Forum

[Adrian]

Probably most likely to be encountered in RE circles by Electra-X owners whose bikes have been fitted with the original Watsonian-Squire tuning kit, the Dell'Orto is a long-established brand which might be of interest to anyone tuning a Bullet who is not tempted by our hosts' range of Amals and Mikunis. Of particular interest is the PHF range from 30 - 36mm with the accelerator pump. If you haven't got the W-S alloy adaptor flange, fitting one can be a problem, as the carb fitting stub uses a different groove arrangement to the more usual Mikuni/Amal Mk2, and even the UK Dell'orto importer doesn't stock suitable mounting flanges.



Recently I have discovered there are off-the-shelf rubber mounting flanges made by Malossi, one with 60mm stud centres to suit Indian 500 Bullets, and another with 50.8mm/2" centres for carbs up to the PHF34, which opens up the Dell'orto option to tuned 350 Indian Bullets as well as 350 and 500 Redditch models.



http://www.malossistore.co.uk/en/produc ... OLL&Type=F



http://www.malossistore.co.uk/en/produc ... OLL&Type=F



The PHBE carbs are similar to the PHF, but with no accelerator pump. I hope this is helpful to someone.



A.

[Lee B]

I've been toying with the idea of fitting our hosts Amal upgrade kit but their are mixed reviews on the Amal (some find it difficult to tune). Most say Mikunis are better. Just out of interest i take it you have fitted a Dell'orto to your Electra, Why? And what other mods have you fitted with it?

[Adrian]

Hi Les,

[Adrian]

Sorry Lee, misread your name. Only three letters to get right, too, must be past my bedtime. A.

[DickC]

Hi Adrian,

I too am considering fitting either an Amal or Dell"Orto to my 2005 Electra X, although it does quite well on the standard carb, but what I did notice on your picture of the project bike was that it hasnt a valve lifter but looks to perhaps have a decompressor fitted to the cylinder head. If I am right, that must be a good mod as the standard set up is naff if you want to kick start the bike, is it a relatively straight forward job to do, it looks a bit tight for space in there.

Dick C

[Adrian]

Hi,



if you look closely at the head you can see there **is** a decomp. valve fitted. This bike was built to be K/S only and it is definitely worth having. You have to lose some of the finning on top of the head, drill through to 12.5mm for a 14x1.25mm tap and then counterbore at the top to give the valve a seating. My hole drilling wasn't too accurate and it needed a thread insert kit, which was fortunately enough to clean everything up!







[url=http://en.imagesia.com/ds

[WDCO42]

Hello Adrian, It makes some times I wanted to know why you weren't happy with the original Electra X valve lifter, and made the decompressor mod, instaed of the valve lifter.
For me, the valve lifter, that has existed for decades on the RE models before the Bullet, and in fact, on the vast majority of the 4 strokes british singles, has numerous advantages over the decompressor : no sealing troubles, no combustion chamber geometry perturbation, no weakened head (the decompressor hole is for me dangerously close to the inlet valve (remember why RE stopped to make 4 valves engines)), and easily settable and accessible. And to have valve lifter on older RE models, it is much more finely thought. The cam could have been put on the exhaust rocker, but apart that, I see more troubles coming from the Electra X handlebar lifter that is a real joke than with the system in itself. I'm really impressed by your mod, but don't understand why you made it (it has been solutions found to keep the valve lifter operational when you fit BW cams).
Please don't see my message as an agression, but just curiousity.
Claude

[Adrian]

Bonsoir Claude, your curiosity is welcome.



The bike shown in the pictures uses the crankcases from a standard 350 Indian Bullet, modified for the Electra-X barrel, crank, timing cover and cylinder head, but the cam followers are not the fragile Electra-X type with the valve lifter collar sitting on the exhaust side. They are actually Samrat classic Bullet versions with an extra wide stem.



I know our hosts have a valve lifter modification available for pre-AVL engines, but when I used my Electra-X valve lifter I found the factory valve lifter was a pretty useless piece of kit (or something ryhming with it), the tappet cover also cracked where the valve lifter shaft passes through and leaked oil, so it wasn't just the awful handlebar lever. I know some have got better results by using the traditional handlebar levers, but I was fed up enough not to want to fit one to my project bike. The old style decompressor valve I settled for does work fine, no clashes with the inlet valve.



A properly designed valve lifter mechanism ought to work well (and does on other bikes), but the version used on my Electra-X did not!



A.

[WDCO42]

Thank you Adrian for your answer,
I do understand now why you went that way.
With such a work, a bit more milling didn't make more difference..

Best regards
Claude