A65 oil drain cover

[DAVE BRADY]

Hi Bruce,

As the sump plate is square it can go on anyway round so long as the magnet does not foul the oil scavenge pipe.  These plates have been around for along time and I have always fitted them with the plug to the back.  Not for the reason given by SRM but because I thought that less road dirt would accumulate on it.

Dave.

[JulianS]

This one available from Eddie Dow back in 1968.

The cheap cast ones commonly found on ebay are copies of it.

[BruceB]

Mine looks like that one, although for some reason or somebody has ground out the corners for more clearance?
So it doesn't matter whether this version is fitted front or rearwards facing?
I was looking at buying the current SRM version (and maybe still will) and it was the instructions to only fit this facing backwards that worried me.

[ChrisG]

Bruce,
As long as you have the gauze in the correct way then the cover can go any way to suit you. I found the front is best as it is easier to see and get at.
The best thing about having one of these as opposed to the BSA original is if the bike is prone to wet sumping then you can drain off the excess oil in the crankcase before a ride. Also, it's a good way of checking how much it wet sumps in a particular period between drain offs.

[BruceB]

I took it off and found the gauze was missing, so one on order to fit before refitting the cover. 
After a bit of reading it seems the reason SRM state that the plug goes to the back is so the magnet is closest to the scavenge pipe so while it technically should work best plug to the rear its not exactly a disaster if it isn't