Royal Enfield Continental GT 250 - Any RE owners?

[cb1rocket]

I have acquired my father's RE Continental GT 250, complete with fairing kit and has only seen the road for 3 years until laid up in 1970!

Now obviously it was laid up when it developed a fault hence it has never been ridden since.

I'm told the kick starter does not engage, and there is no spark. Could someone point me in the right direction for help and advice?

Would like to be able to turn the engine over (can be done when in gear and pushing it) with the kick starter so I can assess the ignition fault. I don't want to take the engine apart unless absolutely necessary

https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/20141117_202927.jpg
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[stinkwheel]

https://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/

As good a starting place as any. I'd suggest a workshop manual as a first-off.
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Triton Thrasher]

Some manuals for Enfields here.

https://www.klassiekrijden.nu/downloads.htm#r

Look on page 17 of this: https://www.klassiekrijden.nu/techniek/re-1963-continental.pdf

See the little pawl in the top picture? that could be stuck, or chipped.
Pity it's under the inner cover. Good luck getting that oiltight again.

I expect the kickststart mechanism is the same on most of the Crusader derivatives. A kickstart is a pretty simple device so you should be able to see how it should work, but a typical Brit kickstart drives through its ratchet, a gear or quadrant to the gearbox mainshaft, the clutch, the primary chain and the engine sprocket.

If the rest of the gearbox is working, You may have isolated the fault to the kickstart mechanism.

Being laid up after a short time was sadly typical of Enfield's hot learner 250 bikes.
The popularity of Triumph 350 and 500 engine conversions for them wasn't a good sign.
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[_Iain_]

Will be watching this with interest

Another vote for Hitchcocks - they've been most helpful with the new Enfields!
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Please be aware that the above post may be full of complete nonsense.
Riding: '07 KTM Duke II, Baotian BT49QT-20 Driving: '88 Volvo 340

[cb1rocket]

Ok thanks guys, I have accquired a workshop manual and it does indeed appear to be a pawl mechanism on the kickstarter shaft.

Thanks for Hitchcock, that was already my place for spares thank god, I would be lost if I couldn't get any parts for it!

Manual at the ready

https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/image_204.jpg
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[Rogerborg]

Did they want paying in shilling and farthings?
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GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Islander]

Is it an indicator of age that I actually remember Gander & Gray and have actually been to the shop in Manor Park on a few occasions?

Roger, I thought you shunned the new fangled shillings and farthings in favour of groats.

[cb1rocket]

What happen to gander and Gray?
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[Rogerborg]

[Islander]

[Islander]

[map]

[Shaft]

[Islander]

Are you sure about that? I seem to remember the shop turning into a plumbers merchants or something similar before I moved out of the area - that would have been around 1980.

[Shaft]

In 1985, I worked with a bloke who was into Enfields and I'm sure I remember that name coming up when talking about places to buy parts.

I looked it up on the net and of the very few references, one mentions buying stuff from them in the early 80s, another gives their dates as 1947-1989.
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[YBR Ric]

When you fit the new pawl, ensure it totally disengages with the ratchet teeth as it closes down when the kickstarter has returned to the upright position.

Otherwise it will suffer unwanted wear, leading to premature failure through chipping - and the gearbox grease ends up looking as if someones mixed a pot of glitter into it.

The iron barrel Indian Enfields are very prone to this, despite being very easy to fix.

[cb1rocket]

right bit of an update as to where I'm, no where further yet!

However I need to get a spark, the kickstarter is duff and turning the back wheel by hand to open and close the points is a pain. Can I do the job of opening and closing the points by hand? Will this work, or do I have to have the engine turning over?

After doing some research I only need a charged up 6v battery, so the generator is not needed at this stage.

Or am I talking bollocks?

Cheers
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[YBR Ric]

The engine has to be turning and sparking at the right time for it to work. Continually opening and closing the points to spark the plug will just flatten the battery. But there's no harm in opening and closing them just to see if you do actually have a spark after trying something new.

You need to either bump it in gear to start it - assuming everything else is good to go or fix the kickstarter pawl which is quite simple.

[Triton Thrasher]

It should spark when you open the points with the end of a screwdriver or something. Keep the rest of the screwdriver off the metal parts of the engine.

But to time it, you have to turn the crankshaft.

Are you using top gear and taking the spark plug out when you turn the engine with the wheel? It should be easy.

It almost has to spark if you have a circuit going from battery live to coil LT, then other coil LT to moving contact. then engine case to battery earth. That is, if the fixed contact has continuity to the engine case and the moving contact makes and breaks electrical continuity with the fixed one. The condenser wire should have continuity with the moving contact. Condenser casing should be earthed to the engine case.

Oh yes- you need a lead from coil HT to plug terminal and the plug threaded end earthed to engine case.


Coils are pretty reliable, but they can fail. For a substitution test, a 12V points type coil will spark at least a bit, with 6V. But make sure the things above that should be live are live before you go randomly buying new components to see if they help.
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[cb1rocket]

Right a bit of an update, the bike currently stands like this!


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ldi9u5wnUHg/VI9XR5crkXI/AAAAAAAACrc/C7M-VyTKlzU/w1026-h577-no/20141215_201404.jpg

Good news everyone! (As James May would say!)

We have a spark with working ignition!
I had to trouble shoot this backwards starting with the coil pack just live with a battery and touching the terminals briefly on and off. This gave a spark. Then I reconnected this back up but left the negative terminal off and connected straight to battery (this is a positive earth bike!) Tried for spark using the contact breaker with my finger and hey presto we have a working ignition circuit

Obviously there was no power coming in from the ignition switch but on closer examination the wiring circuit diagram shows a pretty useless setup. The main negative wire from battery goes through a series of connectors and switches, including the headlight and ammeter which were disconnected. So we'll come back to that at a later stage with the electrics troubleshooting.

Now i'm onto changing the oil (obviously it doesn't run so we can't do a warm oil change) Now one question I have for you guys is where the hell is the gearbox filler? And then there is what appears to be two drains screws on the underside. But where do I fill the gearbox with oil?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--pl1-FflNtQ/VI9XDZYCoPI/AAAAAAAACqU/2ovz8RcYYZQ/w1026-h577-no/20141215_201833.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2H4D0n6yydI/VI9XKsVQt4I/AAAAAAAACq4/knikgtlIrxw/w1026-h577-no/20141215_201946.jpg


Also how do i get this inspection cap off? I can't find a screwdriver big enough!?!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6f1GvC-ng9k/VI9Xe_FiPHI/AAAAAAAACr0/FuGfeGeEjKo/w1026-h577-no/20141215_201418.jpg

cheers all
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[bradh511]

You could try two screw drivers side by side or a impact scree driver if not try a fairy big chisel with some grips is the bike 6 or 12v i would check your points and clean them replace that coil looks to be similar to a car coil ie mini i suspect it will be shot but test it ......


If you put a live feed from battery to coil after fixing kick start it should run... If this works then try the bike of the ingtion switch .. As live from battery bypasses it...and will tell you if you have a wiring problem.. Or do this if you have no keys and are awaiting some to be made up
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[Pigeon]

[Triton Thrasher]

[cb1rocket]

[Commuter_Tim]