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By Adrian
#9227
For Norm and anyone else interested, though really, this is for head-bangers only...



Rather than leave this at the end of ericpode’s sprag clutch thread, let’s start afresh.



Quick recap, Norm had what was probably the worst ever Electra-X to escape quality control back in the day and ended up rebuilding his engine into a mostly classic (iron barrel) 500 Bullet but still with the Electra-X timing cover and high capacity gear-type oil pumps.



Voilà!



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But of course there is more than one way to flay this particular moggy (sorry, cat lovers). Instead of building the worst bits OUT OF and Electra-X engine, how about building the good bits of an Electra-X INTO a set of classic Bullet cases?



WHY???



Proper tappets and a chance to fit whatever ignition I like, for starters. Magneto, yes please. And BECAUSE!



Norm has identified a couple of issues in the other thread, but let’s see if it all fits together first, I’m using a Lucas SR1 magneto instead of a BT-H electronic one this time but staying with a Dell’Orto PHF carb. One of our hosts’ performance Electra cranks will be fitted.



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Yes it does fit, just! The cylinder fins have been trimmed at the back to allow room for the mag, but I shall have to trim about another 3 or 4 mm off to get the same gap as Redditch SR1 fitted 500 Bullets had. I can probably get a little more mag to carb clearance once all the gaskets are on, perhaps with a 3 or 4mm tufnol insulator between the carb and the manifold. If not I have found a source of the older Dell’Orto rounded float bowls. The camera angle exaggerates the closeness to some extent. Having to clear the make makes the carb cit back further than I’d like, but a quick check against frame and tanks shows it will be OK.



On the other thread Norm was alluding to the fact that the oil holes on the scavenge side of the timing chest don’t line up if you’re fitting an Electra-X timing cover onto a set of classic crankcases. In fact there is only one. If you look at the picture immediately above you will see the two holes in about the 4 o’clock position if you think of the timing chest as a clock face. Notice the alloy blob in the joint face at the three o’clock position? That’s where the lean burn oilway on the AVL/Electra-X engine would be drilled into the oil passageway behind it.



So all we need is to drill out the hole in the AVL position and drill and tap the upper of the two existing holes for a grub screw to block it off. Like this.



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This saves playing with extra-thick gaskets or trying to mill an oilway into the joint face of the timing cover. OK, this picture shows my current hybrid engine which did not have the blob in place, Henry Price had to put it in there with alloy weld (he isn’t doing any more!), but it shows where the new oilway has to go.



That’s pretty much it, apart from a bit of work on the Electra-X timing cover, the cam spindle housings need reaming out to ⅝” from 15mm to fit over the fixed cam spindles. Also the idler gear spindle bosses in the cover are only part-finished, as the Electra-X doesn’t have idler gears, so these need to be finished machined to let the cover sit properly.



Norm, you also mentioned the gap between the crankcase mouth and the smaller O/D of the cylinder liner, I shall check how much slop there is with the cylinder fitted on all off the cylinder studs, but I have a plan for taking up the slack with spacers if needed.



A.
By Norm
#82377
Hi Adrian, very good, it can all be done and you are well along the way. Another thing I had to do was make a new rocker feed pipe because the cast iron head rocker feed points are further apart than the Electra. If you look at the pic of the motor you can see a fitting I welded in there so I could fit an oil gauge so I could see what pressure the gear pumps were pushing up against the rocker blocks compared to the Electra rocker set up. It didn't cause any issues from memory it spiked on start up around 50 psi then settled down to about 15 psi so all was good. As for the barrel clearance from memory I had to remove 3 mm from the diameter of the cases, about 1.5 mm all the way around. In your case you might have to machine up a sleve to go over the barrel sleve, fit to the barrel and then machine it down to suit the cases
By Norm
#82379
Untrue Leon I have not looked through any showroom window since buying the Electra, I will never buy new ever again
By Norm
#82380
And Leon another reason for not buying new again is why would I want to pay $700 a year to register a bike when I can register a 25 year old bike for $77
By scotty
#82381
Funny state vic, just reg that makes it $oed a 2016 500 and a 1994 500 $120 each for rego old one $161 for greenslip new one $181, same size same make, think qbe thought the new one would go faster , they dont know enfields. That makes it $582 for two bikes.
By Norm
#82382
Hi Scotty, the sole reason I got rid of the Electra was because it was going to be 2031 before it could go on Club reg. I think a 498cc, never register it as a 500cc because you then jump to the $700 bracket, but under 500cc I think it is around the $500 mark. The new Inters get hit in the $700 bracket and unless you are commuting on a bike you are paying $14 a week just let it sit in the shed so you can ride it on the weekend occasionally. Have several bikes and it adds up to a lot of money
By scotty
#82385
In nsw same rego up to 700 but they shifted the 250 class into the bigger class, more money to them. Thought this was one country not a collection of make your own rules stated, I suppose vic being one of the smaller states needs more cash. Surprised you dont need a visa to go interstate
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By Adrian
#82386
Norm,



if I were using E/S crankcases the Electra-X rocker feed would do. With these cases I can either use the feed pipe from an early K/S Machismo or Thunderbird (the one piece solution) or use the top of an Electra feed with the bottom of a K/S pipe and some snazzy stainless braided nitrile tubing to join the two bits up, as fitted to the current hybrid.



A.
By Norm
#82388
Yes Adrian, more than one way to skin a cat and the rocker feed is probably one of the simpler ones and by using the Electra rockers there is no chance of too much pressure build up by the little piston pumps.

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