[The Garbone]

As to the ooze on the decomp I don't know.  Could be the PO spritzed it to keep it from rusting or to hide rust or the its trickling down from rocker box gasket.   Another source could be a porous casting in the causing it to leak.   

I was suggesting retorqing the head bolt not to really do anything for the valve clearance but to keep from getting a future leak from between the barrel and head. 

As to clutch adjustment I would let as much slack out of the cable and lever ferrel.  Open the inspection plate on the side of the trans above the kicker and turn out the screw a bit.   Now Screw that adjustment screw back in until it just touches the actuator rod enough so there is no play in the assembly and then back it off just a hair.    Close up the inspection plate and adjust adjust out most of the play in the cable at the midpoint adjuster and use the ferrel on the lever for fine adjustments. 

Also note your bike is still Left hand shift and that is just a bodge.  Conversion to right hand shift make for a 100% better shifting bike.

[Blltrdr]

Your photo shows the points plate turned all the way to the right (retarded). How did you arrive at this setting? What does your exhaust note sound like? Is it flat sounding? You probably need more timing advance. Do you know how to ping time?

You have to try to seat your decompressor. Manually rotate the decomp valve. Something is keeping it from seating fully. If you cant get it to seat you will have to remove it to see what is causing the problem.

How did you adjust your clutch? Check clutch pack. Metal plates should be flat with no warps. Friction plates can be upgraded to Barnett or Hitchcock's Surflex. Check your friction plates for wear and clean with kerosene before installing. Make sure you take note of the clutch pack plate order before you separate plates for cleaning and inspection.

I would suggest a RS shift kit and also the installation of a sealed bearing kit from Hitchcock's so you can run gear oil instead of the Veedol grease. You will find your 4 spd will shift beautifully after the change.

[rxr2012]

Thanks Garbone and Blltrdr,

Gear Box side clutch adjustment, already tried out and did not solve the issue, going to check the clutch pack, i hope its as easy to put it back as to take it off, little hesitant.

Blltrdr - changed the timing back to be in the middle, air screw 1.5 out, ping time ?

Is there a way to check if the Breather is working correctly ?

Manual says..
"If the breather is not acting efficiently it may cause pressure in the crankcase
instead of partial vacuum, giving rise to smoking or oiling of the plug."[/b]

It looks like, its not going to be a quick fix, I am glad to be hear talking about all of this.
Thanks again for the pointers.

First goal will be to get it to run,  take it to at least 60-75mph, so i can get it out
beyond the subdivision roads , actually if i can't fix it, will enjoy that idle in the driveway!! love the thumper !

[Arizoni]

Mention was made about "tappet to the left had a little play. Adjusted that."

Both tappets should have a little "play" when the piston is at the top of its compression stroke.  I believe the value is about .015 inch (0.40mm).

If the tappets are adjusted so that there is no looseness to the push rods the engine will rapidly burn its valves and the valve seats.

I agree that the timing plate position shown in the photo is almost fully retarded.
This will cause poor idling, poor fuel economy, poor power and possibly a burned exhaust valve.
Then, the position of the timing plate and what is actually happening depends greatly on the ignition points being set with the correct gap when the points are fully open.
This gap should be .014-.016 inch (.35-.40mm).
The ignition points should loose contact exactly when the piston is .031 inches (0.8mm) from reaching the top of its compression stroke.

This can only be determined by removing the spark plug and observing the piston as it is rising.

Personally, I'm not a believer in the Ping method of adjusting ignition timing.
Each "Ping" is like a sledge hammer whacking the top of the piston and it doesn't take many whacks before something will break.

[Blltrdr]

I would not contemplate taking your bike out and riding it at the speeds you listed. You can not run these bikes at high speed for long periods. You have to very the throttle at high speeds to keep the temp down. Your Bullet motor isn't fully broke in yet so I would read over your manual and find out where your bike is in the break in period. I would also be cautious if you don't know the history of how the PO treated the bike in it's early stages. I also would take it easy until you get all the adjustments worked out. I spent many hours reading my manuals and learning to make all necessary adjustments. Familiarity is key to success when it comes to Bullet ownership. Many people by the Bullet because of it's cool retro looks but end up parking or selling it soon after because they can never get it to run well. Most likely the reason you ended up with your bike with so few miles on it. Learn, Maintain, Ride = BIG SMILE

[rxr2012]

Arizoni - thanks, ordering the TDC finder tool
Will check tappets again, the move freely, but no gap at all, that's what i did.

Blltdr - i don't plan on twisting that throttle yet., lets see where we get in the week(s) to come. Worst case if ACE has the time, i can haul it there.

Any ideas on the Breather Valve Check ?, noticing the breather pipes looks cracked,
oil around the electrical ( the left side box next to batter ), the stock air filter was loaded with oil, before the K&N swap.

Work week and back to the madness.., looking at the map and sending some PM's to the local REO's as well

I still have the FZ1 for the twisties..

[Blltrdr]

If your hose to your catch can under the battery is cracked you will need to replace it. I would buy the replacement hose from our host that has the duckbill on the end. You will then bypass your catch can and route it over to your chain. I'm not sure if your catch can has a duckbill inside it but most likely does so if you open it up and it does have one you can attach it to a piece of tubing with a splice fitting and run it to the chain as an oiler or run it out the back behind the rear fender like many here do. There are many postings on the breather if you do a forum search. In fact many of your questions can be answered using the forum search engine.

[ace.cafe]

. Worst case if ACE has the time, i can haul it there.

Just FYI, I don't have a repair shop.
I build performance engines at Mondello's.
Repairs are for the owners to do.

[rxr2012]

Thanks ACE, assumed you had a shop

Planning to take the head off and de-carbonize, waiting for  the compression gauge before that. Today's plan will be to get the clutch pack off and look for any
issues.

[Blltrdr]

Thanks ACE, assumed you had a shop

Planning to take the head off and de-carbonize, waiting for  the compression gauge before that. Today's plan will be to get the clutch pack off and look for any
issues.

Here is a technical write up from Hitchcock's website that might come in handy.

http://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/pictures/content9/decoke_your_bullet.pdf

I would check the action of the clutch plates as you operate your clutch lever with the primary cover off. The problem could be the adjustment at the gearbox. You have to take the tension off the adjuster at the lever before you make your adjustment at the gearbox. Screw the clutch rod adjuster screw in till it bottoms out then back of about a 1/4 turn then tighten lock nut and then adjust at the lever.

If you decide to take the clutch apart make sure that you don't loose the ball bearing between the clutch rods and clutch rod pad. It is easy to loose when taking things apart. Put a towel on the floor on whichever side you decide to push the rods out just in case you can't catch the bearing in your hand the towel should catch it or slow it down. It took me an hour to track mine down on the garage floor the first time I removed mine.

[rxr2012]

Blltrdr - thanks again, that's a fantastic write up to have.

Just ordered the Clutch Pad with Bearing / Barnet Clutch and Heavy Duty springs,  from NFieldGear. My clutch lever does not have any adjusters on it, PO probably got rid of it, will use the mid adjuster to see if I can
loosen to get play and then adjust at the gear box.

One of the first things i did was buying a 18x26 shop tray, so i don't miss any parts, thanks for the heads up.

[rxr2012]

Waiting.. on parts from Nfield., Will post on compression soon, picked up a compresion guage , a electronic vernier calliper , no time to work on it, the last few days.

I've been reading a bit.

Snidal in one of his older sites, has a "Clutch Flush" technique, kerosene in the primary, going to try that as well.

another topic...Pouring into the details on the Fireball, what ACE ,Mondello, Chumma have got going will put RE into many more years to come, then you have Aniket and his Twin, another different machine all together. , keep at it guys.

It will be good to have some "stickies" on this forum, for some of the basics.

[rxr2012]

Cold Compression Test :

Got the tank off, plug off, connected the gauge, did not heat up the engine.. must have.
06 tests x  about 5-6 kicks each - full throttle, averages around 105-110 PSI.
I am thinking the compression's plenty, unless you all have other comments.


Nfield did not ship, they were waiting on compression springs.. which are 03 weeks
behind, should have called just after the order.. 04 days.. gone.. ! ;(

[ace.cafe]

Compression is healthy for a stock engine.

[rxr2012]

Thanks ACE - feels better, getting started now.

Tried to remove the rocker covers yesterday, to re-torque the valves, but could not get the covers off, they were too stuck. Going to flush the clutch case with Kerosene.
Will post soon.