[AzCal Retred]

Many of us use this useful, basic tool -

PART No. E0003 ; TOP DEAD CENTRE TOOL ; £8.00
https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/accessory-shop/tools-engine/14110

The India rubber O-rings used to retain the graduated metal center post on mine crumbled to dust during its last use, dropping the aforementioned graduated metal center post into the cylinder. After some consternation, with a bit of luck & an extensible magnet I retrieved it from the dark bowels of the cylinder.

True Value Hardware has O-rings that will restore this tool to it's original graduated metal center post retaining glory:
Part #: 56207-F, O-ring, 8mm x 12mm x 2mm, 33 cents apiece.

If you have owned one of these TDC tools for more than 6 months, I highly recommend replacing these O-rings BEFORE they crumble to dust...

[zimmemr]

Many of us use this useful, basic tool -

PART No. E0003 ; TOP DEAD CENTRE TOOL ; £8.00
https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/accessory-shop/tools-engine/14110

The India rubber O-rings used to retain the graduated metal center post on mine crumbled to dust during its last use, dropping the aforementioned graduated metal center post into the cylinder. After some consternation, with a bit of luck & an extensible magnet I retrieved it from the dark bowels of the cylinder.

True Value Hardware has O-rings that will restore this tool to it's original graduated metal center post retaining glory:
Part #: 56207-F, O-ring, 8mm x 12mm x 2mm, 33 cents apiece.

If you have owned one of these TDC tools for more than 6 months, I highly recommend replacing these O-rings BEFORE they crumble to dust...

How about welding or brazing a washer to the very top so it can't drop in? Or even an extension.

[AzCal Retred]

I had bought a couple 1/4" outside snap rings to try, but the rubber O-rings were just way too easy and also were digestible if they did manage to drop into the cylinder. Low hanging fruit. I think a significant (90mm...?) non-losable extension would foul the tank, requiring its removal for static timing purposes.

Brazing/welding a slightly larger washer to the top, or even just burning a couple beads on the top end of the shaft would certainly make a functional tool repair. You might also take a suitable die & thread the last 1/4" of the shaft, then screw a thin nut onto the shaft.

As the tank was off already, & all I had been doing was determining TDC anyway, I just used the "biggo Phillips screwdriver as position sensing methodology" technique. The Bullet responds well to "Primitive Pete" methods.

[Karl Childers]

I remember the Primitive Pete movies from shop class  . My TDC tool would make Pete proud of me. I've taken an old sparkplug and cored out the porcelain, sleeved the hole with a rubber bushing I had laying around. I have a several inch long bolt that goes into that hole (smooth with the threads cut off) and can't fall through due to the head on the end. I find TDC with a little movement and a sharpie to mark it and additional measure marks from there depending on what motor I'm working on. The marks wash off with a little acetone afterward and it's ready for the next job. It has served me well for years but I look at the Hitchcock tool and it priced so inexpensively that I'll probably add one to a future order.
I can think of many motorcycle forums I've been on where sooner or later someone will post, "How do I get a broken pencil out of my cylinder?".

[Bilgemaster]

For those born after The Beatles were in the Top 40 or who grew up outside of The Land of the Plastic Spork, you can catch Primitive Pete in "The ABCs of Hand Tools" here: https://youtu.be/fGkOOtd3GmY. Those with a bit of patience will even enjoy a glimpse of the fetching Mrs. Primitive Pete in action about 20 minutes in that would have never seen the light of day in our more enlightened times.

I'm not too proud to admit I learned a few things, and the mere YouTube search for "Primitive Pete" will serve up not only other gems from this venerable Disney-produced series, but a whole smorgasbørd of other oddball how-to's and prepper epics--scantily click-bait-clad maidens in woodland cabins pulling their own jerky--those sort of divertissements. Or, maybe that's just my lurid algorithms in play...

Anyhow, Enjoy!

Primitive Pete: Not the sharpest tool in the shed

[zimmemr]

I can think of many motorcycle forums I've been on where sooner or later someone will post, "How do I get a broken pencil out of my cylinder?".

When I was much younger man a fellow with a near new 1972 Triumph Daytona came into our shop in a panic. He'd been trying to find TDC and had broken a pencil off in the motor during the process.

As I wheeled the bike onto my lift, and got ready to remove the cylinder head, I asked him how it had happened. He replied "It was all going well, until I had my buddy kick the bike over, while I was watching the pencil."

And you think today's riders do foolish things. 

[Richard230]

Most of my motorcycles during my early riding days were two-strokes. I bought a dial indicator and used that device frequently when setting the ignition points and adjusting the timing.    But those days are long gone and timing is now set permanently at the factory and we no longer have ignition points to adjust. Now all I ever use my dial indicator is to check for any warping on my brake discs. But I do like to look at the device now and then. It brings back fond memories of noise, smoke and rough low-throttle running.

[zimmemr]

Most of my motorcycles during my early riding days were two-strokes. I bought a dial indicator and used that device frequently when setting the ignition points and adjusting the timing.    But those days are long gone and timing is now set permanently at the factory and we no longer have ignition points to adjust. Now all I ever use my dial indicator is to check for any warping on my brake discs. But I do like to look at the device now and then. It brings back fond memories of noise, smoke and rough low-throttle running.

If it makes you feel any better, I used mine, a genuine Yamaha factory supplied version, that I bought in 1970, to set the timing on my buddy's 1966 Bultaco Metralla the other night. Strokers are out there, you just have to look carefully for them.  FWIW I also have the OEM Yamaha Point Checker timing device to go with it.

[Richard230]

I also bought the Yamaha dial indicator gauge and found it to be an excellent device. However, to set my ignition points and timing I eventually decided to use an AM radio set between stations. When I heard the static crackle I knew that the points had fired and that was what I used to adjust the timing on both my points-equipped two-stroke and four-stroke engines.

[zimmemr]

I also bought the Yamaha dial indicator gauge and found it to be an excellent device. However, to set my ignition points and timing I eventually decided to use an AM radio set between stations. When I heard the static crackle I knew that the points had fired and that was what I used to adjust the timing on both my points-equipped two-stroke and four-stroke engines.

I used a similar device that I'm sure you're familer with called a "Buzz box." I thought the point checker was more accurate because  you could see meter needle quiver the moment the points started to move and could follow the point opening on the dial face. Our shop was usually so noisy you couldn't have heard the buzz box under most circumstances anyway. 

[AzCal Retred]

Oh you'se "big spender" guys wit' yer fancy-pants doodads...just use the cellophane snipped off a pack of Lucky Strikes clamped between the points...when it just starts to slip out under light finger pressure, you're there...

[Richard230]

Oh you'se "big spender" guys wit' yer fancy-pants doodads...just use the cellophane snipped off a pack of Lucky Strikes clamped between the points...when it just starts to slip out under light finger pressure, you're there...

That works even better when the points are oiled up and nice and slippery as they usually were on my 1962 Vespa scooter after riding it for 50 miles.    Time to get out the old business card that I used to clean the points.

[tooseevee]

Many of us use this useful, basic tool -

PART No. E0003 ; TOP DEAD CENTRE TOOL ; £8.00
https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/accessory-shop/tools-engine/14110

The India rubber O-rings used to retain the graduated metal center post on mine crumbled to dust during its last use, dropping the aforementioned graduated metal center post into the cylinder. After some consternation, with a bit of luck & an extensible magnet I retrieved it from the dark bowels of the cylinder.

True Value Hardware has O-rings that will restore this tool to it's original graduated metal center post retaining glory:
Part #: 56207-F, O-ring, 8mm x 12mm x 2mm, 33 cents apiece.

If you have owned one of these TDC tools for more than 6 months, I highly recommend replacing these O-rings BEFORE they crumble to dust...

            Oh, you were so lucky. I, too, got one of those for $3 from CMW many years ago. However I found that the indicator rod would fetch up (get cocked) in its cylinder when the piston tried to lift it just enough to aggravate me. I would have to pull it up a hair to free it.

             Anyway. I just used a short piece of dowel with a mark on it from then on.



             

[tooseevee]

Oh you'se "big spender" guys wit' yer fancy-pants doodads...just use the cellophane snipped off a pack of Lucky Strikes clamped between the points...when it just starts to slip out under light finger pressure, you're there...

           I've used cigarette paper also. Good ol' ZigZag. I've also used a taillight bulb with two pieces of wire soldered to it. 

[zimmemr]

Oh you'se "big spender" guys wit' yer fancy-pants doodads...just use the cellophane snipped off a pack of Lucky Strikes clamped between the points...when it just starts to slip out under light finger pressure, you're there...

When it comes to tools I've been known to open my wallet pretty wide, but in that case my employer took a few bucks out of my paycheck each week to cover the cost, Which as I recall was about $35.00 for the dial indicator and the points checker.

 I've used all of the methods everyone here describes and they all work to a degree. But I worked on a lot bikes with flywheel magnetos, or AC magnetos if you prefer, and reaching through a tiny port in the flywheel to try a fiddle with piece of cellophane would have been a huge waste of time.

FWIW I still have and use those tools so I'm thinking they've paid for themselves many times over. Who'd have thought back then that Japanese tools would have lasted over 50 years?

Here's one for you though: Back in the day I worked with one guy that would line up the timing mark on the flywheel and case. He'd then loosen the points screw, which let the points close and then tighten it back down, which typically opened the points a hair. 9 times out of 10 the timing would be right on the money,

Since we worked on flat rate, anything that sped up the job was a bonus, since we did "come backs" for free, and got fired for having to many of them, your hacks had to be good ones.