Amal carbs

John Cone

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Has any one out there had any experience with the new Amal carbs made these days. The biggest rattles on my Prince come from the carb slides which are as slack as a yak. I don't want to go down the Yamhondasuki or makuni route. So do i invest in a set of the new Amals or pay similar money to have mine sleeved. Your thoughts please.
 

ET43

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Hi John, I think it all depends on who supplies the new Amal carbs. Items from Burlen Fuel Systems which are of the type as fitted when the machines were new, are made in the UK to exacting standards, the Mk1 and Mk11's were made in Spain, but production is now being implemented in the UK. The costings are horrendous, so Burlen are re-jigging old tooling. All jets and the like are reamed to size and are not drilled like some of the other Amals on the market. The actual flow rate of the other Amals can vary by two or three sizes. New models of Mk1 and Mk11 will not be available until much later this year. All Amal products are proof against E10 fuel. Talking of which, after two months, the ethanol separates from the other chemicals and sinks to the bottom of your tank along with the water which is drawn into the tank by the hygroscopic action of the ethanol, so when you start your beloved Vin up, firstly it will spiot and fart about and when it finally lights up, you will be drawing pure ethanol through the rubber fuel pipes which will be gradually eaten away. So, if you do not ride often, DRAIN THE TANK, and perhaps it is an idea to shake the thing before a ride.
Ethanol attacks zinc and galvanised steel, brass, copper, lead/tin coated steel, some alloys, neoprene urathane rubber, bura-n-seals, polyeurothene, some polymers, nylon66, fibreglass reinforced polyester, some epoxy resins, shellac and cork. Pretty desperate stuff. When handling it, wear gloves and do not breathe in the fumes. And on that note, I'm off. ET43
 

davidd

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A friend with a Prince finally gave in and put a new set of Monoblocs on. He is now wondering why he screwed around for so long.

ET43 is correct, and I would plan on making it easy to remove the fuel. I would not leave modern fuel in anything for more than 30 days if it sits idle.

David
 

b'knighted

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In all the mentions of the corrosive effect of these modern and forthcoming fuels no mention has been made of their effect on the other fuel carriers that we may have been using for years. I'd assume that a good steel Jerrycan can be considered the same as a bike or car tank but its cap seal will probably be rubber and therefore, even if it stays dry may fail in the fumes. From previous postings swilling the can around before pouring may be a good idea.
Most of the purpose made petrol cans supplied in recent years appear to be made from some sort of a polyethelene plastic. How is this expected to stand up to the chemical changes? Will the older red ones do as well the current green ones? I've been using both colours for unleaded, and black for diesel. Are the black ones any less resistant?

Cheers,
 

Old Bill

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Put new 276 carbs on my Rapide, sourced direct from Amal, transformed bike, better performance, economy and smoother running. Three and a half throttle cutaways give better eigth to quarter pick up, otherwise standard settings. Hitchcocks motorcycles also can supply complete carbs and have extensive stock of spares. Hope this helps.
 

ET43

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Hi Ian,
I have heard of petrol station staff refusing to fill up red plastic fuel tanks, them being old hat, and I believe that the green items were instigated by the TUV in response to E5 fuel. I think that the black containers are the same plastic as the red jobbies. It has been said that some fibreglass two stroke pre mix tanks suffer less from the rot because of the oil. I wonder if the diesel oil would protect the container, and no, I am not sitting in front of this blasted machine for another four hours finding out what the plastic tanks are made of. Doh! Cheers, ET43
 

Tom Gaynor

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I bought a new Amal Concentric Mk I for my Sunbeam S7. It transformed the bike. I had however to use fine emery to stop its habit of sticking open, mercifully only when I opened the throttle too much when starting. It never stuck when running.
There is good reason to believe that both the Monobloc and Mk I are crap built down to a price BSA found acceptable, and that only with the Mark II did Amal make a carb better than the 276 / 289. None of these are as good as a TT or a GP, not built down to a price. Or for that matter, a Mikuni.
Kevin Trail of Alverstoke Restorations, 02392 580 708 after 1630, will rebore and resleeve your original carbs for about £80 the pair. That is half the price of a pair of new carbs. It works: they come back good as new. When I had my Shadow carbs done I had them back within a week. I won't bore you with lies about a 75 rpm tickover. But about 750 is OK with me. It now makes the proper Ogri Pocka-pocka noise.
The possible downside is that the slide is now oversize, so when the resleeve wears out, I will need to buy new carbs, unless Kevin can bore them to +40.
This may be a problem I'll leave to the next generation.
 
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vibrac

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Ethanol attacks zinc and galvanised steel, brass, copper, lead/tin coated steel, some alloys, neoprene urathane rubber, bura-n-seals, polyeurothene, some polymers, nylon66, fibreglass reinforced polyester, some epoxy resins, shellac and cork. Pretty desperate stuff. When handling it, wear gloves and do not breathe in the fumes. And on that note, I'm off. ET43

And best of all the Ethanol content is not stated on the pump so we cannot even try to vote with our feet

NB here is a list of stations still selling 4 star leaded-if they are near you it would be interesting to see if they will continue to do so-certainly including them in a 'fill up rally' would give your engines a breather....
http://fbhvc.co.uk/fuel-information/
 
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Tom Gaynor

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The Qinetiq report that pointed out that if we were to move to 10% ethanol, no vehicle over ten years old would be safe, and half of those less than ten years old wouldn't be safe either, also pointed out that the EU directive says "up to 10%" ethanol may be added". So if UK fuel has 5% ethanol (which it does, it has an E number like E105) then that decision was made in Whitehall. "Brussels" would see honour served by using 0.1%. Far be it from me to suggest that the DfT, staffed by first-class minds, tell you how many oars on a trireme in a flash, but who couldn't change a spark plug, are not the very best people to make decisions on technology issues.
But the way to shut this down is not to bang on about my beloved old bikes, about which Whitehall doesn't care a toss, but to point out to the politicians the carnage that will ensue among civilians when their cars stop working in the middle of an overtake, or go on fire because the fuel is leaking out. The motor industry will be happy, but no-one else will.
(The Qinetic report also points out that the energy cost of a gallon of ethanol is £2.64, and the energy cost of a gallon of petrol is £0.64, and that 10% ethanol fuel returns 3 to 5% lower mpg than 100% petrol. How odd therefore that DfT sat on the report until forced by an FoI request to release it.)
 

Howard

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Tom,
Can we do anything about this, or do we have to fall in line with the majority whose vehicles run on the stuff and don't see any problems.

The next Govt idea that will affect us is insuring every vehicle we own, not just the roadworthy ones.

H

ps 170 oars, with one man to an oar. Sounds like Soho on a good night.
 
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