[Yinzer]

Santa brought Dad a 1998 Bullet (VIN Mfr. date APR 1998)
It has 592 miles on the clock which means that pretty much everything rubber needs refreshed.
The bike was a display piece in the previous owner's den along with some other vintage motorcycles.

Now the fun starts
I jotted down a list in pencil.

1) Right shift conversion (I have all the parts except the sealed bearings)
2) Dump fluids & replace w/ (Rotella T4 15/40 non-synthetic, ATF-Type-F & Quicksilver/Mercury GL-4 SAE90 & new filter
3) Pull all 4 cables and send to Venhill for Teflon lined, heavy duty ones
4) MikCarb rebuild kit with standard setup (110 main, 08 Needle, 25 pilot & #3 slide)
5) Tune-Up kit (Plug NGK B8ES gapped to ?, points to .4mm, Static timing to .8mm BTDC, new Batt....ect.....)
6) Tires, tubes & rim strip....Unknown at this time. He wants something slightly knobby, dual sport or scrambler-like???
7) Adj. tappets, clean chain, adj brakes...etc....

Anyway...You get the picture.
Here is a photo.
We have 3 months to do all this so that's plenty of time.
We only have space to work on the bike in the "bottling room" so hopefully that won't be a problem

[Mr_84]

What a awsome base to start from, this build is going to be well worth it . Sounds like your on to it as far as getting it road ready again,  Hitchcocks do some good heavy duty cables also while the carb is out you may want to replace the stock inlet manifold rubber for a nice bit of reinforced radiator hose and quality clamps . I like BP8ES spark plug but they all work , good luck and enjoy 👍

[Karl Childers]

Very nice bike, that Santa knows how to pick them! Super low miles, not even really broken in yet. Any backstory on the bike? It sounds like someone bought it and never got a chance to ride it. I'm sure you'll change that!

[AzCal Retred]

The right side shift conversion is pretty painless and a huge improvement. The sealed bearing isn't mission critical, neither of the 2 bikes I have converted had a sealed bearing, their tranny's are full of gear oil, no issues so far. The small bearing cover does the sealing. One of mine had a cracked cap as found and leaked a bit, but a new cover and a smear of Motoseal around its sealing edge soon put things right.
Be sure to keep the old & new bits separate when going back in, reusing the old shaft is easy to do.
What a great project!

[Yinzer]

...also while the carb is out you may want to replace the stock inlet manifold rubber...

Dad has a combination hose/manifold on the bike that's made out of a mystery material that I assume was once semi-flexible.
Locating an aluminum one is starting to frustrate the living $#!+ out of me.
I've wasted more time looking for one then it would take to fabricate it. 

Any backstory on the bike?

A couple more pictures

I was far from home & in an unfamiliar city with a 10' box truck during rush hour. My nerves were about fried after getting denied my exit by local New Jersey driver. I tried signaling, speeding up & an intimidation swerve to no avail. First time in my life I ever paid $16 to go over a bridge  By the time I made it to the sellers house, I was late & he had no time to chitchat. He signed the title & I was gone. I expect there weren't any miles on it because there was no place in that congested area to enjoy it.

Be sure to keep the old & new bits separate when going back in, reusing the old shaft is easy to do.

I had in mind to send the parts taken off to Hitchcock's rather than discard them.
If anyone has use for them, PM your address & I'll post the bits.

[AzCal Retred]

Inlet manifold rubber replaces well with a piece of 1 1/4" diameter fiber reinforced radiator hose.
A 1 3/8" long piece works well for me. Use two new REAL S.S. hose clamps and you are all set!
The radiator hose provides a lot more carb support and lasts a very long time.

[Yinzer]

The radiator hose provides a lot more carb support and lasts a very long time.

My intake manifold looks like the top picture. (they are out of stock)
If it looked like the bottom picture, I could simply use a hose.

If Hitchcock's gave me the dimensions of their many other intake manifolds, I could probably make something work.
They do not.
(I need bolt mounting distance center to center as well as OD & ID of the tube)

I'll try to make Dad's bike run without it for now.

[Mr_84]

My intake manifold looks like the top picture. (they are out of stock)
If it looked like the bottom picture, I could simply use a hose.

If Hitchcock's gave me the dimensions of their many other intake manifolds, I could probably make something work.
They do not.
(I need bolt mounting distance center to center as well as OD & ID of the tube)

I'll try to make Dad's bike run without it for now.

Well there you have it , your intake manifold has all ready been replaced for a Rubber Mikuni one most likely from Sudco , should be of reasonable quality compared to the Indian rubber but I do like the alloy flange spigot / rubber hose better. You could always purchase the second hand one from Hitchcocks that you show in your pic while ordering other bits and pieces , only £17 can't be much in $usd

[Yinzer]

Well there you have it , your intake manifold has all ready been replaced for a Rubber Mikuni one...

Here is a link...

https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/1723?qty=1&continue_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com%2Fpartsbook-pages%2F1686

Dad's is a 1998 and the descriptions indicates it won't fit anything after 1996.
Could they have made a mistake on the date?

[Adrian II]

The original Redditch design of 500 cylinder head from 1953-58 had 2" centers for the carb studs like everything else which would originally have been fitted with Amal carburettors. LATER Indian-made 500 cylinder head have the studs at 58mm centers, I'm not sure if the earlier Indian-made 500 heads from 1989-96 were the same as the Redditch @ 2", but it's possible. It's also possible that an earlier head has been retro-fitted, either by the factory or maybe as part of a later warranty claim at a US dealer, if the original cylinder head turned out to have a porous casting or similar. Measure the thing up to find out.

The outside diameter of the VM28 Mikarb carb stub is 35mm where it fits into the rubber if that's any help.

A.

[Pierric]

Hello Yinzer,

This is where I got my composite inlet manifold (ref. 144083) to replace the original rubber one fitted on my 2000 500cc :

https://www.obsoletebikeparts.com/a-53649696/engine-parts/royal-enfield-bullet-500-inlet-manifold-improved-type-144083/#description

Very nice dutch guys.

[Yinzer]

This is where I got my composite inlet manifold (ref. 144083) to replace the original rubber one fitted on my 2000 500cc :

Thanks Pierric!
I ordered one & I'll let you folks know if it worked out or not.
I'm much more confident in an aluminum part for that location.

[Pierric]

You're welcome.

(And I agree : that part is definitiely an improvement IMO).

[Yinzer]

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between a 1999 Bullet engine and an early 1998?

I couldn't find anything that looked different from pictures.

Engine case?
Jug?
Head?

[Warwick]

Around that time they used a mix of imperial and metric bolts and other hodge podge stuff eg minda v mugira controls etc. it was before Eicher took over and created some kind of order. Ironically my lightnings head casting was great as compared to my 2007 bullet where its looks like RE had given up on maintaining sand casting for the last iron barrel year model. Alternatively the back of my 1999 lightning's timing cover has a factory repair of glue to fill a hole. You cant see it soo its must have been considered OK by quality control    

[Yinzer]

Ten pounds of crap removed & it actually feels like dad has functional brakes.
The shifter feels much more precise also.

Next task is ignition & valve timing.
I'm also reading all I can on the mysterious worm gear & quill bolt.

The Hitchcocks conversion was easy & everything lined up perfectly.
My biggest concern was the interference fit of the layshaft bearing & the shifter fork bushing.
They were perfect at .001/inch
My shifter fork bushing ended up being about 1mm proud of the inner casting for a nice amount of slop.

[AzCal Retred]

Yinzer - Kudos on the shifter install! You are WAAAY ahead of where you were. Be deliberate in your shifting, it isn't Japanese. What works for me is the 1940's method - Clutch in - toe into desired gear & hold pressure - clutch out, feel it engage - then release toe pressure. The shifter is a ratchet mechanism indexing gears thru a bellcrank driven plate - olde skool all the way. Apparently a 1920's lathe transmission adapted to motorcycle use, robust up to about 40 HP.

My take on the Worm & Quill:
   I use the rubber seal worm nuts because it's easy & I have a phobia about shaving off a piece of crumbly cork into the oil passage whilst installing the Quill bolt.
   I radiused over the flat nose of the quill bolt to make it easier (& more idiot proof) to slide thru the Worm nut seal without damage.
   My Quill bolt shaft had seen some wear so I replaced it with a new stainless one. I grease these bits before installing the bolt.
   Twice I have removed a Quill Bolt and had the seal guts come out on the bolt shaft. It appears that the Quill Bolt shoulder rubs up against the rubber seal, increasing friction and (maybe) putting unnecessary torque onto the seal face, tearing it free of the nut. You could use extra bolt gaskets (copper, red paper) to space the shoulder back, but I haven't done so. I check the seal every oil change and keep a couple spares on hand.
   
I have not used cork seals. My experience with the rubber seals leads me to conclude there is an axial dimension to the seal that I'm not up to speed on, that the cork length protruding from the Worm Nut may need to be trimmed to properly fit each installation. Excess shoulder pressure it seems to me may break up exposed/unencapsulated cork, not enough might allow it to spin inside the nut. Again, I'm speculating here. However, I believe that oily/greasy cork would have less chance of friction bonding to the Quill Bolt shaft than the rubber units. The reality is that these cork seals worked well for many moons before rubber arrived on the scene, and many worthies here still use them. IF they require hand fitting, I can see why shops trend towards rubber. I have all the bits, I'll try it sometime, but rubber for now.

[Paul W]

My Quill bolt shaft had seen some wear so I replaced it with a new stainless one. I grease these bits before installing the bolt.

Same here, but I replaced it because the chrome plating on the hex nut on mine had begun to peel and I sliced my finger on it. The exterior surface of the quill on the new stainless replacement felt quite rough so I polished it to a mirror finish with abrasive cloth to prevent it tearing the neoprene seal. I also chamfered the end where it would first contact the seal on fitting it. The original seal looked perfect when I did an oil change a few days ago.

[Yinzer]

Day#2 progress....

Did the tappets & checked the primary chain.
Then it was ignition...Plug, points, condenser, battery, coil....ect,ect....
Static timing both full advance & at zero advance. Nice hot spark.
Everything adjusted.
Quill & worm gear look good except a large burr on the end of the quill. Packing ended up being rubber. (1998)

Found out 1/2" water pipe makes perfect foot peg spacer material.

All looks good. Next week is fuel system.

I'm getting tired of running the battery down when working on it so I'll probably do something about that soon.
Thinking a 4-position ignition switch should do it. Looking into it now.
https://www.feked.com/lucas-ignition-and-light-4-position-switch-body-norton-triumph-oem-lu30552.html

It would be PILOT...OFF...IGN...IGN+LIGHTS

[Adrian II]

As mentioned elsewhere some Washington bureaucrat decided years ago that the lights couldn't be allowed to come on independently of the ignition (so long ago that BSA were still in production).

Form the photos it looks like this Bullet was one of the last with Magura switch gear and therefore an all DC lighting system (sounds about right for 1998). If the alternator and reg/rectifier are still healthy you don't even need a battery, a suitable capacitor will let you run battery-less, if that's an option for you or your father.

A.

[Yinzer]

Form the photos it looks like this Bullet was one of the last with Magura switch gear and therefore an all DC lighting system

From what I hear, kind of a mixed blessing.
The Magura levers are basically gone so if the bike falls over, it's not going to be easy to fix.
I guess the 3 wire system involves less wiring chaos so that is the benefit.

We hope to keep everything stock except for the right side shift, 4-position IGN switch & possibly a small bottle exhaust pipe. (and tires )
The kickstarter sticks out further to clear the large sausage muffler and kinda jabs us in the leg.
Not a big deal right now but it's on our minds.

US regulations were responsible for some really terrible features.

[Adrian II]

Magura stuff is nice but not essential. Venhill the throttle and other cable suppliers still carry some Magura levers, but I don't think any of the current range is compatible with the pre '99 Bullet's with the one-piece lever perch and switch bodies. A generic set of brake and clutch levers and handlebar switches (the sort of thing Raymond fitted to his Bullet recently) will do the job if it comes to that. Not stock, but you have already made some changes.

A.

[AzCal Retred]

Toss the Magura kak. Do the Minda upgrade conversion and don't fight it, or go all Old School with the controls. The Minda stuff works very well & is cheap to maintain. It's nice to be able to buy off-the-shelf parts.

The OEM bent kickstart lever can be heated & straightened in a vice IF you have the long header pipe. That allows you to mount it a bit more forward and get a bigger "bite" when kickstarting. A straight lever is way easier on the leg. Paint works fine to cover discoloration.

OEM wiring is problematic, you'll be modding it anyway. Maybe better to get a high output Lucas alternator & Boyer regulator and start from there. Both my OEM reg/recs cook the battery at 16V, the Boyer does not. One fix was to get an 18V power tool battery & bootleg that in there - 16V can't hurt it at all, they are tiny and sealed, easy to hide.

[Karl Childers]

Curios about the pipe peg extenders, pictures?

[Yinzer]

Curios about the pipe peg extenders, pictures?

The OEM spacer material for the foot peg tube was 7/8"OD x 5/8" ID. Regular black iron water pipe was all I had.
It works and no special trip to the industrial metal supply yard.

If something bad happens to the Magura levers, we'll probably go with the old school looking ones.
For the time being, the salami-pipe stays and we will kick around it. The 10 pound air cleaner also stays for now.
I'd rater not change anything if I don't have to. The bike looks really nice the way it is and if it gets up to 55 mph, that's good enough.

Hitchcock's just got more of my money about an hour ago.
Another box will soon be on the porch.
So far so good though. I haven't found any catastrophic reason for it being put away with so few miles....Yet

[Paul W]

Yinzer:

and if it gets up to 55 mph, that's good enough.

We all said that, to begin with..... 

[Carl Fenn]

I must say l do have a liking for the pre unit bikes something about them, perhaps it just throws my memory back 50 years.

[Yinzer]

Day #3 progress....

Rebuilt decompressor w/ new cotter pin & copper seals. New cable and had to spin with valve grinding paste to make air tight. Very dirty for only 600 miles.
New fluids in all 3 places (Mercury 90 wt gear oil /  20-50 GTX Castrol / ATF-Ford 420 ml) New primary gasket.
New clutch cable & adjustment.
New petcock & refreshed fuel line & filter.
Rebuilt MikCarb VM28 w/ new main/needle jets. Reused primary. New enricher pull button type [not lever]
Had to reuse float valve because ordered wrong one [Mikuni VM28 does not fit...Wrong thread]. Then ordered one from India that was POS and unusable.
If it sticks again I'm gonna throw a spanner.  Where in the hell do you find a proper/functioning float valve?
Intake manifold is lost in the mail somewhere between my house and country I can't pronounce. 

Got tires [Dunlap K70's 3.5" & 3.25"] in the mail today along w/ tubes & rim strip.
1/8" fuel vent hose apparently delivered to wrong house 

BTW...I only have 2 drain plugs on dad's and BOTH have screens. I thought there were 3 and the rear one did not have a screen???

Went for a little dive into the spaghetti behind the headlight & got all the flashers blinking & tail lights working. Horn inop...Add to list.

Anyway...Getting closer to noise & smoke.

[Paul W]

The two drain plugs with screens sit in the oilways. The third one is to drain the contents of the oil reservoir and doesn’t have a screen because it would serve no purpose.

[Bilgemaster]

Good choice of lubricants. The Mercury (Quicksilver?) was their straight GL-4, yes? Also, the clutch cable wasn't one of the OEM ones, was it? There are FAR robuster options. I like the Barnett one, but Hitchcocks offer various heavy duty ones.

[Yinzer]

Good choice of lubricants. The Mercury (Quicksilver?) was their straight GL-4, yes? Also, the clutch cable wasn't one of the OEM ones, was it? There are FAR robuster options. I like the Barnett one, but Hitchcocks offer various heavy duty ones.

I went with a recommendation here on most things. The Quicksilver Marine Lubricant may have been yours? [SAE 90 GL-4]
Originally, I was going to get Venhill cables but heard the ones from our host were equally good so I got all 4 Hitchcock's teflon lined ones.
Hitchcock's is also back in stock on the VM28 float valve so I picked up 2 of them today. [DHL knows me pretty well now]
The vent line was re-delivered to my house thanks to a nice homeowner down the block who was confused about it ending up on his porch.
Got tires, tubes & rim strip so I'll have plenty of stuff to do on day #4 of this project.

Nothing scary so far so fingers crossed

[Yinzer]

Day#4 progress...

Everything back together.
All new cables
Decompressor works perfectly & the old Magura throttle tube is smooth and returns without binding.
Clutch cable adjusted but unknown if correct.
New petcock, fuel filter, fuel & vapor lines, Tank cleaned and new cap cork.
Front brake cable installed but feels terrible. Rear brake feels pretty OK as is but will disassemble/clean/deglaze/lubricate anyway.

Only a few things to go...
Install K-70 tires, tubes & rim strip.
Adjust brakes [after doing some thread mining research]
Find bad ground in tail lamp.
Clean mayonnaise concentrator thingy???....Plug air filter box pipe inlet & make draft pipe exit to rear of bike.
Buy 2 gallons of ethanol-free gas.

I'll take some pictures next week. 

[Yinzer]

Day#5....

Got front tire, tube & rim strip on.
Thoroughly cleaned all the brake parts, lubricated & reassembled.
It doesn't appear there is enough material on the pads but they look new.
More lining would decrease the amount of travel making the adjustment easier & possibly improve the brakes???
Anyway...They seem to work for now. I might order new ones from H.

Drained the miniature oil separator where the duckbill thing lives and got about 1/4 cup of clean oil out. Fitted hose to rear of separator & blanked air cleaner.
It fired up on the 10th kick and filled the back yard w/ white smoke.
It cleaned up after I took off the choke but the RPM went way up and I had to kill it.
Tried a couple more times and same thing.
Slide looked all the way down but it apparently isn't??? (bleed screw & air screw adjustment had ZERO effect)
Ran out of time.

My guess is the new o-ring prevents me from screwing the top all the way down or I need to stretch the spring out??? [stronger spring?]
The adjustment cable lock nut on top is very thick also. Maybe I can find a thinner one.

Next up is new rear tire, tube, brakes, chain clean....etc.
Look for bad tail light ground.
Try to find carb fault.

The good news is it runs and the worm/quill seems to be sending oil up top.
 

[AzCal Retred]

The O-ring in the top of the carb slide tower caused my slide to hang up during a ride. I tossed it on the roadside, restored proper idle, no apparent ill effects with mixture. This isn't a hermetically sealed unit, there's no seal at the cable ferrule, any air leakage would have to leak past the cap threads anyway. Toss the O-ring and try it again.

[Yinzer]

Toss the O-ring and try it again.

Yep...I had a feeling when I was assembling it that something wasn't quite right when the cap didn't bottom out.
It just felt vague. There is a rubber thing to cover the cable adjustment ferrule but it looks more for show than functional.

I read the setup instructions about a zillion times and....?....Well....weird
I'm coming from to SUs, Zenith Strombergs & Webbers.
Bleed screw (little screw) out 1.5 to 1.25 turns and Air screw (big screw) all the way out so slide is fully down is the starting point.

My question is how does a quick turn of the accelerator briefly enrichen the fuel mixture rather than just open a huge hole?
There are no pump jets or oil filled pistons???
But hey...If it works it works. I'll figure it out later....Maybe

[Adrian II]

Nope, no accelerator pump on the Mikarb (which is a sort of licenced Mikuni copy). If you want a pumper carb, the Dell'Orto PHF range or some of the flat slide Mikunis (28 or 32mm, there's also a 36mm which is a bit too big for the iron barrel Bullet).

A.

[Yinzer]

Update time 

Bike is running and we went out for some diagnostic laps around the block.
Still have some issues.

1) Surging...
The chain was a bit loose so we thought that might be it.
Nope
Very noticeable cruising in 2nd gear.
Plug looks on the rich side of acceptable but maybe it is leaning out over 2000 RPMs???
Thinking about moving the needle up one notch (on center notch now)
(Everything bone stock now including all carb parts, exhaust & filter)

2) Questionable charging system
I'm going to look into that one & make myself more knowledgeable after doing some forum searches.
Disconnected headlight for some around the block riding and everything was OK for now but I have suspicions that something isn't right. (3 wire stator & stock R/R)

3) Front brake sucks...
Dad said it was my windmill to tilt because he doesn't care about it.
Ordering new pads from H and will try them.
Will report findings later.

Observations....
1) The clutch is pretty darn good.
Not Interceptor good but I have no issues with it.
During my searches, I read a lot about slipping and folks advising to shift to neutral for long lights.
I've held it in for minutes and it didn't get grabby or feel like anything was amiss.

2) The rear brake is suprisingly good.
I'm impressed. No reason to mess with anything there.

Things are coming along.
One thing to note.
It will only start w/ the enricher on. It prefers it on even when warm.

[AzCal Retred]

Yinzer - Looking Good!!

1) Mine started surging a bit when the air temps were cooler than summer. Raising the needle reduced it. There may be a better needle jet /needle combo out there. Possibly a float level issue. After you get the pilot jet sorted there is less need for the enrichener in warm weather. My alloy barrel machines need the enrichener more than the iron barrel units, they dissipate a lot more engine heat faster whilst shut down.

2) The OEM reg/rec on my Bullets tends to overcharge the battery. H's has a Lucas reg/rec and the Boyer Powerbox. My Boyer equipped unit regulates well. H's also has a 120W alternator set up.

3) The H's "sticky" pads work well. There is also some to be gained by careful set up. The Heavy Duty front brake cable is essential.

There is a pushpad assembly in the clutch that's metal-to-metal and doesn't get a lot of lube.
The "PART No. 90010 CLUTCH PAD/ROLLER, INDIAN MADE 4 SPEED" has a needle bearing, cheap insurance.
The primary chain can benefit from the "PART No. 200140 CHAIN TENSIONER BUFFER ASSEMBLY" also while you're in there.

[Yinzer]

I'm putting in another big order to H's (hopefully the last for awhile)
Long pipe & short bottle w/ db killer (to try)
2cm offset kick starter lever.
Clutch throw out bearing thing you recommended along with the rubber tipped primary chain tensioner.
New front brake pads w/ ridge

Got a Podtronics R/R in case I need it. (locally available and inexpensive)
Heading over to the "tasting room" tomorrow for some quality wrench time.

Weather is kind of iffy so we may not be riding.

Afterthought...
I should probably toss in a few more carb jets for good luck.

[AzCal Retred]

All my machines with the long head pipe can use the straight KS lever, it clears the header easily. Easy to make your own with a torch & stout vice. Heat to cherry red starting near the spline end of the shaft, bend until you are happy. There is a back bent further up to deal with also. I ended up putting a bit of filler weld on the "divot" RE created when they bent these, then grinding it back smooth. Paint makes us all look good, eh?
The straight lever can be positioned farther forward, giving more "swing" to the kick start process & providing greater ankle clearance on the foot peg.

[Ratz]

Cool picture! Thanx for posting 

[Yinzer]

Another couple of pictures.
It's running pretty well now.
I still want to arch the front brake but that is about it.

[Yinzer]

A good news update.
Dad passed his M test today at the DMV on the 1st try.
Evaluator said 88 might be an age record???

Bike is running great.
It's a 1 or 2 kicker & the plug looks about perfect.
He told me to stop fixing it and leave it alone 
I guess I have a tendency to do that 

[AzCal Retred]

Great work! Looking good, and a job well done. It's seldom we get to make someone that happy.

[Karl Childers]

The expression on your fathers face says it all! I'm sure he is proud to have a son like you.

[Raymond]

That photo - heartwarming!

[tooseevee]

A good news update.
Dad passed his M test today at the DMV on the 1st try.
Evaluator said 88 might be an age record???

           Curious - What IS the M test?

[Karl Childers]

           Curious - What IS the M test?

     Mental, I've failed it several times now. 

[Yinzer]

Curious - What IS the M test?

In Pennsylvania we get a little "M" on our license to indicate we passed the last requirement which is the practical test.
The permit is the large piece of paper that now becomes unnecessary to carry.

With a full license you can ride after dark (we don't usually do that)
You can go without a helmet after a year (we both use helmets)
You can carry a pillion (Neither of us do that either)

[ddavidv]

PA makes it pretty easy to get the 'M' endorsement if you take one of their free classes, which is how I did it. Though it teaches pretty basic stuff, I did come away from it having learned a few things.