AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Hi Members,

Is there a way to check the oil passage from pump to the cylinder feed, I have just had the cylinder rebored and a new piston. Would rest better if I could see oil or air coming out of the port. A few pics attached. Thank you. 1954 16MS

The short reply, Paul, is not to worry about it.
The oil feed to the cylinder walls was discontinued in '55 without any other changes to the oiling system.
When I replaced my '54 cylinder with one without the oil feed holes I only used a later cylinder base gasket which didn't have the hole for the oil feed and it didn't cause any issues during 14,000 miles.
You can remove the oil feed spring and ball and blank off the hole with a 3 BA stud if you wish (but I wouldn't bother with yours which still has the holes).
See page 10 here:

http://archives.jampot.dk/technical/Spe ... hanics.pdf

EDIT:
As an afterthought and purely a guess but it may be that the cylinder oiling arrangement was a hangover from earlier days when wire wound pistons were used as they had a piston to cylinder clearance of only around 1 thou.

Hi Spriddler,

Thanks for your reply, that looks like some good reading I will make a cuppa and check it out. 🏍