Hitchcocks Forum

Is there anyone who mounted that valve lifter decompressor system, the decompressor that is standard on the Electra ? Does that really work ?

Problem with the Electra(X) set up is that it only holds the valve open after the piston has gone past TDC when you no longer need the engine decompressed!

It is truly a rubbish bit of design, Electra-X owners are better off retro-fitting the classic Bullet decompressor! (Before anyone says they don't fit the Electra-X head, no they don't, but they can be MADE to fit.)



Meanwhile, to steer this back on topic, what would be the attraction of fitting the valve-lifter to a classic Bullet engine? If it is because the head has been twin-plugged, there was some information on here recently about how to adapt a twin-plugged head to take a decompressor. Also the valve-lifter cam spindle housing is another source of oil leaks, especially when the tappet cover cracks where the spindle fits.



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May I give a slightly different opinion of Adrian's one ? The system in itself was good enough to being used for decades by Royal Enfield (mainly for pre-war models), and a few other brands, as Velocette for example. So it can't be so bad. I understand, as an owner of an AVL powered Enfield, why AVL did prefer this system instead of the "moped" one : you don't touch to the integrity of the head (not having a hole just a few mm beside both valve seats is for me a good idea, the combustion chamber is not polluted by the moped valve, no sealing troubles,the adjusting and removal are much more easy, and so and so...). As a user too of a WDCO, that has quite (but much more troublesome) the same system, maybe I am used to it... BUT, and a really big BUT, there are some things to improve and to know about it : first, when you fit the cover, you have to hold up the pushrod "ring" with a thin screwdriver to be sure the lifer cam will be under it (I suspect that a lot of broken covers are because that was not done, the cam pushing against the "ring",then distording and sometimes breaking the cover), secondly: you REALLY need a good lifter lever on the handlebar, not the total rubbish that is on the Electra X, I'm really lucky with the Machismo, as ther is a proper one. You can buy a "classic" one, every thing, but not the original mashmallow one. And thirdly : you have to correctly adjust the gap between the lifter cam and and the pushrod "ring". One improvement I thought to is to fit a spigot on the cover (and its oposite hole in the good place) to prevent it to rotate as I have sometimes seen. But it's really a "I-don't-have-anything-else-to-do" job... For Adrian : I haven't installed for the moment the Suzuki TCI (hard work period), so please don't mind if I did'nt give news about that. I really thank you for the help you gave me.

I saw the Ric's answer, and there too, ther is a procedure : go with the kickstarter to the TDC, pull the lifter lever untill the piston has passed the TDC, and bingo. Hundred of thousend bikers has used it, there are no reasons why it shoulden work with us....

So I have been wasting my time on my Electra X? I have been following the tip made here many moons ago to stop the engine on the decompressor to save problems with the sprag clutch!
Its a habit now and easier to do than reach down for the ignition key ( I have fitted the key into the tool box of my WD RE C sidecar outfit)

No you haven't. It's quite capable of keeping an already open exhaust valve open to prevent the piston bouncing back off compression, but in stock form it cannot open a closed one; so as a starting aid it's totally useless.
Exactly the same device is fitted on the home Market 350 AVL engine where it IS capable of lifting the valve from any piston position but that's because the 350 exhaust valve has weaker spring/s and it was designed with that in mind.

Some owners have reported an improvement by taking the handlebar end of the cable out of the left-hand switchgear cluster and fitting it into on old-style handlebar decompressor lever.

Here is photo how is the valve lifter on my bike (looks strangely to a classic Bullet one). I think it'd be rather easy to fit.

Claude,



that's slightly different to the UK market decompressor lever, which is a puny little thing normally used to operated a cold start plunger on a carburettor rather than being meant to cope with a 500 single cylinder engine's exhaust valve springs. The Chennai factory copied Suzuki switch gear for the E/S bikes, though the set-up in your picture is a bit of a hybrid, it has the classic Indian Bullet's Minda cold start lever grafted onto the more modern switch cluster. It looks like it might be a little tougher.



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