Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum

Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet Iron Barrel => Topic started by: Dennisgb on December 06, 2018, 02:37:42 am

Title: Waiting for parts
Post by: Dennisgb on December 06, 2018, 02:37:42 am
Waiting on parts to get back into the Bullet engine and replace the crankcase gasket I messed up.

I decided to replace the pump gear shaft and worm nut. They are not bad but felt like it was worth the expense for new ones just to be safe.

Here's a picture of the poor thing waiting for me. A little bit of additional British porn in the background on the bench  ;D

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4889/46147068402_974f7b6612_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2diRMGo)IMG_3275 (https://flic.kr/p/2diRMGo) by dennisgb (https://www.flickr.com/photos/22794316@N03/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: heloego on December 06, 2018, 02:52:59 am
Nice!
I've got my parts. Just need the time.  :(
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Bilgemaster on December 06, 2018, 03:04:37 am
Nice. Can I live in your garage?

'Cause mine looks like it needs a voiceover intro: "in this very special episode of Hoarders..."

(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/15/article-2217953-1583F58A000005DC-821_634x515.jpg)
"Hold on guys! I'll be right out! I'm sure those grommets are in here somewhere..."
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Dennisgb on December 06, 2018, 04:54:14 am
Quote from: Bilgemaster on December 06, 2018, 03:04:37 am

Nice. Can I live in your garage?

Ha! It's actually not a garage. It's a house I converted to my hobby shop. It's about 1500 sq ft. Heated, air conditioned, running water, rest room.

I have two main work areas, a machine tool area, paint booth and parts room. I have 8 bikes in the shop including a trike. There are 5 others in my pole barn waiting to get into the shop. They run the gambit as you can see below, with a number of British bikes in there since they are my favorites.

I retired 4 years ago and put this together to have fun.

I am restoring a number of bikes.

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4833/45474688934_a863406bc3_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2chrEGW)47687875_2821621627851719_7254624543799508992_n[2] (https://flic.kr/p/2chrEGW) by dennisgb (https://www.flickr.com/photos/22794316@N03/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Dennisgb on December 06, 2018, 05:07:24 am
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4896/45474832634_3b64ff5d87_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2chspqw)Back Area (https://flic.kr/p/2chspqw) by dennisgb (https://www.flickr.com/photos/22794316@N03/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Adrian II on December 06, 2018, 12:34:54 pm
Quote
Ha! It's actually not a garage. It's a house I converted to my hobby shop. It's about 1500 sq ft. Heated, air conditioned, running water, rest room.

Very nice too!

A.
Quote from: Bilgemaster on December 06, 2018, 03:04:37 am
Nice. Can I live in your garage?

'Cause mine looks like it needs a voiceover intro: "in this very special episode of Hoarders..."

(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/15/article-2217953-1583F58A000005DC-821_634x515.jpg)
"Hold on guys! I'll be right out! I'm sure those grommets are in here somewhere..."

Yep, that's something I CAN identify with, though THIS guy seems to have perfected workshop grunge and clutter, B.M.

https://youtu.be/p2kuD2VNnN0

A.
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: ivantheterrible on December 06, 2018, 04:14:54 pm
Quote from: Dennisgb on December 06, 2018, 04:54:14 am
Ha! It's actually not a garage. It's a house I converted to my hobby shop. It's about 1500 sq ft. Heated, air conditioned, running water, rest room.

I have two main work areas, a machine tool area, paint booth and parts room. I have 8 bikes in the shop including a trike. There are 5 others in my pole barn waiting to get into the shop. They run the gambit as you can see below, with a number of British bikes in there since they are my favorites.

I retired 4 years ago and put this together to have fun.

I am restoring a number of bikes.

Now you're just showing off! :D

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4833/45474688934_a863406bc3_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2chrEGW)47687875_2821621627851719_7254624543799508992_n[2] (https://flic.kr/p/2chrEGW) by dennisgb (https://www.flickr.com/photos/22794316@N03/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: heloego on December 06, 2018, 08:05:18 pm
I say if ya got it, flaunt it!
Nice setup!!!  8)
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Bilgemaster on December 06, 2018, 11:46:13 pm
In Donegal?
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Boxerman on December 07, 2018, 08:17:15 am
Quote from: Adrian II
Yep, that's something I CAN identify with, though THIS guy seems to have perfected workshop grunge and clutter, B.M.
https://youtu.be/p2kuD2VNnN0
A.
And I thought that I was untidy!

Frank
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Dennisgb on December 07, 2018, 10:36:51 pm
Quote from: Bilgemaster on December 06, 2018, 11:46:13 pm
In Donegal?

I'm in Minnesota. Shop is in Wisconsin.
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Bilgemaster on December 08, 2018, 12:50:49 pm
Quote from: Dennisgb on December 07, 2018, 10:36:51 pm
I'm in Minnesota. Shop is in Wisconsin.

Yeah, I took a peek at your profile, Dennis. I'm still willing to move in this Spring. Maybe earlier now that I've seen that lovely Commando. Just leave a round of cheddar and some Wheat Thins on the workbench, and I'll see you when those glaciers recede.

What I meant to say was "In Roscommon?", not Donegal, which seems to be the location of that amazing workshop shown in that YouTube film "Adrian II" was kind enough to share (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2kuD2VNnN0&feature=youtu.be). I mean, Roscommon, being smack in the middle of rural Ireland, is a rather odd place to find some English fellow with a Museum-grade horde of antique British industrial equipment, isn't it? I mean, it's a bit like finding one of the stainless steel eagle gargoyles from the Chrysler Building in Manhattan in a pueblo in New Mexico.

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cd/ee/b6/cdeeb636b0a0bea4465e56e18681bb46.jpg)
I could really go for a taco right now...

Hey, speaking of Norton Commandos, in case you weren't aware of it, there's a very helpful little booklet called Commando Service Notes (http://www.billymegawatt.com/uploads/6/8/4/6/6846461/norton_750cc_service_notes.pdf) that was cobbled together back in the day collaboratively by several luminaries of the Norton Owners Club, which you might find very useful. It's like a compendium of useful tips and tricks to get those beasts just as fine and fettled as they can be.
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Dennisgb on December 08, 2018, 04:26:02 pm
Wow! That workshop is a mess. I can't work in areas that messy. How could you build a sound engine on that engine building table?

My shop was a dream I had for many years and once I retired I decided to do it because I wanted to remain active and keep my mind working. It's great therapy except when things go wrong...but then I just walk away for a while. That's why it's taking a bit to get back to the RE since I screwed up the case gasket.

The Commando is my dream bike. It will be a total restoration with some modifications to make it safer and improve performance. Landsdowne dampers, billet trees, 1" bars to allow for modern switch gear, Brembo disc brakes front and rear, electronic ignition, Mikuni carbs. I owned one new in 1975, so it is one of my favorites.

I do have the Norton Notes and pretty much any literature I could find. All valuable stuff. Thanks for the heads up.

Since I got back into bikes in 2013, I have owned about 50 different motorcycles. They run the gambit. I always come back to the British ones because of my youth and they are some of the most beautiful in terms of design and style, the Commando being one of the best in my opinion. The one I have hadn't run in 15 years and fired right up with the usual work, fluids, battery, carb clean etc.



Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Adrian II on December 08, 2018, 06:01:00 pm
Quote
Wow! That workshop is a mess. I can't work in areas that messy. How could you build a sound engine on that engine building table?

Some people just manage, apparently.

Quote
I mean, Roscommon, being smack in the middle of rural Ireland, is a rather odd place to find some English fellow with a Museum-grade horde of antique British industrial equipment, isn't it?

We get about a bit. People do get fed up with the mess into which the UK is sliding with crime, etc, and leave the country, I would suggest he moved there for a quiet life. There's probably still a good selection of antique British industrial equipment over there that pre-dates Irish independence...

A.

Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Bilgemaster on December 08, 2018, 09:59:41 pm
Quote from: Dennisgb on December 08, 2018, 04:26:02 pm
Wow! That workshop is a mess. I can't work in areas that messy. How could you build a sound engine on that engine building table?

My shop was a dream I had for many years and once I retired I decided to do it because I wanted to remain active and keep my mind working. It's great therapy except when things go wrong...but then I just walk away for a while. That's why it's taking a bit to get back to the RE since I screwed up the case gasket.

The Commando is my dream bike. It will be a total restoration with some modifications to make it safer and improve performance. Landsdowne dampers, billet trees, 1" bars to allow for modern switch gear, Brembo disc brakes front and rear, electronic ignition, Mikuni carbs. I owned one new in 1975, so it is one of my favorites.

I do have the Norton Notes and pretty much any literature I could find. All valuable stuff. Thanks for the heads up.

Since I got back into bikes in 2013, I have owned about 50 different motorcycles. They run the gambit. I always come back to the British ones because of my youth and they are some of the most beautiful in terms of design and style, the Commando being one of the best in my opinion. The one I have hadn't run in 15 years and fired right up with the usual work, fluids, battery, carb clean etc.

Well, if you're tossing those Amals anyhow, you know where to send them. My Atlas-engined '67 N15CS "Desert Sled's" carb is so heat-warped and plain wore out that it sounds like a maraca at idle. I have the second around here somewhere, from when I changed her from dual to single carb with a 1-into-2 manifold from a superb local bike breakers in Austin, Texas, now sadly long gone, but it ain't much tighter, as I recall.

That Sled had a hard and active life herding cattle and generally tear-assing around on a ranch near Hearne, Texas before I got her for $100 as a basket case. I banged her back together using random found bits (including my ultra-manly oil feed and return system looted from a discarded Lady Kenmore  washing machine--Que es mas Macho?). After that it was my daily driver for a good chunk of the '90s, first in Austin and later here in our Nation's Capital. It did overland enumerations for the U.S. Census searching for unrecorded habitations in the remoter bits of the Texas Hill Country and Bastrop County (ask me some time about that abandoned drive-in theater that looked like the set of Mad Max), took me on several vacations up to Maine and once all the way up to the Canadian border, and never ever let me down even once. It'll still run...just...but is more needful and deserving of a healthy portion of TLC than any vehicle short of maybe the Spirit of St. Louis. At this point it's sort of become my bad vehicular conscience, and I guess I had no real business looking over that grungy old Sportster for sale nearby last weekend with that Sled still in the shed. Oh man...
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Dennisgb on December 08, 2018, 11:41:28 pm
Quote from: Bilgemaster on December 08, 2018, 09:59:41 pm
Well, if you're tossing those Amals anyhow, you know where to send them.

It came with a single Mikuni when I bought it...so no Amals that I can send you. I've never be partial to the Amals, even the Premiers...I don't like gas all over my engines. I've spent quite a bit of time working with Mikuni flat slides and can get them dialed in quite well with the help of A/F meter and O2 sensor. I plan on setting one up for the RE once the rebuild is complete.

Quote from: Bilgemaster on December 08, 2018, 09:59:41 pm
At this point it's sort of become my bad vehicular conscience, and I guess I had no real business looking over that grungy old Sportster for sale nearby last weekend with that Sled still in the shed. Oh man...

This is a disease  :o That's how I ended up buying over 50 bikes in the past 5 years. The Bullet was one that I thought "I shouldn't buy this, but the poor thing needs me." I had just sold my 2008 Triumph Bonneville to make room in the shop to work on the Norton...

I bought a Harley a couple years ago because it was a good deal...never again.

Here it's hiding behind the Norton.  ;D

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4889/32363528578_5588007138_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RiRxw3)IMG_0094 (https://flic.kr/p/RiRxw3) by dennisgb (https://www.flickr.com/photos/22794316@N03/), on Flickr

Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Bilgemaster on December 10, 2018, 04:24:32 pm
That Harley is a damned sight optically tastier than the crusty weathered specimen I was looking over. That's for sure. What were its issues, I wonder?
Title: Re: Waiting for parts
Post by: Dennisgb on December 10, 2018, 09:53:14 pm
The PO of the Harley had put it down at slow speed and bent the springer fork and other cosmetic damage. It was a pretty decent bike that once I tuned it properly started and ran well. I didn't like the heavy feel and poor balance which seems the same on all Harley's I've ridden.

I got it looking and running nice and sold it. I doubt I will ever buy another one.  ;D

(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4827/45352188905_09752bab35_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2c6BPHt)harley (https://flic.kr/p/2c6BPHt) by dennisgb (https://www.flickr.com/photos/22794316@N03/), on Flickr