classic motorcycle forum

Slacked off work this afternoon to take the bike out for another quick spin.

and there was a lot of spinning.... the damned clutch is STILL slipping.  It's obvious in all gears, in first it won't "bite" above a certain engine rev-speed, and in the other gears it simply won't go above 50mph.

So I dragged it's sorry ass back to the shed and had another look.

I screwed the springs in a couple more turns, and made sure they seemed to be "balanced" : ie the pressure plate lifts equally all the way around (as best I could)


I confirmed that there was enough slack in the push-rod linkage, there's plenty.


And then buttoned it back up.  I'm taking it down to Selsey tomorrow whatever (well - unless it pisses it down...), and then we'll see after that.  I think I now know roughly what the clutch "is" (ie which type, and what plates I would need to buy), but there's still a few details I can't tie down, so more research to do. 
I'll look into new plates and new springs, they're the only things that should need replacing.

In the meantime.. the next little project is going to be stripping down the Pilgrim Pump to replace the gaskets: I'm pretty sure that the gasket under this cover plate has gone - there's a definite "snail-trail" coming from it.




"These things are sent to try us..."

This is what rusty ones look like - in the same place.

Leon

Right side of seat lug. Or somewhere else. Or none at all! Some of the numbers are quite lightly stamped. https://classicmotorcycleforum.com/index.php?topic=6473.msg33253#msg33253

I took it out for a spin this evening, and it's running fine, apart from the fact that the damned clutch is slipping at anything over 50mph.

I suspect it's just not setup correctly so will have a play this evening and fingers crossed it'll be good for the weekend.

In good news, it's nigh on oil tight now, apart from that one cover i haven't tried to seal, the timing chain cover.

Incidentally, if anyone is at a loose end and is near the South Coast on Saturday, there's a classic vehicles meet in Selsey, just a suggestion.

.... Later...

So, I think the clutch was indeed badly setup - there was zero play in the lever in the gearbox when I looked this evening.  So I've pulled it apart again, because I was kinda pondering if the plates were badly worn...

however... according to the details I've found: the friction plates should be 0.138" thick, the plain plates 0.080" and the single-sider on the outside (which the pressure plate pushes against) should be 0.110".

I measured them all:


The plates I have are :
Plain plates: 0.080", 0.082", 0.080", 0.082", so they're fine.
The single-sider is 0.111", so it's fine
and the Friction plates are : 0.171", 0.158", 0.172", 0.170"  So, err they're all too thick.


Which makes no sense. (to me at least).  By all rights the thing should be dragging like crazy, not slipping!  :wtf:

I also checked them for flatness on the flatest thing I've got


One or two had a "little" bit of rocking movement. I'll look into how much new plates are and think about it.

SO I did the only thing I can do for tonight....
I buttoned it all up again, and reset it again, trying to follow the manual's instructions as best I could


I think clutch setup is a bit of a black art to be honest....

Oh, and it looks like I was being a bit presumptious about the oil tightness....
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Hey ho, it's better than it was!

Not much to report today.

Refitted the timing chain cover and the pumps, after cleaning out the oil feed tube with some very handy little brushes I have.


Currently waiting for this nut to turn up.


And refitted the primary chain cover



Obviously all that took me about 2 hours of faffing about and dithering, as per usual

I reckon that, in a pinch, I now probably could strip and rebuild the engine over night.... if I had to.... but it's not something I'm going to try.

Fingers crossed that nut will turn up tomorrow and I can get out for a spin and see how it's behaving after the clutch rebuild.  I'm fully aware that it's down on power and compression, but I want to actually ride the thing a bit more before stripping it down again, hey - it'll keep me busy over winter again.