[rep_movsd]

My bike (fireball head #13) has been on blocks for a long time now, I had taken it apart completely to fix a loose cam spindle (which obviously requires splitting the engine and taking the right side crankcase to a machinist to repair the worn out hole, by inserting a bush.

I was told that the adjustable cam spindles tend to not rest their ends properly in the timing case and high lift cams can tend to make them wear out the hole.
I went ahead with non-adjustable ones after the repair

Also added an aluminum swing arm, Hagons, Lithium battery and boyer brandsen ignition, continental GT rims and tires (on the standard hubs)

I'd put the engine together but left it on the shelf for almost a year. Three months back I finally got the engine fitted in the frame and started.

Then I got busy with other things (including a kidney stone ), and finally spent all of this week finishing up the bike.

I finally got 99% of it done now, everything except the meters, tail light and the blinkers. The bike weighs 154 KG now (without clutch side oil). I can still take off another 2 to 3 KG after my cosmetic mods, which will make this bike one of the lightest Enfields I know of.

I thought, OK, its good enough to test ride around the block and see.
But the damn thing wont start

Fuels fine, air is fine, carb is exactly same as when it started before, spark is solid, battery is full, timing is unchanged from before...
Tappets are not too tight, spin freely. Compression is good...

I spent an hour changing plugs, fiddling with the air and idle screws, disconnecting everything except the ignition coil, cranking away like a madman, but nothing works...

Once or twice it fired for 1 stroke but failed to catch. Once it backfired through the carb.

The only difference between now and the time it started is that then there was no muffler nor air filter when I tested.

What now?

Thanks in advance

[Arizoni]

The only thing that comes to mind is to suggest that you double or triple check the cams timing and the ignition timing.

Is it possible the ignition timing is 180° out?

[rep_movsd]

Hmm that's a thought - I don't recall opening up the timing cover since the last time it started, but well at this point I will try anything....

[cyrusb]

If the plug is wet, it is as Arizoni says. It has to be the timing. You have compression and spark, if the plug is wet it has to be timing. You should never have to kick that oil lamp more than 3 times to know whats wrong. Good luck.

[dginfw]

The boyer ignition seems less forgiving of timing error than the mechanical points set up. It has to exact or starting will be fussy

[rep_movsd]

After some debugging today, I believe its a fuelling issue, I dont seem to be getting fuel in the cylinder head - hardly any smell of petrol when cranking with the sparkplug out...

Will disassemble the carb tomorrow

Also some oil is getting into the clutch case from near the crankshaft... Is my crankshaft seal busted, or is it normal to get a bit?

[Bullet Whisperer]

After some debugging today, I believe its a fuelling issue, I dont seem to be getting fuel in the cylinder head - hardly any smell of petrol when cranking with the sparkplug out...

I doubt you would smell petrol under those circumstances - with the plug out, the cylinder will not be able to draw any fuel / air mixture in 
 B.W.

[ace.cafe]

Very old fuel can laquer up and clog the carb. It needs to be cleaned out of the carb and fresh fuel used.

No visible amount of oil should pass the crank seal into the primary case.

If you suspect timing issues, verify that the plug fires just prior to TDC when slowly turning the engine with the plug out.

[cyrusb]

Interesting, #1, Plug must be in the cylinder to determine fueling problems. #2 After a total disassembly how can the timing be unchanged from before? There are no keys etc or timing marks on that timing shaft gear. You must have confirmed your static timing before you tried to start it right?

[1 Thump]

Check the pilot jet. It takes very little to clog that up. Carb clean is in order.

[rep_movsd]

Interesting, #1, Plug must be in the cylinder to determine fueling problems. #2 After a total disassembly how can the timing be unchanged from before? There are no keys etc or timing marks on that timing shaft gear. You must have confirmed your static timing before you tried to start it right?

As I mentioned before, the bike had started fine a few weeks back....

I'll clean the carb and see...

Need to change the crankshaft seal too then.

[cyrusb]

As I mentioned before, the bike had started fine a few weeks back....

I'll clean the carb and see...

Need to change the crankshaft seal too then.

Sorry, I did not see that it ran after the teardown  mentioned in your post.  Plug wet yet?

[rep_movsd]

So I cleaned the carb and the choke was stuck closed...

I also noticed that the plug wire I have doesn't contact the plug correctly without the little nut on top.

Whatever it was, the bike did fire up, but only if I opened the throttle quickly ... It's not at all idling and the sound is very racuous, some spitting and backfiring happens when the throttle is closed, flame was visible thru the carb.

I have the TM 32 with the P2 needlejet and 35 pilot and a 175 mainjet - This was running perfectly fine before....

It sounds like the spark is extremely off normal - retarded because its making a flat slapping sound and turning over much more slowly than one would expect.

I will try recentering the boyer again tommorow as close to TDC as possible

[rep_movsd]

I recentered the Boyer, double checked the wiring, tried a new plug cable, still wont start.

Next step - try a fresh battery, and if that fails, get back to the points ignition tomorrow and try again!

[rep_movsd]

Fitted the points back again, and the bike starts and idles just fine!

Dunno what went wrong with the Boyer, I will try again after I run a few 1000 KM and sure that everything is fine otherwise.

Meanwhile, is it normal to get some air getting pumped from the crankcase into the clutch case? I noticed a fair breeze coming out when testing, after swapping the oil seal and the clutch cover was not completely tightened.

Logically speaking, air would be flowing out of the drive side bearing and past the oil seal right?
I suppose with the duckbill breather on, a partial vacuum would form and this would stop?

Is this normal or is there something wrong?

[ace.cafe]

I never noticed air going from engine to primary. I would check that the breather system isn't blocked. It shouldn't be pushing past the seal.

[rep_movsd]

The breather hole is pushing out air as well, so it doesnt seem blocked.

I was a little confused how the seal is supposed to work in the first place...
Considering that ... The outer rim of the seal will touch the circlip that holds the DS bearing.
The central part of the seal is at the same level as the outer edge
The DS bearing is an open race one.

The only way I could think of how it would work is that the front sprocket has a beveled edge that would sit snugly on the inward bevel of the seal and the sprocket would rub against it while it rotated....
Even then, how could it keep air (or for that matter oil) out?
I can feel the sprocket touch the seal, but air does seem to be spilling out.

Is that how it is supposed to work or am I missing any parts? (The exploded engine diagrams I checked show nothing between the circlip and the seal)

[ace.cafe]

Is air blowing out the lip of the seal at the crank, or at the perimeter of the seal at the crankcase?

[Bullet Whisperer]

I might be missing something here, but the engine sprocket shouldn't touch the seal at all, because there should be a spacer inboard of the sprocket, which should be a snug fit in the seal. Do you have this spacer fitted?
 B.W.

[rep_movsd]

Is air blowing out the lip of the seal at the crank, or at the perimeter of the seal at the crankcase?

It seems to be through the center of the seal - The seals inner diameter is much much larger than the crank shaft is it not?

[ace.cafe]

It seems to be through the center of the seal - The seals inner diameter is much much larger than the crank shaft is it not?

It sounds to me that it is missing the spacer, as BW mentioned. There should be a spacer sleeve on the crank there, which fills up that area under the seal lip, so that it seals. It also spaces the crank assembly to the correct length when you tighten it all up. Either that, or you have the wrong seal.

[rep_movsd]

I took it apart again and yes, I had forgotten that distance piece.
I put it in and then, I noticed that the spacer behind the rotor magnet bottoms out on the shaft without touching the sprocket, so even fully tight the sprocket could move about half a millimeter.

I put a thin shim washer there so the sprocket is held tight

I talked to Chumma and he thinks it has to be the breather too.
It's definitely not blowby, since it comes even when just cranking using the kickstart.

I replaced the duckbill hose with another one I had lying around, and the amount of air coming out there has significantly reduced, but not completely eliminated.
I think a new duckbill whose rubber is soft will do the trick. 

I ran the engine for a few minutes and checked if any oil comes into the clutch case - doesn't seem like it anymore.

Finally was able to ride the bike and from initial impressions, the Hagons seem really comfortable.

The clutch is still acting up - slipping...
I have 5 Barnett plates and 6 springs from Hitchcocks (3 stiff, 3 weak), tightened down completely.

Perhaps the plates have glazed over / varnished with dried ATF. I will clean the plates with soap and water and see

It feels really strange (in a nice way) to ride a Bullet after so many months of riding other bikes....
 

[Bilgemaster]

I doubt you would smell petrol under those circumstances - with the plug out, the cylinder will not be able to draw any fuel / air mixture in 
 B.W.

Bit late to the party.  I only got my 2005 Bullet 500ES Military a couple of weeks ago, but it ain't my first rodeo with carburetted British iron, having nursed along a couple of old Nortons and a BSA single as daily drivers in my time. I don't know about that "not being able to draw any fuel/air mixture in with the plug out" business.  In fact, in the Royal Enfield Bullet Troubleshooting DVD that the previous owner was kind enough to pass along to me, one segment on diagnosing starting problems shows a fellow in more dire need of a barrel of Gojo handcleaner and a manicure than any man on the planet testing fuel delivery to the cylinder by placing his thumb over the spark plug hole, kicking her over a few times, and then smelling his thumb.  So that's how they do it in Chennai: Stinky Digit Style, bitches!

By the way, if you haven't seen that Royal Enfield Bullet Troubleshooting DVD, well it's a hoot--sort of a broken-down cross between that fossilized old "pukka" style of Colonial-era Hindi-flavoured over-enunciated Imperial English and maybe those fabulous Bollywood Beatles. Bizarrely and rather jarringly it is almost entirely lacking in the definite or indefinite articles "the" or "a". As such, it is clearly the true path to achieve your personal Royal Enfield Nirvana of "Total Customer Satisfaction!"  The sullen dude in the garden just kicking and kicking and kicking a dead Enfield that they keep coming back to might be a metaphor for the human condition, I expect.  Seriously, if the DVD weren't ominously labelled, "All rights reserved. May not be copied", I'd have ripped it and lobbed it onto YouTube by now.  My copy is very likely more than a decade old, but I gather you might still be able to get it from: Classic Motorworks, 1405 Cannon Circle #2, Faribault, MN 55021, Tel. 1-800-201-7473, which is printed on it.  I checked the current-day El Paso-based Classicmotorworks.com website's Media Offerings, but it doesn't seem to be listed.  Still, it's "must-see TV".

[tooseevee]

gather you might still be able to get it from: Classic Motorworks, 1405 Cannon Circle #2, Faribault, MN 55021, Tel. 1-800-201-7473, which is printed on it.  I checked the current-day El Paso-based Classicmotorworks.com website's Media Offerings, but it doesn't seem to be listed.  Still, it's "must-see TV".

             Classic Motor Works is Kevin Mahoney, the original main importer/distributor of Royal Enfield for the whole U.S.. and the keeper of this forum. But maybe you knew that. Home base is Fort Worth now. 

[Bilgemaster]

             Classic Motor Works is Kevin Mahoney, the original main importer/distributor of Royal Enfield for the whole U.S.. and the keeper of this forum. But maybe you knew that. Home base is Fort Worth now.

My mistake...still lost in my mind somewhere near Terlingua in West Texas and mistook Ft. Worth for El Paso, both having two words in their names and all.  But that's OK. My heart's still in the right place, and I still managed to make a point of ordering a bunch of oil change kits and other gear especially from the Classicmotorworks website earlier today, if only to help support these great forums they host.

Hmmmm...Wonder if they have any clutch cables?