Griffon Flooding.

[maxi]

Hi fellow Greevist's Maxi (Colin Lacey) here with what may seem a weird question.
I have just rebuilt a 1969. 380 Griffon, it is fitted with the std Amal 900 series 32mm carb. with all new proper size jets etc.etc. The bike will not start unless it is constantly flooded for ten seconds or so, I have been told by the technical men that this is the norm!! Surely these machines didn't leave the factory with this problem?. I am old school and this is only a machine surely the is a cure for this as i like my bikes to start first or second kick. Was this cured with the mk 2. being fitted with the 34mm Mikuni carb jetted the same as the Amal? Or has anyone made up a different manifold to bring the Amal to the upright position as this seems to be the problem that the fuel level is at an angle and therefore not high enough in the float chamber?? Any help will be greatly received.

Maxi (Colin)

[Colin Sparrow]

The 380 Griffon my son used to race always needed to be well flooded. It had an Amal Mk I Concentric. Usually took about four kicks to start it from cold.

Don't know if "they all do that, sir" or whether it was just our one.

We extended the kick start to get a better swing. That helped.

[merlin]

My East Coaster likes lots of petrol and good deal of throttle to start it but does not like the choke?Must be female

[stormer254]

As the float needle is at the back of the carb this makes the petrol higher than if carb is level. how far out is airscrew? I usually close it to say half a turn and then when engine is warm adjust, typically one and a half turns open. you could also fit a cable operated choke, which is something else to jam the throttle open or close without you realising If you don't race with pre 65 club you could fit a Mikuni, she will start then, Mk11 Amals are legal and like Mikuni have a proper choke.
But basically they are all like that, relax and enjoy as the actress said to the Bishop

[Bearingman]

Hi fellow Greevist's Maxi (Colin Lacey) here with what may seem a weird question.
I have just rebuilt a 1969. 380 Griffon, it is fitted with the std Amal 900 series 32mm carb. with all new proper size jets etc.etc. The bike will not start unless it is constantly flooded for ten seconds or so, I have been told by the technical men that this is the norm!! Surely these machines didn't leave the factory with this problem?. I am old school and this is only a machine surely the is a cure for this as i like my bikes to start first or second kick. Was this cured with the mk 2. being fitted with the 34mm Mikuni carb jetted the same as the Amal? Or has anyone made up a different manifold to bring the Amal to the upright position as this seems to be the problem that the fuel level is at an angle and therefore not high enough in the float chamber?? Any help will be greatly received.

Maxi (Colin)

Hey Maxi,

Nice Griffon!

A few things you can look at.

First, I notice you have a choke lever mounted on the bars, the Griffon never came with this option, so not sure if you have an Amal off a four stroke, so check that you have the proper needle jet.

A little trick I do on British Amals and this was published in an older issue of Leading Link, is to drill a small whole in the float needle seat, just make sure you don't drill into the seat itself, this little hole will allow the fuel to spill in the bowel quicker and helps the motor from starving for fuel at high revs. I'll try to dig through my many issues of L.L. and locate the information; Spanish Amals had this hole already cast into the bowl or at least the ones I came across.

Check your timing as well, if you are using a Stefa with OEM points, I like to set the points gap at .012 not the recommended .016, this makes up for some of the wear...and make sure you have a quality condenser.

I used Mukuni's in my teenage days and they worked well for the day, but we were trying anything to keep up with the newer bikes on our fast hard tracks in California.

Today, I only use Amals because they are much easier to tune and also keeps my Greeves British or close to it.

The Amal MarkII is an excellent jug and only uses a different needle jet. I have the Mark II's on my 250 and 380 Griffons for vintage motocross and work well and they don't drool over everything.

Let us know how things progress!

Good luck!

Kenny Sykes
USA

[Colin Sparrow]

this little hole will allow the fuel to spill in the bowel quicker

Sounds pretty inconvenient, not to say painful...

[stormer254]

[QUOTE=Bearingman;1480]Hey Maxi,

and they don't drool over everything.



It ain't an Amal if it don't drool!!