halfway

Yeah it's not great. There was no witness marks or scuffed bare metal and the bore almost looked new so looks like it hasn't even been run in yet which is good, ie hasn't run much. Turning the engine over there was no tick, turning it fast with an electric drill on the crank and plug out and only the lightest of ticks. Seems that in this case was lucky and it was only just touching.

Just an update, engine has had a full strip and clean, new gaskets and seals, valves lapped etc. It had smoked a little but new valve stem seals have fixed that. And found the ticking, it has had a new barrel and piston at some point and the piston with standard gaskets was just touching the cylinder head, making a nice clear ticking sound! Took a while to find what it was and as a temp fix and to double check that was the problem it has gone back together with 2 base gaskets, a new one and the old one. Ticking gone.

I would be surprised if it is just a spark making the noise as it's quite pronounced. Be great if that is all it is though. Will probably pull the clutch cover and have a look, clean the gauze as well. I didn't notice an oil flow bolt but again good call, will take a look. There was plenty of oil in the rocker cover.

So the valves were slightly tight, the cam chain and tensioner all seem good. Can't see anything broken with the valve springs but a bit hard to see into the rocker space. Interestingly the cam was one tooth out on the chain but setting that right has made no difference to the tick. Carb through the ultrasonic cleaner and it startes first time and goes to a nice tickover after a bit of tuning the mixture screw. Pulls great, revs hard and ticks over well. Sometimes gives a cough if you give it a load of throttle at tick over but only 1 in 10 times. Lifts it's front wheel with just throttle quite happily and feels like it has good compression with the kickstart and doesn't smell at all of oil or burning. Ticking is still there, changed the oil and it was old. Had a silvery shimmer to it with some bits. Passing a magnet through the oil and nothing picked up, silver bits and clutch material are all 1 to 2mm bits. But probably hasn't had new oil in ages. Ticking is hard to place, using a stethescope it sounds clear all around the crank cases. Seems a bit louder at the front top of the engine but I am struggling to place it. At first I thought rings or small end but it isn't any louder noise listening directly to the barrel. It doesn't change at all with clutch in or out, or in gear. Ticking is heard clearest with my head above the tank, not to the side of the engine, although you can hear it is ticking as soon as it starts from anywhere near the bike.

Valve clearance and cam chain were going to be my first checks in a couple of days, hopefully just the valves not adjusted to spec. Any ideas what spec should be?

Looking to service a 315r which runs great, anything I should be looking out for or giving special attention? And how do you figure out what year they are? Any manuals for the bike would be useful. Any pointers for coolant, gearbox oil and brake/clutch fluid (dot 4?). How often should the steering head and suspension pivots be stripped and regreased?

Hi, got an unknown age 125 4 stroke with a yamaha engine, monoshock. Trying to find out some servicing info or links to manuals for these, engine oil, brake fluid, carb settings etc. It does have quite a loud ticking from the top end, which comes and goes a bit but is there right through the rev range. It runs ok except a bit hesitant at low rpm. Any obvious problems with these engines that would give the ticking?

Can old Sherpas be registered for road use in the UK? I guess with frame and chassis numbers a logbook can be requested, I have a lighting coil so could easily fit on a set of high/low front and rear/stop lights. Cant imagine an old Sherpa 250 would be great on the road except for short runs to get to the trails but it would save having to trailer it about. Any thoughts on if you can get them road legal or if it's just daft?

Does anyone have any details of torque settings for a Synt 260 motor? Would have thought that other Beta engines would have more or less the same values so any for other models would help. Looking for values for the crankcase bolts, clutch basket and flywheel, cylinder head etc. cheers

All sorted, getting the bearings was never the issue. Simply bearings have them, it was the seperate seals that I was struggling with as them I couldn't find on any bearing suppliers website, they do them for the other size tapper rollers but not the 32004. Turns out after cleaning up that there is an 'o' ring in a groove at the bottom of the head stem and a washer at the top with an 'o' ring, these were missing, they will do a fine job of sealing the head stock with new 'o' rings. Cheers all.

This is a kit for a beta rr300, just can't find one for the synt. No bearing suppliers have these listed.

Any advice on this clutch basket? Not sure what to do with it.

Thanks folks, yes it is a common taper roller and I can get them fine from a bearing shop but having the seals to go with them would be good, which I can't find. Was hoping that a kit with seals from another bike would have the same size taper bearings and seals.

Steering head bearings in my Synt are shot but can't find them listed anywhere. The bearings are 42mm OD x 20mm ID x 15mm deep. I think they are the same size as lots of other bikes but anyone know what other models bearings will fit?

So managed to get the spindle out, took a few hours! Engine apart next. What is the story with the upside down forks? Are they meant to feel different to each other?

Great thanks, do you know if there are any rubber parts in the swingarm? Like oil seals or plastic roller cages? Think it might need some heat to free it off.

Picked up an almost complete Beta Synt today, given away as owner has no time to fix. Brakes and frame all good, wheels and tank fine, cables and exhaust fine, rear suspension seized up and having trouble getting the pivot bolt out to remove the engine. Impeller problem with water in crankcase and front of impeller housing missing. 😬 I'm going to pull the engine and split it to have a look and see what can be done, the bike owes me nothing and happy to have tinker. So how bad is the corroded casings? Are any parts available or will it have to be a jb weld kind of bodge to get it running? Is there a work around fix? Bike looks too much fun to bin, it started 3rd kick after sitting for 3 years. Can an external impeller be fitted? And the swingarm spindle has a nut and washer that has come undone but does the spindle need to be unscrewed from the frame or should it just drift out with the nut off? Cheers.

Few questions: is the Amal carb ok for e10 fuel or should the float bowl and filter be replaced? Same for the fuel tap, is it ok? Any pointers on jetting or settings for e10? And it looks like the clutch basket has some ridges worn into the side of the basket slots where the plate tabs sit, can these be filed flat or best left alone? It appears to have quite good clutch plates but from memory the bike could be quite bad for dragging it's clutch, or slipping, so any pointers for getting the clutch set nicely?

It used to have a thick alloy plate that bolted to the frame as a bash plate but been lost in the past somewhere.

Now have a model 150 Sherpa as a project bike sitting in the garage. Used to own it back in the 80's and enjoyed it as a machine. Will get some pictures up soon but it needs a lot so it may take a while to put back together. The list of parts is long and the bike will never be a 5 star machine again, rather the bike is for using and will be made to work well, not look like it left the factory yesterday. The big bits it needs are: Conrod/big end replacement. Magneto flywheel is missing. Exaust is missing. Front wheel is missing. The list of small bits is quite long but main parts needed are: Swing arm bushes. Kick stand. Bash plate. Seat. Fork seals. Cables and air filter. Kill switch and wiring. It's a lot to do and can see it adding up, and that is without pulling the engine apart to check for any other bits. If anyone has any parts that would fit this project then give us a shout, I'm happy to fit a 350 front wheel or whatever will fit if anything is going. Does a 350 Sherpa front wheel fit?

Cheers Woody. Thats hilarious that we all thought it was a 350 for years! Where is a good place to look for 2nd hand bits?

So finally got the old girl in the shed to have a look at, missing some big bits. Engine number and frame number seem to match Engine PM 15000211 Frame PB 15000211 Can anyone age the bike and give a model number from them? I think it's a 1973 350 T. Missing front wheel, flywheel and complete exhaust. Any bits going?

This looks a little unfinished and a bit out of place. Thoughts?

You are right and if the bike was sitting outside and ready to play on I wouldn't stop to consider it. But it is in a box of bits in someone elses garage at the moment, and if it turns out it is really expesive to get running again then it may take a few years before it is good to play on. So is it worth putting back together? Is it worth doing a mod as a challenge while it sits on the bench waiting for money and parts? Did I enjoy it when I had it 30 years ago? Yes and it was fine when you got used to driving right foot gear change. Hoping from other bikes back and forth it was a bit hard and many a clutchless knock down a gear happened along with lots of rear wheel lock ups at unexpected times. It was the riding both regularly that was hard. Seem to remember that we fitted the gear pedal so it was sticking almost straight up in the air so you couldn't change gear without lifting your foot right off the peg and pushing forward or pulling back to change, that way you remained aware a bit better.

Left hand gear change would have been better for sure. Wonder if it's possible to mod the gear change and brake, with a shaft across the frame for gear change?