another newbie

[spaniel1968]

Hello my name is Dan. i'm in the UK based in yorkshire and i'm a vintage car restorer working mainly on Roesche Talbots and Rovers from the 50's-70's. i'm also a serial motorcycle collector and builder of specials and standard machines. seems to be a disease with no cure. i've had a couple of belt drive Dukes for a long time but now only own the bevel 900 SS that i have now and some early nortons and a velocette venom amongst others. i cant fit or ride sports bikes anymore they hurt too much sadly. the 900 came as a Reynolds 531 tubing frame, engine and Verlicchi exhaust and i've slowly ( oh so slowly) let it evolve into what it is now. the main reason for joining is to try and get any jetting info for the carbs with relation to the Verlicchi racing pipe it has. i cant seem to find any info about it. the ignition is Luca Rita and the carbs are the early 40mm items with no choke circuit and float ticklers. i'd be grateful for any help
thanks

[Ianhood]

Dan,

You might want to drop a line to info@madeinitalymotorcycles.com since I know they've built a 900SS special with Verlicchi exhaust and 40mm Dellortos previously. They are usually quite responsive.

Ian

[spaniel1968]

Thanks Ian, I appreciate your reply.
Dan

[in-two]

Hi Dan, I've got a standard '75 900ss which I've had since 1977. It has RITA ignition and I probably have the original fitting instructions somewhere if you need help with that. My carbs are also probably the same as yours so I can help with standard jetting, I have Conti's but I doubt the Verlicchi pipe will be much different. It won't tick over smoothly whatever you do, so control your expectations! I understand fitting 36mm Dell Orto's is the way to go but that wouldn't be right, would it...!
I did a ground up restoration of the 900 several years ago and used a number of U.K. based specialists to help, the carbs were rebuilt by , I think, a company called J&S, again I can find the details if you need , they needed a lot of attention and new parts after over 100,000 miles. The engine was done by Nigel Lacey at Lacey Ducati. The bike and documents are currently at my place in Italy but I'm briefly in Poland so don't have access until after Christmas. Reaching out to Mdina Italia is also a good plan, you will discover many 'bevel heads' hiding in the undergrowth as you go on so don't be afraid to ask very specific questions.
Cheers
Zed Zawada

[spaniel1968]

hi Zed, thanks for the reply and info. my bike runs well but needs fine tuning for light throttle running. only seems truly clean when you have the throttle well open ! might just take some getting used to. the belt engines seemed more forgiving though they were snatchy at light throttle and low revs. the Rita ignition seems to be fine. are there any performance coils available anywhere that you can recommend? i have a pair from Lacey ducati on that are just plain 6 volt coils. again they seem to work fine with the Rita. this is all a new thing for me. i'm used to old norton singles and velocettes. do you happen to know what is the correct model rev counter for this engine? i have the nippon denso unit and it reads double the revs so i'm guessing i need the Veglia unit ?
there is also a Brandy Well unit avaible but i cant seem to get the drive ratio figures for it.
thanks again
Dan

[in-two]

Dan,
The light throttle hesitation may be solved by playing with the needle height but as I said with the tickover, you need to be realistic with your expectations. If the carbs are in very good/perfect condition then you might tune out the hesitation but I think there is a basic problem that the carbs are a bit big, with consequent slow/turbulent airflow at low revs. You haven't said what year your 900 is but I think all square cases had the same speedo drive gearing, what did the Nippon Denso clock come from? Veglias (vaguelias!) are not much good and expensive if you can find one, but the'right thing' for a period bevel. If you are not bothered by 'originality' then some kind of electronic counter rigged to the RITA might work. As for the coils a lot of people fitted huge car ones back in the day for racing but I run the same Lucas style 6 volts as supplied by Nigel Lacey, who does know what he's up to. Let us know how you get on.
Cheers
Zed

[in-two]

Dan,
The light throttle hesitation may be solved by playing with the needle height but as I said with the tickover, you need to be realistic with your expectations. If the carbs are in very good/perfect condition then you might tune out the hesitation but I think there is a basic problem that the carbs are a bit big, with consequent slow/turbulent airflow at low revs. You haven't said what year your 900 is but I think all square cases had the same speedo drive gearing, what did the Nippon Denso clock come from? Veglias (vaguelias!) are not much good and expensive if you can find one, but the'right thing' for a period bevel. If you are not bothered by 'originality' then some kind of electronic counter rigged to the RITA might work. As for the coils a lot of people fitted huge car ones back in the day for racing but I run the same Lucas style 6 volts as supplied by Nigel Lacey, who does know what he's up to. Let us know how you get on.
Cheers
Zed

[spaniel1968]

Hi Zed, i've already dropped the needles to their lowest which did improve it some. perhaps smaller pilot jets might help as well. i'm still only working with what came with the parts i got 18 years ago so might take some messing about like you say. i'll stick with the lacey coils as well. the tacho is from a Darmah i've since found out though i thought these were the same engine but in lower tune ? my engine is post '75 SS/MHR lump. i'll wait for the weather to warm up after new year and begin messing about with it again. one thing i have done is order a 16 tooth front sprocket. i built this machine with 17 inch wheels so its up into top too quickly at present. perhaps the bigger front sprocket will smooth things out a bit. i'll keep you posted and thanks again for your knowledge and help
cheers
Dan