First 200 miles

[Richard Q]

Picked it up from the MOT station a few weeks ago and then started riding to work, rain or shine. Excitement has worn off a bit now, so will just stick with shine now



Quick recap on work done - engine rebuilt with rebore and new pistons. Rest just cleaned and checked and put back together. Powder coated frame, and got Hutch on the paint set. Got some 26mm carbs and rebuilt them. Got a new 4:4 exhaust. Sorted 'messed about with' rear brake.

Initial thoughts were that the engine was a bit noisy. A few new noises, and rattles, but I just put this down to the fact that I could actually hear the engine now that the Marving had gone.

At 20 miles engine stopped, no electrical power at all Turned out to be a fuse, which strangely was still intact?. 23 miles, speedo stopped working, then a few miles later, started again. Stopped at 47 miles but now back at around 200 (not sure how many as odometer obviously didn't work either). A couple of days ago the headlight stopped working, and checking the fusebox, I had the same problem as earlier with the ignition. Fuse is intact, but no power through it I have got hold of another fusebox, bunged it on and now everything works just fine.

The tickover is a little erratic and doesn't pick up too well until it gets going. I have tried to adjust the air screws, but whatever I do with them, the tickover doesn't budge, not one iota. So today I got my old Gunson gastester out and tried it with that instead. Cylinder 1 was 5.4, 2 was 2.5, 3 was 2.3, and 4 was 5.7. I have now managed to get them all at between 2.3 and 2.5, but don't know what I was supposed to be aiming at

Anyhoo, it now picks up a lot better and runs more smoothly as well, in fact after tearing about on some of our local highways I have returned home with a large grin

I will have some more time shortly and may take it to work and get it set up a bit better. For now though, it's as awesome as I always hoped it would be -

[mick znone]

looks like its only rained on your zed Richard, not a drop anywhere else

[Redbeard]

Richard, my bike did the same, no elec power suddenly and the fuses appeared intact, however when tested back at home didn't work. At least one other chap on here found that the fuse breaks at one end under the metal cap which makes it appear to be ok. Worth carrying spares just in case. Shame I had to push it 2 miles home before I could test it.

[wheelysteve]

That was me. I gave up with the 25mm glass fuse and now have a re-settable (?) mcb thingy which sits in the tool tray. Allows easy disconnection of the electrical circuits during maintenance as well.

[Richard Q]

Part 2

Been googling about oils and have found a couple of times, that using semi synthetic oil in a rebuilt engine (especially if rebored or honed) as it is so slippery that it takes forever and a day to run it in ? Not sure about how true that is, but it does sound reasonable. Also found (another opinion) that running semi in an engine with a roller bearing crank can cause vibration? as the oil is again is so slippery that the rollers don't spin in their housing, they just skid around the bearing case. So drained the 10W 40 semi out, and refilled with mineral 20W 50. Result - noises and rattles gone, engine smoother

Rode to work on Monday, then when I started the bike for the return home number two carb overflowed; a lot. Tapped it with a screwdriver, and it stopped, so went home steadily and removed the bowl (that was fiddly ) to find some crap in it. Oh the irony - Crap in No. 2 So spent tonight fitting in line filters between the tank and carbs.



Did the wired George yesterday as well, so went for a well deserved ride around, just got back. Wow, what a difference that made. Tickover is perfect, picks up from tickover superbly, and accelerates smoothly up the the rev band. Didn't race it as I'm still bedding those rings in, but very pleased with the results.

Speedo stopped working again, I think the drive is buggered, so have ordered one from a chap on ebay.

Richard

[Pigford]

Never, ever run-in using decent synthetic - as you now know, its soooo slippery it hinders the running-in process. The mated parts need to wear and match each other for optimum performance; fully synthetic tends to stop this happening and can lead to smokey engines which may need a hone to correct.

There are always exceptions, but just run a cheapo mineral oil first few hundred miles - the drain and re-torque engine & put some better oil in

[Hinckley]

So drained the 10W 40 semi out, and refilled with mineral 20W 50. Result - noises and rattles gone, engine smoother

Richard

Which brand of 20w50 did you go with?

[Richard Q]

So drained the 10W 40 semi out, and refilled with mineral 20W 50. Result - noises and rattles gone, engine smoother

Richard

Which brand of 20w50 did you go with?

Halfrauds Classic 20w50 - stuff I use in the Rover. Suits the Rover V8 very well so I chucked some in the Zed.

Richard

[ZedHead]

any cheapo mineral oil will do for the first 500 miles. I have had the 20 amp fuse go high resistance, probably caused by mechanical vibration rather than electrical overload.

the bike looks great btw

[Hinckley]

Cheers, never considered car oil, I used Castrol on the Ltd, still took an absolute age to bed the rings in.

[Pigford]

Cheers, never considered car oil, I used Castrol on the Ltd, still took an absolute age to bed the rings in.

That CLASSIC oil is okay (I use it in some of my old bikes), but NOT modern car oils as they usually have "friction modifiers" which can make wet clutches slip

[Richard Q]

Is it always like this when you get them back on the road?

Last week battery went flat and I managed to stall the bike in the middle of Sheffield. Luckily it started on the kickstart first time, but I had to keep the revs up to stop it from stalling. I spent the weekend going through a trouble shooter diagram I found on here, and then unplugging everything in the charging system and cleaning it. Battery is now 12.8 on tickover, 14.4 @ 2,500 and 13.6 @ 5,000. Seems ok now.

Popped over to the carding shed on Saturday to show off a bit. Bike misfired all the way over there, and even worse on the way home. I was actually worried that it was going to stop and certainly not get up the huge hill. Took the plugs out when I got home to find No. 1 was black, really black. It looks like the carb is over fuelling big time.

After finding crap in No. 2 and now No. 1 is pissing fuel away (stop giggling) I decided to do the job properly. I drained the tank and rinsed it out - no trace of muck at all ? I removed the carbs and took the float chambers off, plenty of crap in there.

So, there is no crap in the tank, a filter in the tank, a filter in the tap, and two inline filters in the carb pipes, and freshly rebuilt super clean carbs. Where's the crap coming from??

Hopefully I have now sorted it though. I have made up a test kit to check the float levels (Drilled a hole through a drain plug and fitted a piece of pipe to it).

I'll guess how to set the carbs up, unless someone has any info on the VM26SS ?

Richard