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[papasmurf]

Frank, previously, and it drove the mechanic nuts, and caused an overfill incident. Just running the engine for two minutes with fresh oil and it would wetsump whilst waiting for the two minutes before checking the dipstick.
That is why I made a cold engine dipstick to check the actual depth of oil in the tank from cold.

[Adrian]

Papasmurf,



I'm hoping to be able to dispense with dip-sticks altogether on my next engine.







Photo courtesy of Bullet Whisperer

[papasmurf]

I would like to dispense with the dip-sticks who designed the engine.

[nigelphoto]

Tony Wilson Jones, but he's dead already

[Adrian]

Some (if not all) of the Electra-X's weakness stem from design changes made long after Tony Wilson-Jones' time.



A.

[Presto]

Tony Wilson-Jones designed the original Bullet engine, a highly successful motor. He did not design the Electra X engine, which has hardly any of the original Bullet engine design features. The Electra X engine was designed by Austrian company AVL GmbH, Graz.

[Adrian]

AVL are reckoned to have sub-contracted the redesign the Dr. Stuart McGuigan, also credited as the designer of the 5 speed Indian gearbox in the early naughties, along with the odd but quite successful prototype Bullet-based diesel bike for army use in the nineties.



I think the 500 AVL's crankcase castings are the same as the Sixty-5's, with different machining (or less machining in the case of the absent contact breaker drive and gear train), and everything else changed apart from the main bearings and sump plugs. If anyone wanted to machine the timing side case for a full timing gear train and fit the SR1 magneto they can, because the timing cover still has the blob to allow room for the auto-advance/retard unit on the SR1 drive pinion.



As the lean burn engine needed to run at a higher compression ratio they finally beefed up the bottom end with a steel conrod and needle roller big end on a large single diameter crankpin, common and (usually) successful oriental practice. Unfortunately - thanks to poor crankpin hardening on some engines - what was supposed to eliminate one weak spot (the alloy con-rod in the original) simply replaced it with another! While a failed big end on an Electra-X is still a pain, a failed conrod on a classic 500 Bullet usually destroys the crankcases



I have already commented on the fragile Electra-X cam followers, my guess is that the new design specified a decent grade of high tensile steel, but that the factory decided to use a cheaper grade instead, unless someone knows a different story.



A.

[Presto]

I don't think failed con-rods in the older Bullet engine are by any means common. I'd say the design was sound and the motor robust.

[Adrian]

The 350 alloy rods are **usually** fine, though someone here did mention they'd had one fail. The Bullet was designed as a 350, not a 500 with extra stresses on the rod, and there have been more cases of the alloy rod letting go on 500 Bullets when owners have wanted to ride (or had been riding) the thing with a bit more enthusiasm than was wise. If you remember the Royce Creasey articles years ago this was a problem for Redditch 500s as well as Indian 500 Bullets since then. He recommended fitting a Velocette steel conrod.



I have seen some quite scary photos of the wrecked 500 Bullet components formerly known as crankcases, though not quite as spectacular as the one of the vintage-raced Norton ES2 whose cast-iron flywheels disintegrated at speed. At least Indian Bullets have steel flywheels.



A.

[Tim NZ]

"I don't think failed con-rods in the older Bullet engine are by any means common"


All too common, and potentially worse in the pre 56 350's


To generalise about Indian conrods: I have the remains of three snapped 500 Alloy rods in my hall of horrors and know of many more. Worst are the Pre 2000 conrods, they often look like they were fettled with an angle grinder and can snap at random. The biggest issue with the 500's is with OEM piston crown separation. Thrash a 500 and the odds of piston failure or the alloy rod snapping are very high, in fact Odds-On would be more likely...




The root of the 'issue' with the Electra X tappet adjusters stems from the unduly heavy valve springs fitted. The Simplex valve spring is overly stiff for the lighter valve used or the lift of the cam. Similar in the UCE too.


To eliminate stress risers in the adjuster, it would have been advantageous for the factory to root-roll the threads...