tomtom385

Cheers mate, Not as bad as i thought it would be. Left the kickstart and gear selecter in-situ which may have held the gearbox internals in place. glad i bought dead blow mallets. inside of the stator flywheel was very rusty though, i believe that it is condensation. Whats best, seal it, or open it after every outing and let it dry out. Seems to have an extra wieght on the flywheel as well, what does this do? The mains are really rumbling, so they are going to be changed. not sure about the big end. no real up and down play, top of the rod does have play side to side, i am thinking its gone, but not sure. anyone got an idea. Cheers, Tom,

Hi All, Just about to commence a full strip down of my 04 270, sounds like the big end has gone. any tips? Cheers, Tom,

oh forgot to say when the rings are visable in the lower skirt area i twisted the barrel slightly to miss the top mount. but beware the piston ring locating pins are placed at the rear of the piston, be careful if you have to twist the barrel back, you should not need to but check the ring ends if they are visable. Tom,

Just done this on an 04 rev 3. like the man says, remove the rad, head and coil. Lift the barrel with the piston off the crankcase bolts. place rag in crankcase apeture (well you never know what will fall in there) got the t-shirt for that one. move the crank so the conrod is at the rear of the engine and tip the barrel forwards, this should give you enough room to slide the barrel off. a little more fiddley to put together. hope this helps. cheers, tom,

Hi Chris, did you go to muddy banks, whats it like there? i have a beta and gasser both 270's both very powerful bikes but only as much as you want to grab with your right hand. i think a 250 would have suited me better, but hey, i just point and hang on and clean me self up afterwards. ha ha Tom,

Hi, the new casings are all aluminium i believe, so this problem goes away, except for the damage caused by cavitation. Had the same problem, on mine, new casing is the only way really. regards, Tom,

Gets my vote ;-)))

Steve, i agree with that, but with my mr magoo eyesight and sausage fingers, trying to set the points through the window is a no no. but to be fair i have used the same cam on both a model 92 and a 198A engine with perfect results. must of just hit it lucky i guess. the use of the micrometer timing tool helps a great deal as well. worth splashing out on one of these. Tom,

Hello mate, firstly you have to set the correct gap at the points, which is 0.35 to 0.45mm or 0.013 to 0.017 in old money. Bit fiddly this bit, as you only have the little window in the flywheel to work through, unless you have an old flywheel that you can take apart and just use the cam. i will assume that you dont have this luxury. you adjust the points through the window using 2 small screwdrivers and a set of feeler gauges set within the tolerences above. i find 0.40mm works for me. turn the flywheel by hand so that the points are fully open. check the gap. adust the gap by slightly undoing the larger of the 2 screws on the points. with another screwdriver turn the smaller screw to adjust the gap in the points. the feeler gauge should slightly drag on the face of the points. remove the feeler gauge still maintaining the points gap by holding the small screw with a screw driver. using another screwdriver do up the larger screw and recheck the points gap. most probably find the gap is incorrect, if its within the tolerences above ok, if not try adjusting again, will take a few stabs to get it right, stick with it as this needs to be bang on, to be able to set the timing. next thing is to set the timing which is 2.8mm to 3.00mm before top dead centre (BTDC) this is where the piston needs to be in the barrel when the points are closing. to get this measurement you will need a timing tool. these are cheap and can be got from bultaco uk or sammy millers. i have a micrometer timing tool which is a little more expensive but more accurate. (1) take out the spark plug and insert the timing tool finger tight. turn the flywheel by hand so that the piston pushes the plunger in the tool to furthest it will go before dropping down again. this is the top dead centre of the pistons stroke.(2) turn the flywheel counterclock wise slowly untill the plunger in the tool has dropped 2.8mm to 3.0mm this is when the points should be starting to seperate. to check this with any accuracy, you need to use an ammeter or a simple tester. you can make one by wiring a bulb and battery in series and connect the wires to the black and red wires coming out of the stator. really is worth making one of these or buying an ammeter. make sure the ammeter has an audible continuity facility and crocodile clips. assuming you have a wired bulb.(3) turn the flywheel so that the bulb just goes out. check the measurement on the plunger if its within the tolerences great, if not then the timing need to be adjusted. (4) take the flywheel off. slacken off the 3 screws holding the stator plate in position. (5) Turn the stator clockwise to advance the timing or couter clockwise to retard the timing. you only need to move it slightly, tighten the 3 screws. (6) replace the flywheel (make sure that the flywheel is fully on the shaft) i put the nut back on and do it up. Repeat 1 through to 3 to check that it is correct. If it is, great, tighten the fly wheel fully and remove the tool from the spark plug hole. if not correct then repeat the process. dont worry mate if you are gonna own a bully for a while you will get quite expert at this. But seriously, scour fleabay, auto jumbles for another flywheel that you can take the centre out of by drilling the rivets out. makes the whole process a piece of cake. Stick with it and hope that this helps, it works for me, my 198 starts within 3 kicks. you could do away with all this and go for an electronic ignition with the added bonus of a massive spark. i have re-read this a couple of times and think that i have listed everything. i am sure the more experienced bultaco guys in here may have a better process. Good luck, Tom,

Hi James, These guys seem to know what they are talking about Central Wheel Components Limited 8 & 9 Station Road Coleshill Birmingham B46 1HT United Kingdom Telephone +44 (0)1675 462264 Facsimile +44 (0)1675 466412 E-mail General Information: info@central-wheel.co.uk General Sales: sales@central-wheel.co.uk Have a look at their website. Hope it helps Regards, Tom,

Tried that, oh its sooooooo hard to go back

Hi Woody, lowering the foot rests, is this a worth while mod, i must admit i struggle to ride the bully now i have got used to the beta. cheers, tom,

Hi JFC, you were right, casing looked like someone had taken a gouge to it, its amazing, the effects of cavitation, but luckily have got some repair gear used for marine applications. the impellor had quite a bit of float on the shaft, so did the bearing. so will change them whilst the casing is off. alot of limescale in there, lying git who sold me the bike told me, its all sweet in there, only used putoline coolant, yeh right mate. buyers beware!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi JFC, you were right, casing looked like someone had taken a gouge to it, its amazing, the effects of cavitation, but luckily have got some repair gear used for marine applications. the impellor had quite a bit of float on the shaft, so did the bearing. so will change them whilst the casing is off. alot of limescale in there, lying git who sold me the bike told me, its all sweet in there, only used putoline coolant, yeh right mate. buyers beware!!!!!!!!!!!!

No i have not checked this, but the clutch started to slip when the overheating problem manifest itself. fingers crossed its not the casing, strange how it didnt do it with just water in it?? Cheers, Tom,

Advice please, i have a 2004 270, it has begun to overheat, the result is steam and coolant coming out of the overflow. it has a new thermostat and the fan is cutting in and out, although when i bridged the connections to enable the fan to run constantly the overheating ceased. i am using putoline readymixed coolant. but interestingly it did not overheat with just water in the system. the water pump seems to be working ok. could it be the rad cap. any suggestions Cheers, Tom,

got em on fleabay, Item number: 300374519225 cost

Des, i must concur with you, how much are Jitsie bars, i paid 30 quid for the risers. was going to get new bars for the sherpa but would need ape hangers to get over the foot peg height. Ape hangers eh now theres a blast from the past. Tom,

Just fitted 35mm bar risers to the Beta. Wow what a transformation, the riding position is great for an old codger like me with short arms. feel alot more confident with most of my weight on the pegs and less on the bars. Far less tiring, can recommend this mod to anyone with a back twinge. tom,

Many thanks to all for your suggestions and tips. Stripped the carb blew it through and we had life. my son and asked what the problem was. i answered "oh just sh*t in the carb" he said "errrh yuk how many times do you have to do that?????" boom boom Old one, i know. Points indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Regards, tom,

Hi Max, How yer doing, Have you thought of powder coating the exhaust. i saw a powder coating system at a kit car show that looked ok, nearly bought one for powder coating bits on my resto project. not sure of the durability. electrostaticmagic diy powder coating. Has anyone used this system, it looked great at the show. Regards, Tom,

Hi Dave, Yeh it happens on my Beta, mind you, i am not a light chap, so the shock goes down a long way, i packed the mounting bracket out with some rubber spacers. That sorted it. cheers, tom,

Welcome back rossy, I as you have been born again, misses permiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers, tom,