[Crispyduck]

Hi All,

I've been modifying my 2016 bullet 500 for the last few years. It runs nicely enough now but i always feel the engine is too noisy at tick over.

Not sure if im being too fussy or if there is something i can do to reduce it.

I did a recording of it and would be interested in any advice or thoughts.

https://youtu.be/blZWGOS6YZM

Note. I recently had the rocker bearings changed as there was too much play in them but it didnt make any difference to the engine noise.

Cheers

Crispy

[Haggis]

Thats a fair old rattle.
If there is nothing amiss with the top end, have you check the cam backlash?
Maybe worth having a look at the hydraulic lifters as well.

[Crispyduck]

Hi Haggis,

I've previously checked the cams and everything seemed hunky dory but i have wondered about the hydraulic tappets.

I'm not exactly sure how to check them though. Is there some sort of test to check them without taking them out? I saw a video on how to get them out and it looked pretty tricky.

With normal tappets its quite easy to check they are set right but with the hydraulic tappets it leaves me scratching my head.

Cheers

Crispy

[Haggis]

If you take the rocker covers of and put the piston at TDC on the compression stroke and see if you can lever the rocker arm with a screwdriver so that you are pushing the pushrod down and trying to compress the cam follower. There should be no downward movement.. if there is it means the follower is not holding pressure.
From about 2 and half minutes in https://youtu.be/bFt_TQ4v3k8

[Crispyduck]

Excellent, Thanks Haggis.

I will give that a go.

[Crispyduck]

I assume i will need to do that test straight after running the engine so that the tappets are still charged with oil.

[Freddy1]

Sounds like normal noise to me.
Certainly my Bullet is louder, and it was noisier even when new!

[Crispyduck]

Hi Freddy,

I think thats why im confused. Some bullets sound quite smooth and others sound like a a bag of spanners from new.

RE replaced the engine in mine under warranty because the first engine was really bad.

I will keep searching though.
I love the bike in many ways but not the rattles.

[gizzo]

My CGT sounds a bit like that. Earplugs settles it down. It's been that way for 50,000km, never gets any better or worse. Apart from the time it spent an hour or so upside down (in a ditch). The lifters bled down and it got really rattly for a short time.

[Crispyduck]

I'll try to remember not to stick mine in a ditch. 😋

I did fit a really loud turnout silencer from hitchcocks which successfully masked the engine rattle. Trouble is it was a bit too aggressive. Would set off car alarms and start babies crying so i went back to a megaphone type.

[axman88]

If you take the rocker covers of and put the piston at TDC on the compression stroke and see if you can lever the rocker arm with a screwdriver so that you are pushing the pushrod down and trying to compress the cam follower. There should be no downward movement.. if there is it means the follower is not holding pressure.
From about 2 and half minutes in https://youtu.be/bFt_TQ4v3k8

Thanks for sharing this video.  This guy's video's are great, he digs into some hard core stuff.  I just wish that he'd go a little slower and use more english words, but video with the sound off is better than audio with no images.

If you aren't aware, I wanted to mention that by right clicking on the video when it is stopped, and selecting "Copy video URL at the current time", I find that I can place a link that will bring viewers to the precise moment that I want them to see.   Like this:  https://youtu.be/bFt_TQ4v3k8?t=149   You might find that trick valuable.   Thanks again for all your valuable help, we all benefit from your knowledge and the excellent pictures you post here.

[AzCal Retred]

+1 on earplugs!

[Mad4Bullets]

Great video post by Haggis. For those of us with fuel injection, starting the bike with the rocker covers off to check the oil flow means removing the tank and rocker covers, but then replacing the tank to hook up the fuel pump and other sensors to start the bike. Unless I'm missing something of course... That's one advantage to running a carbureted bike right there.

[axman88]

For those of us with fuel injection, starting the bike with the rocker covers off to check the oil flow means removing the tank and rocker covers, but then replacing the tank to hook up the fuel pump and other sensors to start the bike. Unless I'm missing something of course... That's one advantage to running a carbureted bike right there.

I ran my 2012 C5 with the rocker covers off and with the tank hooked up electrically and fuel line, but mounted perpendicular, off to the left side, sitting astraddle a wooden 2x3 that had been baling wired to the bikes frame and had its other end sitting on a sawhorse.  Got better visual access to the rockers that way, but still a much bigger pain than running from a gravity fed auxilliary fuel tank hanging over the bike like a IV drip bag, like we can do with carby bikes.  I ended up with quite a bit of oil overflowing on the exhaust side and running down the engine.  I wonder if that increased oil flow exhaust vs. intake, is related to my lifter noise?, (which I think is coming from the exhaust hydraulic lifter or pushrod)

It occurred to me that I could probably weld a schaeder valve and a fuel line into a sturdy steel bottle, fill it 1/5 full with gasoline, screw on the cap, then pressurize the bottle with air to nominal rail pressure.  The relatively large amount of air vs gasoline would keep the pressure reasonably constant over the test period.    I've done this trick to get a high pressure water supply, above and beyond what any pump I own can produce.  Of course the drawback is working with a pressure vessel full of gasoline hanging next to your head, but it doesn't seem a whole lot worse to me than holding a propane cylinder torch?  What do you guys think?  That it's amazing I've lived into my 60s?

Or, one could use a gravity fed tank feeding an inline pressure pump.  I'd have already rigged this idea up, but the only pumps I have laying around, that are for inline use, and not of in-tank construction, are low pressure leftovers from carby days.  If rail pressure isn't reasonably close to spec. the engine might run, but the A/F ratio will be off.

I imagine that most cars and some bikes will have some sensors and safeties that would need to be lied to, but my RE seems relatively free of that complexity.

[gizzo]

Great video post by Haggis. For those of us with fuel injection, starting the bike with the rocker covers off to check the oil flow means removing the tank and rocker covers, but then replacing the tank to hook up the fuel pump and other sensors to start the bike. Unless I'm missing something of course... That's one advantage to running a carbureted bike right there.

If you just want to check that oil is pumping around, you can watch your bike make a mess a lot easier if you remove the lifter cover on the side of the cylinder. No gasket to mess up, it's just splooge.