Hitchcocks Forum

My 350 bullet has become increasingly latchy to start recently, especially from cold. It's gone from starting into a steady idle first kick to taking three or four kicks when it'll fire a couple of times then gently feathering the throttle open to get a few revs on. Once it catches, it settles down to idle nicely. It also seems to be taking a lot more tickling.



I've checked and tweaked the ignition timing which seems to have little effect and I've cleaned the carb to within an inch of it's life. Also changed the battery and checked all the connections on the HT side. It's producing a good spark and has had a couple of new plugs since this issue started. It's running pretty well once it does start so I don't think it's an engine issue



Only thing I've noticed is some wear/scoring on the front of the throttle slide (28mm MK1 Amal). Could this cause starting problems? Also, can anyone tell if this is a hard anodised or standard one from the picture? I presume an anodised replacement would be a good idea anyway?

Looks like the standard quick-wearing zinc alloy slide. I don't know if the anodized slides are a direct replacement, if so that's one option, the other one being a hard-chrome plated slide. Try Surrey Cycles for those.



You say the carb has been cleaned to within an inch of it's life, though the non-detachable pilot jet in the basic Mk1 carb is prone to clogging up AND being quite a fiddly job to clean it out properly. If you check back through the previous posts this came up quite recently, somebody posted up Bullet Whisperer's youtube video on how to clean it.



A.

Aye, I gave the pilot circuit extra attention, I fed a piece of nylon fishing line through the jet via the pilot screw hole and had it come out at the choke. I get a nice plume of gas up through the pinhole in the venturi when I squirt a butane lighter refill in through the "feed" passage. The idle speed also responds well to small tweaks in the pilot screw position.



Didn't know you could get chrome plated ones too, that's another avenue to investigate although it appears they do a direct hard anodised replacement for my slide, they have a more limited selection of cutaways but my #3 is one of them. Any thoughts if a brass or hard anodised would be better? They are roughly the same price. I'll pop a quick email off to surrey cycles, thanks for the contact.

Anything should be a better wearing combination than zinc alloy on zinc alloy (a cost saving measure by the original Amal company back in the 60's). Anodizing can still wear (or the anodized slide did on a PHF32 Dellorto I used to use), though hopefully a lot more slowly if Burlen's slides are up to standard. Haven't heard any bad reports about them so far.



A.

That slide looks very worn to me. Which means the carb body will be badly worn too. Another retrograde design feature of the Concentric carb over the Monobloc is that the slide is less well supported in the body so when wear occurs it is exaggerated by the loose fit. Which means your new slide might make an improvement but it probably won't last long I'm afraid.

REgards, Mark

Monobloc for me with chromed slide for the Flash & a Box and standard Micarb with anodised slide for the Bullet. Happiness

Well, I'll see what difference a new slide makes. If I land up replacing the whole carb, it'll be a mikuni next time. However, I'm also going to check the slide in the new carb for my 612 kit and if it's a standard one, bin it right away.

Hi Guys------Hi Stinkwheel, yes--I'm in full agreement with all those opinions, especially with regards to Micarbs v Amal.....In my earlier days of "Joyfull Bliss" ie Bullet ownership I allowed myself to be "persuaded" to fit the appropriate Amal alternative carb....Not because there was a perceived need to ---but because it "looked the part for an English bike.."....Well, as it didn't give any improvement whatsoever over the original Micarb so that was considered to be a waste of money and I haven't repeated that mistake since......My 500cc ed Baron starts, runs and behaves A-OK with a Micarb fitted....Our hosts quite often sell good quality used Micarbs and as Beezabryan mentioned--an anodised slide is a good mod to fit...

A new vm24 mikarb for a 350 Enfield can be bought (right now) for £37.50 either delivered - or collected from your local Argos.
IMHO Buying a replacement premium quality slide to fit in a worn body seems a bit of false economy.

Twice that gets you a brand new vm28 mikarb which is probably what you actually want.