The Spares Company
Club Shop/Regalia
Parent Website
Contact Officials
Machine Registrar
Club Secretary
Membership Secretaries
MPH Editor and Forum Administrator.
Section Newsletters
Technical Databases
Photos
Home
What's new
Latest activity
Forums
New posts
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Information
Bike Modifications
Machine Data Services
Manufacturers Manuals
Spare Parts Listings
Technical Diagrams
Whitakerpedia (Vincent Wiki)
The Club
MPH Material Archive
Flogger's Corner
Obituaries
VOC Sections
Local Sections
Local Section Newsletters
Miscellaneous
Club Assets
Club History
Club Rules
Machine Data Services
Meeting Documents
Miscellaneous
Essential Reading
Magazine/Newspaper Articles/Letters
Adverts and Sales Brochures
The Mighty Garage Videos
Bikes For Sale (Spares Company)
Log in
Register
What's new
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Home
Forums
Forums: Public Access
General Chat (Vincent Related)
Routine Maintenance for Idiots
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="timetraveller" data-source="post: 14703" data-attributes="member: 456"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Hi Ian, welcome to the Club. I will assume that things like tyres, their pressures and spoke tensions are all ok now. Modern inner tubes seem to maintain their pressure much better than the old tubes so checking tyre pressures once a month is probably sufficient. Incidentally, I find that modern tyres need to be about 8 to10 p.s.i. harder than the pressures in the books you have. Running them at the original pressures makes the bike squirm when cornering and this is a good way to find out if the pressures have dropped without you noticing. I find that lots of the checks can be carried out every time the bike is ridden without making them a separate job.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">1)</span> <span style="font-size: 12px">Pull in the clutch and push down the kick starter. This ensures that you are in neutral and that there are no strange noises from the gearbox. It also ensures that the clutch is freeing properly and is not going to be dragging in traffic and overheating.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">2)</span> <span style="font-size: 12px">Whenever you start the bike after it has been stood for a few days or longer turn it over four or five times with the kick starter and with the valve lifter held in. This will start to get the oil flowing and ensure that there are no new noises from the engine or primary drive.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">3)</span> <span style="font-size: 12px">Next check compression on both cylinders by letting go of the valve lifter and gently easing over the engine on the kick starter. This checks that the valves are seating properly. You are probably going to be using unleaded fuel and if you do not have hardened valve seats they will start and ‘pocket’ which reduces tappet clearance. This will eventually lead to the valves being held off their seats. I found that that the exhaust valves suffered more than the inlets. If you do find the compression is not what it was then, because of the clever Vincent design, it is only a few minutes work before you start the ride to slacken off the offending tappets. You should be able to stand on the kick starter without the engine turning easily.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">4)</span> <span style="font-size: 12px">After you have started the engine, and if it is either a ‘B’ or a ‘C’, look inside the oil tank filler cap and make sure that the oil is going round. This takes seconds. If it is a ‘D’ then you have to get off the saddle to do this so it is a little more difficult.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">5)</span> <span style="font-size: 12px">Look behind once the engine has started and if there is a lot of smoke then probably one or more of the valve guides are getting slack. Not a panic job but one to be borne in mind for future reference.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Go out and enjoy.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Please note that all the above checks rely on you listening as the engine is turned or started. They rapidly become second nature. In my experience Vincents are not prone to having nuts and bolts come undone due to vibration so the weekly checking with a spanner that was required on some other bikes of the same era is not necessary. Brake cables etc are also very robust but until you have more experience with the bike it would be as well to check that no cables (clutch, brake or throttle) are fraying. Occasionally when getting on to the bike and before starting it hold on the front brake and thrust manfully against the rear of the fuel tank. Any slack in the head bearings or eccentrics will show up as a clunk. You will soon find out if the bike is using lots of oil. If it is, then you might have to check the oil level more frequently, but until you are sure that the oil is not settling into the sump via a worn oil pump do not fill up the oil tank or you will find that it overflows once the oil which has disappeared into the sump gets pumped back into the oil tank. This can be a very messy occurrence.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Other people might make other suggestions but the above take almost no time and become part of the start up routine. If the engine sounds more like a bag of nails than normal once it is started then probably the tappets need adjusting. Older cams and followers use to cause this to be a regular routine check but modern Stellited cams and followers do not wear. If the tappets do become noisy then you should be looking elsewhere for a problem.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Good luck</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="timetraveller, post: 14703, member: 456"] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Hi Ian, welcome to the Club. I will assume that things like tyres, their pressures and spoke tensions are all ok now. Modern inner tubes seem to maintain their pressure much better than the old tubes so checking tyre pressures once a month is probably sufficient. Incidentally, I find that modern tyres need to be about 8 to10 p.s.i. harder than the pressures in the books you have. Running them at the original pressures makes the bike squirm when cornering and this is a good way to find out if the pressures have dropped without you noticing. I find that lots of the checks can be carried out every time the bike is ridden without making them a separate job.[/FONT][/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]1)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Pull in the clutch and push down the kick starter. This ensures that you are in neutral and that there are no strange noises from the gearbox. It also ensures that the clutch is freeing properly and is not going to be dragging in traffic and overheating.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]2)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Whenever you start the bike after it has been stood for a few days or longer turn it over four or five times with the kick starter and with the valve lifter held in. This will start to get the oil flowing and ensure that there are no new noises from the engine or primary drive.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]3)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Next check compression on both cylinders by letting go of the valve lifter and gently easing over the engine on the kick starter. This checks that the valves are seating properly. You are probably going to be using unleaded fuel and if you do not have hardened valve seats they will start and ‘pocket’ which reduces tappet clearance. This will eventually lead to the valves being held off their seats. I found that that the exhaust valves suffered more than the inlets. If you do find the compression is not what it was then, because of the clever Vincent design, it is only a few minutes work before you start the ride to slacken off the offending tappets. You should be able to stand on the kick starter without the engine turning easily.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]4)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]After you have started the engine, and if it is either a ‘B’ or a ‘C’, look inside the oil tank filler cap and make sure that the oil is going round. This takes seconds. If it is a ‘D’ then you have to get off the saddle to do this so it is a little more difficult.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]5)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Look behind once the engine has started and if there is a lot of smoke then probably one or more of the valve guides are getting slack. Not a panic job but one to be borne in mind for future reference.[/SIZE][/FONT] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Go out and enjoy.[/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Please note that all the above checks rely on you listening as the engine is turned or started. They rapidly become second nature. In my experience Vincents are not prone to having nuts and bolts come undone due to vibration so the weekly checking with a spanner that was required on some other bikes of the same era is not necessary. Brake cables etc are also very robust but until you have more experience with the bike it would be as well to check that no cables (clutch, brake or throttle) are fraying. Occasionally when getting on to the bike and before starting it hold on the front brake and thrust manfully against the rear of the fuel tank. Any slack in the head bearings or eccentrics will show up as a clunk. You will soon find out if the bike is using lots of oil. If it is, then you might have to check the oil level more frequently, but until you are sure that the oil is not settling into the sump via a worn oil pump do not fill up the oil tank or you will find that it overflows once the oil which has disappeared into the sump gets pumped back into the oil tank. This can be a very messy occurrence.[/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Other people might make other suggestions but the above take almost no time and become part of the start up routine. If the engine sounds more like a bag of nails than normal once it is started then probably the tappets need adjusting. Older cams and followers use to cause this to be a regular routine check but modern Stellited cams and followers do not wear. If the tappets do become noisy then you should be looking elsewhere for a problem.[/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Good luck[/FONT][/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
What was Mr Irving's Christian Name?
Post reply
Home
Forums
Forums: Public Access
General Chat (Vincent Related)
Routine Maintenance for Idiots
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top