[Mr_84]

Just spending some time trawling through Hitchcock's parts, what's the thoughts on the oil filter packing piece P/N 40684 good idea or not ?

[Paul W]

I fitted one to my bike not long after I bought it, when it had just over 3,000 miles on the clock and four previous owners. I changed the oil very promptly because it had no service history. I found some assorted small metal particles in the filter (which was very black). The magnet that comes with the spacer kit soon proved to have done a very good job. The first oil change I did after that (about 1,000 miles later) showed that it had collected some more small steel fragments. Now the bike has done another 13,000 miles and had four more oil changes there is progressively less on the magnet, just a small amount of very fine ferrous paste the last time I pulled it, which was a couple of hundred miles ago.

The only downside is that the high strength of the magnet makes it slightly tricky to pull out the steel washer/cap that sits over the outer end of the filter!

[AzCal Retred]

The packing piece displaces filter volume, which means the filter fills faster, which means less time is spent with little to no oil going to the con rod bushing. I run the packing & magnet in both machines with no issues. I saturate the filter element with oil before installation and kick thru with the quill bolt out until I see oil to the quill, then reinstall. I don't run the engine until I see actual oil flow to this point. Pull the spark plug or use the decompressor to ease kickover.

[Mr_84]

Thanks Paul W and ACR I'll get one next order from Hitchcock's which seems to be every couple of weeks , baffles in muffler broke on the weekend so waiting for the replacement there's always something needing attention

[AzCal Retred]

Baffles? And give back that raw HP burst? Foam earplugs are the ticket! 

[ace.cafe]

Speaking of baffles, here's my sweet tip of the day.

When temps get cooler(early spring or late fall), the engine needs mixture a little richer. Instead of re-jetting, I often just put the removable baffle in my tailpipe which richened things up just nicely.
I normally run with an empty "muffler" with nothing it it.

[Mr_84]

Baffles? And give back that raw HP burst? Foam earplugs are the ticket! 

yeah my short bottle has a series of baffles they broke free of the outer muffler casing and became loud and crackey , giving it a bit of a kick and hearing to the rattle of loose metal I knew it was over. Good news is that the new muffler has arrived in the country so I may see tomorrow and be back on the road 👍, admittedly the ride it broke was a bit of a thrashing towards the end and the bike has sat for many years