Matchless 650 CS oil pipe routing

[Baggers]

I'm currently trying to finish off my '61 Matchless CS. It has an Armours 2:1 pipe which runs over the competition footrest.
Question is how to route the oil pipes. I've seen some pictures with the front union pointing forward but is this the best way?
Any information and pictures would be very useful!!

[TrevorCSR]

I have noticed in pictures, that some feed pipes loop round to the front before turning back. On others they seem to be put up higher, but almost straight back. Obviously as far from the exhaust as possible. If you have 'Matchless & AJS Restoration' by Roy Bacon, on page 22/23 there is a picture of a 1958 G11CS. And on page 166/167 there is a G12CS from 1960. It's not clear however if they have siamesed pipes. On both of those models the oil pipe exits the union at approx 08:00 and keeps high above the exhaust.
As an aside, how do the Armours siamese pipes fit, are they good? Do you have competition footrests or will they fit over standard items?
TrevorCSR

[clive]

I struggled to get the oil pipes fitted on my 58 G11CS, mainly because it was mid winter in an unheated garage and we had trouble getting the thick walled copper pipe hot enough to make it malleable. Both were routed backwards and unfortunately look a bit like spaghetti to get the clearance. However rather than the Armours Siamese pipe which has a kink in it I have the Feked Siamese pipe which is straight. The Armours pipe with the kink is a pig to fit as it has to be manouvered over the footrest. All the publicity material I could find for 1958 G11CS both artist impressions in the model guide for the year and actual photos of the bike in Coopers (USA importers) flyers show the bike with a straight exhaust going over the footrest. Feked borrowed my bike and bent up the pipes to copy the straight through rusty originals that I had, and ensure they fitted, so these are now their pattern. They also have the correct fitting plate for the smaller pipe which bolts to the front engine plate rather than the bolt welded on to the armours pipe. Because it is straight through the Feked pipe is easy to fit (you just need to slacken the footrest bolt to allow some wriggle room). They would only fit over the comp rests I think.
Not sure they would be correct for the later 650 as I think the barrel is taller.

[Baggers]

Sorry there has been a delay on this. The work to fit the footrests and route the oil line is still on-going!

The amours pipe fitted well in the head and the initial line is good as it sweeps under the engine. Things go a bit wonky regarding the angle of the pipe as it joins the silencer. The silencer easily fitted but the end was pointing too far away from the bike. Therefore I had the pipe cut n'shut to bring the end of the silencer closer to the bike.

As for the footrest/oil pipe saga I have had a longer square footrest bar and spacer combination made. The standard footrest still needs grinding and re-shaping to fit in a reasonable place. I then need to find some imperial 1/2 inch copper pipe to make a longer tail for the return oil-pipe union. This will allow the pipe to initially start off at a 45 degree angle upwards and then curve round back towards the normal routing of the flexible oil pipe. If I try to use the standard rubber pipe (or reinforced variations thereof) it either kinks or has to be run too close to exhausts etc.

I'll update you on what I get up to next! Any picture of the oil pump side of a 61-62 650 CS would be most useful. The ones in the various books are a bit blurred!

[clive]

don't use the standard rubber pipe with a siamese pipe that goes over the footrest, there is not enough room as they are fatter than the copper pipe and they start to melt on the exhaust pipe....been there done that