Old Bike Australasia — Issue 68 2017

70 :OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA

and finished it’s only race – but it had a mysterious
“miss” in the engine. Three different ignitions and
two different carbs? It can’t be ignition or
carburation – but what else can it be?
After a thorough clean out of the fuel tank and fuel
I took it out onto the highway and turned up the wick

• but it was still “missing”! A strange sort of “miss”
  though, as it only did it in 3rd gear (both under load
  and not) and anywhere between medium to high
  revs. I deduced that the only thing it can possibly be,
  by a process of elimination, is a gearbox problem, 3rd
  gear is momentarily slipping out of gear then back in,
  so quickly that it feels like an ignition problem, there
  is no time for the revs to peak like when a bike
  normally jumps out of gear. The engine was removed
  from the bike and stripped down, and to my horror,
  the sleeve gear on the main shaft appeared to be the
  same as a Pursang moto-crosser – one tooth more
  than a standard Metralla Mk2 race kit cog. A quick

count of the teeth on some of the other main-shaft

gears produced the same result: they were not

standard Metralla race kit either! My stomach sank,

it appeared that it may not be the correct race kit

gearbox; did this mean that a Pursang gearbox was

fitted instead? Maybe the whole engine was simply

a Pursang “ring-in”? I had visions of all the $ I paid

for this “special” bike being wasted!

In short, every cog in the gearbox was different to

any other 5-speed cog that Bultaco had ever made.

It was a special factory gear box after all, confirmed

by calculating the overall ratios which turned out to

be almost identical to the standard race kit gearbox,

just a tiny bit higher. I felt very relieved, the bike

was indeed a genuine factory racer, one of only a

hand full made. A new 3rd gear selector fork and a

“silk shift” modified selector drum were bought and

I made a new lay shaft spacer. While the engine

was apart I had the piston skirt teflon coated and

the crown ceramic coated, by High Performance

Coatings in Melbourne. The “miss” in the engine

had been eliminated, the engine runs as smooth

as silk in all gears at all speeds.

The bike completed its next meeting at Eastern

Creek in 2003, so now that the bike had been

successfully raced I could retire it and restore it to its

former glory as raced at the Isle of Man.

I had an unexpected but very welcome visit in

March 2003 from Harry Lindsay, the original Bultaco

importer into Ireland in the 1960s and the first

owner of my bike. He flew over to Australia for a

few days to visit friends, including Aussie racer

Kevin Cass who raced one of Harry’s Metrallas in the

1967 Production TT, coming sixth after being

plagued with engine problems. We spent a very

pleasant couple of hours talking Bultacos and “the

old days”. In early 2004 I contacted Tommy Robb

and Bill Smith in the UK to see if they had any

BULTACO METRALLA MK2 TT

Andrew Flowers

giving his Metralla

a dose of country air.

Andrew Flowers’ metralla which is
fitted with the customer race kit.

The power department of Andrew’s bike,

with MkII Amal Concentric fitted.

Extra looped bracket to hold the footrest and

exhaust pipe distinguishes the TT frame.

Rear chain which runs

in a sealed case with

snail cam adjusters.