[AzCal Retred]

That's the spirit! These aren't Offenhausers, you should be fine. Maybe turn down that nitrous boost bottle, OK?

[Adrian II]

... and isolate the flux capacitor.

A.

[AndyMcP]

Tosh should know!    To be honest, ring clearance in the grooves isn't something I pay much attention to (if they're free, they're good!)  Perhaps I should...

[Raymond]

Over the past few days, measured the piston skirt, measured the bore, clearance seems to be 3 to 4 thou. Cleaned the piston with emery paper and then Solvol. Washed thoroughly with water. Then it occurred to me that if there was any oily deposits in any passages in the piston, they might be contaminated with abrasives so washed it again, this time in petrol. There are still grooves visible on the rear skirt but no high points.

Honed the bore again. The rubbed marks also still visible, but with cross-hatched honing marks laid over them.

Back together, generous with the oil, cut a fresh base gasket, new Cometic composite head gasket from Hitchcocks - the sole spending on this rebuild. All torqued down again.

While I was at it, spent half a day messing with the tank mounts. So yesterday, the tank was on, it was off, it was on again, the mounting holes were, uhm, eased with a rat's tail file. The nose portion of the tank was also eased - used a long bolt through the front mounting holes, two nuts between the mounts, wound them apart to open up that part of the tank. Probably about 2-3 mm? The tank has been binding on the frame rubber grommet, adding still more to the frustration of the holes not lining up, and also the narrow front constricts the cables and wiring in that area. All in all, not perfect but the tank is considerably easier to put on & take off.





Today, started it up, ran for about two-three minutes, sounded fine, apart from a slight clatter from the tappets - loosened the exhaust one a bit when I had a doubt that the exhaust valve was closing properly. Checked the oil pipes to the head - they are receiving oil.

Left it half-an-hour, started it again, ran it two-three minutes, gave a couple gentle bursts of throttle. Shut it down again.

Later, ran the bike up through the village to the car park and back home. Off and left it an hour, then repeated. Enough for day one.

Now I have to walk that line. Don't want to demand too much from a newly-rebuilt engine, but don't want to run it in so gently the rings never bed in and the barrel ends up polished.

Play it by ear, literally.

[Mr_84]

Nice work Raymond, I have confidence you have things sorted this time round .
As far as running in when I built my performance 512cc i ran it easy for a short ride and progressively over a couple of rides and heat cycles thrashed it . Still running very strong as of 2 weeks ago had a mid winter ride out .

Something I learned about the fuel tank , that some of you here would have seen else where but for those that haven’t seen , I converted my rear mount to the later I think 1958 ? Someone correct me . Spring clip mount , so much better only one bolt at the front and now fully rubber dampened as the clip slips over rubber on the backbone of the frame .
Here’s a quick pic

[allanfox]

Over the past few days, measured the piston skirt, measured the bore, clearance seems to be 3 to 4 thou. Cleaned the piston with emery paper and then Solvol. Washed thoroughly with water. Then it occurred to me that if there was any oily deposits in any passages in the piston, they might be contaminated with abrasives so washed it again, this time in petrol. There are still grooves visible on the rear skirt but no high points.

Honed the bore again. The rubbed marks also still visible, but with cross-hatched honing marks laid over them.

Back together, generous with the oil, cut a fresh base gasket, new Cometic composite head gasket from Hitchcocks - the sole spending on this rebuild. All torqued down again.

While I was at it, spent half a day messing with the tank mounts. So yesterday, the tank was on, it was off, it was on again, the mounting holes were, uhm, eased with a rat's tail file. The nose portion of the tank was also eased - used a long bolt through the front mounting holes, two nuts between the mounts, wound them apart to open up that part of the tank. Probably about 2-3 mm? The tank has been binding on the frame rubber grommet, adding still more to the frustration of the holes not lining up, and also the narrow front constricts the cables and wiring in that area. All in all, not perfect but the tank is considerably easier to put on & take off.





Today, started it up, ran for about two-three minutes, sounded fine, apart from a slight clatter from the tappets - loosened the exhaust one a bit when I had a doubt that the exhaust valve was closing properly. Checked the oil pipes to the head - they are receiving oil.

Left it half-an-hour, started it again, ran it two-three minutes, gave a couple gentle bursts of throttle. Shut it down again.

Later, ran the bike up through the village to the car park and back home. Off and left it an hour, then repeated. Enough for day one.

Now I have to walk that line. Don't want to demand too much from a newly-rebuilt engine, but don't want to run it in so gently the rings never bed in and the barrel ends up polished.

Play it by ear, literally.

Remember to retorque your head down after a few heat cycles as they can loosen.

As far as running new rings in goes just take it easy for a few 100 miles, not long since I rebored mine and I stayed at no more than half throttle (in all gears) for a few 100 and then threequarters for a few 100  more and then full and away. Seems to have worked and runs really well now.

[AsFarAsIGet]

After many long months I'm finally in the process of putting my Bullet 500 back together again. The last couple of days I've been busy with

• Pressing wheel bearings i place
      took more time and effort than expected. Especially the part involving making sure there is a small space between the outer races
      inner side and the hub, don't really know if I succeded...
• Cleaning breaks up properly
      pretty fast job, hopefully with a good result
• Removing the chain stay bush (or if it's called swing arm bush)
      I can't believe how difficult this would be. Whilst reading up it seemed pretty easy: Press out the inner "pipe" with the one from the
      opposite side. Take a long screw driver, or something similar, and press out the outer "pipe".
      Turned out I had to drill away as much of the rubber in the bush as possible, even turned to my dear blow torch to heat the rubber
      and glue up so much that it melted so that I, with some effort, managed to get rid of the inner "pipe". No way of pressing out the
      outer "pipe". Instead I had to use a file to file a long notch along the width of the bush and finlly crack it open with a screwdriver and
      hammer. This goes for both sides. 
• Fix small rust holes in the fuel tank as well as sealing the tank with POR15
      A job that has taken me years to finalise. It has included a couple of cement mixers, a home made tank rotator, citric acid, sand
      blasting, sand and small rocks, blasting sand, three welders and help from more than one friend. One failed attempt with a tank sealer i forgot the name of. Just the other day I poured in a jar
      of POR15 tank sealer. Fingers crossed it will work...

Next steps are something like this

• Reinstall new swing arm bushes
• Rebuild the cylinder head
• Put the engine halves back together with my newly restored big end
      trued, balanced and new bearings in place
• Put the engine back in the frame
• Install rebored cylinder with its new piston
      the forged version
• And so on and so on...

[stinkwheel]

Changing metalastic bushes is no errand for the faint hearted. You did well getting them out. I've heard of people using an air chisel but equally, I've heard of people pressing them in a hydraulic press and landing up bending the swingarm pivot tube and them still not having moved.

I've seen people replace them on other bikes with push fit nylon bushings on a pivot sleeve rather than put new metalastic ones in. That said, think what you like about metalastic bushes, they are nothing if not robust.

[Adrian II]

I remember those on later unit single BSA swinging arms, they always seemed pretty tough. The IB Bullet items look very similar.

A.

[Raymond]

It's only been twenty miles since the second rebuild but decided on an oil change. The bore has been honed twice, piston ring wear to be expected, how is the refurbished piston coping. Oil is cheaper than engines. Especially when you use up a bottle of Smith & Allen 20W50 Passenger Car oil. Fitted a new filter of course.





Have since done the longest post-rebuild run, a seven mile loop with varied going so even though I was taking it very easy, the engine had nonetheless to work going up the hills. Having passed that test, now beginning to believe the engine is settling down ok.

[AzCal Retred]

What a beauty! 

[Raymond]

Thank you, AzCal.

Been having a quick look at Smith & Allen website. The 20W-50 Passenger Car oil I used is a mineral oil - that may be why I've been using it in the Bullet. Looked at the m/c oils they offer and the choice is semi- or fully-synthetic.

I certainly don't want to start an Oil War, but would it make good sense to continue to use this mineral oil in the Bullet, in preference to a synthetic oil?

[ddavidv]

Decided to take Emma the Enfield out for a ride after work Friday. Made it about a mile from home and she quit (after being uncharacteristically difficult to start).
I had a low battery not long ago so figured that may be the issue.
Nope, 12.5-ish volts.
Hmmm.
Oh, what's this? The wire has come off the battery terminal end. A wire of dubious quality installed by the dreaded Previous Owner. 
Snip. Delete. New connector on MY wire.
Fixt.

[stinkwheel]

Thank you, AzCal.

Been having a quick look at Smith & Allen website. The 20W-50 Passenger Car oil I used is a mineral oil - that may be why I've been using it in the Bullet. Looked at the m/c oils they offer and the choice is semi- or fully-synthetic.

I certainly don't want to start an Oil War, but would it make good sense to continue to use this mineral oil in the Bullet, in preference to a synthetic oil?

i use their semi-synthetic in my bullets, Not particularly fussy if it claims to be for a car or motorcycle, the bullet can't read and it's not going in the clutch so any (usually exaggerated/wrong in my experience) claims of friction modifiers causing clutch slip are moot. I WANT friction modifiers, all the help it can get as far as I'm concerned. I usually look for one saying it has a high detergent content because they run dirty. Although I tend to use mineral oil for break-in so I'd see mineral oil after a rebuild then a short interval oil and filter change as being best practice. I usually give it more than 20 miles mind, closer to 100-150 but I've done a "hard" break-in the last couple of times.

[Raymond]

Thank you for your reply, Stinkwheel. Was just wondering on the merits of a mineral oil - you mention using one for running in.

The S&A website claims -

Ultra 20W-50 is a multigrade engine oil, which is manufactured from highly refined mineral base stocks and a tailored additive system ensuring reliable and robust performance in both petrol and diesel engines. The product exhibits excellent anti-wear characteristics and ensures high levels of engine cleanliness through control of soot, sludge and piston deposits. The product offers excellent thermal and oxidative stability, as well as protection against rust and corrosion. The shear stable formulation ensures stay in grade performance.

Price is similar for their motorcycle offers, for example Limitless Super 4T 10W-40 semi-synth m/c oil.