1951 Royal Enfield Model S S672

[mini-me]

That's the unit, I am sure I have had post war units with bakelite end caps.
Also that Miller did a similar unit.
Always found on real  cheap bottom of the range bikes.

I see them from time to time on ebay or at jumbles, there was one on ebay, NOS, at a daft price some months back.

I can't say I'd be excited enough with a cheapo RE to spend much money on it. Each to their own.

[R]

I'll swear Royal Enfield fitted a special pump to push oil out of the timing gears and through the bleeding thing. It positively dripped oil out of the points box and keeping the points working was a battle.

Enfields use the timing gears to feed the oil back into the oil 'tank' compartment (in the engine),
so if the (rather basic?) oil seal* behind that unit isn't perfect,
it is rather likely the oil will go somewhere else other than the tank (!).

* the magdyno only has a felt ring there.

[cruise98]

Thanks everyone I have had a few emails now from Alan from Hitchcocks really nice bloke im in Kalgoorlie Western Australia very hard to find parts middle of nowhere.there were only just over 100 of the model S 51-53 sent to Australia so parts are scarce and information .im actually think over running a mag with a total loss system might be easier to find a mag 35mm spindle height anti clock wise.was talk these came out with miller DH1 magdyno waiting on parts book so hopefully that reveals all

[cruise98]

Bike was made to look like a 36 with girder forks but checking frame and engibe numbers it was a 1951
Yes cheapo model like mini me said but i dont mind i love bikes and like to learn everything about them even the cheapo ones
 

[R]

Bike was made to look like a 36 with girder forks but checking frame and engibe numbers it was a 1951

Have you had the numbers thoroughly checked by the Enfield Owners Club ?
The prewar numbers were repeated postwar, unless they found a proper match, so often its the features that determine which is which. ?

The only real difference was that the engine mounts became wider postwar, and the carb inlet became more offset. Oh, and the rear brake had several forms.
And the fork stops won't be right if it was intended for tele forks.
Plus, if the magdyno won't fit, its likely a prewar engine.

??

Unless the full spectrum of motorcycle types manufactured is preserved, at least in part,
a very lopsided view of what folks rode and enjoyed would emerge ?
Not everyone had a road burning supersport. Far from it, in fact....

[R]

Plus, the whole steering head is shorter in girder fork frames than for tele fork models.
Yours looks to have the girder fork version.

What does the gearbox look like ?

[cruise98]

Hi I spoke to Graham Scurth he told me the numbers I gave him that the bike went to Perth Western Australia in 1951
He says that the S672 on my bike is stamped on the LH side of the engine block and that the pre war they were stamped just under the oil cap on the RH side
engine and frame number are a match .The Lucas M01 I got has a spindle height of 45mm and on my bike its only 35mm they believe it should of had a Miller DH1 magdyno
I'm taking it that the Luas magdyno only come in 45mm?

[cruise98]

He is some more pictures

[cruise98]

Another pic

[R]

If Graham checked the numbers, then he should know.

When you say 'matched numbers' does that mean same numbers ?
Or the engine number is a match with the one in the register of bikes, and the frame number (different) is a match with the register too ?

My prewar stuff has the numbers stamped on the engine left side,
but they are not Model S, maybe they were different.

Those pics don't quite show the gearbox in enough detail, but they ( engine & gearbox) could well be postwar. A Miller magdyno might explain that too, not seen those before.
Don't know how the steering head works out though, its not generally a simple bolt on swap between girders and teles, there is an inch that needs a workaround.

P.S. We'd be interested in seeing this Miller magdyno when you track one down,
just for the education.
Have fun !

[cruise98]

S672 stamped on LH side of engine  matches frame number and engine number on back of crankcase S684 so in factory they could match engine to frame

[33d6]

Aha! So pumping oil through the dynamo and points WAS a design feature. It's nice to know that after all these years.
The other thing I learnt on that bike was how to adjust the Albion positive stop foot change mechanism. We could get any three gears from four but never all four together. Pick three, any three, it didn't matter. Eventually we learnt how. It was easy. You just did it in the middle of the village crossroads -- under a full moon-- at midnight-- with a clove of garlic tucked behind your right ear. The RIGHT ear mind, NEVER the left.
Gee I learnt a lot from that bike; and all before I was old enough to hold a licence.

[mini-me]

If it were mine I would try and rug up some kind of coil igniton system; have a look at those contact breaker setups used in place of magnetos on some later R Enfields.

There is a very good reason why Burman gearboxes were preferred over Albion. bloody awful gearbox and clutch.

[R]

I've got bonded linings in my Albions clutch.
This makes the clutch sweet as, and absolutely transforms the gear shifting.
Doesn't get hot and bothered either.
(Although it doesn't take away the false neutral going into 3rd sometimes.
That could probably be fixed also, but when the rest of it is sooo good...)
These plates were in it when I got it, so can't say where they came from.

I see that Gordon May's bible on all Enfield models doesn't  list a Model S between 1946 and 1953.
So was the factory building batches of models that weren't in the catalog,
or just using up stray spares to build bikes and sending them to far corners of the globe ?
This means there is no brochure pic of a 1951 Model S  ??
Maybe local advertising might show something ?

And, there is no mention, anywhere, of using a Miller magdyno, all mentions are of Lucas equipment.

[cruise98]

Exported to US and Australia small numbers all up Australia got 109
and yes alot of books dont mention the export model