Originally Posted by vinodv001

Is the inside of fuel tanks painted with body colour in other bullets?

My Thunderbird 500 Twilight [March 2013 make] has its tank's inside painted grey. Worse, it has already started peeling off at the mouth and floor. When I rubbed my fingers at the mouth, a portion of paint layer came out with my finger. Whatever may be the layer, paint or anti-corrosive or galvanising, the layer peeling off is not a good sign.

[ebonho]

Paint inside the tank not only peels off and clogs up fuel lines and can even get into the combustion chamber, but also reacts with the petrol and forms a whitish-yellowing gummy sludge residue that can kill an engine especially when going WOT. Lots of cases seen on bikes with after-market tanks or tanks that have been modified (cut and re-welded) to increase capacity (Karolbagh types). Never ever expected to see this on a factory tank.

[slicvic]

Originally Posted by bj96

Mine is 2006 Electra 5s. Tank is coated inside (I think galvanized?) with somewhat reddish matt finish. No corrosion issues in 7 years.

-BJ

Mine might be the same. The color of the bike was Red, so i thought the inside of the tank was painted too.
It looked the same color without the lacquer coating (clear coat)

[ArizonaJim]

I know the fuel tank filler was painted black on my fuel injected 2011 G5 (Electra). (The exterior of the tank is black and chrome.)

The paint has long sense peeled/flaked off and I have no doubt that much of it is trapped on the surfaces of the fuel pumps filter.
The fuel pump used on the fuel injected motorcycles has a large area 10 micron filter to protect the small orifice in the fuel injector.
As long as the filter is intact there is no possibility of any paint particles (or anything else) larger than that getting into the pump or the injector.

After 10,800 miles (17,420 km) there has been no signs of a problem with the fuel injector or the engine on my Royal Enfield as a result of this paint contamination.

The sad part of this is it would be so easy for Royal Enfield to avoid having this paint in that area and doing so would greatly diminish the concerns of the owners.

A simple temporary plug that would cover the inner areas of the filler neck could be inserted before the painting was done.
If removing it while the paint was wet is a problem, so be it. It could be removed after the paint had been baked and then reused.

As for the models with carburetors, I don't know if they have a fuel filter or not.

If they don't, one of the first things I would do would be to buy a small "in line" filter and install it in the hose that leads from the fuel tank to the carburetor.
An inexpensive, quality fuel filter and two small hose clamps would be cheap insurance against having any particle plug the jets.

Many motorcycles do have small fuel filters. Often these are built into the fuel outlet valve and the only problem I've seen with these is the surface area of the filter is rather small. Small surface areas could rapidly be covered with paint chips and if that were to happen there would be a greatly diminished supply of fuel to the engine.

[iron]

Originally Posted by vinodv001

Got my Forest green 500 Std on last Thursday and really impressed with the power/ torque characteristic ( over 350).....

..............bullets?The showroom claims the two bullet 500s they have have similar fuel tank.

You can use a fuel filter. It costs like 20/- all the paint that peels off will get accumulated in the fuel filter over a period of time. You can clean the fuel filter periodically its a basic DIY cleaning. It will protect your carb and engine.

I doubt if the same can be implemented on the FI based models.

I was just wondering after the paint peels and metal is exposed wont it corrode and rust over a period of time? In order to speed up production and clear backlog i think they just skipped the entire process of epoxy/galvanising coating the tank from inside as it takes time to dry out??

[rki2007]

I have a query, I have booked tbts 350 a month back . Assuming the bike to be delivered 9 months later. I need to know till what time can I postpone and make payment and get the bike delivered. I just need to know because I may be out of country

[ArizonaJim]

Speaking of an in line fuel filter, do not install one in the fuel hose that runs from the fuel pump to the fuel injector.

The fuel in that hose is pressurized to 2.9 bar (42 psi) and there are no "in line" fuel filters available that are made to work safely at that pressure.

When I mentioned using a "in line" fuel filter I was speaking of doing so only on the gravity fed carburetor machines.

[adrian]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

When I mentioned using a "in line" fuel filter I was speaking of doing so only on the gravity fed carburetor machines.

The carburetor versions of Royal Enfield has a stock fuel filter screen along with the fuel tap assembly. The owner's manual recommends the cleaning of fuel filter at regular intervals. Sadly even the RE service does not follow this instruction which takes less than 5 minutes to execute.
regards adrian

Note : This one is not of a Bullet, just took one akin to that from the web.

[vinodv001]

Thanks for the suggestion, In fact I had already bought one immediately after coming out of service center. Bosch make costed Rs. 15. It is a very small unit with axial in and out ports.

Originally Posted by iron

You can use a fuel filter. It costs like 20/- all the paint that peels off will get accumulated in the fuel filter over a period of time. You can clean the fuel filter periodically its a basic DIY cleaning. It will protect your carb and engine.

[tharian]

Have a small query.
What is the cost of the piston rings of the Std 500(cast iron).
Weirdly the rings on my 500(run 33k) failed and oil started leaking from the plug socket on the head, no exhaust smoke though. It has been happening for a while and I did not bother since it did not affect the performance.
The rings and piston on my 350 Electra run 96k has no issue surprisingly.

Regards

[ArizonaJim]

There are some symptoms of bad piston rings.
The more common symptoms are:
1. The engine burns oil creating a smoky exhaust.
2. A severe lack of power and difficulty in starting the engine.
3. Excessive blow by causing the crankcase vent to blow large quantities of air or oil out of the engine.

Oil leaking from the exterior of the head is not one of the common indicators of worn piston rings.

A "plug socket" was mentioned in your post. I assume this is the hexagon plug that the oil lines are connected to? If so, the fault may be the plug has slightly loosened due to vibration and/or thermal cycling due to the engine heating up and cooling down as the motorcycle was used.
Another possibility is the braze joint that joins the "banjo fitting" to the tube has cracked. Less likely, the banjo fitting has developed a crack however these fittings are usually made from a small casting and castings can have flaws that will eventually allow fluids to leak thru them.

I suggest that you take the motorcycle to a good mechanic and have him fix it. If it is just a matter of the hollow bolt that holds the banjo fitting and its two metal seals in place being loose, it should not take long to fix the problem.

If you choose to fix it yourself you will need to buy two new metal seals. These seals go on both sides of the banjo.
Prior to fitting this into the cylinder head all surfaces must be absolutely free of dust or dirt.
The hollow bolt should be torqued to 9.48 Newton Meters (0.967 Kilogram Meters, 7 ft/lbs). The bolt and the aluminum threads in the cylinder head can be damaged if greater torque is applied.

If it is available, Permatex Ultra Black silicone sealer can be lightly applied to both faces of both metal seals but this must be done sparingly as an excess can block off the oil flow to the rocker arms.
Also, this Ultra Black is a specialized silicone that is oil resistant and safe for use on aluminum parts.
Common Silicone rubber sealing compounds (RTV) emit acetic acid (vinegar acid) when they cure which can damage the aluminum. Common RTV is also not resistant to oil.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

There are some symptoms of bad piston rings.
The more common symptoms are:
1. The engine burns oil creating a smoky exhaust.
2. A severe lack of power and difficulty in starting the engine.
3. Excessive blow by causing the crankcase vent to blow large quantities of air or oil out of the engine.

Oil leaking from the exterior of the head is not one of the common indicators of worn piston rings.

A "plug socket" was mentioned in your post. I assume this is the hexagon plug that the oil lines are connected to?

None of the three symptoms occurred on my bike which is why I did not think it would be the rings either.
The bike was left for service with my usual mech who I have been visiting since ten years and he noticed the oil around the spark plug on the head and cooling fins.
I had noticed the same too and could not figure out were it was leaking from. It was not the rocker covers since there was no oil around there , so the only point was the spark plug socket, since the leak was only on the left side of the engine, Right is the decompressor valve.
What I feel is that oil was leaking from the rockers compartment internally into the head, but again if that was the case I should see visible smoke and plug not sparking etc.
Will get the bike back and check what the difference is.

Regards

[Trojan]

Hey Guys,

I got my electra, exactly a month back. I have been enjoying it thoroughly, it went for the first servicing last week; have clocked 900 kms so far.
I am not too well versed with the technical jargon, will try to explain what I have noticed.

Last night I noticed a difference in the firing (its got the short bottle silencer) am getting a metallic clunk in it.

Today morning again I noticed the sound, after riding for around 5-10mins when I stopped the bike, I could hear some hissing sound coming from near the exhaust manifold, the bike wasn't hot enough to start evaporating any water droplets falling on it.

Also, I noticed that the rubber beadings which they put around the head, the one near the exhaust manifold has fallen off somewhere. Is that going to cause an issue? Should I get it replaced and the rest tightened as well.

Cheers!
A slightly worried bulleteer!

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

My Thunderbird 500 Twilight [March 2013 make] has its tank's inside painted grey.

Attachment 1106331

Ravi Sir,
Think this is caused due to the way the petrol bunk attendants use their gun whilst filling up. A quick work with the attendant before opening the cap requesting him to be careful should be good.
I would be more worried if the paint on the inner sides react chemically with petrol and disappear

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

I would be more worried if the paint on the inner sides react chemically with petrol and disappear

This happens and is exactly what I was referring to in my previous post above. No filter, wherever you place it, is going to work with that.

There is a reson you do not use petrol to clean painted surfaces.