[single]

There was a thread on here about loud tappets or that they are noisey and so on.I had my exhaust valve set as per recomendation but I had the intake set so that I could just turn it with a lotta drag.This was ok to begin with but Jolly started to get harder and harder to start and the only thing I could see was this tight setting on the intake.So I loosened it up to spec and we are back to 1 kick,cold or warm.It is noisier but that is just the nature of the beast.

[ace.cafe]

Noisy is just what we like.
Quiet is bad.

[Bullet.wagon]

Not sure why but my 2000  RE350 has a quite valve train, tappets are adjusted to spin.My other  the  500 are loud.

[Bug_Catcher]

my tappets confuse me.  They were silent for the first 6 months I rode the bike.  Then within a couple weeks they went from a light tapping sound to outdoing my new exhaust     I set it to the recommended clearance and it was quieter but still there.  Stayed pretty quiet for another two weeks or so of riding and now it's back to being pretty noisy.  It used to get noisy only when I was moving, but it's pretty noisy at idle now too. 

If it's as designed I guess I could ignore it but I hate it.  I want to thump around not clank. 

I did notice when I had it apart that the front pushrod had a slight bend to it
(which is the noisier valve), wonder if that has anything to do with it.  I might pull the cover off today and check to see if it has moved the clearance already.

[The Garbone]

my tappets confuse me.  They were silent for the first 6 months I rode the bike.  Then within a couple weeks they went from a light tapping sound to outdoing my new exhaust     I set it to the recommended clearance and it was quieter but still there.  Stayed pretty quiet for another two weeks or so of riding and now it's back to being pretty noisy.  It used to get noisy only when I was moving, but it's pretty noisy at idle now too. 

If it's as designed I guess I could ignore it but I hate it.  I want to thump around not clank. 

I did notice when I had it apart that the front pushrod had a slight bend to it
(which is the noisier valve), wonder if that has anything to do with it.  I might pull the cover off today and check to see if it has moved the clearance already.

Might want to check the torque on your head bolts if it has not been checked already.. 

[PhilJ]

And If you have a bent pushrod that needs to be replaced, otherwise I don't think you'll ever have that valve quit.

[clamp]

tappets tap-thats why the call them tappets.

    A tapping tappet taps because its a tappet, a tappet should tap as a tappet should do.

[Bug_Catcher]

tappets tap-thats why the call them tappets.

    A tapping tappet taps because its a tappet, a tappet should tap as a tappet should do.

but they weren't tapping a couple months ago    I fear change

[ace.cafe]

Bent pushrods just get more bent as they go along.
That's probably the issue.

[clamp]

How does a push rod get bent and why after adjustment would it tap?

[RGT]

Both mine are bent, I figure they tap because I set them at the high or tightest position, so they probably actually run in the loosest postion....not sure how they got bent I assume they came from the factory that way...

[Bug_Catcher]

How does a push rod get bent and why after adjustment would it tap?

From what I understand it usually happens when a valve is overtightened.  The Enfield manual calls for a .3 clearance which is really big even for a vintage(ish) bike.  If the push rod is trying to push through an over tightened valve obviously they're going to bend.   Manufacturer error is highly likely too.... but since mine wasn't bent 6 months ago, and my front valve was open less than half of what is called for I'll have to call my bad on that.

Why they still tap after I adjusted them is the mystery I'm going to work on next week.... because I have no idea.  I'm going to start with replacing that bent rod and see if that helps.

[coinzy]

It's probably excessive clearance between the crank gear and the ex Cam.Try just slowly kicking over the engine,with the decomp engaged,if you hear a click from the timing side that's the problem,and not the pushrods.
Mine clicks even when i adjust the pushrods tight.There is an O/S gear available which will take up the slack and should help quieten things up.
coinz

[ace.cafe]

Just for clarification, the Bullet lash is set to zero clearance(pushrod can spin by fingers, no up/down play) when cold.
Then when the engine heats up the thermal expansion of the materials in the head and barrel castings causes the lash gap to widen to approximately .012", give or take a few thousandths.
It "grows" its own lash clearance as it warms up.

Pushrods can bend because they are subjected to stresses that cause flex. If the material is not up to it, it can permanently bend. Also, if a valve floats from over-revving, or from a weak valve spring, that can also cause bending to occur.
And sometimes, you even get bent pushrods right from the factory as new, and they might even have come in your bike when you bought it.

[single]

I had to replace the adjuster on my intake pushrod as the original broke as I loosened it up for adjustment.I got the Engish upgrade adjusters and the fit in the theads is a loose one.The adjustment does not bind but the pushrod wobbles because of this loose thread deal.I will get a pushrod upgrade eventually but the adjustment is holding,the noise is about as usual and so on.It is annoying tho'.I suppose the threads are damaged in the pushrod.The diameter of the threaded rod on the adjuster could be one step larger.Kinda wierd that the adjuster broke as I loosened it,but I probly broke it the last time I set the lash.

[coinzy]

hen when the engine heats up the thermal expansion of the materials in the head and barrel castings causes the lash gap to widen to approximately .012", give or take a few thousandths.
It "grows" its own lash clearance as it warms up.

Interesting Ace!I've never checked my motor hot so i might give it a go.I've also got a set of the full alloy types and may put those in some time and see if theirs a difference.
I always thought these motors(well BSA's and AJ's) were set at say 6 thou inlet and 8 thou ex and as they warmed up the clearance decreased to nill and the engine ran quieter when hot but our Bullets are somehow the opposite and become noisier when hot . Or have i got it somehow wrong?
Have you looked into fitting hyd lifters?As all those other makes only ever used a fraction of the return oil to lube the rockers,where the Bullets use's 100% of feed oil that goes to the rockers via the return pump.Surely there's enough left to tap into for hyd lifers??.Anyway I'm not good technically and have no idea how much oil they require,maybe more than is available.Have you looked at HD lifter oil requirements?
coinz

[single]

As the RE warms up,the iron barrel expands and "grows" somewhat more than the valve train creating the proper lash if the tappets are set at zero cold.Hydraulic lifters do pump them selves up,hydraulicly,but must designs require a bore to run in.Could be done,of course.

[RGT]

Coinzy, in my mind it is not worth the effort to check them hot, as they probably derived that hot number after setting zero lash cold and then warmed the bike up and measured it. The important point is that when cold they are loose enough to let your valves fully close, thus allowing you to start readilly. Where they end up hot is not really important and say you did measure them hot and found .014, if you close them up to .012 you might have no compression once the engine cools down....

[cyrusb]

Noise can also be made in this area from worn rockers.

[ace.cafe]

hen when the engine heats up the thermal expansion of the materials in the head and barrel castings causes the lash gap to widen to approximately .012", give or take a few thousandths.
It "grows" its own lash clearance as it warms up.

Interesting Ace!I've never checked my motor hot so i might give it a go.I've also got a set of the full alloy types and may put those in some time and see if theirs a difference.
I always thought these motors(well BSA's and AJ's) were set at say 6 thou inlet and 8 thou ex and as they warmed up the clearance decreased to nill and the engine ran quieter when hot but our Bullets are somehow the opposite and become noisier when hot . Or have i got it somehow wrong?
Have you looked into fitting hyd lifters?As all those other makes only ever used a fraction of the return oil to lube the rockers,where the Bullets use's 100% of feed oil that goes to the rockers via the return pump.Surely there's enough left to tap into for hyd lifers??.Anyway I'm not good technically and have no idea how much oil they require,maybe more than is available.Have you looked at HD lifter oil requirements?
coinz

What the actual hot clearance will "grow" to, is dependent on how hot the engine is running. If you are producing a lot of heat into the castings, the clearance will be greater,  and vice versa.

My .012" running clearance info is because the cams have ramps designed to deal with that. So, I estimate that is when the valve is actually opening when hot. It may be somewhat different than .012" in any particular engine when hot. But the design of the cams says it would be something up to .012".

Also, .012" lash is a commonly used lash setting on many of the old Brit sports cars of the day. MG, Triumph, Austin, Morris, Austin Healey, etc, all had lash settings between .012" to .015" on their pushrod engines.
Nothing very unusual about that amount of lash in a pushrod engine.
I had a Sprite with a race cam that spec'd .018" lash.

As for hydraulic lifters, our Iron Barrel models don't have sufficient oiling for it.
I personally prefer solid lifters anyway. Hydraulic lifters are heavy and have problems.

If your lash is set cold at zero, you have no worries about having too much lash clearance, and the valves will seal when cold. That's all  that matters.
The sound is normal.

As Cyrusb notes, there can be worn rockers that will make more noise, and the rockers in these engines do wear rather quickly, as rockers go.

[rivers]

Do check for a bent pushrod, my neighbor had a bent pushrod in his brand new 07. Doan know if it was an India glitch or he did it himself  w/excessive rpm's driving the 07 (with hack) home from the dealer?

[Kevin Mahoney]

While perhaps not relevant to this discussion I would like to point out that we don't sell shirts that say "Loud Valves Save Lives" for no reason.