Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Bsa bulletin board First BSA, 1972 A65L, Engine troubles

I plan on putting the hoop that connects to the fender back on, it's not cut haha I wouldn't cut into this thing

Some frames got cut up by previous ownes, people who want to turn a bike into a bobber or chopper.

I'm happy I was wrong.

The smoking is more than likely fuel if it's grey in colour, white( steam) is water ( and if your getting that then there's problems) and blue is oil.

So you either running rich or your valve clearances are a little tight, book states .008" inlet and .010" exhaust, you really do not want to go tighter than that. You also want to check your idle mixture once the engine is warm and that the needle position etc is correct according to AMAL ( and not always the WS manuals, as these can be incorrect even at time of print)

I believe its definitely a white is blue - hard to tell. Getting oil dripping out of left exhaust. Thought maybe theres too much oil getting to the head - could anything be causing this? I have the return line working well - tested when the bike was running.

Thought bike was running rich but right pipe starting to glow at high rpms could be timing? or something else?
Idle mixtures don't seem to be having any effect on the idle.

Really want to get this bike going by this weekend, but too many issues. Hoping the piston rings are fine... as well as the hoping that oil isn't leaking down the valves

Is it possible I installed something wrong under the rocker cover causing excessive oil to get to the head..?
thanks in advance to any suggestions

If you gapped the points you need to check and adjust the timing with a strobe per the manual. With points you have to set the timing for each cylinder individually. Could explain the red pipe.
If turning mixture screws in and out has no effect on idle usually means the idle jets are plugged.

Thanks, my plugs definitely indicate that I am running heavily rich and they have fouled twice now. Going to do the valve clearances again, hoping its nothing serious like messed up rings or leaky valve guides

Yeah, something is messed up with the timing. The manual is pretty tough to understand, I can do a Honda's timing easily - but my bsas seems much more complicated. Any good guide out there?

The points system is very good when working correctly, however if you switch to EI (Pazon being my preference) not only will you find setting up easier but you won't be doing a "tune up" on the system every 12 months. It is well worth the money to upgrade.

That said, the points system with some stronger AAU springs work well and I really like them on the bike, I just don't have enough hours in the day to piddle about with them any more. ( still haven't tightened up the odd bolt and filled the gearbox with oil on the A65 and that's been patiently waiting for 4 months. )

Remove the points plate to pull the AAU unit, take it apart and clean and lube it. Also, replace the springs. Screw a bolt into the AAU unit and gently tap and wiggle it to remove the AAU from its taper.
Set the points gap next. I wouldn't obsess about getting the static timing spot on. Generally if the pillar bolts are in the middle of their slots and the screws marked #4 are in the middle of their slots the bike should start. If not you may have to follow the procedure in the book to set static. Then set correctly with timing light. Power the light with an external 12 volt battery. Don't use the bikes. I've run jumper cables to my car battery before.
First check the wiring to make sure the black yellow wire on the rear points set goes to the coil on the timing or right side and the black white wire on the front points set goes to the coil on the drive or left side.
To set the right or timing side once you have the light on the plug wire and the bike running just loosen the pillar bolts and rotate the whole plate a little clockwise or counter clockwise until the mark on the rotor lines up with pointer at 2500 rpm. Helps to have two people or check, shut off adjust, ect.
For the left or drive side loosen the screws that are equivalent to #4 on the FRONT set of points and use the eccentric equivalent to 5 (on the bottom on the front set) to move the the position of the points plate a little until the marks line up again.

If the AAU is functioning correctly you should see a smooth advance under the timing light as you rev the engine from idle to full advance at 2500rpm.

My experience has been that when my bike wet sumps while on the side stand it will smoke from the left pipe on starting. More oil on that side.

http://www.hermit.cc/tmc/technote/igtiming/index.htm
For a Triumph, on a BSA the points cam rotates counterclock wise so the advance and retard directions are reversed, but principals are the same. Also, BSA only has one hole in crank for full advance. Timing plug opening is on front of rh case.