Pilgrim pump

[courtney]

1936 BSA B2

Hello,

First things first, I'm pretty ignorant to these things and having a pre-war bike seems to be a bit of a learning curve for me.

Hoping somebody can offer some advice. I recently removed the Pilgrim pump from my bike to remove the case that it's attached to. At the same time, I drained the oil from the tank as I don't have a tap fitted. I only removed it to check the inner casing screws tightness.

Since then, the pump seems to be a bit off and doesn't appear to be pumping properly. Before I removed and refitted it, there was a nice regular blob of oil coming through, but it seems to be a bit funny now and there isn't this nice, regular blob. I didn't touch the setting. The pump seems to fill right up with oil and I don't know if it's going anywhere. I have tried adjusting the flow but there is a faster drip coming through and I can't get it any slower.

When I removed the pump with the feed pipe still attached before, oil seemed to flow from it, but when I removed it to check it today no oil came from it and it remained filled. I have cleaned it up today, but it doesn't seem any better

Any suggestions what could be wrong? Do you have to prime these pumps in any way?

[Steve.S]

Courtney,
This  seems very odd.
I think the 1st thing you should do is fit a tap to the oil tank. You may need a 3/8 BSP to 1/4 BSP adaptor from Hitchcock's Motorcycles, although one may already be fitted. You also need a 1/4 BSP (or maybe a 1/8 BSP)  brass tap.
If a tap is not fitted, you will probably find that, over a period of time, oil will drain into the crankcase and make starting very difficult. Do not forget to turn the tap on when starting the engine, otherwise it will blow up. I hang cardboard signs on the bike as a reminder.
Are you saying that the pump fills up with oil with the engine running, or overnight with the engine not running?
The plunger inside the pump both rotates and oscillates and it is the amount of oscillation that controls the flow. This is adjusted via the adjuster, so it sounds to me that the plunger is not moving back and forth, but why this should be after simply removing the pump, I've no idea. Most odd.
If you search the internet, there is an article from a UK edition of Old Bike Magazine, entitled "Pilgrim's Progress" reprinted by the Jam Pot website. Look under Images. There are a couple of very important 'Don't Do's', so read it first. Gerald Howard is no longer in business, but you could try Peter Rosenthal at Pete's Bikes 07505 884261.
It might be worth removing the plate with the adjuster on, and see if the plunger is moving back and forth when you rotate the pump by hand.
Beneath the beak, there is a ball and spring. I wonder if this has stuck? The beak is a push fit in the housing.
I can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'm sure Peter will be able to advise you.

[courtney]

Thank you Steve, it's appreciated as always.

I'd actually planned on giving Peter a call this afternoon after work, but I had to do something so didn't get a chance in the end. I'll give him a call tomorrow.

To answer your question, the pump fills up slowly as the engine is running. I've been riding it pretty regularly and it starts quite easily, most times, first kick. It does seem odd that just removing the pump and refitting would have an effect. The only reason I thought it might have something to do with that was because it was the only thing I'd done that might have caused it and it was working well beforehand. It's easy to fit, so I can't imagine I've messed it up too badly!

When I've tried to adjust the drip rate, it doesn't really get any slower or form a regular drip. When I get it to a point of reducing its speed it'll not flow at all.

Should the plunger run quite freely in its bore within the pump? When I had it apart, it needed a bit of a push for it to go back and forth. I didn't remove the plunger fully when I had the pump off.

I'll check the ball under the beak. I've flushed it all through and blown it out with compressed air, but while I have it apart I will check it all again. I found the article you suggested and it's very helpful, thank you; I had been hoping there would be an exploded diagram somewhere.

Thank you again. I will give Peter a call tomorrow and post here what might be up. I've copied the link below for the "Pilgrim's Progress" article.

http://archives.jampot.dk/technical/Oil_system/Pilgrim_Pumps_restoration.pdf

[Steve.S]

As per the article, you must remove the "bush" and skew gear to remove the plunger. With the skew gear fitted, it will probably be a little harder to push the plunger back and forth as you will be turning the gear. Better to rotate the drive tit and use a screwdriver gently held against the plunger to push it back in. But really you need to remove the skew gear to see if the plunger is completely free. It's obviously made to close tolerances, but should move back and forth easily. However, I wonder if this is your problem? Maybe the plunger is moving out with the action of the cam, but the spring is not able to push the plunger back, perhaps due to a small piece of scheizer in the bore? Or maybe the housing became slightly distorted?
I'm sure Peter will solve the problem.