Forum

[Phil Ashbrook]

Is it the heat or is it my mind
43 degrees seems to have struck dischord with my Engine , tuned engines get hotter than standard and my bike is not taking it well .
First a clutch bolt let got in a very noisey manner , my powerbox stated to play up so I made a cooling duct in the toolbox with a computer chip heat sink with fan , clutch fixed I took it out on anouther hot 43 day and my exhaust push rod broke up on the top cup , the Samrat ajustable cam spindle on the inlet side started to seize and the inner spindle started to spin as the heat expansion made it a loose fit , the only thing I can do is get plus 1 thou oversize but I think this bike has some temp problems in the city traffic .I think the big fin Fury head was a logical move for the bullet but still in need of getting the oil temp down , I dont think Enfields can hack 50 degrees but nor can the rider .

[PeteF]

You might check the oil is circulating as it should.
It's not just there for lubrication.

I would have thought that 43c in city traffic would get any air-cooled engine a bit hot and bothered.

[rustygman]

Sorry Phil those of us riding through the english winter will probably confirm that our problems are icy roads, carb icing, seat frozen like a house brick, salty crud all over our bikes and creaking knees. Oh to have a bit of heat to worry about (though granted it sounds a bit extreme in oz at the moment).

[Norm]

Phil, there is no way a cam spindle should start to bind, due to the outside temp, it is submerged in oil, but if the scavenge pump isn't working properly this could be a cause of the pushrod and also the timing chest running low on oil. Problem is if the feed pump was working and the scavenge not, the motor would have started smoking badly. Outside temp won't cause these problems, nip up a piston maybe but not the ones you describe

[Norm]

Phil I rode my crosbred today about 350ks, was hot and I just heard it is 35c at the moment and it is 12.10pm

[trevorch]

Hi Phil,

My old 2007 500 Bullet, was not really tuned, but upgraded to 535 with a less restrictive exhaust and an Amal Monoblock. Otherwise standard. I fitted a temperature gauge, but this only measures the oil tank temperature. It usually showed a temperature rise of 30C above ambient, so on the hottest day here, around 38C, the gauge showed about 70C. Winter time, it would show between 30 and 40C. It did seem to dislike slow traffic in summer, when the gauge would rise to 80C+ and making hot start a bit tough. What oil are you using? I would recommend fitting the high capacity pumps as these help to get more oil into the tappet covers and to cool the cylinder head.

Regards TrevorCH

[Leon Novello]

Enfield engines usually run too cold, 80c is what is regarded as about normal running temperature; mine runs at about 60C (the temperature a dishwasher runs at) on the hottest days;
I have never seen it reach 80C ever.

[Norm]

Just read my post, bit dumb I meant 12.10am, just after midnight 11 mins before and it was pm