Another new member intro

I was looking for a Norton this past summer and found one out in Apple Valley (Mojave desert) California that interested me. I live in Northern California, a long drive to check out a bike. It was in good condition but didn't run as advertised. I'm turning 60 in a week and haven't had a Brit-bike since my 20's when I had a couple of T100C's. I've got a couple of old Honda XRs currently and also a '67 MGB GT that's my daily driver (if there's no snow). But now I've been sorting out this great old bike cleaned it up gotten in running. It appears to be a modified '73 Dunstall 850 (sprint version perhaps). It's a bit of a long story but the woman PO got it in a divorce settlement (along with literally about 150 other bikes mostly British or Spanish) and she and her son couldn't really tell me ANYTHING about it. So I've been scouring this site and just trying to figure it all out.



It runs really strong now, starts easily but with an unreliable idle.



It's got Dunstall rearsets with cross-over (left side) shifting and rear disc brake conversion. I think the real PO did a lot of work and changes to it. I've done only a few subtle changes and sorting such as modifying a Mk III speedo drive and mounting it on the front wheel to allow the use of the "Green Globe" speedo and not the bicycle unit that was mounted when I got it.



I don't want to make this too long, but I'll certainly have a lot of questions coming.
Lance

Lance you got your self a real stand out Commando. A whole bunch of things beyond factory issue. A front speedo drive is almost impossible on factory spoked hubs. That alone is a rare or maybe unique feature. If points ignition suspect the advance sticking advanced or bouncing about. Next imfamous issue is the pilot jets idle feed clogs, usually by zinc oxide crusts only physical clearing with sized drill or wire gets open. Third most infamous problem is the pot metal on pot metal slides in bore beats them to rattling wide air gap mixture swings, requiring hi idle or dies. Fourth famous non Norton issue is the Lucas terminals which likely have out lasted anything else 40 yr old. BE LEARY of the front brake fluid level - check for each gas up for a while till you KNOW for sure it ain't leaking out and blown away unseen until one prefect hard pull down next instant nothing at all. If you ain't ridden a rubber baby bugger on powered edges to encounter THE Hinge, hi recommend some low tire air practice so it hits as rates you can easy recover from and never forget that weird sense as slow leaks will not surprise ya with reversed control reactions more than other cycles. Cast wheels fairing rare on Commandos too, so may be on ya own dealing that area.

Welcome Lance. Cool bike. Tank is fiberglass?

Welcome Lance.

Nice relic, you'll have it sorted pretty quickly.

Yeah, the tank is fiberglas, (or is that fibreglas :wink: ). I used the KBS coatings system sort of a semi-soft epoxy and that seems to be working well. Its got analog Boyer Bransden ignition and the battery has 12.7 v. The right hand Amal slide is really scuffed and I've ordered anodized new ones from Jerry, they should probably be here any day now. I'm suspecting that the pilot jet is likely messed up like Hobot is describing, since it doesn't seeem to respond well to the air screws. I had a similar problem with the SU's on my MG that was cured with new throttle shafts. Huge improvement. It will idle down to where I don't want it to. The front wheel is a Kawasaki item and is 19". The rear is 18" but has no Kawasaki markings only the letter "M" along with the size markings and such. They sure look alike except for some very minor variations, so I guess it could also be a Kawasaki item. I'd like to know for brake pad replacement purposes in the future. The caliper doesn't seem to have easily identifiable markings either.

Nice find L.E.N. thanks for posting. someone really put some love into that bike at one time or another. Cj

Welcome L.E.N.

Wow, what a great Commando. Unreliable idle may be do to an awsome cam in there somewhere. You may want to except it for what it is or there is a couple ignition systems that have idle stablization features that may help.

But the best part is that it's not YELLOW. (inside joke)

I will look to hear more about it.

L.E.N. said:

I don't want to make this too long....
Lance

Click to expand...

I don't like this part.

What happened to the other bikes she had?

That's a good question about the cam because it really pulls hard and clean and I noticed the Amals have 280 mainjets rather than the 260's I expected. I put the needle down one slot since I live at just about 3000' elevation. Did Dunstall put 280's in his engines or is that more likely the PO's work?

I wish I lived closer to her, because I wanted to just look around at all these great but neglected bikes in this barn. It's so dry out there that rust didn't really exist at least on my bike. There were some pretty old bikes in there and we had to roll out a very old narrow tank Triumph with a sidecar, just to get mine outside. Also the upstairs loft had an incredible amount of tanks, fenders, parts race fairings, etc. I wish I was there right now just to look again. I had to kind of hurry because I wanted to drive home and get home before 2 am. It's about a nine hour drive.

Interesting bike. Welcome. I'd mess with cleaning the idle circuit first, and of course installing the anodized slides. Make sure they don't bind and are free all the way up and down. Go here and read all about it. http://www.jba.bc.ca/Bushmans%20Carb%20 ... html#FLOAT Mine didn't idle for crap and the anodized slides helped about 90%. They're still critical to temperature, both outside and engine for the idle. I keep a screwdriver with me.

Do the simple things first and don't do a lot of things all at once before trying it out.

Dave
69S

My Commando buddy and I cover most of 500 miles in 9 hr leisure ride with lots of stops d/t his peanut size HyRyder tank.

Float Level has A LOT to do with pilot screw changing idle speeds - think too low a float-leanness if screw must be turned in to get some idle effect and float too high if turning pilot out has nil effect. in mean time waiting on anodized slides, try some grease on the slide to see how much that helps idle - before it washes away after a time on the fly. If bores beat up it can help to get slides with a bit less cut out and more grunt on low throttle snaps.

L.E.N. said:

Yeah, the tank is fiberglas, (or is that fibreglas :wink: ). I used the KBS coatings system sort of a semi-soft epoxy and that seems to be working well. Its got analog Boyer Bransden ignition and the battery has 12.7 v. The right hand Amal slide is really scuffed and I've ordered anodized new ones from Jerry, they should probably be here any day now. I'm suspecting that the pilot jet is likely messed up like Hobot is describing, since it doesn't seeem to respond well to the air screws. I had a similar problem with the SU's on my MG that was cured with new throttle shafts. Huge improvement. It will idle down to where I don't want it to. The front wheel is a Kawasaki item and is 19". The rear is 18" but has no Kawasaki markings only the letter "M" along with the size markings and such. They sure look alike except for some very minor variations, so I guess it could also be a Kawasaki item. I'd like to know for brake pad replacement purposes in the future. The caliper doesn't seem to have easily identifiable markings either.

Click to expand...

Good looking bike, well done.
The rear wheel with the M cast in it is a Morris wheel, fitted to some late model T140 factory limited editions, and I believe some Harleys. Bizarrly the Triumph ones had a five bolt disc fixing on the front and 4 bolt on the rear.
sam

Hi Lance

If you are close enough to San Jose, the 26th All Btitish Clubmans Show and Swap is on April 6 at the Santa Clara county Fairgrounds. If you can make it, stop by the Nothern California Norton Owners Club booth. We'll talk your ear off about Commando Www.nortonclub.com