I have a 1949 plunger frame B33 with a 289 Amal carburetor and I'm trying to install an air filter using the elbow 65-9198 listed in the parts catalog. See the picture below.

The elbow, obtained from EBay, is an aluminum casting. I guess it was hopeful thinking to expect the brittle aluminum flange to squeeze onto the carburetor adapter when I tightened the clamping bolt. It didn't take much to break a chunk out the flange.

Has anyone had success with installing this elbow?

I was thinking my next try is to:
Grind off the bolt lugs,
Cut 3 additional slots in the flange 90 degrees apart
Extend the slots into the elbow body a little,
Grind some material from the inside of the elbow body
Clamp it on with a steel hose clamp around the circumference of the flange.

I am very interested in hearing any successful solutions that people have tried to get an air filter installed on a B33, with or without this elbow.

The Amal 289G/1AT carburetor on my 1949 B33 was getting pretty tired. It had been bored out and the slide was sleeved resulting in very thin wall thickness and I think the housing was going out of round. The threads on the top of the main housing and at the inlet were worn such that I had to use locktite to hold it together. I was reluctant to take it apart for cleaning. Does this justify investment in a new carburetor or not?
I tried Amal, who would sell me the carburetor only without the float ( to save a few $$) but they have been out of stock for almost 2 years for 289 carbs.
Anyway, I found a used one (a private sale) complete with the float bowl but it is made from bronze, not the zinc alloy casting. The housings are super clean internally and all the internal components are identical. The flange is stamped 289G/1AT. On the bike, it performs great.
Does anyone have experience with a bronze 289G carburetor on a B33 or similar. Did B33s ever have bronze 289 carburetors installed from new?

Jim

Hello
I have a 3.50-19 K70 tire on the back of my B33 and I'm wondering if it is time to replace it. In the photo below, there is 0 depth on the circumferential groove at the black dot location only. The remainder of the circumferential groove (red dot) has a depth of 0.050in all the way around. At the yellow dot, the tread depth is 0.125in.

Except for the circumferential groove, the tire looks like it has some service life remaining. I don't see any wear bars in the tread commonly seen on car tires or is the circumferential groove the wear indicator?

I would appreciate some opinions.

I have a replacement tire (not a K70) standing by.

Jim

I have decided to not put any more effort and money into maintaining my current 1949 B33 fuel tank. It is full of lead and solder repairs that have developed small leaks that destroy the paint and create a fire hazard. I am looking to buy another tank.

When I look at the photos of the bottom of the tanks, there is a significant difference between my tank and the ones being sold from India. On my tank the bottom right side has a recess the full width and on the left side the recess is only half the width. On the Indian tanks, the recess is the full width on both sides.

Has anyone found a tank from India with an underside that looks like my tank? I am looking at tanks that have the screw-on emblems, which my tank has.

Does anyone have a positive experience with a particular supplier? I have seen in other forums that Pummy has a good feedback.

Hello
I am looking at a 1969 BSA B44SS listed for sale. The owner has emailed me a photo of the engine showing the serial number but there appears to be a crack in the housing to the left of the number.
Has anyone seen a crack like this on a B44? What caused it and can it be repaired?

The bike is a 2 hour drive away, so I'm just looking for a little more info before making the trip.

I had a flat tire last week and had to have my 1957 A7 transported home on a flat bed tow truck. I think the driver may have been a little to aggressive on cinch down of the front end because now, in the garage, I have two little puddles of oil on each side of my front wheel.

Has anyone had this happen? I am wondering what kind of damage has been done to the fork assemblies. Is it possible that oil was forced through the seals without actually causing damage, and the oil I am seeing is what accumulated in the chrome seal housings. Is this thinking too optimistic?

I have a 1957 A7 with a 376 carburetor. I just installed a new float needle and seat adapter, however I'm not sure if I should install a fibre washer under the seat adapter. The Amal site shows a fibre washer but says "If fitted". Draganfly says to install a washer if a Teflon tipped needle is installed. I have another document showing an exploded view of the carburetor and no washer is shown.
If a washer is installed, I expect that the fuel level in the float chamber would increase by the thickness of the washer.
How do I determine if I need this washer?

Hi, I am a new forum member. I had a problem getting into 3rd gear on my 1949 B33. I found the 3rd/4th gear shifter dogged gear and shifter fork badly worn. I found a replacement dogged gear but could not find a shifter fork. I had the old fork weld repaired.

The repair is to the faces of the fork that fit in the slot of the dogged gear. The faces were built up with a mig welder and machined to the same width as the 1st/2nd gear fork.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of repair? Are the original parts face hardened?

Also, when I installed the gears back in the housing, the shifter fork shaft moves axially about 0.015 inches as I select various gears. There were no spacers on this shaft when I removed it. Does anyone have comments on this axial movement?