Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Sound of Thunder: Bears racing 2012


The 'Sound of Thunder' was on yesterday (cancelled last year because of the big earthquake). Went out with Bad Evil and met James and Bonnie there, Bonnie's dad (Robin Struthers) was racing a Buell, and James old race bike was being ridden by someone else. James was hurting and wishing he was out there on the track while at the same time trying to convince me not to get into racing! Shit I'm getting pretty keen I have to say... I'm not content watching anymore. Thinking pretty seriously about booking in for some track days on my Thruxton? Anyway, yeah here's a bunch of cool bikes that were there... there were a bunch more, esp racing. My camera's fucked so mostly I'm sticking to black and white. There were a quite a few Nortons interestingly... I don't think I've ever seen this many all in one place for a long time? I have to admit stock Commandos aren't the most interesting looking bikes eh. There was even one of the new Commandos there, PLUS another one that was racing! We didn't see it race though as it blew its clutch up before we got there. Oh and that little bike, 17th image down, is a Maserati!?

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Norton Update: Primary (can of worms)


Lastnight I stripped out the Primary. I'd opened it up in the weekend with the idea I'd simply be putting my new rotor in, but holy shit have I opened a can of worms here! Jimmy was here when I opened it up and he pointed at that the clutch basket was rocking about on the mainshaft, I went and talked to Alastair Mears about that and he said it'd probably be the bearing in the clutch basket, so that'd be coming off too...

But first the rotor... here's my old one (still in the stator). You can see what a mess it is. There is one mark punched deeper than others (which are more sort of scratched in) but with a strobe it had been really hard to get a proper reading from this. Also I thought it was a bit worn because it was loose o the shaft.
 

Above is the new rotor I got from British Spares. It's too big anyway, so wasn't going to be going on. Luckily I figured that out before opening the bag an whatnot.

Shit went downhill quick when I pulled off the stator and the rotor came right off with it. The problem, I think, is that the keyway for the woodruff key that positions the rotor on the shaft is worn. I put a new key in, but the rotor can still rock backwards and forwards too much I reckon? I asked John, he seemed to think it might be ok because there's 80 pounds pf torque pressure keeping that done up on the shaft. I need to investigate this. Obviously I really do no want to have to do a total engine rebuild to fix keyway in the shaft!? I'm going to have to talk to people etc and find out what's to be done here..


There is also a leaking seal here where engine oil is getting through into the Primary (see below). How much does that matter? Is this maybe why my clutch ends up dragging after every few hundred miles?


The clutch mainshaft bearing is pretty worn I think (below). Will take that to school and test it out in a vice there tomorrow...


I am, at least, getting a lot faster at dismantling my whole primary side!


Will I ever get this bike on the road again? It's been 2 years now since I've really been able to ride it at all properly.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Norton Update: Ignition


It's been a while since I've mentioned what's going on with my Norton Commando, so here's a quick catch up...

After much fucking about with the carbs and getting nowhere with my running problems, I decided to go back to basics, start with the ignition, and work my way through things from there. This is all kinda scary – need I say I am a total bloody amatuer. Anyway I pulled out my ignition about two weeks back and sent it to British Spares for testing. That came back ok, which is cool but also means I haven't discovered any problems to fix.

My whole wiring loom is looking very old and tired, and so I enlisted the help of my good friend and local rock star 'Bad Evil' to help me tidy up some connections and put the ignition back in nice and tidy like. Bad's some kinda electrical whizz (he builds Plinius amplifiers!) and I don't know shit apart from what Lou Reed siad about electricity coming form other planets.

Next up was to order a new rotor, as my current one is old and the only timing mark on it looks to have been punched into it by someone ages ago. I don't know how accurate it is, and on top of other problems the bike's been kicking back pretty violently a lot when I'm trying to start it.