bigshineybike

Inspiration here is a lovely 248 for sale, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Montesa-cota-248-twinshock-/111352203178?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item19ed1bc7aa this set on ebay is reasonable if you consider it contains every sticker for a full restoration. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MONTESA-COTA-248-FULL-KIT-DECALS-NEW-MONTESA-COTA-248-KIT-DECALS-FULL-BIKE-/380635232472?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item589fa0b8d8 maybe contact him direct and ask if he does a part kit? or do you have the old stickers? there are people around that can recreate them from basic patterns. I dont have time to help you myself but have made replacement vynils using adobe illustrator you need the sizes and to know how the stckers need to be shaped. if you know anyone that can do basic graphic design on any PC they can create the artwork. then any high street vynil cutter will make up the vynils for around £30. It does start to make the mass produced version look cheep.

my 348 stood in the garden for a month. It rained a lot. The electrical side flywheel cover doesn't have a good seal and that was my most troubling issue, the damp caused all the electrics to fuzz up. inside the engine the two stroke oil clinging to all the moving bits protected the metal. In the gearbox the water should stay separate from the thick oil. and will pour out easily. but fix it asap. check out these pictures of my old fura 50 engine https://www.flickr.com/photos/33646233@N04/6634323851/in/set-72157628713977875/ see the water line! I think the water settles under the oil so the rust forms from the bottom. Not so sure where the oxygen comes from.

Condenser. All the other things you mention will make it run bad but a hot failing condenser will give an intermittent misfire, and gradual points failure. By the time you push the dead bike up to the car park its running again? When you do move the condenser make sure its terminals clear the metal petrol tank.

Possible yes, but It is unlikely to be practical. If you split the cases then the bearings will likely stay in the casing and you can easy press them out. they may stick to the crank then you can get a legged puller and easily pull them off maybe with a hot air gun to ease every thing. To do this without splitting the cases you will need a special blind bearing puller. You not be able to use much heat. Putting in the new bearings feels like it might be quite an aggressive operation and there is a careful shimming process you need to do. Previous owner of my bike lost all the shims, which isnt good for end float between the seal holders. there are a few shims in the gearbox, they are fairly critical to gearchanging. They are determined by thickness of the new gasket you use. don't mix them up, watch out for them falling as the halves come apart, they should stick in the oil and fall off ten minutes after you separate the cases.

I have had a 348 engine lying around for a while and took it apart yesterday. I found that there are two types of gear selector used on the 348 engine. Both have a shaft that is indexed by the spring plunger you find under the big bolt at the back of the gearbox case. one version only has one indent and uses the cam and wheel device. The other has 6 detente slots and no detente wheel or cam plate. this may be useful if you are buying second hand gears. None of my parts lists show the cam plate version. I have not swapped everything round yet but they look interchangeable.

I hope this photo works. Any one know if it can be left off or how it should be set up?

I have been looking at gearbox selector on my latest 348. I found this which may help you. http://www.rmmontesa.com/shiftingdifficulties.htm I have another question; anyone know anything about the additional indexing device fitted to my 348 ? I have three 348 engines, there is the ratchet device that common on all of them and most other Montesas but this third engine has an additional index plate fitted to a square peg on the end of the selector drum. it uses a crude looking spring and roller arrangement. Most of this engine has been thrown together so I am trying to find how to set this part up or if i should miss it out altogether.

Even rotten tubes seem to sell for a lot on ebay so do not chuck them away.

When I first bought mine there were no shims in the gearbox at all, previous owner was a clump. that meant that while he was riding it the gears were all rubbing themselves to bits. no permanent damage but a lot of work to make shims and build it up carefully from scratch. search this montesa forum there's a few links to free download manuals. send me your email address by PM and I can email you a copy. the other failure is the brass thingy that transmits pressure to the clutch basket in the outer casing, in my case previous owner lost it so clutch spider was rubbing directly against the operating fork. I made one easily from brass but i have a lathe and mill. they do turn up on ebay now and again when someone breaks an engine. but they are a wear item.

I have two 348s one with fibreglass tank one with alloy tankj and GRP cover. I restored the fibreglass tank, filled the chips, ground back and added fresh gel coat where it needed it and then sprayed the whole thing with 2K paint. looked lovely but the petrol fumes seem to bubble under the paint lifting it off in little round pieces. I have another tank which is unpainted GRP (yellow) that is battered but perfect physical condition. I suggest you get the ally tank welded, its a lot less fuss and if you start googling caswell you will find for every success story there is someone that got it wrong and ruined the tank. simplest way is drain the tank when you are not using it.

Keep an eye on ebay, there is a company I believe in Spain that remakes caps, they are ridiculously expensive! I have seen used ones go for £60

In Motion are great for most of the stuff you will need day to day. There are a few companies abroad re-manufacturing some pretty bits for restorations. I use the saved search feature on ebay. it can be fiddly to set up but if any parts come up including Montesa and 348 Iget an email and if its something i think might be useful i put in a bid. I do now have a garage full of bits that might come in useful. I do not have his details to hand but if you Google Mick at Tricky Trials he is a great source of advice and parts. No one answered your Rathmell question, I do believe it has been discussed on trials central previously. I met a seller on ebay that got into trouble having sold a 'rathmell frame' to someone in Sweden. he was a bit careless describing it as such and had to refund the buyer a lot of money since it didn't have the tweaks that a real one should have.

I have a 1972 Fura 50 and that has alloy mudguards. They seem to be origional fitment. On holiday in portugal last year we spotted an immaculate 348 fitted with Alloy guards. It looked really pretty but was being used in traffic. Off road it would be a good mark of your status as a pro to not bend them first day out.

7 mm is not generally a standard size. in car accesory shops you may find a 7mm key sold for removing brake calipers on a lot of German cars. If they are already rusty you must use a good fitting key or you will end up drilling them out which gets expensive. In Motion sells new nuts.

http://www.bikeexif.com/montesa here is an alternative idea. black powdercoat and a leather tank finish. Chrome maybe expensive but how about stopping at the copper plate stage? Nickel plate can be a less blingy finish especially if the bike is more show than go.

At the moment Sandifords have a selection of crank halves for sale on Ebay. If you are not an Ebay fan try to contact them direct. starting price is £25 although francetrialsclassic have them for about £150

The airbox isnt a common part to fail. There seem to be a number of bikes being broken. My advice if you have time is to set up a search for montesa parts on Ebay. Even consider looking for bikes being broken on Ebay and asking the seller privatly if he has an airbox left over. Airboxes do come up now and again and rarely are bid on unless in 'new' condition. I would be interested though to hear if there are any pitfals to using a simple foam filter. The airbox is a pain when it comes to removing the carb for clenaing, removal of the exhaust system. It would be easier to not use one. there is one on ebay today.

There were rockets to the moon pre 1965. Regarding cost, this project doesnt sound like a posh bloke p****** lots of ill gotton cash up the wall. Nothing to be envious of here just someone working hard at his hobby. I have utter respect. looking forward to seeing it.

The Cranks are different between the 348 and 349. I belive the 348 has round cranks and the fly wheel and generator are not interchangeable across the two engines.

I have them in white on my Montesa. I agree about cutting off the 'mudflap', mine got trapped in the wheel and snapped off. In Motion also have them in Silver.

Not being very good at measuring the open casings, I approached this job by assembling the gearbox tightly with all bolts done up and gaskets in place. measuring the endfloat on the shafts is (in my opinion) easier and more positive than the process described in the Clymer manual. I made up my own spacers from brass shim. Does that make sence?

Here is a little inspiration maybe? http://www.bikeexif.com/montesa-cota?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Bikeexif+%28Bike+EXIF%29

How did you remove the pinion gear ? did it come off easy ?..I'm trying to get the pinion off my cota 247 without success at the moment. Any comments would be gratefully welcomed.. Thanks I am trying to post a pic of the puller I used. here it is on my flickr feed this is based on a GM steering wheel puller. Google it there are loads the legs snapped off first time I used it so I threaded the ends of the pull bars. then Screwed these into an 8mm thick steel plate with a u shape slot. the plate is 8mm thick steel. this is then ground back to clear certain bits of the engine casing. It was a bit of a game to make all this but now I can whip the pinion on and off with some ease. Its important to re torque everything afterwards as they can come off easily enough being that the only fit is the taper. Also make sure the flywheel weight has a good fitting woodruff key as it is common for vibrations to cause the crank to snap where the keyway is deeply machined into the crankshaft.

I changed the seal on the gearbox side only. It was a differnet design to that which was fitted. (came in a Honda packet with double lips blue rubber from InMotion) I think the oily exhaust was contributing- I found this which sums this up http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731048&page=9 Also I discovered that the fuel isnt getting through at full revs so I guess that was leaning it out causing overheating. That was caused by having an inline paper filter as well as tank strainer and filter bowl strainer. the old grp tank had left a lot of bits of red stuff blocking everything. this last weekend I managed 4 laps at Bagshot heath without any bike related issues so all seems well now.

I am hoping its this. the exhaust system is very oily, I repacked it only about 6 hours (running time) ago. I have a riveted plate in the silencer middle box which maybe letting air in (supporting combustion?) I am taking the engine apart this week as new crank seals are probably due anyway. I will let you know what else I find. Thanks.