Golden Flash / Fools gold ? Oil pressure valve

[Chris A10]

Two years ago, I bought one of the most beautiful bikes ever made i.m.o. a Ducati 996 ( 916 )
Well, that was a verry poor decision it turned out for an older guy with a bad shoulder and back.
At least it was nice to look at though,
Since I ‘ve always liked BSA I figured that the more upright sitting position and gentler engine performance would be a better choice for me.
So, when I saw this ad on the Dutch Marketplace I took all of my wife’s and children’s savings, ran to the seller and took the bike home.
 
Well it was / is a beauty. Totally restored and overhauled , looks like new. since it had been maintenanced well according to the former owner and had run only about 4000 mls I rode the bike just looking after oil levels and rear chain tension till the end of the season. last month I finally found some time to do some maintenance on the A10 myself.
The plan was to flush the oil tank, clean the filters en refresh the oils first.
When I removed the oil filter from the tank I found quit a lot of black particles stuck in it.
Something like remains of gaskets it seemed . I wondered if there would be the same in the sump gaze but someone figured that when you put an aftermarket sump plate under it and just forget the gaskets and gaze filter and use just the nuts, no rings  you don’t have to buy longer studs .
Somewhat disappointed i went on with the oil pressure release valve. To my surprise it contained just a spring !  realizing that I had been riding with low oil pressure on de big ends,  and for how long was this so ? I called up the previous owner who said that he removed the o.p.r.v. once, that it looked clean and put it back . without opening the valve that is.
I purchased a new valve from SRM and a gage filter ( and a set of longer studs ) and put it all back together.
Since the engine doesn’t make abnormal sounds I wonder what to do ? just ride and see when it goes boom ? ( my plan ) or should I walk the more intelligent road ( which I like not to because that includes a lot of work, let alone costs ) any one ?

[Black Sheep]

There are two schools of thought.
1. Strip it down to the last nut and bolt and do everything properly.
2. As it's actually running ok, just do a thorough service and keep riding it.
So many total restorations are purely cosmetic, purely to captivate the potential purchaser. If it looks so good, it must be good. Fortunately, some bikes are so inherently mechanically tough, they will take a lot of abuse and neglect and they keep on going despite everything.
Bye the bye, the shiny Velocette I bought hid a long list of faults but the one thing that turned out to be spot on was the engine. So I wasn't totally ripped off.
Anyway, I would vote for option 2. If it subsequently starts knocking or smoking or piddling oil, you can always revert to option 1.

[WozzA]

Option 2...  Ride it like you stole it...    IF it ever blows up there is plenty of help here to guide you through a rebuild..   & that may also give the wife & kids time to top up the bank accounts for the rebuild.   

[Swarfcut]

 I'm thinking that IF the crank was cleaned out there is enough oil reaching the big ends, after all they are known to run fine with an almost completely blocked crank oilway if treated gently. The cam feed, if clear, and with no working PRV, will mean plenty of oil to the cam trough, and from there thrown to the bores, rods and crank. If blocked or otherwise restricted, this will maintain oil pressure to the crank almost like a crude PRV.

 If it sounds and performs OK, I would be inclined to just check and clean the easily reached parts. Oiltank, sump, pick up pipe and an inspection of what's going on under the timing cover. The black bits on the tank filter show the filter is doing its job, and may be the result of years of accumulated muck in the tank rather than recent additions.

 I reckon there is a very good chance that the motor has survived OK. A good basic service and a reasonable riding style will do for now.

 Swarfy.

[mikeb]

option 2: ride it (like you stole the money to pay for it, which sounds possibly true )

i'm half way thru a rebuild on an engine that ran fine. everyone used to say how sweet it sounded. if i had never pulled it down (don't ask why I did) I'd never have known. it would have kept working until it didn't. and then i'd have spent the money i am now spending. so i've gained nothing and missed most of our summer riding. don't miss yours!

[Chris A10]

Thanks guys,
I think i'm Just gona ride it, Will let you know hoe it goes.

Best regards Chris

[Minto]

Hi Chris
Have to agree with your opinion on the 916, I've lusted after one since I first saw one. Just an absolutely beautiful thing.
As for ride or strip? I can't advise, I'm about to undo half the work I did over the weekend because I'm a nervous wreck thinking I might've missed something. Lol.
Enjoy
Jase

[Rex]

Easy for me to say because I won't be doing the work, but there's no real hardship to stripping a BSA A series engine, so if I had any lingering concerns I'd strip it just for peace of mind.
Many things will see you stuck by the road-side, but would you really want to be cursing yourself for trusting to luck and other people's bodging?

[BagONails]

I couldn't enjoy riding it unless I knew all was well.  On the other hand you poor old Poms get so little good weather it would be hard to take the bike off the road in the summer  so maybe enjoy it gently while the sun's out and sort out any other issues arising, there's bound to be a few, while looking forward to rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck in over winter. I think that would be my plan.

[Chris A10]

BAGONAILS, your wright, 
I took it out for a short ride this afternoon, and kept on hearing noises.
There are other bikes in the shed that i can use, it was not the idee for  this summer though.

Kind regards Chris

[Swarfcut]

 Chris   There are noises and there are NOISES!!!! Anything other than the ominous thump of big ends or the machine gun rattle of small ends can be dismissed in the short term. They all rattle, clank and tick. Being air cooled there is not much to deaden the sounds so don't get paranoid. Piston slap and any roughness under way are annoying but as long as it doesn't leave a blue trail and you stick to local roads until you gain confidence with the machine and how it behaves, I'd be inclined not to start a major bits everywhere teardown just yet.

 Easy stuff you can do includes checking for endfloat on the crankshaft, (there should be next to none) check tightening the big nut on the crankshaft, (this is important, all explained on the Forum) then seeing if there is any extra end float on the crank. A bad case will be 1-2mm float, but even so they will run happily like this for years, but endfloat can produce ominous and expensive sounding noises which are relatively cheap to fix.  Adjusting primary chain and tappets will  improve what you have from the previous owner. Worth draining and changing gearbox oil as well.

 Lots of stuff on the Forum, so have a good read, ask and prepare rather than hastily grabbing the spanners.

 These engines come from a long time ago and can never achieve the smoothness and quiet mechanical running of even the cheapest modern machine.

 Swarfy

[Greybeard]

Don't panic - - Yet

[berger]

greybeard 

[Jules]

if it aint broke, dont fix it! good old wordage from days gone by, in fact from the days of BSA! enjoy the ride, look after the maintenance..

[Chris A10]

For anyone's interest,  this is on the clock,  still riding.
Keep you informed.
Kind regards Chris