The clutch on my Eldorado is very fierce, requiring millimetre precision when releasing the lever to avoid a lurch, or a stall. Has anyone any ideas? I have been told that there is one make of clutch that is worse than others and that eventually it will settle down and maybe aw arped plate. I have no desire, at present, to start taking the bike apart and I know it had a new clutch fitted as part of its restoration , so it shouldn’t be warped.I have just completed its first outing - a 1200 mile ride round France and Belgium (it had done virtually no miles before heading for the UK) and it is still sharp. One strange happening was, the cable going slack when in 30 deg heat and rush hour. There was no sign of adjuster movement - and normal service was resumed when it cooled.
That's normal for mine too. I can only imagine it's because the friction plates expand, so that the pressure plate moves away from the clutch pushrod. Ergo pushrod has to travel further. Or because gearbox expands. Spada did it too. As for the grabiness I'm not sure, what sort of new plates were installed? Kosher OEM or 'patterns'... ?
Mike H2014-09-30 15:30:39
When it first happened on the first day in Belgium, my heart sank as I had visions of Carole Nash recovery, but when normality was resumed as it cooled, I relaxed. She didn’t miss a beat for the rest of the trip and it wasn’t exactly a gentle test drive. Everywhere I went she drew admiring glances, she’s comfortable and as laid back as me and by the time we got home we had bonded!
My 850GT clutch is not especially progressive either, more like a belt drive take-up on a rotovator!No issues when hot though.Glad you had a good trip. Ian
My engine wasn’t just hot, it was cooking! As was I. Since returning I have swapped the switches over, as the indicators being on the throttle side was positively dangerous - having to remove your hand from the throttle to operate them. Need to get the back brake working effectively now and am changing the dash bulbs for leds.
That’s why I rarely use my indicators… Strange that back brake is not good though. I mostly use the back brake. Front brake (double sided) is powerful but not progressive, and my hands are a bit small to get a real good pull on it. Project for the winter is a modified lever.
Mine is nice and progressive. I fitted pattern clutch to S3 and it is also fine though take-up is right at the end of the clutch lever travel (ditto the T3s). Assuming clutch plates not contaminated, one other possible cause of grabbiness could be a spring (or springs) not sitting in the recess(es) on the flywheel properly, leading to uneven/assymetric clutch take-up.
I have the V7 Special brake on mine (it is a pre-production model) which is…err… not brilliant. But good for practicing anticipation!
My clutch is a bit jerky…the brakes are lousy and I dont have any winkers !..on the plus side it rides lovely…
My indicators are now fine, with the switches changed round and it was easily done. Why was it put on the throttle side? Just been out and changed the dash lamps for leds, much better. Does the gen bulb need to be a normal bulb, like on a Tonti?How do you test the oil pressure light switch. Earthing the wire makes it light, but plug it in to the switch and it doesn’t. The back brake isn’t contacting the drum fully so I need to fettle the pads. Some nuts and bolts didn’t like their new climate, so I’m changing them for stainless as I go.
Oil pressure switch should be short to earth with no pressure and when the lamp is connected the lamp should light. Start engine and light should go out. If this doesn’t happen check the light comes on when its connection to the switch is earthed. If not then either the lamp, holder or supply is faulty. If the lamp lights when its connector is earthed but not when connected to the switch then the switch is faulty.
Thank you, that’s what I thought. No light when ignition on. Light when switch connector earthed = duff switch. I travelled all round France and Belgium pondering on that one!Is the pressure switch unique to the Eldorado/Loop models?
Pretty sure, thinking about it the V7 and Eldo switches have different connectors to the other big block Tonti frame models.petethebee2014-10-01 15:06:00
Oh another thing. Can’t quite see the point in changing the idiot lamps for L.E.D.s but I would not change the charge indicator light, although on Dynamo models it would probably be O.K. This is because the lamp is not used to start up the generator, it requires residual magnetism unlike Alternators.
Just wanted them brighter as I can’t see them in sunshine.
Re the charge lamp, yes depends if he’s got altenator or dynamo. If the bosch 3-phase alternator you could use an LED if you also put a 100 - 120 Ohms resistor in parallel, should be 2 Watts power handling.
Not been converted to alternator. Talk is that alternators are better and allow for more gubbins to run especially at low revs, my headlight is like a search light and I don’t know if the LAPD had any problems with their spot lights, do I need an alternator?
Eldo dynamos put out 300w so more powerful than alternators, albeit less efficient (apparently) in generation. My OP switch is the same as my other 70’s round barrels with same wiring. The fact that I seem to need to put heavier oil in it and have higher tickover before light actually goes out is more to do with impending winter stripdown!
…but there are a few loopframes about with citroen alts in them…
There are several conversions on Greg Bender’s site. They talk of 600w alternators, but I don’t know what you’d want to power to need that much juice.Is there anything that can be done to a none functioning OP switch to make it work, or is it a chuck it in the bin job?
I put my new National Cycle screen on tonight along with the original Dietz police red spot lights. I’m not sure the boys in blue will be too impressed, but I did get a set of amber lenses with them too.