[I thought I’d start a new thread on this; Raymond’s welcome thread is getting rather off topic (I’m as guilty as anyone).]
I’ve seen that the “standard” primary side case on most iron barrelled Bullets has a central stud fixing and an “O ring” seal.
The later, “Electra X” engine had a different primary case setup with a gasket and a set of perimeter screw fixings. This seems to be a backward step because every time the outer case is removed there’s a chance the gasket will be ruined (I’ve just bought another which the postman unhelpfully folded into four and rammed through the letterbox)….and they’re not ten a penny.
My own bike is an iron barrel Bullet Electra 350, non electric start. Yet it has the later type of casings with screw fixings and a gasket. This caused some early confusion at Hitchcock’s when I tried to buy parts for it.
Anyone know why they chose to fit a later case to an early engine, and when?
Perhaps one advantage is that the screw type might provide some extra rigidity to the engine assembly. Other than that?
On the older models the stator and the rotor were mostly contained in the inner clutch case and the outer clutch case was just a cover with a fill and drain plug. One disadvantage with this alternator was every time the stator was removed, it needed to be installed so that there was an equal air gap between the rotor and the stator. it used to take a while to adjust it just right and this cover was also prone to having oil leaks.
The early to mid 2000's electric start models came with the TCI ignition in India, since the rotor was mounted on the crankshaft and the stator on the outer clutch cover, it was important to have the covers line up perfectly every time. The gasket was used to stop the oil leaks that plagued the older clutch case design. The 3 phase alternator and the TCI was a huge improvement over the old design which was basically form the mid 1950's. On the Electra X the alternator was rated at a peak output of 196 Watts. The TCI was then offered on the Electra and Machismo from 2004 onwards with both Electric start and non electric start. The TCI in theory meant anybody could just switch the ignition key on, kick the engine over, engine fires up right away and you could just ride off. Unlike the older models where you had to follow a start up procedure using the decompressor and ammeter every single time the engine had to be started sometimes it could take a lot of tries to get the engine started especially during a cold start.
The trick with the TCI gasket is to apply grease on both sides of the gasket prior to installation. It allows the gasket to come off rather easily and not tear off when the clutch cover is opened up for service. If the gasket is hard to come by or expensive, you can always make your own gasket using commonly available gasket paper.
Topic: Primary side case differences? (Read 2670 times)