dadof2

Perhaps if you posted a photo of the area to be welded someone may be able to offer some advice on how to weld it.

Mud Brick, Funnel Cake and Sordfish is tasty as is mexican food. Catfish is not so good. I have never been able to find a Pork pie in the USA. Kenny Rodgers is about the worst fast food outlet I have ever been in, standard of food similar to poor primary school or NHS hospital food. I always laugh at the moral turpitude part of the visa waiver - how come Bill clinton manages to get past immigration control? Don't get ripped off by the hire car "free upgrades"

http://www.sparkplugs.co.uk/ Could try the above for advice

Interesting. A friend had a 247C. my feeling is it was not as competitive as a Bulto of the same era. I had a 414VE (Bill Brown sold a huge batch of them for only about £500 each new) Andy Roberson did very well or his bike was far from standard. The brakes and handling were Ok to good but the power and back suspension was well short of Maico and the Jap bikes. It was like riding a bucking horse - tried to throw you over the bars .

The Rev 3 is easy enough to do. You need a flywheel puller and a clutch holding tool. I can't remember exactly what I used them for but I also have a piece of heavy flat steel bar to lay across the split crankcase and a steel bush about 30 mm long 30mm OD and 25mm OD. Probably something to do with pulling the bearings in.

I wonder if any of the SSDT riders have come across Ben Doon or Phil McCavity?

Heritage - Its about time all these heritage bodies accepted that off road motoring activity is part of our heritage just as much as anything else. These narrow minded zealots are only interested in a version of heritage that meets their own narrow selfish definition of the word. Another example is the loss of water skiing on all 13 of the lakes in the LDNP. On at least three of the lakes power boating and associated activities existed long before the national park was established but gradually this body has eradicated these parts of fe the lake districts real heritage. There is much merit to what Cabby says - Trials is going to have to start standing up for itself if it wants to survive. How about declaring SSDT sections and the route all a SSSI and maintaining it as such by regular practice. After all the development of off road motorcycles is surely as scientifically interesting as lead mining or some bog dwelling plant.

38 and still leading the MOTOGP championship !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its a case of the lesser of 2 evils. Thieves can easily clone vehicles already. All cars VINS and reg Nos are clearly visible as they are on most motorcycles. On balance having VINS and Reg Nos on adverts would deter more theft than it would cause. A couple of years ago the police called a person I know (she had never advertised her car). Apparently about 45 miles away an identical car with same Reg and VIN was suspected of being involved in a number of crimes. Incidentally don't trust (regard as always 100% accurate) these vehicle checks. They can show nothing recorded when there is plenty of adverse history.

Bearing in mind the increasing complexity of electronics on trials bikes, the time and cost of playing "parts darts" looks increasingly unattractive. It may be worth asking round your local auto electricians / engine management diagnostics specialist to see if there are any who feel they can handle bike work. Once you have a bit of knowledge and the right equipment most diagnostics is easy and quick.

Slightly off topic with the following observations. Take a piece of common / fell land were locals have ridden motorcycles for near on many many years. Mostly there are no objections. Then some offcomers / townies move into the area with their view of what should / should be done in the countryside. Also by coincidence a reasonably local club finds out it can with the permission of the landowners run a trial on the land. The sight of 100 bikes infuriates the offcomers who then lobby the Police, Councils and YDNP to try to get all vehicle off the fells. Who should be allowed to continue to access the land - the club or the locals. Recently there have been article in two local papers complaining (Way OTT in my opinion) about damage cause primarily by 4 WD offroading. I was in the lake district (Bassenthwaite) this evening. All over the fells walker damage clearly visible and in areas a helicopter is having to lift materials to repair the paths. If motorcyclists were causing this "wear" there would be an outcry. Why one rule for bikers, another for walkers. Remember how the walkers gained the right to walk virtually wherever they want - by a mass trespass on Kinder scout. Walkers unite behind one very effective lobbying organisation in particular (The RA) Motorcyclists and other off road vehicle users belong to several different groups, none individually large enough to lobby effectively. Unless all the motorcycling / off road bodies come together and lobby effectively our sport will be squeezed out of much of the countryside bit at a time.

Looking at autotrader, ebay and other vehicle advertising sites you can see that some vehicles have their number plates blurred or covered up. All advertising sites should be compelled to publish the VIn(s) and Reg (if registered). If seller wont't supply the information advertiser should be compelled to report this to police.

You can register a bike in the UK for nothing (no £) so long as it is for off road use only.

Bikes now change so little from year to year whether its one year or the next you buy is pretty irrelevant. You can pay top money for the latest or probably get a fair bit off last years model. Always worth considering the cheaper option then spending the spare cash on tuning / set up especially suspension.

Take time to strip and grease the lot including the swing arm bearings. I have a 1987 crosser that was raced regularly until early 1993 and has been played about on several times a year since. The only bearing it has needed was the rose joint at the bottom of the shock. The reason for this is regular greasing of the bearings. Typically every 4 to 6 meetings. The grease used used to be Castrol CL, then Morris K2 grease and latterly S & A complex grease.

Regarding piston ring end gap. Perhaps instead of saying gap "should" be 0.35 to 0.6 I would have been better writing "you can expect" the gap to be 0.35 to 0.6. These are slackish gaps, the 0.6 being the point at which the bore and rings should be properly measured with a view to replacement. Others may have a different view with regard to controlling blowby but I prefer an adequate to large ring gap and plenty of oil as opposed to a tight ring gap and minimal (say 80:1 fuel oil ratio) amount of oil.

Briefly you can put engine oils into 3 groups, Mineral, Semi synthetic and fully synthetic. GTX is an "old fashioned" mineral oil. At any given viscosity synthetic oil has a higher film strength than mineral oil. Considering the small volume (600cc I think) in a 4rt engine its probably worth paying a little extra for something like Petronas Syntium 7000 0W-40 (Fully synthetic) rather than 10w 40 GTX (mineral). If you ride the bike hard try https://www.smithandallan.com/products/transport-engine/3989-valvoline-racing-vr1-5w-50-motor-oil/ If you are looking for something cheaper try Smith and allans own brand. I have used them for near on 40 years and never had a problem. I presently use their 10w 40 semi synthetic in some of my cars and all my motorcycles. Honda manual just states 10w 40 so GTX should be OK but if you used something like the above synthetics or Mobil 1 you engine would have better protection.

Many years ago on my first bulto rebuild using the method above (recommended in a manual) I ended up with burnt fingers and the job jammed before the crankcases were fully closed. The following method is more reliable and far less likely to damage the bearings. First fit the bearings into the crank cases by warming the cases and cooling the bearings, if any pressing is needed press on the outer race only. Next ensure the crank surfaces where the bearings will fit are really clean / well polished. From memory install the crank into the left hand case first. Do this using a selection of tubes of slightly different lengths, that are the same OD and slightly greater ID than the inner race of the bearing. Using the flywheel nut gradually draw the crank into the bearing. Cease when the crank is about 1 mm from fully seated. Fit the RHS case using the same method. When there is a gap of 1 to 2 mm between the cases keep checking that the flywheels are central in the cases. Gradually tighten alternative sides until the cases close, keeping checking the crank is central and tightening whichever side as appropriate. When fitting any bearing the important thing it to apply the insertion pressure so hat it is not transmitted by the balls / races. Edit - I use an electric hotplate to heat the bearings. It has adjustable temperature and only cost a few £ from Argos I think. My wife bought it to use in the garage cos she got fed up with oily bearings on her cooker.

Before anyone thinks of (wasting) their money on evans coolant I suggest they read the following link. http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/cooling/cool_123.htm The much lower specific heat capacity and higher viscosity of Evans are serious drawbacks. These types of coolant may have their place in special purpose engines designed for them but thats about it.

http://fbhvc.co.uk/legislation-and-fuels/fuel-information/ See the above link. Your tank is almost certainly polyethylene, Over time ethanol will make it swell. Sometimes plastic swollen by ethanol can be brought back to size with a rinse of methylene chloride left in overnight or for a few days.

Put the rings (one at a time) into the barrel. Use the piston o make sure they are "square" in the barrel and measure the end gap. It should b between 0.35mm and 0.6mm. Any larger gap and have the bore measured. The dark deposits on the piston sides show that the engine has been run with insufficient and / or poor quality oil. There has been insufficient oil to seal the ring to the bore. The mixture blows by the rings then chars onto the sides of the piston. The piston will run hotter than it should because there is insufficient oil to conduct heat from the piston to the bore and cooling water.

If lineaway's suggestion does not work get someone with a mig or tig welder to weld a nut onto the bolts or a length or rod you can grip with mole grips. The heat of the weld tends to be very effective at loosening seized threads. Leaking gasket. Check the mouth of the crankcase and base of the barrel are flat within 0.05mm. Just use one gasket of the correct thickness. Before you fit the barrel paint a good coat of blue hylomar onto the joint face and let it go stiff / nearly dry before tightening the barrel down.

http://www.overlandtrail.biz/Manual Montesa 4RT 05.pdf See section 6 (electrical) it has some self diagnosis functions regarding the sensors I mentioned. Also some sensor resistance values

The EFI ECU should adjust the mixture to accommodate gentle running and correct the mixture accordingly. Cold weather may be causing an extended warm up (rich fuelling) period. I think the 4rt will have the following sensors: 1) MAP Manifold absolute pressure - this sensor should tell ECU to correct for an over or under oiled or clogged air filter 2) IAT Intake Air Temperature - in conjunction with MAP (and other parameters) enables the ECU to calculate the mass of air entering the engine and hence the mass (Injector open time) of fuel needed to give correct combustion 3) CTS - Coolant Temp Sensor - Its input to the ECU gives longer Injector open duration when engine is cold / during warm up. It may also control fan on / off but this is often a separate sensor. A fault in any one of the above sensors or a fault (poor connection) changing the voltage across it can give rich running. From my experience on cars the CTS would be the most likely to give a faulty output. Injector - if it has a fault, typically a weak or broken spring or a piece of minute dirt on the seat it does not close properly resulting in "injector dribble" and an over rich mixture. In this case the over richness will be more prominent during gentle use. An ignition fault (typically HT coil failing) can give rich running symptoms including plug sutting because the ignition is not sufficient to give complete fuel burn. EFI injection pressure is typically MAP plus 3 Bar irrespective of tank pressure, therefore a few PSI in the tank due to breather pipe should not have any effect. Cars tend to have an accurately regulated fuel pressure mechanism or a fuel pressure sensor that enables the ECU to calculate injector duration. I do not know which is used on the 4RT. If it has neither then excess pressure in the tank would enrichen the mixture

The older pre pro contacts used to use different oils in each fork leg. This is because one leg contains compression damping and the other rebound damping. A few weeks ago a person i know had a new washing machine (less than £400) installed. A few days later at the second wash it leaked. The supplier immediately put a new door seal in the post which arrived next morning. The owner fitted it but it did not solve the problem. When the owner reported this a new machine was delivered, installed and tested within a week, The installers also taking the old machine and packing away. If this level of service can be provided on a sub £400 machine why not on a several £1,000s bike????