2003 Royal Enfield 500 Deluxe

Elliot and a member of The Lonely Ones W800 forum have both suggested that if I buy new copper washers I should anneal them prior to fitting. I've never heard of annealing before first fit but nothing to lose I guess.
 
Copper washers harden in use, so if re using old, used copper washers they should be annealed. However, there is no reason to anneal new copper washers as they are supplied in an annealed state.
 
Elliot and a member of The Lonely Ones W800 forum have both suggested that if I buy new copper washers I should anneal them prior to fitting. I've never heard of annealing before first fit but nothing to lose I guess.

The thinking could be they have gained a certain amount of tension when they are stamped. A question could be asked where are they from a well.........Can buy 200 copper washers for $24 from chinese wholesalers and Mikes XS sells his sump copper washers for $6 for 2. Can china be trusted to anneal properly before stamping??

Even if a sheet has been annealed before stamping the force of the stamp, (also how thick is the washer), has to harden the external and internal edge slightly so the question is, are the washers an even in tension overall or is there a slight variation.... . Don't think it matters much overall but annealing before use cant hurt, you know exactly what your working with if you do
 
Managed a quick toodle on the Bullet. Stopped to take a snap of the Scottish village of Denholm.

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Famed for the large village green. Famed in motorcycle circles as the start of the annual Jimmy Guthrie run. Guthrie was a local racer before WW2 who won loads of TT victories and quite a few Grands Pirix. He died at the Sachsenring while leading the 1937 German GP.
 
Managed a quick toodle on the Bullet. Stopped to take a snap of the Scottish village of Denholm.

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Famed for the large village green. Famed in motorcycle circles as the start of the annual Jimmy Guthrie run. Guthrie was a local racer before WW2 who won loads of TT victories and quite a few Grands Pirix. He died at the Sachsenring while leading the 1937 German GP.
Beautiful photo Raymond.
 
The wonderful Summer weather continues. This morning rode the Bullet to Scott's View.

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The view over the wall, looking down towards the River Tweed, hidden among the trees (it makes an oxbow - can just glimpse the river on the left).

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A kind gentleman offered to take a snap of me on the bike.

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His idea, not mine.

Bullet nearly due for a service, oil leak getting slightly worse, anyhow done over a thousand miles since it came to live with us.
 
The wonderful Summer weather continues. This morning rode the Bullet to Scott's View.

View attachment 218574


The view over the wall, looking down towards the River Tweed, hidden among the trees (it makes an oxbow - can just glimpse the river on the left).

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A kind gentleman offered to take a snap of me on the bike.

View attachment 218576

His idea, not mine.

Bullet nearly due for a service, oil leak getting slightly worse, anyhow done over a thousand miles since it came to live with us.
hey Raymond, who's the old guy sitting on The Bullet?
 
The young at heart gentleman sitting on the Bullet?

Have started an oil change service.


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Maybe not the clearest picture but there's two drain plugs - sump and oil tank - and three oil filters - the two wire meshes on the drain plugs and the long cylindrical one from the housing lower right side of engine.

Got to keep it all in order, you pull the cover off the filter housing and out pops the spring, a small washer, a shaped washer, a felt washer, an end cap with a magnet and finally you can pull the filter thing out. Can be washed in petrol and re-used but I've bought a new kit from Hitchcocks. Ordered on Friday, delivered on Saturday.

No rush, also ordered some copper washers and will redo the external oil line fittings. All so charmingly old-fashioned.
 
Taking a closer look, I don't think the oil lines are leaking. Might be the inlet rocker box and the tappet cover? But anyhow, I just fitted the new filter, O-rings, gasket & filled the oil. Will make time later this year to have a look at the rocker boxes but the leak is not too bad and the weather is too good to miss.

The 500 is running fine. This is us at the Kalemouth suspension bridge. I think I put up a picture of this bridge with Miss November? They closed the bridge temporarily for repair on 20th September 2020.

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And as you can see, it's still closed. Just look at the vegetation that's grown up. Apparently, the cost of repair - the wooden deck planks all need to be replaced - is much higher than originally thought. But because the bridge is a Class A listed structure, we are assured that the bridge will be repaired and re-opened. Sometime.
 
Taking a closer look, I don't think the oil lines are leaking. Might be the inlet rocker box and the tappet cover? But anyhow, I just fitted the new filter, O-rings, gasket & filled the oil. Will make time later this year to have a look at the rocker boxes but the leak is not too bad and the weather is too good to miss.

The 500 is running fine. This is us at the Kalemouth suspension bridge. I think I put up a picture of this bridge with Miss November? They closed the bridge temporarily for repair on 20th September 2020.

View attachment 218772s the bridge,

And as you can see, it's still closed. Just look at the vegetation that's grown up. Apparently, the cost of repair - the wooden deck planks all need to be replaced - is much higher than originally thought. But because the bridge is a Class A listed structure, we are assured that the bridge will be repaired and re-opened. Sometime.
How old is the bridge?
 
Past couple of days, the bike has been a bit 'stally'. T'other day went to Hawick - the bike stalled before I got underway, stalled again at a junction on a country road - embarrassing because we'd just passed a woman in a 4x4 who then pulled up behind me . . . And then stalled at the traffic lights in Hawick.

Decided to move the needle back down to the position it was in before I fiddled wiv it - third notch up. I had moved it to second notch up to richen the mixture when I was dealing with running issues a while back. Now, began to wonder if that was a mistake so put clip back to 3rd notch.

Seems to improve things in some conditions, like motoring along a straight it pulls well if you give a bit more throttle. But if I let the revs get too low, giving a little bit of throttle makes the engine die. Only saved it stopping by whipping the clutch out, adding a few revs and gently letting the clutch in again.

That was yesterday. Today, further test ride, went to Galashiels. Similar to yesterday but by not letting the revs drop managed to get there sans incident.

But when I left the supermarket car park, the bike stalled. Right in about the busiest part of Gala, of course. If yer gonna make a public spectacle of yourself, at least do it in public! Re-started first kick, but backfired through the carb. Started again, backfired again. Third time, would not start.

No wonder, the carb was now swinging at the end of the throttle cable. Ahem. I've heard of bikes blowing the carb off, but never seen it before. Pushed it onto the sidewalk. Fitted the carb back on again. It blew off again.

Borrowed a better cross-head driver from the garage across the street - AG Lees Car Sales, they deserve a mention for being very helpful - refitted the carb and able to tighten the clamp better now. But guess what - It blew off again.

Must be getting more chilled as I get older. Weather was hot, overdressed in biker gear, weighed down by a rucksack full of shopping, I could perhaps be forgiven for getting a bit fed up. But in fact, it occurred to me, driving around in modern traffic in 2022 on a bike so antiquated that it blows the carb off certainly has a funny side.

Fitted a Jubilee clip instead of the narrow original clamp, made it good & tight, started the bike again, kept the tick-over high, set off with some trepidation as you might imagine and managed the eight miles back home without further incident.

Now to my question - what engine condition is most likely to blow the carb off? Over-advanced spark? Over retarded spark? Blocked pilot jet? Weak mixture?
 
Never really read much on this Raymond, but thinkin' it through logically.....

Carb blowin' off indicates a pressure buildup in the inlet (intake) tract.
Two things required for that:
Intake valve needs to be open and....
piston is forcing a burnt mixture back through the inlet with enough force to dislodge the carb.

That tells me spark happened way too early.... before TDC, forcing the piston back down the way it came.... spinning the crank backwards.
At the bottom of the (backwards) piston stroke, the intake valve starts opening and Bob's your uncle.... pressure needs to go somewhere, but the carb's in the way. Off it comes.
 
Ignition should be at... or very close to fully retarded at idle. If it were stuck at full advance, that might also explain the tendency to stall at low revs.
 
Truly master, you have shed some light on the path I must follow. I had been thinking of checking the timing, but it had not occurred to me to check that the advance works. No experience of working with points and I'm not sure the old peepers are up to it, but now clearly that nettle must be grasped.

Yes, might explain the stalling as well. Thank you.

JP, I think it was me telling the RE it's too bloody 'ot to start playing up. Was quite pleased with meself for keeping a sense of humour under trying circumstances. Though it's surprising how the urgency evaporates once you move out of the traffic stream, take helmet, gloves and jacket off and realise this is going to take some time . . .
 
No experience of working with points and I'm not sure the old peepers are up to it, but now clearly that nettle must be grasped.
Best to just jump in. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate a points system as "stupid simple."
My peepers ain't what they used to be either. I've got various el cheapo reading glasses scattered around. For small stuff such as points, grab the strongest pair at hand.
 
I have no idea what kind of ignition is present on the '03 Bullet, but I've seen carbies blown out of the boots on several XS650s when the following conditions were present: Points ignition, advance curve stretched due to worn bob weights in the advance governor, timing set at full advance with retard timing left to fall where it may, with said retard timing falling close to TDC (way too retarded). I have never seen XS650 carbs blown out of the boots without finding severely retarded ignition at full retard and worn weights as described.
 
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