Do you all remember starting a simple job that soon turned into a total disaster.
This happened to me a while ago. For a short time the ETZ250 had to stand out in the open rather than in the shed while I was doing some work on the Morini.
I looked out of the kitchen window one morning and noticed that the hollow in the cylinder head housing the spark plug had filled with water! Clearly the drain channel had blocked so I cleared away the water, unscrewed the plug and got to work clearing away the mud filling the hole. Due to the lack of access, since I had decided not to lift off the petrol tank or the head, this being an easy job, I was using a small scredriver. It broke on the lump of grit plugging the hole!
Now of course the tank and head did have to come off. The former was easy but a snag developed with the latter. The two nuts connecting it to the rubber mounting came away cleanly and the engine could be lowered slightly but then only three of the four cylinder head holding nuts came loose. The fourth rotated but it quickly became clear that the stud was unscrewing from the crankcase. Since the nut was rusted onto the stud, having never been removed since the bike was made in 1981, I was loath to spend time using penetrating fluid over an extended period attempting to free it. The stud is waisted making it impossible to lift it though the barrel and head (unlike a Velocette) and since the barrel and head cannot come off as one while the engine is in the frame it seemed the easier job to cut through the stud in situ. Of course this now involved the exhaust and carburettor being detached. All this was done and finally the head and barrel came off separately enabling the remains of the stud to be replaced, the drain hole drilled through and everything reassembled in reverse order.
When the engine was started again the noise was horrendous!
To my shock, I found I had, for the first time ever, managed to cross thread the exhaust pipe castle nut, ruining the barrel beyond repair! A new barrel was now needed so I phoned Burwin Motorcycles in London for a new one. Martin there said this would be an ideal time to fit the 300cc conversion, being he had an almost new conversion in stock.
I never added up all the costs for the work needed but all this, just to clear a blocked drainage hole.
2 comments:
But was it any better with the conversion, or have you found a gudgeon circlip on your bench and had to start all over again?
The conversion has increased low down pulling power, though there is no obvious increase in the top speed: I think you need the 400cc conversion for that.
The nearest I had to a gudgeon circlip problem was when I went to Leicester a few years ago to try to sort the Morini. We found that one of the circlips holding the rockers in place had detached and I had ridden 200+ miles in that state. Gulp!
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