DieselBike.net

Thanks for the reply. Turns out it was just hydraulic lock. I sopped up the oil that was on top of the piston and all is resolved. Please forgive the drama.

Hi all, I have a greaves/lombardini enfield. with a locked up engine. And I'm supposed to be riding off on a road trip first thing in the morning. Any advice would be a great help. Yesterday it was running great, I rode it a couple miles home, no problem and put it on the center stand. This morning ...

I understand there's no emissions testing; I meant the annual vehicle safety inspection required in some states like NY. I suppose a bike shop usually just checks the lights, brakes, and mirror. I just imagined a case where they recognize the absence of a spark plug and are hesitant to sign off on a...

If the bike's registered as gasoline-burning, what happens come inspection time in those states that require annual vehicle inspections? Surely the motorcycle inspection shop might raise their eyebrows.

Just a curiosity for those riding diesel Enfields in the US:

Are your bikes registered as Tauruses (diesel), Bullet 350s (gasoline), or Modified vehicles (diesel)?

Thanks for the feedback. That saves me some time fabricating. Sounds like there's not much I can do aside from sacrificing filtration to improve the air flow into my engine.

A couple friends were wondering at the possibility of achieving forced air induction on my greaves enfield by running the air intake from a port we would make in the fan shroud. I think the tricky part would be still achieving the appropriate filtration.

Has anyone played around with this at all?

Thanks for the tips. I'll probably stick with the oil bath air filter and make a gravity feed chain oiler with a toggle switch..

I know the greaves is no performance engine, I've just been weighing some options for boosting the speed any fraction that I can.

-Air Filter: I want to mount a performance air filter on my 435 Greaves Enfield, and was wondering if anyone can recommend one? I imagine I'll have to lose the aesthetic appeal of the stock oil bath air filter for something like an open-sided K&N filter. Will I need to adjust my fuel settings to...

Thanks.

I forgot about the soft solder trick so I used the method discussed in the manual. However, it seemed as if the piston was not entirely level in relation to the rim of the cylinder? Meaning that the bumping clearance measured smaller closer to the front of the cylinder than the rear.

Glad to say everything is starting and running smoothly again. I just took the top end apart again, removed the cylinder base gasket (which appears to have been made out of a soda can), and used a minimal amount of sealant in its place (minimal = http://www.gunsmoke.com/motorcycling/r100gs/sealant/)...

Greaves 435 here. I'm curious if anyone has advice on monitering engine oil delivery. Having just removed, cleaned and reinstalled my cylinder, head, etc., I noticed that the previous assembler sloppily used sealants on the pushrod fittings, cylinder base, and head gasket. I only used a sealant (min...

I'm a little sorry I asked. I can't get the image of a poisoned finger out of my head. I like to think that testing the injector in this way can be done safely, but I may be having second thoughts.

Thanks for the insight.

While looking over my engine manual, I came to wonder: Is there any harm in testing your fuel injector while it is still connected to the hoses of the bike? Ie. remove injector from head, keep fuel connections to injector intact, position injector in a jar, and turn the engine over with the throttle...

Finally got around to this. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to pop the head off and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole endeavor, even though upon reassembly, the bike's still not starting. In the process of lifting the head off the engine, I accidentally broke the seal of the cylinder with ...

A report on the screwdriver trick: I had the head off the other day, to try to improve my head gasket seal, and I took advantage of the opportunity to check up on my homemade TDC mark. Unfortunately I don't have a dial gauge, so I made due by "mounting" a dial caliper over the piston to ta...

Well at any rate, I need to pull the head off tomorrow to fix the gasket. So we'll see how close the screwdriver method got me to TDC.

Thanks Dave. Hopefully I'll have time to sort this out tomorrow. I can't tell you guys how much I appreciate this forum.

This morning I went to fire up my Greaves Enfield, when I came to an unsettling stopping point. I went through the regular kickstarting routine, and as it didn't kick over after several trys (which seems normal on cooler mornings), I decided to try the WD-40 starting trick for the first time. I squi...

Nigel Calder's a good source for diesel engine mechanics. such as: "Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair." I've found his "Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems" very useful in l...

Thanks Neil. The screwdriver in the injector hole trick worked great. I feel considerably more at ease with my newly made TDC marks. The tappets were in fact a bit loose.

I'm comfortable with using feeler gauges and regularly perform valve adjustments on diesel mercedes; the concern I have isn't how to use the feeler gauges so much as when to use them. I just need to figure out a more precise way of knowing that the piston is exactly where it needs to be for me to ch...

Thanks Dave. I went ahead and checked and adjusted them at the point just after the 'gronk,' but I still feel a bit washy on the precision end of things. I got different clearances every time I turned the engine over and tried putting the piston in that same position, which seems like it would matte...

My greaves enfield's running great. I haven't had any trouble kickstarting using the recipe: (Turn the motor over until compression, pull decomp lever and turn over until I hear "the injector gronk," pushing it a little further so the decomp lever clinks back). But now as I undertake my fi...

Hello all, Glad to join the forum. I have a 435cc Greaves Diesel Enfield equipped with an electric start (though I use the kick start as much as possible) and right side, 4-speed gearbox. I purchased it almost 2 years ago, but my living situation changed shortly thereafter, forcing me to store the b...

Can anyone recommend a source for Greaves parts in the U.S. or a good importer? I have a 435. I'm also on the lookout for a parts diagram with part numbers for ordering.

thanks,
erik