Author Topic: Hello There  (Read 10306 times)

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hawk89gt

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on: March 31, 2010, 04:31:30 pm
Hello all, I just entered the realm of Royal Enfield owners by buying a 1959 Indian Chief,  The bike seems complete, and well cared for, but I hope to restore and bring back to original specs and detail the entire bike.

Not only is this my first RE, it's my first bike period!  I've wanted a classic bike for a long time, saw this one and decided it was the bike, and now was the time, so I took a 3200 mile round trip to pick it up in CO, and now it's in it's new home.  Needless to say, I'll have a lot of questions I'm sure. 

As it sits, I was told the motor in it is a 1965 750cc Super Meteor motor, and I also have the original 700 complete which needed some gearbox work.  Numbers are as follows:

original motor #PC 50368 gearbox #AM756  case number-(C163)
motor in bike #YB16673 gearbox #ACD111  case number-(AG72136)

So what do the experts out here think?  Anything (besides the seat and motor) not look correct?  Thoughts, ideas?

I will try to include some photos,  The first is the bike, duh?  The second and third are related to my first question about the bike.

There is oil tube that runs from the lower left side of the case and looks to go into the top of the resevoir.  I assume this is a return?  On the original motor, it is just that simple, goes from block and is attached at the top of the oil resevoir (see picture 2).  On the motor in the bike however (pic 3)  it also has a fitting where it goes into the block with a tube on it that then is just open and hangs off the back of the motor.  My problem is that while trying to start it, a good deal of oil belches out of this tube!  Doesn't seem like an intended result since oil is a pretty important thing to keep in the motor!  Should that tube be there?  Could I put the fitting from the original motor on this one with no tube?  Any idea why the difference?







RGT

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Reply #1 on: March 31, 2010, 06:40:33 pm
That is the crankcase vent tube, if the bike had not been run in a while it may have wet-sumped(crankcase fills part way with oil) try pulling the front drain plug and see how much oil comes out, it should be very little. In a normal situation you should not have oil pushed up and out, depending on if there is a different way for that oil tank to relieve pressure you may want to keep that open tube, or get a duckbill tube and fit it in its place...nice bike.


hawk89gt

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Reply #2 on: March 31, 2010, 07:07:37 pm
Thanks a bunch for the clarification.  I was just browsing through some of the manuals I have since posting the request, and had just about determined that's probably what it was, but I stilll wasn't positive.  I'll leave as-is for right now then.


1Blackwolf1

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Reply #3 on: March 31, 2010, 07:53:32 pm
Wow, nice looking Indian.  Bet that'll draw a crowd wherever you ride it. 
Will Morrison
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ERC

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Reply #4 on: March 31, 2010, 11:53:38 pm
Nice bike the motor in the bike is a Super Constellation. The breather setup looks like something that somebody added to that motor. I think it should be the same as the original motor.   ERC
2-57 Apaches, 2-57 Trailblazers, 60 Chief, 65 Interceptor, 2004 Bullet, 612 Bullet chopped.


ERC

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Reply #5 on: April 01, 2010, 12:02:13 am
I'm wrong the 750 one does have an external breather like that and what RGT said will definitley happen like he says.  ERC
2-57 Apaches, 2-57 Trailblazers, 60 Chief, 65 Interceptor, 2004 Bullet, 612 Bullet chopped.


Ice

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Reply #6 on: April 01, 2010, 12:35:07 am
Hi hawk89gt,
 Welcome aboard and congrats ! Nice bike.
No matter where you go, there, you are.


r80rt

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Reply #7 on: April 01, 2010, 02:12:46 am
Yeah, that's a nice bike!
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Cabo Cruz

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Reply #8 on: April 01, 2010, 03:55:11 am
Br. Hawk, I welcome you aboard and congratulate you on the purchase of your beautiful bike!
Long live the Bullets and those who ride them!

Keep the shiny side up, the boots on the pegs and best REgards,

Papa Juan

REA:    Member No. 119
BIKE:   2004 Royal Enfield Sixty-5
NAME: Perla


hawk89gt

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Reply #9 on: April 01, 2010, 11:24:48 am
Thanks all for the comments!  As I said, I am sure I will have MANY questions as I move forward with the project. 


luoma

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Reply #10 on: April 01, 2010, 02:41:17 pm
Beautiful! While reading your post, my mind conjured up an image of a rusty/dusty barn queen, but your first photo had me drooling. Keep us posted as your restoration progresses.


Sandgroper

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Reply #11 on: April 02, 2010, 08:57:03 pm
Looks like a good buy, Hawk. I see that one of the other replies says your YB motor is from a Super Constellation. This was a short-lived US name for them, they are better known as Interceptors, and are a really good motor. There is a Yahoo group dedicated to them which wil give you lots of good advice.

One point, if you haven't already spotted it - the gearbox in the bike is a different type to the original - none of the major 'box or clutch parts are interchangeable. Hitchcock's in the UK are a really good source for parts, and have a good, fast mail order service. No, I don't work there...


csbdr

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Reply #12 on: April 02, 2010, 09:44:53 pm
Ummmmm...restoration?  Looks like someone already did that!  ;D  Hell of a nice bike, congrats!


rotorwrench

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Reply #13 on: April 04, 2010, 03:16:03 pm
Purchasing a bike that is relatively complete saves a lot on hair pulling searches for the unobtainium that are Brockhouse Indian Enfield parts. It's not uncommon to find the older RE Indians with engines from Interceptor or Galaxy models made in the early 60s. The 750cc motors were improved for better durability and reliability that the earlier 700cc models lacked. The Royal Enfield twin motors had several configurations of crankcase breathing that were made and improved on to prevent the dreaded oil puddle that gave them the Royal Oilfield moniker. The early ones just had the duckbill rubber tube that oiled the rear chain. They then developed a dual breather set up with the tube & fitting on the left case breathing through two pensteel discs mounted in the tube housing that aimed again at the rear chain plus the single pensteel disc in a special breather bolt that is attached to the crankshaft and holds the alternator rotor in place. The breather bolt required a different approach in the later configurations since it pressured up the primary chain case so they installed the tube to the rear chain from the top of the primary to the chain and rerouted the upper case breather to the top of the oil reservoir. Later series IA Interceptors even had a large clear plastic tube attaching to the reservoir connection and going back to the rear fender to vent the oil mist completely behind the bike so as not to coat everything with oil.

From all indications you have one of the late Indian Chief models that were made from late 58 through late 1959. Indian sales group was sold to AMC in late 1959 but they kept selling the RE Indian Chief through the 1960 model year and there may even be some Chiefs titled as 1962 models out there somewhere. Due to this short production run, with all the problems associated with a buy out of the importing company, there were never any Chief model specific manuals made up by Indian Sale Corp. You have to find the Trailblazer Manuals to maintain them. The Trailblazer Parts Manual had an addendum for the 1959 models that included listings of parts for the Chief, since the Trailblazer basically went out of production when the Chief came on line. This manual addendum has no illustrations so you have to see examples of original parts or bikes to find out what parts you might be missing.  It looks like your bike has most of the hard to get stuff so you did pretty well in that respect. Most engine and drive train spares can be purchased through Hitchcock's in the UK. Phil at RE-Indian.com in Australia has reproduced a lot of stuff for the Chief models in order to restore his own bikes.

Several RE-Indian type twin owners frequent this site as well as the BritBike site so if you have questions just ask.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2010, 07:32:30 pm by rotorwrench »


hawk89gt

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Reply #14 on: April 05, 2010, 01:51:51 am
Thanks for the great reply rotorwrench.  I appreciate the time you put into your detailed answer.  I have several manuals for the motor, one is for the meteor or super constillation motor which I believe is the one in there.  As I mentioned, I also have the entire original motor which I hope to put back in eventually.

When I got it home, the battery was low on voltage, and of course I didn't have a 6v charger, since I didn't realize this at first, I kicked my leg off trying to get it started (to no avail).  Well, I got one now and got the battery charged, and got it started with about 3 kicks this evening.  It idled immediately, but I could never apply throttle to it, but I'll work on that, I still need to check the distributor and the carb settings.

Now back to the oil tube coming off the breather connection to the case.  I let it idle for over 4-5 minutes, and it continued to spit out oil the entire time.  I am convinced if I had let it run longer it would have enentually spit out every bit of oil in it!  As it was, it ran out a puddle on my painted floor well over 12" in diameter and was still coming out when I shut it off.  So here's the question, WHAT IS GOING ON?  My limited knowledge of this motor so far would lead me to believe that possibily that the oil pump for returning the oil is not working properly, but at this point it is only a guess.  Does anyone out there know how to check that the oil pump is functioning properly?  Is the fact that it seems to be wet sumping continuously indicate that?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.