Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

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Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

No pics of the Classic piece of Machinery??

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

Thanks a lot guys. I do want to post the pics of the bull and also want to share my experiences of getting the bull back to life. But I'm using a smartphone, may be that's the reason I'm not able to see the attachment option in here. Is there any way I can upload pics using a smartphone?

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

You can download the app

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

Hey,

Have some visuals of the 1971 bull...

This is how the bike was when the previous owner got it rebuilt, he'd got the engine work and the paint job done. I guess may be two or three years back.



This is how I turned it over.. Just by appearance it looks the same other than the accessories, but lots of work has been done on it, lots of time, patience and money has been spent on it..


Now, let me give the details of getting the bull back in shape.

With more than a decade's experience with the bikes, the first time I saw this bull, I instinctively knew that the bull (or any other automobile that hasn't been used for months or years) would need at least three periodic services to get her back in shape if all the spares happen to be working fine. So I was ready to resolve all her troubles and bear all her tantrums.

The moment I took the possession of the bull, I started riding towards home, just to show it to my family (before taking her to the garage) about which I was going mad for years. I was just yards away from home and the bull ran out of fuel..
I bought the bull home pushing it, and that was the first impression on my family of my new possession

I took a quarter liter fuel from my RX and poured it in the bull and kicked to start. Nothing happened. I kicked again. Nothing again. I might have kicked at least 20 times that day and finally the bull roared.

I rode it straight to the tyre store to get the brand new tyres first. The moment I reached at the tyre store, the bull was dripping oil intensely from a hole above the tappet cover. There was smoke all over the engine as the steaming hot oil was dripping. Leave out the idea of changing tyres, I rode her quickly to the mechanic (Moin bhai, where most of the bullets get repaired in town) where the previous owner too had got all the work done. Moin bhai sarcastically said the bolt that connects tappet compartment to the cylinder head is missing. He fixed a bolt and said the bike is ready to roll for now and get the bull back to him after a few days as he was busy with other bikes. I kicked to start, nothing again, I tried to crank it another couple of times, the bull refused to start. Moin bhai was watching me struggling, he asked me to get aside and he tweaked a little bit with the points and the bull came back to life. It was already dusk and I postponed the plan of getting her the new tyres to tomorrow. I started riding the bull back home, I hadn't even covered a kilometer and the bull stopped while running, and refused to start inspite of many many kicks. Heck it was a real bad day for me and the bull. Thankfully I was accompanied by a friend since afternoon and his house was just half a kilometer away from where the bull had stopped, we decided to push the bull and park it at his residence and take her to another mechanic tomorrow. He dropped me home and again I had to face my family, it was really embarrassing.


Lets hold it here for the day.. I will surely narrate the remaining saga in my next post. Its 2 AM now and I'm damn sleepy.. sorry guys..

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

Hey there, I'm back..

So the next morning I went to a mechanic who's garage is right opposite to my hardware store. I told him my Bullet 350 CI is not getting started and I also want a complete service to be done on the bull. I took him to my friend's house to have a look and get the bull to the garage. The previous day I had noticed that the wire which gives power supply to the points is hooking-on just by a single string of the cable and was about to snap at any point of time. I asked him to have a look at that wire first. He cut the wire in two pieces and took out the poly cover at the two ends and strapped them together. One kick and the bull came back to life. That piece of wire had screwed my first day with my beloved..

We took the bull to the garage and I had the following issues to be resolved:
1. Starting problem.
2. Noisy tappets and rockers (like the UCE bullets).
3. Leaky front suspension.
4. Replace that Indore silence to a stock Chennai silencer.

Assurances given by the mechanic:
1. Timing needs to be reset and replace the Points.
2. Phase the rockers and set the tappets right.
3. Overhaul the shock absorbers and replace the oil seals.
4. He had a spare stock silencer and was ready to sell it to me and he also wanted my Indore silencer as a substitute for the discount he was giving on the original one.

After a little more discussion and personal introduction with the mechanic, I had unknowingly reached the person that I was looking for - 'Sardarji'. A famous mechanic of the yesteryear's, the mechanic I was talking to was Sardarji's son. I was relieved to the core, I now knew that the bull is in the right hands and will be coming out in a more ride-able condition.

Checkout this pic clicked at his garage..


After more than a week, all the above said work was done along with the replaced tyres. I was really happy and was dieing to enjoy the ride.

I started riding towards our adda (a small roadside tea hotel) to show the bull to my friends. En-route to the hotel, the bull stopped twice and I had to kick a lot to bring her back to life... heck the starting problem was not resolved. It was not starting problem actually, because the timing and points were set correctly. I was doubting on the wiring or a faulty coil could be the cause.

The next morning I did reach my store without a problem. But going home for lunch was not that easy... the moment I turned the ignition on, the amp meter touched the extreme negative and went back to zero again. I was surprised to see that weird behaviour of the amp meter. I just ignored it and tried to start the bull, nothing happened, the amp meter also was not moving. I just waved to the mechanic from our parking lot and he came down to see what went wrong. The bull entered the garage again, not even 24hrs had elapsed from the time it had come out of the garage. This time I started doubting the mechanic's expertise, he was struggling to find out a simple and common issue with the bullets - 'Earthing', causing the fuse to blow off. After half an hour he found the blown off fuse and replaced it with a good one, turned on the key and boom... again blown off. He then said lets try to start her by connecting the wires directly without the fuse, obviously the machine cranked-up and was running fine. But I was seriously concerned about the earthing and wrong wiring that could even cause fire. The fuse helps us avoid that situation, it was quite simple to me but the mechanic said there wouldn't absolutely be any problem. Sardarji failed in resolving my issues, just another incompetent mechanic in town.

I made up my mind to look for a mechanic who would also work on the wiring of the bull.


Lets hold it here... will narrate the rest in my next post... bye..

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

A pretty nice read. Glued!

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

Thanks for the compliment krishna

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

You have much patience bro. You are spending time and money on your bike, you are very lucky to have that.

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

The machine is worth spending time and money bro...

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

The saga continues...

The moment I decided to go for a mechanic who knows the wiring of the bull, it quickly reminded me of a guy named Bablu, whom I had met while I was looking for a bullet to buy. I had seen him working on the wiring with ease.

The next morning I took the bull to Bablu the mechanic and told him the fuse is getting blown off. He wanted to start the bull and turned on the kill switch, I told him it's the other way. It should be on the Off mark to start the bull, the wiring was opposite. He shook his head with the curse for the other mechanics in town. He cranked the bull to start, and immediately said the timing is wrong (I had heard this at every mechanic wherever I took the bull, the mechanics just don't like another mechanic's work, it's like they hold grudge against each other). I didn't bother for his comment, I was just worried about the wiring. Then he attempted to turn the engine off using the kill switch. Nothing happened, the engine was still running. I told him the Off doesn't work, I just use the decomp or the ignition key to turn off the engine. So, he opened up the head lamp to rectify the kill switch connections and was surprised to see that the kill switch Off wire was connected to some other wire and not the kill switch button. He said this is the problem. That wrong connection was causing the bull an earthing and blowing off the fuse. Only an expert could do this so swiftly... Thanks to Bablu bhai... He bought in the new fuse and said assertively do not run the bull without the fuse, it can cause fire to the entire wiring (even I started cursing the other mechanics then).

For that moment I thought Bablu bhai should be my mechanic for life, but the problem is he sits on the other side of the town, and the bull was running through a hard time and was facing a new problem every day and it was just not practical to ride the bull that far every time.

However, the wiring issue was finally resolved. The bull is running on the same fuse even today.

I kept sardarji informed of the wiring issue getting resolved as we waved at each other on and off to work. Hearing that he just shook his head.
A couple of days passed by and a new niggling problem arrived. The original chennai silencer which the sardarji sold to me almost at par with the price of the brand new silencer (and also took my Indore silencer as a discounting factor) had started making rattling sound. I was annoyed as he had exaggerated so much on the pros of going for an old used silencer over a brand new silencer. I asked for the money back and he straight away refused. I lost my temper and left the bull at the garage telling him do whatever you want but fix that rattling sound. After an hour I went back to check on the bull. He had replaced the silencer with another one, chennai made of course, a bit rugged and with spots of rust. There was no rattling sound. I took the bull out of the garage and swore to myself that I would never come back to this cheater for whatever is the problem.

A week passed by and I was back to square one. The bull stopped while on the move and just refused to start. During the past one week I had meet this oldie a senior citizen who rides a 1980 model. I had actually targeted to buy his bullet some time back but there was no chance he would sell his beloved. He had referred me to a mechanic called Afroz, another descendant of the yesteryear's famous mechanic Khan saab. The bull had actually stopped yards away form his garage. I pushed her over to the garage and gave the reference of this senior citizen to the mechanic. I gave a gist on the history of the bike for his information. He opened up the points cover and removed a completely rusty point (this was put in by sardarji). He said get a new one. I bought the genuine points from an authorized dealer for Rs.117/- and sardarji had charged me Rs.200/- for that rusty piece of points. Bloody cheat, he was a thief actually, now I knew how he might have collected all those silencers and other stuff. Regrets aside, the bull was sounding better now, but Afroz bhai also suspected a faulty piston and a faulty coil as the spark plugs were getting shot (it was surely going to burn a big hole in my pocket). Still though he wanted me to drive it as is and come back if there's any problem.

As suspected the bull wasn't doing fine. Another week of rigorous kicking...

Meanwhile I met a guy who bought his 1968 Jawa to get some electrical work done on his bike near to my store. The bike seemed in a spanking new condition. I spoke to him out of curiosity and inquired about his mechanic as I was in a dire situation looking for a good mechanic.

He referred me to Bheem, yet another yesteyear's famous yezdi, jawa and bullet mechanic. God knows how he managed to work on all of them. This was the worst decision of my life and my beloved's life. I went to see this guy, he did all the repairs at his residence, he sounded genuine and I decided to try him out. Who knows, sometimes an unexpected person works wonders.
I told him four things are to be done one the bull:
1. Check the bore piston, as the bull was emitting white smoke.
2. Open up the gear box as there was grinding sound. More towards the lower gears.
3. Replace the points shaft, as replacing just the points didn't serve the purpose.
4. Replace the rockers with the ones made of bheed (I dont know what is the metal called in English). The aluminum rockers were still noisy even after the phasing.

The bull went through the roughest five days. The guy didn't even had required tools to work on the bull, he loosened and fastened the bolts using a chisel and a hammer, damn...
1. He some how managed to fix the bore piston. We just replaced the piston rings - Standard size. Everything else in the chamber was just fine.
2. He didn't open up the gear box, may be he was not sure whether he could repair it.
3. He replaced the points shaft but fixed the Delco in a wrong position.
4. Replaced the rockers.

I was just waiting for him to start the bull and hand it over to me, so that I can take it right away to Afroz bhai, the best mechanic amongst all of them.
Bheem did start the bike and handed it over to me, the bull moved like a bullock cart... it was continuously jerking and struggling to move.. poor machine.. I was so stupid to take it to a roadside mechanic.

Lets hold it here for today.. the last leg of my experience will follow in my next post.. bye.. and thanks for reading it all the way through

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

Your love and perseverance towards your machine is truly amazing! Even after all these problems, the dedication is something that you can talk about.

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

Thanks again Krishna bhai..

Re: The 1971 Bullet 350 CI

Firstly i would like to congratulate you on your 71 Bullet.

From the photos i can tell that the bullet is fairly in original condition. Specially the Chambers (Normally they are changed to the new model ones).

I have read your encounters with the mechanics. Thats a part of learning.

I have a suggestion to make.

There are two ways of doing things,

1- Just keep on revolving around the word "Original" which actually is bullsh!t. and try to keep sorting things as they come.

Soon you will realize that the bullet is your life, you have no time for your self or the MRs. (Girlfriend, Wife)if you would be left with any.

2- Figure out what all problems you are facing make a list.
Start with changing a few things so that you can make sure that the main engine parts are sound.
- Change the Cylinder Bore kit, try to get one for the CI Electra thats comes with extra helper rings.
- Dump the Points- Go for a auto escorts Points replacement Kit from Mumbai.
- Change the Cam Pinnions and the Push Rods with brand new ones.
- Change the Head if possible (It is too old to be good), if you dont want to change it go for new Tappets made by Samrat.
- Get the Valves clearance checked.

Rest all will fall in place.

Contact me if you need any further help.