Forum

[Chris Tindal]

Well, Ive been working on the ebay Bullet to get it in a fit and safe state to ride and be ready for summer. All nuts now have washers and are tightened down, new rear brake shoes, front brake set up to work well, new clutch (with the plates in the right way), properly adjusted chains all round, tightened up rota, new clutch cable, new gearbox and timing case bolts, new gaskets all round, new rocker cover, new sparkplug, points and condenser, timing properly set on SR1, both springs now in the auto advance unit, thrust washers on timing pinions, new quil bolt cork, new battery, replacement front fork slider, replacement speedo and ammeter, new monoblock carb jetted as per the original workshop manual and new horn. It now leaks a lot less, stops better, starts hot or cold, goes well and has a reliable tickover - lovely. Yesterday I thought I'd finally do an oil change even though the seller said it had just had one. Drain plug out, oil filter out and.....guess what?

[papasmurf]

No oil?

[Chris Tindal]

Plenty of oil.

[Bet]

THe inside of the engine fell out through the drain plug??

[Mark M]

Wrong or no additional components on the oil filter stud? Like no brass filter cap, spring, magnet maybe?

REgards, Mark

[Chris Tindal]

That's what you'd expect from this bike Mark, but if that all it was I'd be a happy man. It's metallic flakes I'm afraid, so it looks like an engine out and strip!

[Mark M]

Looks like Bet was right then... that's a real bummer. On the current 1A project I flushed the oil first just to see what was in it as contaminated oil would inevitably mean further investigation needed. The oil (and filter) was dirty but not harbouring any swarf but I also flushed the oil tank with some de-greaser to see if there was anything hiding in the sediment but that was clean too, likewise the gearbox. There was however some swarf in the primary oil but that was from where the very very loose primary chain had been whacking the alloy interior of the case so pretty easily cleaned out. An engine rebuild shouldn't take too long Chris, I'm looking forward to seeing this bike!


REgards, Mark

[Adrian]

If you're stripping the engine down this might be a good time to fit a steel con-rod and needle roller big-end. Think original crankcase insurance policy! A.

[Chris Tindal]

Thanks for the positive encouragement Mark. Adrian, that's just what I am thinking, if the rod went through those cases it would be tricky to find replacements with the correct 4 digit numbers on. Funny thing is I sold a pair of cases a few years ago that were very close numerically to these!, if only I'd kept them. Just weighing up the cost of the steel rod/roller conversion plus crank re-build and two way postage verses a nice ready done beefy Alpha crank!

[Adrian]

A little trip down to Old South Wales to see Bullet Whisperer (who's rebuilt more than a few Bullet cranks) might be in order, especially if you want a re-balanced, lightened crank and a bit of ASBO tuning while you're at it, though for a simple fit and run perhaps our hosts' crank might have you back on the road a little quicker. A.