Oil pipe feed & return unions?

[iansoady]

Having now got the G80S up and running I'm very pleased with it. A few teething problems - it does seem to need a fair bit less advance than the "book" 1/2" to avoid knock but having a slack-wire manual mag it's easy to adjust the cable till it's just right - then to do a proper job when I've got it spot-on.

But the reason for this little missive is that the only oil leak I have is from the oil pipe unions into the crankcase. The olives (is this the right name?) have been somewhat butchered in the past. Is it possible to buy these as separate items and solder them on rather than buying new oil pipes complete? These probably wouldn't fit straight away anyway as my bike has the later 1/2" bore rubber pipes connecting to a twin oil tank, so has bits of larger bore pipe soldered onto the original pipes.

Any ideas of sources for these things?

[GOLDSTAR]

because my G80cs is a complete bitsa, more like a BSA [bits stuck anywhere] I used rubber hydraulic pipe and secured with small jubilee clips to the engine unions , kind regards

[iansoady]

It's the engine unions that are the problem. I think I'll turn a couple of new ones up from copper bar & solder them into the copper pipe ends as the old ones seem to be formed in the metal itself rather than being soldered on.

[bunners]

Have you tried a turn or two of PTFE tape around the olive? it worked for me. being extra careful not to block any of the oil ways of course.

[Rob Harknett]

Worked for me also on some bikes for a while. NOTE; do not over tighten fittings, on singles the crank case will crack.
If you look carefully you will find cases cracked, difficult to spot until you tighten up fuel pipes.
I repaired this by tightening the olives until the crack appeared. Gave the cases a good clean, then more cleaning with spirit over a few days. Then forced araldite into the crack, removed the fuel pipe, crack closed up. Left for a few days to harden. I then used to old pipes & olives, not having or wanting to solder on new, I cleaned up the old using grinding paste ( ground them in ) result, oil tight and PTFE no longer needed. Still OK after some 20 years, they weep a bit, but they did that when had the bikes almost new.

[cf160]

Odd though it might seem to all , I would like to know what size these pipes are so I could reproduce them and buy the end fittings from the parts dept.
are these oil pipes 1/4" or are they 1/8" or are they 3/16" ? I don't know because the only ones I have are on the model 31 which is my only "original" AMC bike. My other three or four are all basket cases which came "sans" oil pipes . I can use hardware here to make these lines if i know what they are...

Dave(cf160)

[iansoady]

No cracks and the threads are good. I don't fancy ptfe so will go with turning up replacement items.

[Marty]

I have been through this and the only way I found was to source the oil pipe end fittings from John Epp (ironjohnmetal@gmail.com ). He has had the fittings made and sells them very reasonably. They are sweated or soldered onto the pipes. Don't know of anyone who stocks them in the UK. They are NOT a standard olive
Marty

[iansoady]

Thanks Marty. Do you happen to know what the included angle of the fitting is - mine are a bit too rough to get an accurate figure.

[56G80S]

Manual mag not SR1?

Those pipes are always awkward and although mine lose oil a bit I'm loath to touch them. I've so many other things to do generaly and on the G80S (56 registered in 57) that I can't afford the time.

Like you I am currently running with insufficient advance but will sort out soon by taking off the fill in SR1 and fitting the Tony Cooper refurbished one.

Still using the chain that came when I bought the G80S in the 1970's, doesn't seem worn and has been running in a case completely packed with grease. I wonder if a new one (even if Renolds, my usual choice) would be the same quality.

Now where did I put those nice new auto advance and retard springs that I bought and didn't fit 15 years ago?

Johnny B