First up, a common one, oil pump delete: pump and crank case gears are out, blanking plate in. I made up a brand new throttle cable and now I'm eyeballing the square hole in the top of the crank case where the oil pipes used to be. Any neat suggestions?

With no oil pump I'm going with a cheap generic, plastic seat. Fit is perfect and really suits the bike. However, the rear brackets on the seat would probably mean drilling something on the bike; probably the mudguard. How to people feel about non-reversible modifications? Everything else I've done so far is either swap, repair or delete. For some reason drilling a couple of 6mm holes in a mint condition mudguard makes me shudder!

It doesn't matter how "people" feel... only matters how YOU feel.

For example, oil pump delete is considered a mistake by many, probably most, here... not all that "common" these days.

My experience is that no matter how "reversible" your creation is, make it something YOU want and like.

If you ever decide to sell it, the value of your "brat" or whatever they are called these days is going to be a fraction of what an original or nearly original bike would bring... if you can sell it at all. A couple holes drilled in a fender won't change that.

Regarding the oil pump delete. I had a 66 X6 Suzuki Hustler motor rebuilt and my mechanic suggested removing the oil injection system and running pre-mix. He was (still is) an old time guy that raced 2 strokes in the 60's and 70's. You had to watch it with him because he was always porting and tweaking stuff to make it faster! I foolishly let him delete the oil injection. i had a 5 gal. can at the house that I would mix up with non ethanol fuel. First thing is that we had to rejet the carbs because now the oil was added to the fuel. Next, it was just a pain in the butt to have a premix bike and when I went to sell it, well, people wanted an original bike and didn't want premix. I finally sold it to a guy who reinstalled the oil pump and was happy, but I took a significant loss on the sale price at the time. If you have a pump issue have DEET rebuild it. They are reliable and convenient and your engine will live longer with oil injection. Rant over.

This is what I made for my 250A. There's a small piece of threaded flat bar underneath for the screw to securely clamps it in place.



A metric straight thread pipe plug (DIN 9029, M8 x 1.0) to plug where the cable went.



And a button head screw to plug the oil line hole.

Hopefully beter picture of the pipe plug. I've been running my 250A on 32:1 premix for 15 years. Bone stock by the book carb jetting and timing, and it runs pretty darn good! I will admit the auto lube is more convenient if you are doing long rides where you'll need to refuel along the way. My 250A gets 60+ mpg which is good for 120+ miles which is good for my normal day rides.

I'm assuming what you are referring to as the mud guard is the steel rear fender? If so, a couple 6mm holes in the steel fender is reversible, they can be welded closed and finished off to look back to original.

Love the little cover plate, I'll see what I can rustle up

Wow! Big heat on the premix/autolube discussion, what have I stepped into Guys, it's not that hard: fill bike, add oil, shake bike!

Point taken on the "fender" (BTW, WTF is it fending off at the top of the wheel?) I'll be careful to drill with a view to patching later if needed.

Oil pump - when set right, this feeds the correct amount at any given time and so general preference is to keep it. That's not to say, however, that the a bike won't run adequately on premix - just not as good as with a properly set up oil pump.

The fender is fending off dirt/mud from the underside of the seat, frame etc - just look at the arse (sorry, I'm from the UK, ass!) of any pedal cyclist not using a fender. We call them mudguards over here, and for a very good reason!

I didn't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers on removing the oil pump.

I never said you "couldn't" remove the pump or criticized anyone who has... I've done it myself and will likely do it again. Depends on condition of Autolube system and the intended use of the bike.

My response was directed at the original post that said it was "common" to remove the pump... like it's the "thing to do" or a "must". I completely disagree with that sentiment. That's all.

P.S. Yup, it's not that hard to "add oil, shake bike". What's IMPOSSIBLE is to change how much premix oil the engine is getting depending on conditions. Premix is always a compromise. Pump changes mix ratio from 120:1 or leaner at idle to 16:1 or richer at full throttle high RPM... this is especially important on smaller engines that simply must be pushed harder to make it up a hill or whatever compared to a larger engined bike.

My apologies, I'm used to European forums and their humour

One of the reasons is the cheap seat that'll bolt down rather than hinge (to get to the oil tank.) The original I have is just a pile of rust which would at least need the entire edge rebuilding (plus foam and cover.) So far the only reproduction seats I've found are from Vietnam that cost twice as much as I paid for the bike :(

On the bright side the blanking plate only cost 5 eurodollarpounds and enables me to turn the bike over and ride it around a bit while at the same time allowing me to scrutinise the pump or consider refurbing it. The only "bad" part is dumping the gearbox oil out to refit it and, if you've seen my other thread, I'll be doing that anyway when the new tacho gear turns up so I really wouldn't be upset whether the pump's there or not - it's all good fun and experience

Interesting information on the oil pump ratios though: didn't realise there was quite such a dramatic shift between idle and full throttle! Live and learn I shall definitely consider putting it back... eventually!