[Pierric]

You're welcome. 

Yes, I think the overheating was the reason of an erratic behavior. When I got the bike, I soon found out that the PO was running her withour any air filter in the air box and when I resetted the ignition timing, I found out that it was originally wrongly set with too much advance (despite the timing having been done by a professional bike shop less than 300 miles ago, with a carb cleaning...).

My second guess is that they didn't diagnosed/suspected the Eureka system and, like often, confused ignition issues with carb issues, trying to mess around with the carb and air filter to correct the errand revving of the engine.

(NB : that bike shop was run by a RE distributor and a supposedly "RE specialist mechanic..."  )

An I was unhappy from the start to get a bike with an aftermarket Eureka ignition on it. I agree with you that it is a bit of an overkill accessory on such a low revving single cylinder and I prefer my Bullet still "untainted by technology" on this issue. Points are perfect for that kind of engine and their accessibility on the Enfield is just a matter of seconds. Great design.

But the capacitor is a great (and cheap) improvement. You can even kick start the bike without any battery connected. Associated with a good Rec/Reg, you got a "Powerbox" equivalent for a third of the price. And you can even argue that it is not really a technological improvement since capacitors were widely used on all 50's motorcycles.

[AzCal Retred]

The "Old Skool" 1940's Bullet tech is way too arcane & labor intensive for the 2021 mechanics. When I got my 1999 red 500 deluxe from a dealer, there was a huge list of things either misadjusted or just ignored/broken. The good news is we have some good manuals, good parts resources and a lot of "tribal knowledge" to draw on. Largely the "highly skilled Enfield mechanic" is the guy looking back at us in the mirror. The Bullet responds well to that guy if he is mechanically sympathetic.

Personally I enjoy "fettling" these old beasts, lots of big slow moving pieces, all fairly obvious in their operation, many looking like you could duplicate them with a drill press & set of files. The arcanery comes in the set up, like the timing covers, where you need to use plastigage to determine the end shim requirements for the cams & idler gears, as the timing cover gasket thicknesses have changed over the years. It's all good fun. - ACR -

[Paul W]

Retro fitting points to my iron barrel would be tricky….

[Adrian II]

Nothing a good machine shop couldn't fix. 

A.

[cyrusb]

Retro fitting points to my iron barrel would be tricky….

I find it amazing that a company that would polish some parts to perfection and leave some to look like crash damage. The inside of my lifter box looks like it was machined with an ax, but the cases are finished nicely. Just a minute more with the right grit wheel would have made all the difference in the world on that casting mod.

[AzCal Retred]

The laissez faire grind/file work was on the inside, away from the casual observers gaze. 99% of folks would never see that, and the rest are standing in line, rupees in hand in India to buy one. Like Axman88 often says, we're not the market.

[Paul W]

Nothing a good machine shop couldn't fix. 

A.

It doesn’t need fixing!

As far as the rough finish to the rear face of the inner case goes, I agree it’s very poor - but the top part of the timing case is completely empty and redundant, there were never any idler pinions or shafts fitted above the two cam wheels and the inner casing hasn’t been machined to take them. Ideally, the casings could have been redesigned above the cam wheels and truncated and rounded off and it would have looked so much nicer. I did think about sawing the casings and welding a new top plate across, but it would be time consuming and tricky to get it accurate enough to prevent leaks, especially as the standard timing cover gasket would no longer fit.

However, I think these home market 350 Bullet Electras were test beds for the then new TCI ignition setup and as the bikes were approaching the end of their production run they never took the trouble to tidy up the design of the casings.

[Adrian II]

Somewhere in Gordon May's book Made in India there's a picture of a factory prototype iron barrel engine without the timing chest extension.

I have seen a regular Bullet engine where the back of the timing chest HAS been hacked off and sealed, presumably where some after-market crank mounted ignition has been fitted. Looked really UGLY! The Bullet timing cover is iconic, I like to think that's why the factory left it on there, even for the CDI and TCI Bullets, same as Norton did with the Commando, long after side points replaced K2F magnetos on the very early models. Also, with the "distributor" Bullets still in production at that time, a common set of crankcases and timing cover probably made more sense from a production point of view.

You could always fit an empty-bodied magneto for decoration, the gaps in the crankcase casting for the magneto strap will still be there.

A.

[cyrusb]

Regardless of who the buyers are, it's the dichotomy of quality that I find odd.
Paul W, Whats up with that extra spring on your shifter?

[Paul W]

You could always fit an empty-bodied magneto for decoration, the gaps in the crankcase casting for the magneto strap will still be there.
A.

I don’t suffer from magnetophilia 

Cyrusb,

The extra spring was fitted because the gearbox was very new and tight when I bought it. I suspect it might have come from a brand new bike and possibly removed under warranty, because of a fault. On down-changes, despite my later efforts to ease everything off and four or five reassemblies, the pedal wouldn’t reliably come up far enough to reset the spring loaded finger which engages the cam plate, so it wouldn’t change down below third. I changed the existing return spring but it made no difference. It was irritating to have to play the soft shoe shuffle to avoid finding myself trying to pull out from junctions in third or second. I’ve put about twelve thousand miles on it now and it might have eased off, making the helper spring redundant but it’s OK as is. It’s easy to remove it and the only clue it was ever there would be the M5 tapped hole in the pedal.

[cyrusb]

I don’t suffer from magnetophilia 

Cyrusb,

The extra spring was fitted because the gearbox was very new and tight when I bought it. I suspect it might have come from a brand new bike and possibly removed under warranty, because of a fault. On down-changes, despite my later efforts to ease everything off and four or five reassemblies, the pedal wouldn’t reliably come up far enough to reset the spring loaded finger which engages the cam plate, so it wouldn’t change down below third. I changed the existing return spring but it made no difference. It was irritating to have to play the soft shoe shuffle to avoid finding myself trying to pull out from junctions in third or second. I’ve put about twelve thousand miles on it now and it might have eased off, making the helper spring redundant but it’s OK as is. It’s easy to remove it and the only clue it was ever there would be the M5 tapped hole in the pedal.

Ah! I feel your pain. I had a stiff shifter and kicker arm after I did the right hand conversion. I had to leave one of the two "locating?" dowels out and it works fine. Still kicking myself for not just boring and bushing my stock cover. In fact after I received the kit it was obvious all the parts were already there with just a little lathe and drill work.

[Paul W]

Ah! I feel your pain. I had a stiff shifter and kicker arm after I did the right hand conversion. I had to leave one of the two "locating?" dowels out and it works fine. Still kicking myself for not just boring and bushing my stock cover. In fact after I received the kit it was obvious all the parts were already there with just a little lathe and drill work.

I did my own conversion because the commercially available one (!) was far too expensive for my liking. It cost me about £50, half of that for parts, which were very easy to source and £25 to have the outer cover bored out to suit a top hat bush. The most difficult part was shortening and remaking the gear change shaft from the original. Had RE not turned down the diameter of the original and left it a constant diameter right along its length it would have been far easier. As it was I had to cut off the little lever and braze it back on in a different place. Since my conversion I’ve discovered that Hitchcock’s actually list a right hand change shaft, but it’s expensive.

[cyrusb]

Heres a blast from the Iron Barrel Only past. I don't remember his handle but I stole his avatar. Back then there was even a couple of ladies on the site!! I believe Bugcatcher was one of them.

[cyrusb]

Hate to be running on, but when I put the Scotch down I remembered a caution I have announced years before. Have all you "untainted " riders out there checked your comp release valve retention pin lately? My '05 was half way gone in 2010. It's an easy check just follow it out with another similar diameter rod. Or, you can rope the cylinder. I ended up using a tractor spring pin, it was temporary but is still there 10 years later. Anyway, its something to look at. I was surprised how lousy the metallurgy is with these bikes, but hey, if it was easy any moron would have one, right?

[Adrian II]

Untainted by quality? Now there's another topic. 

I'll just retreat to a safe distance. Tierra del Fuego ought to do.

A.