stevem75

Often, when assembling Bultaco engines the crankshaft will bind on one crank case half after the case halves have been torqued to specification. Generally speaking the crank can be given a quick swat with a dead blow hammer to “center” it in the cases. It will spin freely once centered. Your crank does need to be repaired. The pin isn’t sitting flush on the one side and it isn’t pressed fully on the other. As well there does appear to be a crack in the one crank half. Good used cranks are easy to find and can be rebuilt with a new rod kit to bring back to oem standard. On the inside of all Bultaco crank wheels are balance factor numbers. Be sure you do not have more than a two number spread between the halves. You had also asked about the rod moving side to side excessively. In the mid 70’s Bultaco was having trouble with Sherpa cranks seizing. Most times this would occur during higher speed applications such as riding a road section for several miles. The crank thrust washers were seizing and causing catastrophic damage. The fix was to remove the washers and use small end spacers at the gudgeon pin between the rod and piston to align the rod on the crank pin. Your crank is this design. It’s normal and desirable. It still is pressed together using 22 thou clearance on the crank bearing, and gives a much more reliable running crank at higher rpm. Steve

Lean the bike over on its left side until fuel flows out the tickler hole . That will over flow the float bowl the same way the tickler would. Try that and see what happens

If the bike has not run for many years it could be really loaded with cruddy old fuel and undesirable sludge in the bottom end. I recently mildly refurbished an Alpina that was a tough go. It had a freshly cleaned carb, new seals and gaskets, new plug and proper timing and it still took probably 100 kicks to get it going. In between I was cleaning the plug and trying to use compressed air to clear things out. Eventually I got it going and now all is fine. You may have the same problem. Youve covered your basics so I’m sure it’s just perseverance from here

The easiest way to differentiate coils is to identify the number stamped on the coil bracket. They will say ELB1-xxx or ELA2-xx The femsatronic coils sometimes can be interchanged and work with lower units. I actually have a list of what coil will match with what generator. Having said that I would recommend using the correct matching setup. There’s nothing wrong with femsatronic if it’s working correctly. I’d continue to use it. In fact the more it’s used the better it is for it. steve

I don’t think it was the US that mandated the manufacture of left side shift. It was more the governing bodies around the world such as the fim that brought the idea forward. Many Harley’s were right side shift as new and the American manufactures would’ve had to follow suite like everyone else. In reality though….. Bultaco was a holdout in this area. Bulto didn’t believe in left side shift. Most other European manufactures already were and his brand was the odd man out. on another note. I’ve tried over the years to get used to left side braking. And I can use it. But not effectively. The switch to left shift right brake was a good one globally in my opinion Steve

When setting timing on a Bultaco you must always set the point gap first. It should be between .35-.45 mm or .016”. once the gap is set you can go about adjusting the actual timing by rotating the stator plate. When looking at the stator if it is rotated clockwise that is advancing the timing. Counter clockwise retards it. Take your time to get it spot on. Don’t make adjustment to the points gap to dial it in. Use the felt wiper pad as mentioned and also use a very slight amount of dry lubricant on the points cam to help prevent the heel of the points from wearing too quickly steve

You mentioned when it started it revved really high. Have you replaced crank seals ? And made sure there’s no air leaks around the carburetor ? Your engine should run with 120 compression. It takes three things to make engines run. Spark (you have it) fuel and compression. It’s one thing to have 120psi secondary compression but primary crankcase compression is always overlooked and is equally important. Make sure those cases are sealed.

As mentioned by woody, it will be jetted out of the box. I’m using one on my 199b. I richened the needle one position and went one pilot size larger. Mine runs crisp and is nicely responsive. I felt out of the box it was perhaps a bit lean. But could just be my climactic conditions. steve

Having followed both of your posts regarding your bultacos I will give my best advice. these are very simple engines. They need three things to run. Spark. Fuel. Compression when checking for spark all you need to do is make sure it sparks. Don’t worry if it isn’t “fat blue spark”, just make sure it does spark. Compression. Bultacos are famous for crank seal leaks if they’ve been sitting for years and years. The leaking seals can cause primary compression leakage and this makes starting them very hard, and if they do start, they run so erractically that no amount of adjusting the carb makes a difference. Another spot to look for air leakage is at the carb manifold and sometimes even the cylinder base gasket fuel. The Amal carbs are famous for wearing out. But more often than not they will run just fine with a perfectly clean Amal or bing carb. They need to be carefully disassembled and cleaned. All the passages in the carbs need to be clear and the jets must also be clear. Once you have made certain that the carburetor is clean, that you have good crankcase sealing , then you can go ahead and verify correct ignition timing and set up. There’s always tons of what I call useless info out there. Banal comments like “put a mikuni on it “ or “put an electronic ignition on it “ and your problems will go away is really just lazy. these bikes ran perfectly fine from new when they were new. And there’s no reason they can’t run like that again with some basic maintenance cover your basics. Spark , fuel. Compression. Once those basics are covered your Bultaco will start and run like your car does everyday Steve

It is normal practice to warm the piston a little bit to allow the pin to slide into the piston. But as far as “press fit” I’ve never seen that on a Bultaco. The gudgeon or ( wrist pin) should slide through the bearing easily.

I’ve purchased and installed the rod kit available from Hugh’s in New York. It’s worked flawlessly and I do recommend them. They’re not italkit. They come in a box with no manufacture label, but if I was to guess, I’m going to say that they’re hot rods. This is an aftermarket company in the states that makes rod kits for tons of Japanese two strokes. I’ve installed probably 4 dozen of them over the years in various modern bikes and they perform very well. In actual fact I’d be more concerned installing a wiseco piston than a hot rods kit in an engine. Any of the kits available through the Bultaco suppliers will work just fine though. steve

The 199A parts manual is readily available from inmotion. There never officially was a 199B parts manual. I have seen versions with hand written notation giving parts numbers. I have a 199B owners manual. It’s identical to the A manual but includes pictorial diagrams of the six speed gear box and air filter fitment instruction. steve

There is documented serial numbers well into the 14900 range I believe.

It’s important to know that bultacos aren’t referred to by year. The M199 and it’s variants were produced for several years. Having said that, 13426 is a relatively lower B model serial so it was likely built in 1981. But that’s an inaccurate way of identifying it. Quite simply it’s a M199B 340cc Sherpa T. It does have a 6 speed gearbox. If you look carefully at the carburetor it may have a date code on it that could give a clue to what year it was assembled. I have seen this on many bing carburetors. It would have for example 3/81 meaning March 81.Virtually everything is available for that bike through inmotion trials in the UK. Bultaco motorcycles in New York carry many if not all parts for it too. yes tank and side panels easily available. In stock trim the bike is an excellent performer. I owned at one time serial 13456. Not too far from yours steve

Simple answer. The engine has been swapped out sometime in the past. Simple as that. It didn’t come from Bultaco with a 138 engine. Someone put it in there when the original engine had to be replaced for whatever reason. Bultacos always left the factory with matching engine and frames. Always ! In the uk in the 70’s it was commonplace to swap out engines and frames for tax reasons. But this swap is more likely because the original 187 engine needed repair or replace and it was easy to install another know good motor.