January 2021 – Chasing Motorcycles

1969 Royal Enfield Interceptor 750

I have a soft spot for Royal Enfields. I own a new 650 Interceptor and a 2006 Electra. These bikes aren’t the most exciting, but they are really, really nice, have a great heritage and are very well-built.

The original Interceptor was really an awesome bike. It was originally a 700 that was only sold in Canada and the US. Royal Enfield introduced their all new 736 cc twin cylinder engine in 1962 on the 750 Interceptor. The new engine was similar to the 692 cc engine; but there was hardly any part that was not modified or improved. The engine cases were beefed up to withstand the increased torque.

What sets this engine apart from other contemporary British twins is that the crankshaft was dynamically balanced from the factory which made these bikes one of the smoothest British twin engines ever. The Series 1 bikes had an automatic advance magneto, coil ignition and a new seat. There was a rare single carburetor model as well, but most were twin carb.

The Series II was introduced for 1969. It included a wet sump engine to improve oil flow to the crankshaft. The CB points were moved to the end of exhaust camshaft and the timing cover was redesigned accordingly. This engine was used on the Interceptor until the end of production in 1970.

This Interceptor is on ebay, and priced about double what it should be, since the close up pictures show flaws in the paint, no insignia and with that minimal attention to detail and high price, I personally wonder what else mechanically might be found.

I checked out the NADA book, and pricing for this model tops out just under $12,000 US for a show-ready model (I’m being generous), with “nice” models running around 6k. This model might be “nice” if it can be looked at and run. It seems to have much more chrome than what came from the factory. But when you look close up at that tank:

1969 Royal Enfield Tank — Close up on dents, scratched chrome and weak paint.

You can easily see the scratches in the chrome, dent in front of the filler cap and really bad copper paint. I’ve done much better in my garage. Also, where are the logos? look at the filler cap? When asking 2K over what a concours bike would cost, it should look like it was built by Vulcan.

I think this needs some work.

Find it here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-Royal-Enfield-750-Interceptor-II/333841938315?hash=item4dba87b78b:g:yI8AAOSwv8ZfdeZO

Matchless Twin Oil Pump Wet-Sumping fix

Matchless G12 Twin Oil Pump Wet Sumping fix, Step by step with instruction download

Since I have the engine of my ’61 G12 apart, I looked up the “Wet Sumping Fix” for Matchless Twins that involves adding O-Rings to the shafts around the input side of the pump. I decided to video the steps I took to share. The instructions on how to do this are in the Jampot Archives or I updated their copy here.

First, you need to remove the input side of the oil pump. While I’m sure you could do this while the pump is on the engine, I think it’s just easier to pull everything, take it apart, clean it and then put it back on the bike.

You only have to do the input side of the pump. There are “two pumps” on the oil pump, one that puts oil “into” the engine from the external sump, and another that takes oil “out of the engine and returns it to the external sump. We are only concerned with the input side. It is the smaller of the two, and is located on the intake side of the engine. DO NOT MIX THESE UP when reassembling.

This first video, I have disassembled the pump and I’m preparing the plate that will be counterbored:

Preparing the Input Pump plate for counterboring

Plate, ready for counterboring. I explain what gets machined, and what to skip.

O-Rings, Honda parts.

Once you have the plate all nice and clean and flat, you can get your 9/16 counterbore with 7/16 pilot and prepare your drill press (I guess you can do it hand-held in a pinch, but depth is critical. Make sure the depth is equal to the width of the O-Ring).

Counterbore installed, preparing to clamp everything down!

Once you get everything together, clamp everything down into a vice, line stuff up, check twice to make sure the pilot goes in and out of the hole smoothly so the cut will be correct. Use the depth gauge on the drill press to make damned sure you don’t go too deep. It’s better to go shallow, then check with a decent set of vernier calipers. I did this. It ended up being 1/128 in short, so I was able to just touch it one more time to make it perfect!

Everything aligned and ready to go.

First one complete

1/16 in. depth. I initially drilled it 1/128 short, then measured with my calipers

Action shot of the last counterbore on the back side of the pump plate.

Finished cutting, time to de-burr and clean.

Assembled, showing external O-Ring that will fit on the camshaft-side.

That’s about it. Follow the steps in the instructions, and I hope the videos explain the step-by-step procedures and break it down for you.

1956 AJS 16MS

“Restored a number of years back, but still looks great. Recently gone through. Runs Great.”

A Very nice 350cc Ride in the Inland Empire (near Temecula, CA)

Seller writes: “Rare 1956 AJS 16MS 350cc. Motorcycle is in incredible condition and sat many years in a private collection. Restored a number of years back, but still looks great. Recently gone through. Runs Great. Clean Title. Come take a look. Would trade for scrambler (triumph, Ducati) Bought through eBay in 2011 for $7000. Big price drop, so no low balls. Only selling to get a small trailer or offload style motorcycle.”

Find it on Craigslist here: https://inlandempire.craigslist.org/mcy/d/murrieta-rare-1956-ajs-16ms/7250377858.html.

This really does look like a clean restoration. I spotted a few nits, but really not that much. These are great riding bikes that will happily zip along at 60 mph, and they handle very sweetly.

The “S” stands for “Springer”.

The rigid framed AJS Model 16M 350 cc single was developed in 1945 from the military Matchless G3/L World War II motorcycle. Well proven in war service, the 350 cc single remained in production selling large numbers to the civilian market well into the 1960s. Simple and practical, the Model 16 needed minimal maintenance and was very economical. The company also produced an almost identical motorcycle under the Matchless name as the Matchless G3L. The only difference between the two was that the Matchless carried a magneto at the rear of the cylinder barrel, whereas the AJS magneto was at the front.

In 1953, the Model 16M was modernized with a dual seat replacing the saddle and rear pillion seat. In 1956 the Burman gearbox was replaced with a new four speed unit of AMC’s own design and in 1957 further improvements included replacement of the outdated generator with a crankshaft mounted Lucas alternator. The leaky pressed-steel primary drive cover was replaced with an alloy casing.

1951 Matchless G80 on Craigslist (CA)

Looks like it’s all there, but it needs some work. Bolt-on hard tail…

1951 Matchless G80 hard tail for sale in Carpinteria (1/4/2021) — https://ventura.craigslist.org/mcy/d/carpinteria-1951-matchless-ajs-g80-18s/7246124644.html

This is represented as a 1951 Matchless G80. It has a “bolt on” Hard-tail frame and at this point is “not street legal”. Buyer says “Alloy fuel tank has a few dings. Needs a few things to be street legal but runs/stops fine. OG CA ‘pink slip’ included. Not registered. $3400…”

I personally own a ’66 G80 and love the bike. It is more fun than anything I own, and can best be described as “easy”. This one needs a lot of love and the price is probably a little high for something that isn’t described as a “runner” and in reasonably good shape.

Parts are plentiful, and the club has a deep, deep catalog of spares, along with AMC Spares. Nothing is dirt cheap, but you’ll be surprised how reasonable it is to own.

Plus the singles had crazy mouse-trap valve springs you just have to love.

Bike is located in Ventura/Carpinteria. At this point it has been on Craigslist here for 23 days.