Anti-Janky-fying my 1974 Norton Commando

The Alton does not specify to use a different oil nor do they say to use more oil.

Either the previous owner put in too much oil or your left side crankshaft seal is leaking engine oil into the primary.

With that much oil in there, it is likely your clutch plates are soaked in oil so could likely use a good cleaning.

Dennis

The “dry” clutch that’s inside of a case that has a whirling chain flinging oil everywhere has always seemed a bit off to me- every one I’ve taken apart has had oiled plates. Don’t they all eventually end up as oily as a regular wet clutch?

Norton put a dry clutch design in and they do get oiled up. In the extreme they can drag when disengaged and thus when you select 1st from neutral, it can engage with a hefty clunk. After they are cleaned, it's a light cliquish sound when you engage 1st from neutral.
Lots on this in threads. Some put less oil in than specified, some use ATF.
Dennis

Been following this thread from a distance.
Still not clear to me what that process is that you say in the title.
Did you mistakenly type a "J" instead of a "Y"?

robs ss said:

Been following this thread from a distance.
Still not clear to me what that process is that you say in the title.
Did you mistakenly type a "J" instead of a "Y"?

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Janky is an informal slang term meaning of poor quality, unreliable, broken down, or shabby. It describes something that is loosely held together, poorly made, or functions poorly—such as a "janky setup" on a computer or a "janky" homemade repair

Cuppy said:

Janky is an informal slang term meaning of poor quality, unreliable, broken down, or shabby. It describes something that is loosely held together, poorly made, or functions poorly—such as a "janky setup" on a computer or a "janky" homemade repair

Click to expand...

Thanks Cuppy - my foreign vocabulary is expanded!

Elfix said:

Don’t they all eventually end up as oily as a regular wet clutch?

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Yes, I think so.

Elfix said:

The “dry” clutch that’s inside of a case that has a whirling chain flinging oil everywhere has always seemed a bit off to me- every one I’ve taken apart has had oiled plates. Don’t they all eventually end up as oily as a regular wet clutch?

Click to expand...

Not with a belt. My plates are still as dry as a bone. Cleaning is a "de-dusting" process.

Cuppy said:

Janky is an informal slang term meaning of poor quality, unreliable, broken down, or shabby. It describes something that is loosely held together, poorly made, or functions poorly—such as a "janky setup" on a computer or a "janky" homemade repair

Click to expand...

Never heard it before, until this thread. Adding it to my hipster buzzwords thread.

Changing the J to a W makes it more understandable in the Queens version of English .

kommando said:

Changing the J to a W makes it more understandable in the Queens version of English .

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Janky is more like Wonky.

I am Trilingual: American with an English ex-wife living in NZ.

Kommandos version is better

So, I've done almost nothing with this bike. I did learn - to my suprise - that the bolts used by Alcon for the starter are metric. Nice (for me).

I did take a ride last w/e on my friend's 750 Commando. Mostly stock, very nice. It had been on his lift for about a year but started first kick. Mikuni FTW! It has a shorter primary drive which helps acceleration but I felt like that made it a 60mph bike.

I'm still staring at this regularly. This week's #firstworldproblem is that I got the idea to trade my manual trans Ferrari 360, which seems to have appreciated to an absurd value, to something newer with a V12 and it's not starting. Nearly 16 years of ownership and it's always started immediately. Someone local is interested enough that he stopped by to look at my Ferrari-branded radio so I'm motivated to figure it out.

Anyway, I definitely have a bad crank seal so I have a bunch of work ahead. Every morning dawns with a fresh puddle.

I went through the Alton installation instructions this morning and there was no mention of the shear plugs that have failed. I hope it will be obvious once I start dismantling things.

"It has a shorter primary drive which helps acceleration but I felt like that made it a 60mph bike."

Explain more please. I thought all belt drives made a TALLER primary drive.

Different sprockets?

I just went through the Alton thing on my 74 a couple weeks ago. I bought the bike about 47 years ago. It had the stock points in there. At one time I upgraded to a Boyer and it performed well. Then I tried out a Trispark, I liked that ignition too. After that we were building my buddy's 71 and he decided to go with a Power Arc ignition from Old Britts. That thing was pretty awesome, his bike ran exceptionally. He said let's put one in your bike, I'll pay for it. I agreed, free is for me. I wasn't to happy with it, the 74 never ran as well as the 71. I think the timing was a little off. About 5 years ago I bought the Alton, I was still running the Power Arc. I wasn't too happy with the Alton, it had trouble spinning my motor. It was more like a kick assist. Looking back we think it may have been the shear pins failing due to the timing being out. I put the 74 in dry dock and rode my 30yo, dependable, Harley FXSTC. Due to time constraints of everyday life, we didn't get back to the Norton until this year. My buddy did a custom rewiring job, negative ground from the Grant Tiller website. Increased the cables from the battery to #6AWG, installed the old Trispark, installed 6 shear pins, and away we go. My buddy says now the Alton is now doing what it is supposed to do, spins the motor effortlessly. We also installed a rebuilt head done by @CarlH and I got some useful information from @DennisMo in regard to the Alton. If you need shear pins contact Jack Manning from Classic Bike Experience in Essex Vermont, USA. He is an Alton distributor. $2.50 a pin. I bought 12. Grand total of $40 USD and that includes USPS priority shipping. Anyway I hope to be riding soon, just got out of 2 months of rehab, and need to do some more. Not as bad as @ashman, but I broke my right hip 3 months ago. Thank God I already had the Alton and it is working fine now. If you don't limp, you ain't shit.