Old Bike Mart Magazine January 2013 Back Issue

Happy new year! And here’s to a slightly drier one than 2012. Though I wonder which water company will be the first to suggest a drought as a possibility.
It’s funny isn’t it, there’s always some rather plausible explanation for a drought coming out of the publicity or press departments of water companies. There’s the old “well, we’ve had a number of dry years and the water table is low, could take years to fill up” to the “usage and concreting over of catchment areas” reason that always makes me laugh.
What is less often mentioned is the leakage from the infrastructure that amounts to a considerable loss – I’ve heard quantities akin to several thousand swimming pools worth of water lost every single day, though I couldn’t confirm that of course... I’m guessing that figure didn’t just leak out.
And speaking of good sized leaks, that nice Mr Grant took my B40 over to the Isle of Man for the two-day trial and he was rewarded with an anti-rust coating to most of the inside of his van. He suggested I may like to do something about the problem, if only to slow down the use of valuable resources such as crude oil.
What with one thing and another, I’ve only just got round to doing it and attacked the problem at either end of the engine.
Okay, most of us will know that oil spurting out of engine cases is down to two main reasons – cases with gaps and/or pressure caused by compression getting past the rings.
Both are reasonably easy to fix as case leaks simply need flattening – which I thought I’d done last time the engine was apart – then sealing with a good silicone sealant, and a new set of piston rings will restore pressure to the top end.
Stripping the top end down showed oil had been getting past the rings and the reason being gaps normally measured in thous were actually better measured in 1⁄16ths...
Luckily the bore was fine and new rings brought the gaps to a closer tolerance. The cases on the other hand will need rubbing on an old mirror coated with grinding paste.