Royal Enfield Interceptor Owners

Just to clarify privacy, please check our privacy statement -->>

Oil comes up at the Dip Stick -Silver , Sweden(October 1, 2002)
Oil channel screws in Crank case or? -Royal Brisbane, Australia(October 2, 2002)
When bike is cold, oil comes out around the oil filter -Dan Neff Vancouver Canada (October 10, 2002)
The maximum play permitted on big ends? -Tim, Norfolk , England (October 14, 2002)
Texas loves Interceptors -Joe Tokarz Texas-USA (October 20, 2002)
Fork stanchion length on Series 2 ? -Mitchell Western Australia (October 23, 2002)
A 69 interceptor here just north of Trenton New Jersey USA -BCG Trenton, NJ, USA (October 25, 2002)
Traded W1 kawasaki for two 67 interceptor Howard Dorris, Kiln, Mississippi, USA(October 27, 2002)
Looking for enfield indian chief 1959-61 restorable Phil, Billerica, Massachusetts, USA(October 29, 2002)
About the Interceptor Rickman for SaleJonathan(October 31 2002)

Print some parts of the workshop manual -Edgar (Thu, September 26, 2002)
It's a restoring project for my son and I. -EODMike (Thu, September 26, 2002)
Locate bits f Royal Enfield 250cc Crusader Super 5 -EODMike (Thu, September 26, 2002)
Hello Hitchcock About Mufflers and news -Royal (Thu, September 22, 2002)
I ended up purchasing the 1966 Interceptor that was on eBay -Bob (Sun 22 Sept 2002)
What are the best Vacuum gauges - ..gREgg(Sunday, 22 September 2002)
Whitworth , SAE, UNC, BSP, BA, UNF BSW and BSF fasteners -gREgg/ Bob C/Bob(Sunday, 22 September 2002)
High output Alternators -gREgg /Rick/ Joerg/ Orlan/Ole/Bob C - (14 Sept 2002)
Banjo Bolts   -gREgg /Bob H- (Thu 12 Sept 2002)
Oil pressure concerns - Oil Cavitation and solutions - Ole / Peter/Bill/Royal (20/08/2002)

Help to identify an MK 1 (Sun Jul 28, 2002 ) -Jennifer
Getting my Amals to idle!  Good points  -Gridley Bruce /Rick F / gREgg/ Bob C/Bob St/(Thu Jul 25, 2002)
Primary Transmission Troubles (Thu Jul 25, 2002) -Rick F/ Bob C
Oil pressure relief valve and warning light -Paulus - (Tue Jul 23, 2002 )
King Kong-Royal Enfield Interceptor 1965 Cycle World Road   -Billy Dean (Sun Jul 21, 2002)
Clutch Drag and Hitchcock's belt conversion kit.!  -Karin /Rick F- (Sun Jul 21, 2002)
Shrouded Rear Shockies! - Rod / Bob/ Dave/ Rick L/ gREgg-(Wed Jul 17, 2002
Oil for transmission - Bob St/ Bob C/ Roger/ gREgg / Royal (Sun Jul 14, 2002)
How to install the rubberized Swing arm bushes Great- gREgg - (Thu Jul 11, 2002 )
American Indian Interceptor models . Royal/ Bob/ Robert S/Jennifer(Tue Jul 3, 2002)
Good Enough Mufflers or dissatisfaction? -Rick F/ Royal- (Wed Jul 3, 2002 )

---

Modified Pump Ports.

Bill,

Promised you the drawings I made some time back of modified pump ports.
( The .dgn file is the original - but it seems to have translated ok to .dwg ?
I also have bitmap files of these drawings if anyone is interested - but they are really heavy !

If we find a solution with a gear pump ( or a trochodiodal (sp) pump ? - as Rick suggests ) all these modifications with windkettles and valving port modifications will be history !

Rick suggested the BSA/Triumph Triple pump !? Does anybody know someone who has one of these bikes ?

My possibilities of finding the right pump are not all that good. We don't have any auto- or mc scrappers in my area any more, and my searches on the net have not been succesfull . Please help !! : Output capacity ; Approx 2 cc pr pump rev. The size : I'm sure you all have a good feeling of what kind of space is available behind that pump-cover.

Once we find a pump, I will have the tools to design an adaption kit.

Best regards
Ole

---

GA guy by the name of Phillip Pick(Dec 04, 2002)

-"Ole P. Eriksen" <eriksvir@p..

Rick suggested the BSA/Triumph Triple pump !? Does anybody know someone who has one of these bikes ?
-----

In the UK, there is a guy by the name of Phillip Pick who owns and runs a shop called Triple Cycles. He is one of the most knowledgeable people you could find on Triumph and BSA triples and likely knows a bit about Interceptors too. If anyone can help you to answer the question of how well one of the triple gear pumps would work on an RE, he'd be the one.

He had a bad accident on his bike a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure how active he is now. I did hear he was recovering fairly well. I've lost touch with him over the years, and don't have his e-mail address anymore.

He's very well known though. Maybe somebody else can tell you how to track him down. You can also find ads for his shop in a lot of the British classic bike magazines.

Bob Cram

Try P.M.Pick--@--triples.demon.co.uk (remove hyphens in this email address) If that doesn't work just tell me and I'll dig his phone number up. I hear he's recovering from his accident nicely.
Rick Fisher

---

(Nov 04, 2002)

Gary from Rooklin, Ontario, Canada with Interceptor Series II 1970, writes

Message: Hello Royal et all. My name is Gary Elder and I am about to receive a gift of a 1970 RE Interceptor basket case. I live in the east suburbs of Toronto, Canada in a small town called Brooklin. My friend bought the bike new in Toronto from Harry Firth's in June 1970 for $1620 CDN and put ~6000 miles on the bike over 6 years.

It has been sitting in a poorly sealed garage exposed to the heat and damp (fortunately not direct sun and rain) for the past 26 years. The seat, handle bars, speedo, tach and a few other bits were removed and brought into his apartment and are in relatively good shape.

The rest is pretty much as you would expect. He used to pump oil into the cylinders every year or so then kick over, but even this has not been done for a few years. I have read through everything on your web page and am very impressed with the knowledge and enthusiasm of the gang.

I have joined the Yahoo discussion group and am just waiting on my approval. I'm looking forward to chatting and interacting with the other members of the REI gang although I have a feeling that I will be requesting more information than I will be supplying for quite some time.

I am planning to completely tear down and restore the bike to its previous glory, but not back to concours perfect as I am looking forward to some sunny Sunday rides on the machine. In the late 80's I owned a nice little 1975 Honda 400/4 Supersport. I sold it and went to ride and race dirt bikes until about 1995. I have not owned any bikes sine then.

I have never properly restored a bike in my life, so I will be asking a lot of questions and asking for help to get this machine back humming along the road again. I am not in a rush (time to play always being and issue) and I want to make sure that I do a proper job. I am creating a complete documentation on the history of the bike and the restoration (words and photos). Please let me know if you would be interested in updates as I move along with the project.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for creating and maintaining the REI website. I know it took, and continues to take a lot of time and effort on your behalf. It has already been a gerat source of information for me.

Keep up the great work!!!

Sincerely
Gary

Gary
Getting guys like you finding us, sharing with us, making good use of the information whilst also giving something back for our stories, knowledge base etc, is a privilege.

I whish everyone who came knocking gave such a good intro of themselves. That way we can get an idea of each other and communicate better. On behalf of the
rest of the guys, welcome and good luck with you endevor, I'm sure there are many willing to help you with any questions in the quest of making sure yet another legend can again hit the road, dispelling the impression that Royal Enfield is only a fifties style Indian transporter.

Be sure to take photos of your restoration (no cluttered backgrounds). I'm looking for some good complete restoration stories. Your story below is also put in as an entry on the discussion group.
REgards
Royal

Welcome Gary, from another Canuck, though a long way away in Saskatoon. There are some others on the list much closer to you. You didn't mention the tank being stored inside, which likely means it is full of rust. There's a great tank restorer in Ontario. You can find his website at http://www.execulink.com/~rosst/

I've used him, as have others on this list, and everyone praises his work. It's a bit expensive though, but you're paying for quality.

Your first restoration is a great experience, although it tends to take a little longer. I remember tackling my first one, a Triumph. For anyone doing it the first time, here's a few things I wish I'd known back then. It sounds already like you are thorough and organized, so you'd probably do these things anyway, unlike me.

- Read everything you can find first. Nicholson's Modern Motorcycle Mechanics is a very good source of information on commonly used components on British bikes such as Amal, Lucas, etc. - Get a factory workshop manual and parts manual for your RE

- Take lots of pictures of the various parts of the bike before you disassemble

- Label and bag everything in an organized fashion (eg. all carb parts together); plastic ziplock bags work great for this and if you want you can dribble a bit of a light oil in each bag to keep things from rusting

Regards

Bob C

Royal & Bob,

Thank you for your welcome and words of encouragement and thanks for the tips you provided.

I will get the RE workshop manual with the bike. I borrowed it from my friend a few years ago to read through, but I don't remember if the parts lists are included in the manual or not. I'll find out in a week or so when I pop around to start picking up the loose parts. (I don't have a truck or trailer, so I'll need to make some
arrangements to get the chassis home.)

I am reading through the Haynes Motorcycle Workshop Practice Techbook now and I'll track down the Nicholson's book. I have rebuilt or repaired most parts of a motorcycle at least once over the years, but I must admit I am really weak when it comes to carb reconditioning and set up.

I always take the carb off, set it on the bench, do what I have to do, bolt it back on and pray the everything works again. I had a book on carbs a number of years ago, but I gave it to a motorcycle buddy. That might explain my weakness if I had the book and the just gave it away!! Ha. Ha. I'll se if I can get it back.

To answer your question Bob, no I did not forget to add the tank to the list of parts stored indoors. Unfortunately, it's still on the bike. When I asked my buddy what condition it was in his reply was' "I don't know. If I don't look, then I won't have to think about how bad it is." It's been a couple of years since I've seen the bike and I didn't check the tank out at that time. I'm assuming that there will be some serious rust to deal with.

I read the section on tank reconditioning and see that Don and Gregg have both used Ross Thompson, as well as yourself. Thanks for the link. I checked out his website and he has some remarkable pictures showing what he can do. I'll get in contact with him once I determine the condition of the tank.

Once again, thanks for the welcome and I'm looking forward to getting started.

Health, Happiness & Success
Gary

-Hi Gary, like your enthusiasm for your project, go for it! I have a '70 as well that was originally sold by Firths in TO, presumably in '70.

As a former Hamiltonian I was in that shop in early summer that year looking for Rocket three parts, it amuses me to think that my Series11 (and now yours as well) might have been sitting in the showroom at the time I was there..

Dont remember the shop much, just that you had to climb an old wooden stairway to get to the parts dept, or maybe it was to the whole place, it was a long time ago..

Anyway I just wanted to say I've always found it invaluable to have a parts manual for whatever bike I was working on to help with assembly sequences as well as the part #'s for ordering. I believe both Hitchcocks and Burton's bike bits have these in stock for the 69 Series11 and you probably know that, but one thing I managed to find at Burtons is the type written supplement for this book for the '70 only model, which includes all the #'s for the '70 stock accessories, just a few typewritten pages stapled together but invaluable info if you need it.

Also would love to see photos of your progress as you suggest..maybe it would get me going again on mine..

Good luck and get at 'er..
Oh yeah meant to say that new Amals are actually cheap and can be ordered jetted for specific motor applications, got some from a guy in the eastern states for just $99 US ea, brand new, saves lots of headaches for the price I figure, and it sounds to me you've enough to worry about for now..
Bob

Thanks Bob(bob736cc)for the weclome and the tips. If I don't get the parts list with the manual, I'll definately chase you down for the suppliment.

I am down with the flu now and have a busy schedule up to Christmas so I won't likely get the RE home until the end of Dec or early Jan.

I have been scanning or reading the messages posted in the past year. There is a 'ton' of great information that I will be using during the resotration process.

After scanning the messages, I don't see mention of any major engineering flaws on the RE that every owner 'has to do'. Either the RE was really well designed and built (my preferred wish) or the issues are so obvious and well know that everyone just does it and there's no need to mention it.

Here is my first question to the group:

While I have the opportunity, are there any modifications that I would be foolish not to do during the restoration process?

As mentioned in my first hello message, I would like to put the RE back into "original" condition unless there is something "original" that would cause safety, mechanical or unreliability issues. I do not plan on using the RE for daily travel or for long distance
riding, but more as a sunny Sunday tour bike with my wife on the back, or with some other vintage enthusiasts on a road run or at a rally.

With only 6000 miles on the machine, I'm not expecting any huge wear issues. The orginal owner (who shall be referred to 'my buddy Dave' in the future)was a meticulous maintainer while the bike was on the road and is very easy on his vehicles (i.e. no abuse).

I know that on top of cosmetic repairs, I'll be looking at replacing seals, tires & tubes, final drive chain etc. I could also have some serious damage due to the amount of time the bike as been sitting (bores, rings, bearings, carbs, fork tubes, brake drums, etc.).

I read the discussions on the primary drive belt conversion and the benefits seem to be an increase in performance and a decrease in noise. If it's not a reliability issue, I think I'll keep it stock.I will re-read the section on silencers again and may be chasing poeple for some answers as I believe the original ones are in pretty rough shape and my not be repairable.

Is there some electrical mod that needs to be done to improve starting or running? Some engine modification that needs to be done to correct a design issue that wasn't caugt during production?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Gary

Re: Thanks for the Welcome

The parts book is separate from the workshop manual. I got mine from the Royal Enfield Owners Club (the North American rather than the UK organisation, although both can probably provide it). I imagine there is a link at the Interceptor website telling you how to contact them.

Nicholson's book is getting hard to find, but John Oland at Motoparts Canada in Edmonton has a bunch of them. He bought up most of Bernie Nicholson's stock when Bernie finally retired.

Carbs are actually one of the easiest things to deal with once you understand the basics of how they function, and they're also easy to assemble and disassemble. The workshop manual and Nicholson's book both have good sections on Amal carburetors. If the bike sat for a long time with fuel in the carbs then gum deposits can build up inside them that are difficult to remove.

The deposits narrow the effective size of the jets and make a bike run very poorly, if at all. So check if the current owner drained the carbs before storing the bike. Later Amal carbs had an easily removed drain bolt on the bottom that made this quick and easy. Yours likely doesn't have the drain bolts, which means removing the float bowls to drain the carbs.

A good long soak in carb cleaner (after removing all plastic and rubber parts) and an air hose can usually clean out the deposits. You'll want to replace all gaskets,
o-rings, and probably the float needles and the needle jet. Both of the latter two are prone to more rapid wear than other carb parts, and they're cheap and easy to replace. One caution.

Never overtighten the nuts that mount the carbs to the engine. If overtightened, they will warp the carb body, which is dangerous since the throttle slide can then stick in the body. Not fun at wide open throttle. If warped, the fix gets a bit expensive, but they can be repaired by specialist shops. Or you can by brand new ones.

Bob Cram

---

Pictures of Bill's - (The oil dampening explorer) Bike

(December, 2002)

Hi Royal,

I finally got around to taking a couple of photos. I wanted to post them on
the Yahoo site but I can't figure out how to do it. Here's the photos in case you do the posting. If not let me know how to do it.

Thanks and best regards,
Bill

Hey Bill
This Bike has got character. A couple of modifications as well, It's a69?
Good photo, a touch over exposed but I'll fix that, nice background
One for the gallery

Cheers
Royal

Thanks for the compliment on my bike. I bought it new in 1969 in England. It has had a long hard life. It's be crashed and rebuilt several times. If you look closely at the Close-up Picture you can see where I drilled into the timing cover for the pulsation dampener experiments.

Thanks again,
Bill

---

"Diverting the Oil flow..."-Anti Cavitation Chamber (December 13, 2002)

I have a 1969 Series II. I think Peter's remark about "diverting the flow..." refers to the 12 psi relief valve that feeds the rockers. This valve has a discharge path straight down into the crankcase. I think Peter's "tank" is really the crankcase sump.

The Series I timing cover is different from the Series II cover. I believe the cover in the pulsdamp photo is a Series II cover. Maybe the combination of the pulsation dampener, the two-start pump drive, and the blocked off relief valve will do the trick.
Best regards to all,
Madmax

Rick Wrote(re. Above):
Read madmax's e-mail to-day and just wanted to know if he has a Series 1 or a Series II. Re-reading Peters reply WRT his anti cavitation chamber it would seem that he has a Series 1 as I quote "we diverted the flow from the pressure relief valve to the heads instead of straight to the tank" (as we Series II owners know their is no "tank" on a Series II) so my question is can Peters modification be adapted to a Series II timing cover? Are they the same cover?

As to gREggs reply WRT a two start oil pump great info and can anyone supply more info on this item. On another note. Their had been some discussion previously about retro fitting another manufacturers oil pump into our engines and I notice that L.P. Williams is selling 4-valve piston type oil pumps verces the usual two piston type that were fitted to Triumph and BSA twins and last weekend I saw a Norton Commando with the timing cover off and their chain driven gear type oil pump is a pretty compact unit. And the 74 and up 850's had a check valve incorporated into
the timing cover to stop wet sumping.

Their are also some anti sumping valves on the market (AJS/Matchless and Velos)that have an electrical switch incorporated that will not allow you to fire the machine up without having the valve turned on which guarenties against no oil supply. This may allow the use of a gear type pump which would probably be the best type to use. Earlier I had suggested a Triple gear pump but on second blush this is a rather large unit to try and install internally in the engine. And lets not forget the Japanese who have made so many different engines that perhaps we could find
something there that could be incorporated internally making for a tidy installation.
Cheers
Rick Fisher

The Series I and Series II timing covers are quite different beasts, though they are similar in concept.

Just a minor correction regarding Norton's pump: the anti-drain valve was fitted by Nortons on the timing cover of the 850 MKIII , starting in 1975. It was badly needed to keep the engine from wet sumping, but did not work very well at all. The pump itself is a bit large, and is not without its problems ....

Also the Norton pump, though it looks to be chain driven, is not. The chain simply drives the cam. The pump is driven is geared up from the crank, by use of a multi-start worm gear as on an Enfield. I can't recall exactly off the top of my head, but I believe it is a 3 start worm.

I believe the best hunting grounds for a pump might be the later Japanese bikes, which almost universally employed trochoidal pumps. The trick will be in how to integrate them, since they tend to be bulky. When time allows, I'm going to also investigate the gear pump as used the BSA B31/33/Gold Star engine as well. It is a very compact, cylindrical unit, but I fear that it may not have the capacity.

.. gREgg

I'm a couple of weeks away (2nd week in January) from tearing down two engines to make one good Series II and eagerly look forward to your results. Please keep us posted. For Peter (if your "out there") do you ride a Series I or II?
Cheers
Rick Fisher

---

Twin Start Oil Pump(December 14 2002)

Allan at Hitchcock's Motorcycles says that the Series I Interceptors had a twin start oil pump but this was not deemed necessary on the Series II engine.

I have a pre 1967 Interceptor manual and it says the pump runs at 1/6th engine speed just like the Series II.

Is there anyone in the group who has a '67 or '68 Series I or manual that can shed some light on what the Twin Start Oil Pump looks like?
Madmax

---

David Spires from Omaha Nebraska USA(December 17 2002)

, who has a -67, MK1A Writes:

This site continues to have value for passing on Interceptor knowledge and experience and a repository for that information. I know it requires a fair amount of effort on your part; it is much appreciated.

Have a great holiday season and New Year.

---

Jan-Erik from Eksjö Sweden

Has an interceptor mc II -70,

Thanks for a good site.

Jan-Erik