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[Scalyback]

Hi Chris,

Pretty much the same as you I guess, the twin pulls away smartly, but looses power and speed on hills. I have had a good cruise at 60MPH, but I have one or maybe two problems, firstly, the engine will not rev over about 4000 (ish), also the engine starts to cut out and judder if the throttle is past about 3/4. Otherwise, I would assume that the twin would cruise at about 70mph with no problems.



Tornado my 500cc Indian bullet would leave it for dust up a hill.

[Adrian]

4,000 rpm max sounds all wrong - is that just in 4th or in all the gears? You should be able to get it to run on full throttle. If that only happens in top it might have too high overall gearing, otherwise it sounds like your jetting/ignition needs sorting out. A.

[Bullet Whisperer]

A Meteor Minor should be capable of leaving any ordinary Indian Bullet 500 for dead and should perform more like a 5TA Triumph, or similar. I have only ridden one MM, but I was impressed by how revvy and quick it was, all round, hills included, but you have to let them rev and use the gears to get the best from them - there isn't much low down 'grunt' to speak of. Cheers, Paul.

[vince]

I agree with bullet whisperer, check the gearing, it should have a 29t engine sprocket and an 18t gearbox. overgeared gives lack of revs in top. As an aside check battery levels as if one cell low it can cause a misfire at high revs.

[Scalyback]

SO far, I have check that the distributor and point are ok. the contacts spring seems strong, so I do not think that point 'bouncing'; is the cause. The engine speed cut out is in any gear, almost like a rev limiter! the thottle that cuts about 3/4 open is most noticable in 4th gear which is usually at a road speed of about 55 MPH, but if a long downhill, the bike will pick up more speed.



the right cylinder was running very rich compared to the left, but after 200 miles, they seem less different with the right not sooting the plug up as much as it did initially.



My guesses are, wrong cut out slide in carb, lack of compression one cylinder, (They don't seem to fire exactly evenly on tickover), or an as yet undiscovered ignition problem. Maybe capacitor (Condenser).



Thanks for all the suggestions so far, hopefully we will sort it out between us all.



Odd thing is, Kevin starts very easily and apart from the stated problems of max rev and max throttle opening, runs very well. Bit of a conundrum.

[Bullet Whisperer]

Long shot, Scalyback but perhaps you have weak or broken valve spring/s? Just a thought. Cheers, Paul.

[Dennis C]

Sooty plugs and not revving out as you describe is quite possibly due to the main jet being too big or even loose.

Over fuelling at wide throttle opening/high revs often manifests itself in this way try a smaller main jet.

[Gwilly]

Its our nature to diagnose and fix ourselves but just suppose what a twenty minute slot on a Dyno would tell you??

Would save a lot of faffing about especially if you have more than fuel/jetting to correct..

[Scalyback]

Kevin is in France and I have no idea where the nearest dyno place is.



one plug was way more sooty than the other, but the difference seems to be getting less.



I have not checked the valve springs, but one of the rocker covers had a stud only partially in and somebody had tightened the nut and stripped the thread. I cleaned the swarf from the screw and got the stud all the way in and it held, but I do wonder about previous maintenance before I bought the bike. also, under light load (Downhill) the bike will accelerate to a faster speed, so I am not sure about the valve springs, but will keep in mind to check.



The Amal Monobloc had the correct 250 main jet but there again, there is nothing to say that this has not been reamed in the past. I am thinking of ordering replacements.



Won't be back in France until 8th Dec, so will check out then if not freezing, and report back. Thanks for all of you that have made suggestions.

[Dennis C]

Scalyback The jet size specified in 1959 may or may not still be valid, I have found on more than one old bike that dropping a jet size has cured the problem that you have. Changes in petrol perhaps?.