Featured T140e Recovery... (single Carb Conversion)

I'm using a 4 valve pump from our friends at LF Harris... I'll be changing the oil & filters after doing a few miles (50 seems about right??) just to see what is going on with the oil and whether any shite has been picked up from the frame.
I thought that with the bigger Merc filter I fitted in the frame would have more surface area for the oil to gravity feed / be drawn easier through to the pump than the smaller BSA filter.
I shall look at the oil feed coming back to the pipe near the filler level cap to gauge if the oils pumping up okay by kicking it over first to prime the system then when she's running.

 

Had the MAP Oil Filter kit shipped over from the USA by a mate. I wanted this particular oil filter as it hides away at the back of the gearbox. This will supplement the 'Charlies filter' which is in the frame.



I junked the clear hoses supplied with the kit as they were too stiff and unwieldy to use. (I used the rubber reinforced pipes I'd fitted earlier). I fitted the oil filter ends first in order to make measuring the pipe lengths a bit easier. The feed hose was a bit of a twat to fit onto the engine feed pipe tbh... if you have 'Pigs Tits' for fingers you might struggle...



It was a bit of a 'faff' trial fitting the MAP Oil Filter to my 1979 T140E. The filter tube is touching the gearbox casing half way down so a small spacer is required. The RH footrest bolt also interfered with the bottom of the filter so it will have to sit higher up (The MAP instructions say to fit it 2" - 2.5" through the bracket... if you do that the cap touches the bottom of the air filter).



I found that I had to make a 6mm spacer to avoid the filter tube touching the gearbox casing. There was an additional problem with having a spacer fitted in order to clear the gearbox, it made the fit of the 'outfeed' pipe get very lightly squeezed between the filter tube and the frame.
It is tight to fit into the space, and the filter tube can rub on the swinging arm if its not positioned just right.
I had to buy an 2 ½ x 5/16" UNF bolt (14-0223) in order to fit the spacer/washers correctly. The standard bolt wouldn't of had any thread left for the locknut to be 'in safety'.




It does look good though, even if I have to remove the attachment bolt to get the filter cap off & the filter out.



The other similar option is to buy the oil filter kit from 'Tricor Andy' which is basically the same except it fits across the rear of the frame.


You pays yer money, yer takes yer choice...

 

Well she's back on the road with her old number plate which she had before her visit to Germany all those years ago....
I didn't put the side-panels on just in case I needed to delve into the inners!

 

Well she's been out and about around the country lanes of Herefordshire and she has a petrol leak...
I saw vapour coming out of the overflow pipe on the SU carb... the carb was hot after standing still in the garage so I thought nothing of it. Next morning when I turn the petrol tap on and 'gush'!! petrol all over the floor.
Stripped the carb lid off then took out the float to find this...


The float was 3/4's full of fuel..Grrrr .... I stuck it in a cup of hot water to find out where the leak was... bubbles appeared in two places on the molded seam. That's knackered then....

Onto 'FleaBay'... There was a NOS Land Rover float going cheaper than on the Burlen SU website, same part number... purchased!


It was a pain in the arse to strip the carb off the bike but I needed to set the float height again... two hours later she's back up and running. Result!

 

Changed the oil & both filters the other evening, the 'Charlies' filter in the bottom of the frame had prevented a small amount of residual blast media/grit from going into the oil pump and then on through the engine.
That was even after I cleaned the inside of the frame with paraffin, then jet washed it, then washed it out in paraffin again.... that feckin' blast media hides away real good!!
I gave the frame yet another wash out with paraffin (Copious amounts are available from B&Q!) fitted new filters and sloshed some oil in.

Oil pressure is good and there is a steady stream of oil coming out of the pipe back into the main frame on tickover.

If you have had a frame blasted I would definitely run a 'Charlies' or similar filter on the oil feed side... having a filter after the oil has gone round the bottom end of the engine with abrasive shite in it is a waste of time (in my humble opinion...).

If you don't you might end up like I did at the start of this resto...

 

Yeah...if a jobs worth doing do it a few times eh Darkman!

 

Sods Law.... If it's going to be nice weather yer going to be working...

 

Not exactly had an issue so far but I've noticed that the carb gets too hot to touch after a run & petrol vapour can be seen coming out of the overflow pipe. Initially the carb is cool to touch, but after a couple of minutes of standing with the engine switched off the heat from the head transfers to the carb and the carb body is that hot you can't keep yer fingers on it for more than a few seconds. (Fuel taps are switched off).
As a possible solution I'm going to add a 6mm thick insulating gasket between the head & carb to see if I can reduce the heat transfer.

 

The 6mm heat insulator gasket is now fitted between the carb & head, it was a bit of a dick about sorting out the fitting of the carb to the head as I need to fit longer bolts because of the 6mm gasket...but there wasn't any room to fit traditional hex headed bolts as there was no space between the mounting flange & the carb body....
After much feckin' about I ended up fitting high tensile dome headed bolts.
As you can see I had to 'dress' back a bit of the carb to fit the top bolts just to give me some 'wriggle room' to get the bolts in.





Been out for a ride and the carb now stays cool even after being left for 10 minutes for the heat to sink through from the cylinder head. RESULT!


£10.45 for the Gasket, £1.50 for the bolts.... 5 hours of pissin' about...

The exhaust rocker box base gasket has just started leaking too... FFS...

 

Sometimes I think I should buy another head, carbs, cables etc. as it isn't standard... but if we were all the same it would be boring... (Plus I can't afford it!!).

As I've been out and about on it other Brit bike owners have looked at it when it has been parked up and they've asked if it was a standard fit or modification...

If it works its staying as is, if it becomes a 'problem child' it'll be coming off sharpish!. (The recent carb issues haven't helped it cause, but it seems to be going okay now thank feck).

 

Thought I'd replace the standard cigar type silencers which I'm not too keen on and fit some Pea-Shooter style pipes on it...



They do give off a fruity note when accelerating but its not too loud that it would piss you off on a long trip..