Forum

[Alan R]

Hi Matey !!----------------- grab a Man-sized box of tissues and prepare to weep !!!

[MartinB]

Here's the latest update on my sprag if anyone is interested?The bike has been despatched by van to my mate who stripped it and found the sprag bearing to be somewhat beyond spec.Otherwise i'm told all i need is a number of gaskets.There is some wear on the starter gears but i'm advised it's not enough to warrant replacement.The bill todate is around £150 for parts,£40 for the van + labour costs(to be confirmed) to re-assemble.I suppose it could have been worse?Trouble is the head gasket has also gone on my beloved MG and that's going to cost me £400+ to sort out.

[apparently lucky eddie]

Blimey mate, must be a pretty fancy MG to cost £400 to sort a head gasket!
An old leyland engine should only take maybe 2 hours or so and a newer one half a day. Get some spanners!

[JOHNNY SINGLES]

If it is a mgf or tf model try the mg forum, there are some good mobile head gasket repairers on there and they will come to you with a refaced head and are under £400. To be on the safe side I would have an uprated oil rail fitted at the same time.

[another Allan]

I'm not familiar with the sprag clutch on Enfields specifically, but I do have an intimate knowledge of the one fitted to an electric start 850 Commando..... The main issue with it is that the sprag bearing condition is only part of the story.... The surface finish of the components it rotates on, and diameter of the working surfaces, is critical to the proper operation of the whole assembly. ....A backfired sprag clutch is likely to have damaged the surfaces that the sprag segments bear upon, and if this is the case, a new sprag is likely to have a short life....Similarly, diametrical wear on the bearing surfaces will mean that the sprag segments may rotate more than they are designed to, leading to poor operation and premature failure....Put simply, make sure that the bits that the sprag bearing runs against are PERFECT, or don't bother replacing the sprag.

[MartinB]

Yes it's the dreaded MGTF with the notorious K series engine.If only it was old MGBGT i could have done it myself...maybe.I've been on the MGOC Forum Johnny and received some good advice,also from the MG Rover Org Forum.Hadn't thought about the uprated oil rail-i'll investigate.I'm aware of the mobile specialists but i have a local tuning shop that deal with race spec K series engines and hopefully are competent to do the job.(Sorry fellow RE fans as this is off subject).

I understand as the starter gears are not hardened replacing them with the same spec ones isn't crucial as long as they are within tolerence limits.

[Jojje]

My Electra was most days difficult to start with Concentric. Not to mention bad idling. (I am not saying it could be made to work) Fitted Dell'Orto instead.
Never had trouble with sprag clutch in nearly 40,000 kms.
Kick starting is difficult to explain. My technique is to use left leg to get myself up and then i just move the weight to my right leg and let my weight do the thing landing on the kickstarter.

[MartinB]

Mine is definitely harder to kick start with the Amal-no idea why and i shall need to develop my kick starting technique when my bike is fixed.

[MartinB]

Another Allan-you are right!I'm now told although everything looked good on clean up when the starter gears were re-assemnbled they only worked intermittently and i shall now need new gears.It also seems there is a problem with the timing.I have our hosts upgraded TCI but it also seems i shall now need to buy their adjustable timing keys to fiddle around with the static timing to avoid backfire on start up!

[Norm]

Martin,
This is going to get ugly cost wise, you are going to have to start doing these repairs or cost will really hurt