Draining Oil
- Thread starter youngjohn
- Start date
After owning a Series A for a few months short of forty years with no oil related problems, I'm wondering if a filter is even necessary? The screen in the oil tank will stop the big chunks and both my Laverda's (180 triple & early 750) seem to do just fine with only screens. 
Cheers, John
Cheers, John
I don't use any filter !! I think they are too restrictive. Cheers Bill.
Completely ass about face. The oil enters from the outside of the filter, from the hole at the top of the filter chamber. Through the filter, into the banjo, into the timing cover.
So you could be suffering from memory loss.
Most automotive oil filters have the oil feeding from the inside, as Trevor points out Vincents have the flow going in the opposite direction. With this in mind V3 paper filters have a steel mesh on the inside as well as the outside. This is a feature not shared by some other filters now on the market.
All current V3 filters have a large aperture to accommodate variations in the size of the boss (for the banjo bolt) on the back wall of the chamber; some from other manufacturers do not.
I think Bill is on the right track the filter is of little use and is restrictive perhaps a nice big bar magnet laying in there would be better
anyway I am out on my own since I have always used R30 castor oil in the Alphabet twin (and the racers)
you will never see a cleaner inside of an engine
anyway I am out on my own since I have always used R30 castor oil in the Alphabet twin (and the racers)
you will never see a cleaner inside of an engine
Over the years I have probably taken apart more than 20 Vincent flywheel assemblies for various reasons, sometimes when the big ends had failed. This is much less than the professionals in the Club but more than most. In almost every case where this crank pin had the annular groove for the oil feed as in the original Vincent big ends and the early Alphas this groove was full with a hard packed mixture of carbon and aluminium debris. This had centrifuged out of the oil and was packed so hard that eventually it cuts the flow of oil to the big end which results in failure. All these engines had the standard Vincent felt filter in them but how often it and the oil had been changed is generally unknown. A magnet is not going to collect either the hard carbon or aluminium. Clearly the standard Vincent filter is inadequate and suggestions to leave out any filter strike me as either unfortunate or incompetent. The modern paper filters should be better although I have no personal experience of them. The fitting of a modern free flow filter in the return line must also be a good thing. A way round this ‘centrifugal filter’ is to fit an oversize crank pin which does not have the annular groove but rather takes the oil directly into the drilling in the crank pin.
I have also cut an inspection/cleaning hole in the top of several ‘B’ or ‘C’ oil tanks. Only one was clean inside. The rest had up to half an inch of the filthiest gunge in their bases which takes a lot of cleaning out. I cannot recommend too highly the cleaning out of these upper frame members for anyone trying to do a thorough job.
I have also cut an inspection/cleaning hole in the top of several ‘B’ or ‘C’ oil tanks. Only one was clean inside. The rest had up to half an inch of the filthiest gunge in their bases which takes a lot of cleaning out. I cannot recommend too highly the cleaning out of these upper frame members for anyone trying to do a thorough job.
Never underestimate the abuse these engines suffered in the late 50's and early sixties when a twin was worth £70 (or £25 for a Comet) ie: only a fraction of its original cost. Many never thought of changing the oil let alone the filter no wonder they got filled with crap as they were run into the ground.
Not so now I would think
PS I paid £65 for my first twin and £15 for my first Comet, still got em
Not so now I would think
PS I paid £65 for my first twin and £15 for my first Comet, still got em
Try something like this auxillieary kit for the Norton Commando, on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NORTON-COMMAN...87?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item4cf65c1e3f
On a Comet it may go on the back of the the F106 or perhaps under the single or twin battery carrier. If you don't need it hidden it can be bracketed off the pillion plate.
Cheers,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NORTON-COMMAN...87?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item4cf65c1e3f
On a Comet it may go on the back of the the F106 or perhaps under the single or twin battery carrier. If you don't need it hidden it can be bracketed off the pillion plate.
Cheers,