Trials Australia Forums

I've recently completed a resto of my Montesa Cota 348 MRR and was wondering if the tank/seat unit was ever insulated from the exhaust silencer as mine rubs against the exhaust and gets pretty warm :) I know this is not much of a problem but I'm curious never the less?

Well done Montesa13, can we have your story & specs ect, how did you do it, how much did things cost (yeah I know, lots) & are ya happy & how does it go, would you do it again, what would you do different, any advice? & can we have some more pics, its a wonderful piece of pleasure.

There was none on my 348 when I got it 15 years ago, but people who had these bikes from new tell me that there was originally some lagging (high temp insulation) attached to the inside of the fibreglass shroud where it touches the exhaust

David Lahey wrote:There was none on my 348 when I got it 15 years ago, but people who had these bikes from new tell me that there was originally some lagging (high temp insulation) attached to the inside of the fibreglass shroud where it touches the exhaust

As I suspected David thanks btw this bike has the speedo drive you supplied to me some time back

Brigalow wrote:Well done Montesa13, can we have your story & specs ect, how did you do it, how much did things cost (yeah I know, lots) & are ya happy & how does it go, would you do it again, what would you do different, any advice? & can we have some more pics, its a wonderful piece of pleasure.

GEEZ!!! There's a few ?? there here's an image of how it looked previously for starters.

I'm very happy

I'm not much of a mechanic though but am learning SLOOOOWLY!! it is very difficult to start when cold is there a knack to it? the motor hasn't been re-built because it was in fine condition when I bought the bike.
I usually have to resort to removing the plug pouring a bit of fuel in the plug then replacing the plug and away she goes then it runs fine. I'm not 100% the mixture is right. Was blowing a bit of smoke but it hadn't been going for a while so it seems to have abated since giving it a bit of a ride and "blowing the cobwebs out" so to speak.

Brigalow wrote:Well done Montesa13, can we have your story & specs ect, how did you do it, how much did things cost (yeah I know, lots) & are ya happy & how does it go, would you do it again, what would you do different, any advice? & can we have some more pics, its a wonderful piece of pleasure.

Sorry pal I don't think I'm experienced enough to be handing out advice, maybe if anyone has one of these and the tank needs repair, more through good luck than good management, I went to a fibreglass boat builder and he supplied me with fuel proof resin which I was unaware existed prior to this. That's probably well known to you guys though!

And YES it did cost a bit of $$$$ but that's not why we do this stuff is it? I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the learning curve of the project. Here's another of my completed projects.

Montesa13 wrote:I'm not much of a mechanic though but am learning SLOOOOWLY!! it is very difficult to start when cold is there a knack to it? the motor hasn't been re-built because it was in fine condition when I bought the bike.
I usually have to resort to removing the plug pouring a bit of fuel in the plug then replacing the plug and away she goes then it runs fine. I'm not 100% the mixture is right. Was blowing a bit of smoke but it hadn't been going for a while so it seems to have abated since giving it a bit of a ride and "blowing the cobwebs out" so to speak.

I may be saying something obvious regarding your starting issue with the 348, but just in case, if it has the original Mk 2 AMAL carby with a starting lever, the starting lever is "up" to be on, which is opposite to the starting lever on Mikuni carbies which are on when "down"
The 348s I am familiar with start reliably from cold, but do require a lot of effort to kick over

Nice work on both bikes. The TL looks perhaps better than showroom condition and better than I kept mine many years ago and my Cota 348 (but not MRR) suffered under my skills at the time - but loved them both and the 348 was a fantastic goer. I had a decompression lever/system fitted to my 348 which helped starting (or I needed to work on my leg strength or technique or both). But never had a problem starting it by memory (of old).
I was fanatical with timing of the 348 with dial gauge, modified the wiring from magneto to be able to put a resistor and bulb in-line with earth and loved fiddling with getting the timing set - and then carried that through to a number of other riders bikes. Still got the setup for dial gauge and support across the head studs to secure it in position. But sits there now in posterity or for whenever I find something to use it all on.
Enjoy.

David Lahey wrote:

Montesa13 wrote:I'm not much of a mechanic though but am learning SLOOOOWLY!! it is very difficult to start when cold is there a knack to it? the motor hasn't been re-built because it was in fine condition when I bought the bike.
I usually have to resort to removing the plug pouring a bit of fuel in the plug then replacing the plug and away she goes then it runs fine. I'm not 100% the mixture is right. Was blowing a bit of smoke but it hadn't been going for a while so it seems to have abated since giving it a bit of a ride and "blowing the cobwebs out" so to speak.

I may be saying something obvious regarding your starting issue with the 348, but just in case, if it has the original Mk 2 AMAL carby with a starting lever, the starting lever is "up" to be on, which is opposite to the starting lever on Mikuni carbies which are on when "down"
The 348s I am familiar with start reliably from cold, but do require a lot of effort to kick over

Indeed it does David and yes I am aware of the Amal carby setup, it must be something else!!