Access Norton Motorcycle Forum

"Want to stay dry" - do the cam belts slip timing if they get wet? [if you ride without the cam belt enclosures road debris can fly up & catch twixt belt & gear with nasty consequences].

bluto wrote:there is some interesting info on the Cagiva Alazurra 650 at http://www.eurospares.com/ally.htm

(and lots of other useful info on racing, fabrication, Lucas Rita ignition, etc http://www.eurospares.com/other.htm )

Michael always has interesting things to say about just about every bike.

GRM 450 wrote:They are desmo so the heads will need to be removed to reseat the valves and adjust the valve clearances.
Graeme

Are you sure about removing the heads? I believe on these you do have to pull the rocker spindles (you can have them modded to slide over like the later bikes) to get to the shims but is pulling the head the only way?

You will have to take the heads off to seat the valves if needed, same as any head.
You can shim them by removing the belts, rocker covers, and the l/h cam bearing covers then pull out the opening rocker pin.
The opening rocker will then fall free and can be removed.
And so will all the end float clearance shims.
Then you can push the closer shim down and remove the collets and remove the closing shim.

Way too hard to do it this way.
And too hard to measure accurately .

Much easier to do the shims on the kitchen table or good bench with the heads off.

You'd have to have the end of the opening rocker shaft machined off and buy 2 spring clips from the later models to make them easier to do without removing the rocker pins and belts and cam bearing cap.

Can be done easy and makes any shim changing possible without removing the heads.

Want pictures?

Also you must line up the timing marks on both cam pulleys on both heads with the marks on the rubber pieces that the top of the belt covers screw to,,,

And the bottom belt pulley with the mark on the case.
Before you remove the belts, or heads.

I had a 900ssie for a couple of years, did the belts watching a youtube vid....pretty easy as long as you make some reference marks.
The valves on mine never needed adjusting in the 20 000 km I had it but taking the valve covers off and checking them is easy enough....I had to drop off the shock to take the rear one off.
I have a bevel too and so far since a rebuild in 1999 its only needed checking.
My Bosch ignition is 34 years old and the wiring between the pickups and igniters cracks from the heat of the motor inside the clutch cover and perishes outside the case.
I would say a Ducati is less maintenance than a Commando.
Ducati prices are low even here in NZ....probably due to over supply......I preferred when people said a Du what eeee?.......
Registration here has killed multiple bike ownership, twice as much as a car....but that covers no blame injury rehab as we can't sue.

Seems like there are a crapload of Ducatis down there.

And a few Nortons. You guys have good taste.

Eyes not prejudiced .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=408OpNr2sdw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjP974rJ ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7cNKc4I ... ure=relmfu

Intrestingly he didnt thump me when I sat on this , in his abscence , though he wasnt entirely absent .t proves .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJTz-cjFMfM

S M B H

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQAjZIQ1 ... ure=fvwrel

swooshdave wrote:Seems like there are a crapload of Ducatis down there.

And a few Nortons. You guys have good taste.

A lot of it is due to ' Japanese Imports"
The Japanese like non Japanese stuff....but after a few years they get new stuff....the old stuff comes to New Zealand..... sadly a lot of our cool old stuff goes overseas......thats the nature of stuff
Probably more Nortons these days than Bevel Ducatis.How are you finding the Ducati?

72Combat wrote:

swooshdave wrote:Seems like there are a crapload of Ducatis down there.

And a few Nortons. You guys have good taste.

A lot of it is due to ' Japanese Imports"
The Japanese like non Japanese stuff....but after a few years they get new stuff....the old stuff comes to New Zealand..... sadly a lot of our cool old stuff goes overseas......thats the nature of stuff
Probably more Nortons these days than Bevel Ducatis.How are you finding the Ducati?

Have not sealed the deal on the Cagiva yet.

Stil sorting out the 860. Turning it into a proper bike by putting Norton parts on it.

(front the Beveheaven forum)


Obviously has seen better days.

Someone (name withheld to protect the guilty) said that he had used Norton intake manifold insulators on his 750. At a couple bucks each they are significantly cheaper than the Ducati ones. Norton didn't use rubber based insulators like Triumph or Ducati, instead its a phenolic insulator (phenolic materials can be engineered to have extremely low thermal transfers, ideal when protecting the carb from the head heat). While the rubber blocks do they same thing as you know they tend to shrink and leak.

The challenge with the Ducati manifold is the spigot and I believe pins holding the blocks in place. I think there are pins, I don't know for sure as there aren't any on my bike.



While the intakes are the same on the 750 Norton Combats and the big Ducatis (32mm) it's the spigot that throws the next roadblock in place. The options are to mill off the spigot or opened up the insulator.




By opening up the insulator with a Dremel I was able to get them to fit over the spigot. Because the phenolic insulators are so efficient typically you only need one thin one, but because of the spigot I just used two insulators. I had not anticipated having to use two for each carb and had just bought three (incase I messed up one carving it up) so for now I just did the front carb as it was the worse (and easiest to get to).

Lastly the bolt spacing in slightly different, so I elongated the holes in the insulators a smidge. Maybe a millimeter.



Then assembled with Yamabond (actually I think it's Threebond but you know what I mean) and since that was about midnight last night I didn't fire up the bike as I'm quite sure all of the neighbors would have called the cops on me.



So the test will be in a little bit and I'll let you know what happens. I definitely had a bad leak so it should be apparent.

If you're wondering you can get the insulators from any Norton dealer. I use Old Britts and they are wonderful to deal with. Well, except their website uses frames which is a pain to link to.

http://www.oldbritts.com/alt_067842.html (what you are looking for is a Gasket, Heat Insulator, 32mm for a 1972 model (they also used them on the later 850s).

The Norton part number is 18-063458 and the cost for one insulator is about 1/10th the cost of a single Ducati rubber one. So, like I said, I can afford to experiment.

I bought an R65 recently that was 'low on compression" to part out to fund my hobby.....well, gave it a tune up and service and have have been riding it every day to work...I never had much time for the baby Beemers but its a hoot to ride, bit buzzy at motorway speeds but you get used to it....for 2 K that Ducati would offer a lot of fun at legal speeds. I wish I could 'download' bikes off the web.... 860 coming along. There is a list of " alternative parts" on the web ....http://www.docsa.com.au/Technical%20stu ... 0Parts.htm

i bought a 1997 750 monster on a whim. $2,200 and under 8,000 miles. it is a great little ride for the money. wet clutch and carbs. came with remus exhaust which is the sexiest sound ever. great along with my 71 commando and the 1150gs. and they all run. my two cents...

doctorbrown wrote:i bought a 1997 750 monster on a whim. $2,200 and under 8,000 miles. it is a great little ride for the money. wet clutch and carbs. came with remus exhaust which is the sexiest sound ever. great along with my 71 commando and the 1150gs. and they all run. my two cents...

I'm sure those are out there. But 97 is too new for me, not that there aren't a few of the newer models that couldn't entice me.



A guy in the club picked up the 900SS for under $2k, it does have a salvage title and he's had to put some work into it. I'd take one of those in a heartbeat.

The Cagiva is just old and funky enough for me.

Good luck with the Cagiva! That will be a fun bike. I think your biggest challenge will be finding parts.

That 900SS for $2K sounds like a great purchase. Those are fun bikes if you can handle the riding position (I can't any more, due to disc degeneration in my neck).

debby wrote:Good luck with the Cagiva! That will be a fun bike. I think your biggest challenge will be finding parts.

That 900SS for $2K sounds like a great purchase. Those are fun bikes if you can handle the riding position (I can't any more, due to disc degeneration in my neck).

The nice thing about Italian bikes is that they tending to use all the same suppliers for most of the bits. Shocks, forks, electrics, etc all came from several suppliers. Most of the wear parts are all available.

Since the engine is all Darmah that won't be bad at all.