1974 850 norton

hello my name is richard and im new to site i bought a 850 norton 1974 that has been sitting for 10 + years tried to kick bike over and it was stuck. owner that i bought bike from said it ran anyway i pulled spark plugs out and found left cylender full of oil took all the oil out of left cylender. what would cause this to happen i know on my harley shovel head when it sits for long time oil will fill up my lower cases because check ball in oil pump doesnt seal and when i start it it will blow out breather tube this is my first norton i have work on in years i had a 750 atlas back in the day when i was a young man im in my 50,s now i have been restoring kawasaki triples for the last 15 years 750, mostly some 500 i would love to talk to someone that knows these bikes i live in antioch ca cant wait to fire bike up its a very nice bike all original bought it off a old timer who cant ride anymore it sucks gettin old it was his babie.

I have a 74 850 also and Kawasaki triples since 1977 (250 S1B long gone) and 750 H2's since 1980,79 Sportster in 1984.

Maybe some oil was put in the cylinder to stop it locking up while in storage,about the only other way is down the inlet tract somehow or a dribble down a guide on a open valve pot.
Could it get past the piston rings (one cylinder?) if it had wet sumped and been kicked over who knows.

Sounds like a going over and it will fire up.

My guess is he put oil in there before storing the bike. Must have good rings.

Your Norton will do the same thing as your Harley, oil will migrate to the bottom end. But at least the Norton has a sump plug.

Oil can't fill the cylinder from somewhere else on the bike/engine so I agree that the cyls were probably filled with oil for preservation at some point and the oil seeped down to the crankcase from the right cylinder but not from the left simply because the ring seal was better on the left OR there was a lot more carbon on the left side which, with the oil, created a "better" seal.

Maybe your motorcycle had been stored lying down on its left side so that the oil can flow from the crank case to the left hand combustion chamber. Of course, it is hard to imagine anyone storing a motorcycle that way.

Possibly what could have happened is that the fuel taps were left ON and over time the left hand carburetor flooded out filling the left hand cylinder with gasoline. So maybe it is not oil you are looking at but gooey, old gasoline.

Resist the desire to hear it fire... drain the crankcase, the oil tank, refill with new oil, pump as much oil out the plugs as possible by kicking over. Remove the tappet covers and pump clean engine oil over the rockers, pump a couple ounces in the exhaust tappet openings... it will drain down and lube the cam/lifters. Check for spark, clean the carbs, when you do fire it, watch inside the oil tank for the return oil coming out the side holes In the tube squashed flat and brazed to the side. It comes out in sporadic spurts, normal.
Before riding, the clutch most likely will need a quick dismantling/cleaning. Verify the gear oil is up before running it.
You mentioned an Atlas.. Just a friendly reminder P O S I T I V E E A R T H! Lot's of dramatic stories from people hooking the batt up wrong.

One thing it aint is a Kawasaki Triple .

Engage patiance . Use Search here to suss the mechanicals before you mess with em . No hissy fits .

Its more related to THIS than one of those stamped out , ' Honda ' things .

Maybe he filled BOTH cylinders with OIL , and it drained out of the RIGHT past the rings .

thank you for your help

Please keep us posted how it progresses :idea: