Build a Bultaco TSS from scratch

Picked up the bikes today. The complete one goes to a silent buyer. I get the parts bike. Basically I get all the major components for my TSS vury vury cheap.


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Here's what I get to work with. I knew it was seized, getting into this, but I didn't know it was this bad. Turns out it seized juuust below the exhaust port opening and the exhaust port was left uncapped and it was thrown outside. Plenty of dirt crust and critters in there. Cleaning it won't be so bad but I'm pretty sure that cylinder will need to be bored a size over once I get it unstuck. I'll probably let it sit in marvel mystery oil for a week or so then approach it with a mallet and piece of wood. The Amal carb has been pulled and is soaking in pinesol to be swapped out on the other bike for a mikuni.
The frame is rather rough too. Hopefully once it's chemical stripped and blasted, it won't be pitted. I COULD have asked for better but I make do with whats put on my table :)

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Wow, looks nice and ... well ... pretty used too.

There are different rims mounted? Have you made a decision here, I personal would take low bead rims out of aluminium from Morad (former Acront), these are lighter.

A close pic of the drumbreak surface of the hubs would be nice too.

To the deassembling of the engine, to fill the piston / cylinder combo with WD40 or something better for a week or so is a good idea, I would then first try with heat, heating up the cylinder, then I would only try pushing not using any punch force. If this does not work, rebuild a plug, take out the ceramic stuff, weld a grease nipple to the plug and then use a grease gun, works very nice and you will have the piston out without damages.

Maybe the piston is different to any standard Bultacos you knows ... ?

Doh!
Don't suppose anyone has a spare 360cc, center port bandido cylinder do they?

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that'll buff right out.

LA sleeve, they do stuff like that.

J.B. Weld!

i bet lynn mobley has a nos sleeve for it. i got a rare sleeve last year from him... if he does, it will be cheaper than la sleeve.

He said "no chance!"
This is going to be a nightmare haha.

man that broken liner is heartbreaking....keep up the good work though....

wonder if a 360 frontera or 360 pursang cylinder would slip in.....you would lose the center port but keep the gear driven bottom end....

Mike

call up la sleeve. i'm guessing $200ish and they got it. or you could get a universal fit, and have your cylinder guy cut/port it etc. you have enough of the old sleeve to get a port map.

I'm thinking this may be my best route.
I'm going to keep looking around to see if anyone has a spare cylinder as one of the cooling fins is missing a chunk anyhow but they seem rare as hens teeth.

I'm not, by any means, in a rush to get this done. I have a matador, an r90 and a 63 vespa to tend to this year.

I got these parts all waaaay before I actually expected too! I'll proceed with the bottom end and test out some new "in house" blasting methods. The bottom end actually spins freely and very smooth, so that's a nice relief. Hoping I didn't damage anything else!
The sleeve could have actually been fractured before I began freeing it up but that's neither here nor there :)

I always try to rebuild the existing parts, I do search to get a spare, but in my experience they just don't show up when you need them, (Murphy's law?). If I find something I need and it's affordable I buy it, as it's always good to have a spare, the spare parts for rare birds are mostly not very cheap and may have other issues, (btw. as I know Bultaco changed the displacement between the first to the last Bandido model, sadly no information when they did it).

As you have time, look up a good welder that is specialiced in aluminium/magnesium welds for the cylinder, even very difficult stuff, finns can be rewelded, have seen pre-war machines with rewelded ironcast fins. Likewise look up someone that will make a you custom build sleeve, piston, rings, con-rod and pins for the piston lower con-rod together with piston rings, at least here in D no big issue, the costs will be around one and a half to two in expense as you would pay for parts in stock, you will get a fine balanced crank assembly too.

Riding later is much cheaper.

So how does the AHRMA look at/receive replicas? In looking at the handbook replicas seem to fit with the spirit of the organization (from the roadrace mission statement: "AHRMA’s mission is to recreate and preserve the vintage era of roadracing, including the sights, sounds, smells and camaraderie."), however I cannot find anything that specifically speaks to replicas. One thing I did see is a reference to specifically NOT allowing the AJR Bultacos in the 350/250 Grand Prix classes. The real question here is: where could you properly exercise a 360cc TSS replica?

My knowledge is from SCCA autocross/roadrace rules and vintage car racing and rallies, I have no perspective on the vintage motorcycle front, so maybe my approach to the handbook isn't correct. With automobiles, some organizing bodies strictly prohibit replicas whereas others will allow them in if they fit the "spirit" of the event.

Any update's ? ... and for your idea collection ...


... when speed doesn't matter

:huh

No updates at the moment. It's going to be one of those looong projects when I have money.
The current crisis is getting the cylinder re-sleeved.

How are your crankcases? There's a set of gear-primary cases on Ebay that ends in two hours with no bids. The opening bid is $129.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120929463371

No connection to the seller, just passing it along.

My girlfriend scanned in the shop manual for the montedero (bandido) if anyone wants to take a look at the engine and frame I'm working with.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18858855/Manual_Bultaco_AutoCrop.pdf.zip

I need to run a batch process on it in Photoshop and pull just the line art and text out but this will do for now.

FWIW, here's the motor section of the parts manual for a standard chain-primary 5-speed Bul (Lobito Mk3 in this case). Might help you figure out which ones are standard parts and which are unobtainium unique to the gear-primary bikes.

http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/Bultaco-LobitoMk3-parts-engine.pdf

Little toy that I've been playing with for a while.