Hitchcocks Forum

Lots of you will have fitted Bullet engines so I wondered if they was a right and wrong order to refitting one. One concern is the lower and upper engine plates that are Fiddly when loose? Should all the plates be bolted up to the engine first before the frame? Would it be best to fit the 2 gearbox top triangles and the front down tube connections firstly then the lower engine plates? The problem is the stand mounts to them too doesn't it so is it best to fit these first maybe using a trolley jack under the Lump? It's a heavy lump so just thought I,d ask for your views before starting Asbo 21! Harvey

From memory Harvey, I sat the engine and gearbox on a trolley Jack and me and a friend manoeuvred the rolling chassis over it. I then fitted the two top gearbox plates loosely. If all the plates are fixed to the engine beforehand, they may not line up with the frame. I kept the engine on the Jack and got the gearbox and front down tube one on first, but still left them slack. I then moved the Jack forward to under the two front down tube plates and then fitted the centre stand set. It was all loosely fitted until all the bolts were home, including the head steady, then they were all tightened. If I remember rightly it was a bit of a strain getting all the holes to line up, hence keeping everything loose. There's probably a better way but it worked for me that way.

Hi, I put the bike on the sidestand, the triangle plates are swung up and the frame bolt tightened to keep them clear. lift the engine/gearbox less primary cases and get the bottom of gearbox between bottom engine plates. As the bike is on side stand the weight of the engine will push the lower frame tube down give more room to play with. Once located between the bottom plates the bike is then put onto the centrestand. Put the bolt at the front of the bottom plates through first. Then swing down triangle plates and put the two bolts through then swing the front plates down and put the three bolts through. Then tighten all bolts . that's how I've done it for 40yrs on singles and twins. By doing the rear attachments first it gives you more chance of aligning the bolts without damaging the fine threads. Vince

Ginetta email me at steve dot vfr at icloud.com

As others have said. It's useful to have a ratchet strap handy to pull things a bit if/when the holes don't line up.

Several options there then. Thanks for the replies so far. My side stand is not fitted as I removed it to remove the lump but can look at putting it back. I do have some rachet straps to add Pete. Keeping the brackets on but loose was my plan as the gaps close up if tight. I wondered about fixing the bottom plates on the engine before the Frame but that's when the bike won't stand up on its own as no centre stand location until they are on.

If it helps......... ?When I did mine I didn't fit head and barrel 'til in the frame......keeps a lot of weight down.

When I did mine a while back, I also left off the head (I have an alloy barrel so that was small weight) and used three adjacent head bolts to bolt on a plywood handle to better manoeuver the lump. I also trimmed a few millimetres off the rear part of the downtube base (where the crankcases always foul) so the lump could be lifted up into place from the floor once the GB was located on its through stud. Much easier and has no significant effect on frame strength. Cheers, ChrisD