one and looked pretty new). That helped a lot. Was also suffering from lack of charging due to wiring fault, causing undervolting to the boyer ignition (which is a nightmare.

I now have her running pretty well (she's quick for a Bullet, Ive seen 85 but couldn't feel anything from the waist down after only a minute or two, I am a thrasher for sure, ex courier). She starts well and only occasionally still spits the carb off.

I was topping her up about 300 ml a week and don't actually do many miles but a lot of traffic and thrashing, so reasoned that the breather mod would reduce the risk of me running too low on oil and also keeping the back a bit cleaner. Beautifully engineered bit of kit from H's by the way.

Still odd that after fitting and a quick thrash oil should erupt from the tappet cover (sorry not rocker cover but the tappet cover).

Thanks again

[Norm]

You put 2 words together like Bullet and Trasher and there will only be one outcome and that will be Tears

[Bullet thrasher]

I think tears are likely whether I thrash her or not.
I'm not without mechanical sympathy but I'm a sporty rider, I just can't help it. Part of the reason I am a Bullet rider is that it keeps me out of too much trouble, 50's standards of performance aren't so ridiculous compared to the new stuff thats out there.
I expect a bit of finger wagging from the duffers. Hasn't it always been so and so it should be.
Yesterday's ton up down the bypass kids become the finger waggers of today.

Anyway I love my Bullet and intend to keep her for life and ride her daily. When the time comes to split the cases and rebuild her, I'll do it and hopefully improve and evolve her into the best Bullet she can be.

The other end of the scale is the Bullets that hardly get ridden and get polished endlessly. Only being taken out on sunny days and never really set up through use and trial and error.

If money was no object it would be a bored and stroked, big head with a 5 speed box. Or the "musket" v twin which I would sell my soul for.

Wouldn't it be cool if H's had a gallery for pictures of our bikes?

Just off for a thrash!!! (it's not actually raining)
Have a good day all.

[Norm]

Bullet Thrasher, I was looking at a Carberry sitting in the corner of a shed looking a little forgotten and unloved in among an assortment of bikes and another up on the bike stand with a few scratch marks down the side.Wonder how that happened?

[Mark M]

Bullet Thrasher, I'm with you on the riding, nothing wrong with keeping the throttle wire tight as long as you accept the consequences! (I'm building a 535 Bighead Special...) Two things from your posts: Hitchcock's DO have a Gallery of Customer bikes (clue, it's in Photo Gallery on the left!) and second your oil problem: are you over filling, it sounds a bit like it? Bullets (and Enfield Twins too,) run best with oil level half way up the dipstick, that is, lower than any "Max" mark you may have. Overfill and it gets pushed out the breather due to lack of airspace in the oiltank. Hope this helps,
REgards, Mark

[Beezabryan]

After sorting the excessive oil consumption problem I reverted to the duckbill breather............... I did not like the mayo in the filler neck and the lack of oil mist on the drive chain,..........Oil level been sitting at the half way mark for 500+ miles now

[Bullet thrasher]

Thanks Mark M. Those big heads are a thing of beauty, a lot of lolly though. Would like to see some pictures, perhaps you could upload them to the customer bike gallery. It's on the left there!
Don't know how I missed that, it's a bit clunky though. Nice of Mr H to provide this for us gratis though.

Well my oil leak seems to be slowing, hopefully it'll sry up once it finds it's level. I'll make a note of the dipstick reading if and when it does. Then hopefully all good.

Blimey! Stable oil level for 500 miles BeezaB! No oil leaks then, are you sure there's oil in it.
I refer to my little pools as territorial markings or as my oil level indicator.
It's when the leak stops that you have to worry.

I read elsewhere that the mayo is due to the oil not getting hot enough due to a lack of thrashing!!
All things being equal.

How did you sort your oil consumption BeezaB?

Anyway I'll see how it goes for now. If it doesn't work out there'll be a 2nd hand oil breather kit on eBay.

There's a strange bright warm ball in the sky! What the hell is that?

[Phil Ashbrook]

Why have I not seen crank case breather mods like Goldies or The manxs ? Is it that it disrupts the oil flow ? their is no breather timing system like a Goldie , I have never been able to find out if it's bad to have a bigger breather vent . All that pressure is slowing the engine down ..surely ?