belldane

Hi I have a 348 similar to yours, eng no 45 something something and was built in 78. My guess is that yours was probably built in 79 before Montesa started building the 349's. Your gearbox problem could be one of two things. Either gear shift drum needs to be adjusted by taking left hand cover off and centering a small cam lobe on the top right hand corner or the worst is a broken main shaft in the gearbox in which case you will need to split the cases to see what the problem is. By the way 348's have 6 gears. I am not sure what you are saying by "the top of the forks being open"? From the pictures you have provided I reckon the coil may still be OK. You can only try after you put it in the right way and does not foul anything. The green wire is for the lighting. If the bike is not going on the road don't worry about it. The only wire you have to worry about is the black one which comes out of the engine and connects to the terminal on the coil. Just bind all the other wires with plastic tape and tuck them away somewhere out of the way. Set timing at 1.8 mm btd and points between 15 to 16 thou and see how you go. I am happy to help if you need it. Just PM me

Hi mate If they are 35mm forks, which I think they are, get yourself a couple of complete fork legs from an old Honda xl250 (mid 70's) and they fit straight on. The only thing you may have to do is fiddle with wheel spacers and perhaps a slightly longer front brake cable as the forks are a bit longer. I have a 247 with the Honda forks and they are much smoother and have longer wheel travel than the original ones. My bike is also fitted with the Honda front wheel which made the conversion a cinch. Hope that helps.

Hi Just want some idea of the value of the bikes above. Both start and run. The Yam not so well as I have not touched it for about 6 months but looks good and could do with a tune. The Ital is in very good condition, no rattles, plenty of power and it still has the original tires, Michellin, in excellent condition. I am thinking of listing them on Ebay. I have three other bikes (Montesas) and as I am getting on I just can't find the time to give them all a good run. What do you reckon would be a reasonable price to expect? The bikes are located in Australia. Thanks for any advice.

Hi mate There are a couple of smart arses on this forum but don't worry they are really all good people. I have a couple of stators down in my shed and will let you know soon. From memory the Cota stators did not change much during the 70's. Will give you an answer in the next couple of days. See ya

Hi If you are talking about the chrome bars that bolt to the head and the frame, I wish you luck!!. I looked around for some for my 348 for about six months with no luck and I am assuming that they are the same on the 349. I got so frustrated towards the end that I made my own from one by quarter inch aluminium. Works fine. You can also try www.southwestmontesa.com and they may be able to help with the genuine article.

Hi John I have a couple of 247's that have suffered the same problem. I read somewhere that it was a design fault. I have had both of mine fixed but happen to have a case which has not been repaired and still has the problem you have, a hole where the kick starter hit the case. It is only a small hole and you should be able to work out what it should look like. If you give me your email address I will send a photo as I have never been able to post photos on this forum. Almost forgot, once you get the case fixed you have to remember to kick start the bike by placing your toes as far back as you can on the kick starter so that when you crank the back of your boot, shoe or whatever you are wearing stops on the footrest. No more holes! Hope that helps. Manuel

Thank you all for that. Had the motor rebored to 2 thou clearance and it is sweet to ride. Started first kick and no probs. Thanks again

I will go in on Monday and get the cylinder bored. My next problem is letting the shop know what clearance I need between the piston and cylinder. I have read somewhere that 247's need 0.085mm and a bloke in the Estates who has worked on many Montesas has advised 0.030mm. I reckon I may go for an in between figure of 0.050mm which is very close to 2 thou's. What do you people reckon? I don't want to stuff this up as I am down to my last cylinder which can be bored. Thanks

Go to this site southwestmontesa.com. Under Repair Guide I am pretty sure you will find what you are after

Hello I have of few old 247's where is the gear shift? And what do you mean by where is the body work?

Thanks for that. I should have mentioned at the start that I split the cases and replaced all seals and bearings in the motor about two weeks ago. I also replaced the little end and bearing and at the same time new rings. The rattle was not as great as before but it is still there and annoying me. The clearance between the piston and cylinder is past its use by date. In some areas around 6 to 7 thou and it is no wonder the rattles are there. I will persevere with this and get it right so at the moment my problem is trying to pick people's brains to see if the slight differences I mentioned between the two pistons are going to make a difference after the rebore

Hello Helm I can assure you the two 247 Cotas I have, have pistons with ports on the intake side. Standard Bore started at 72.58 for bikes imported to Australia but I recall someone saying that those bikes imported into France were slightly smaller in capacity to comply with regulations. Thanks for the reply.

I need some help here please. I have a 247 Cota around 74 75 vintage on standard bore (72.58) that has bad rattles in the top end. New rings, pin, bearing have not done much to stop the problem. I bought a new piston and rings advertised for a Cota 250 (72.75) (made in Italy) but have found that under the original packaging they are marked for a Bulty 250 Sherpa. That was crossed out and Cota written in texta. Both pistons are nearly identical. Original Cota has a port on the intake side with oval ends, the new one has a port with rectangular ends. High and low skirts appear to be the same. Ring pegs on the old one are at the front, the new one has them at the rear but as the light is fading here I can't tell whether the ends are adjacent to other ports in the cylinder. One other thing, The old piston has a V shape under under each of the pin holes. The new one has square ones but not as big. What do you reckon? have the cylinder bored out and see what happens? I would like your opinions on this as this is the last 247 cylinder I have left!! Thanks for any advise you can give me.

I've had a look at a couple of old motors I have here which don't have any ports on the pistons and in both cases the shorter skirt is to the rear. Hope that helps

Hi John If the short skirt has a port in it then it goes to the the intake side (rear) See ya

Hi Feetupfun The wrench I have described can be used can be used to either undo the nut or do it up. To do the nut up you place one of the lugs on the flywheel opening and the other on the outside of flywheel. The handle rests ON TOP of the kick starter shaft to stop the flywheel turning anti clockwise. To undo the nut you use exactly the same procedure except the handle rests UNDER the shaft so that it stops the flywheel turning clockwise. If you didn't need an astronaut license to post photos on this forum I would place them here. If you give me your email address I can send the photos off to you. You can post them here if you like and have more patience than me Regards Manuel PS I know it works for Montesas but not sure about other bikes as it is all dependent on the position of the kick starter shaft.

Hi Feetupfun Regarding the holes in the flywheels, I have 4 old Cotas, a 348 and the others are 247's and none of them have any holes in the flywheels. The only opening in any of them is where the points are adjusted. Luckily, I have found that I can use a large wrench from an angle grinder with the two lugs (the one that secures the blade) and by resting one of the lugs into the slot of the flywheel and the other lug on the outside of the flywheel and the handle resting on the kick starter shaft, I can undo and do up the nut to the required tension. It is also used for holding the flywheel while I use the puller. If that kick starter shaft wasn't there I would be stuffed as I have tried various other methods like taking the clutch cover off and jamming a rag between the primary gear and the clutch to stop things moving. Another method I read about on this site was to put rope down the plug hole but that one did not appeal to me!

Thanks for the ideas. Problem was the carby. The bike had at some stage been fitted with an Amal (same size, shape and jetting) but built in England. I bought another Amal carb, this one made in Spain and the difference is outstanding. Revs cleanly and just wants to rev and rev some more. Maybe the insides are different but who knows. Anyway, thanks again for your ideas.

Hello Everyone I suspect that some of you may have owned one of the above bikes at some stage (and now decided to go a bit slower) and I am hoping you may be able to help with a problem I am having. Bought the bike sight unseen and when I got it home discovered that all that was claimed in the ad was not factual, but that is my problem now. The bike starts with no trouble after a couple of kicks. When I go for a ride, 1st and 2nd gear no problems. If I increase the revs above approx 3000rpm the bike starts to splutter and run erratically. Just does not like high revs. Things I have had checked are coil -seems fine, swapped for another spare that I have - same problem. Changed the points, plug, the plug cap and condenser with new new ones - same problem. Checked timing.-spot on -same problem. Carby cleaned many times and according to hand book right jets, needle position, etc ' also new needle and seat -same problem. Air filter has been cleaned also muffler removed in case it was clogged up somewhere and still the same problem. I am starting to wonder if the the person who supposedly restored the bike did something to cause the problem. The only options open to me at the moment are to start a complete restoration of the motor and to make sure that all is ok, but before I do that can you think of anything else I should check on? Maybe crank case seals, air leaks somewhere, even the wrong cylinder or piston for the carb jetting? Oh! one thing I forgot was that the original Amal carby has been replaced with one bought in England, which was suppossed to be the same as the original. I am at your mercy. Thanks for any help you can provide

Never seen such a conversion. My 348 is stock standard and going down those slopes is sometimes interesting! I have a couple of old 247's which I have fiddled with in the front end department. The original one I bought was missing a front wheel and being the inpatient bugger that I am decided to fit the same diameter front wheel from an xl250 that I had lying around. The forks are original and with a bit of fiddling managed to fit the wheel on. The bike rides the same as before but having front brakes which are nearly twice the size of the original ones makes a better bike to ride and stop. Having had such a success with the first bike I went a little bit further with the second one and fitted a complete front end (also from an old xl250). The Honda forks are about 3 to 4 inches longer than the standard Montesa ones. Stopping wise, again, it is way above the standard Monty setup. One good thing about the second bike is that the forks can be adjusted to suit riding conditions. Most of the riding I do is around our property and conditions can range from fairly tight corners, over logs and small to medium rocks, all slow going stuff. to general riding around. By raising the forks to the limit for the tighter stuff, throttle response is amazing, just one blip of the throttle and over I go. (that is if I don't give it too much blip and end up in the bush somewhere). Oh almost forgot, for all the purists out there I now have standard wheels and the forks for both bikes if I ever decide to sell them.

Hi mate, regarding the condenser Take the flywheel off and take condenser out from where it currently sits. Find somewhere suitable on the frame (my seats under the tank) and drill a small hole to attach and earth the condenser. The wire from the condenser is then joined to the black wire going to the coil and that is it. Your kill switch wire can also be joined to that black wire going to the coil. Hope that helps.

Hi While you are mucking around with the kill switch, why don't you change the position of your condenser? I always had bad problems with my points having to be filed and reset every couple of months as the current position under the flywheel could not be worse with heat etc etc. I actually put the condenser under the tank and since then the bike has been fine. I can't remember how I wired it up but it was very simple. If you are interested I can have a look and let you know. See ya

Thanks Problem solved. Black/Yellow to coil. Black /Blue to earth.

I really would not worry about it. I have a couple of 247's which are a couple of years older than yours and they also have the same problem. Both bikes were fully rebuilt (cases split etc etc ) Everything was fine inside. One thing I do however is try not to continue kicking over fast if they don't start after 3 or 4 kicks. The kick starter slipping problem is common with old Montesas. See ya

Regarding the oil for the Cota, I have the same book but you will have a hard time finding straight sae20 oil. I have been using sae 10w 30 for the clutch in my old Cotas and it has been fine. For the gearbox straight 80-90 gear oil.