Clutch work on my N15CS, some interesting challenges

I've used TSP with water in fuel tanks to clear out residue fuel in the tanks. I would let it sit over night, then empty it. My welding was done with an oxygen acetylene torch. I would pass the lit torch over the fill hole, at arms reach, just to be sure it was free of fuel. Never had a flash. I haven't tried it with the TSP substitute yet.

Because my son bought a $300 death trap '79 Honda ATC110 (pretty good shape!) I watched this YouTube video and this guy is fantastic. He has mad skills. What caught my eye is the rust-dissolving agent he uses, Deox-C. I had never heard of it, being a Euro thing, but I've watched a comparison to Evapo-rust, and I'm sold on it. I am tempted to lash out and get some but I have no rusty projects in the works... yet. I have done my tanks with vinegar, pool cleaner (muriatic acid), and electrolysis, depending on the severity of the rust. From what I can tell this stuff is the schnitt.

Oh here's the ATC110 in case anyone is interested. Runs great now that i have fixed the carb and done a few other little tweaks. Might have some piston slap going on tho.

Put a dumb ass on anything with handlebars and they are going to get hurt. If you know what you are in for those little 3 wheel things are OK on a sandy beach. Use to be able to rent them at South Padre Island Texas back when it was one heck of a crazy place during college breaks. Might still be, but those kids tore the hotels and real estate up, so maybe not.

Those 3 wheel killers are not for sharp turns on the asphalt or anywhere that has grip. I did not watch the video yet. I'm sure it is entertaining though.

Schwany said:

Put a dumb ass on anything with handlebars and they are going to get hurt. If you know what you are in for those little 3 wheel things are OK on a sandy beach. Use to be able to rent them at South Padre Island Texas back when it was one heck of a crazy place during college breaks. Might still be, but those kids tore the hotels and real estate up, so maybe not.

Those 3 wheel killers are not for sharp turns on the asphalt or anywhere that has grip. I did not watch the video yet. I'm sure it is entertaining though.

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Yeah it's a sand buggy or mudder, steer with your butt and throttle. I just adjusted the valves today. Probably the first time they have been done. There was no clearance on them, and pulling the starter cord was wet noodle-ish, with hardly any resistance.. Strange but even before the adjustment it had good compression, 140 or so, haven't measured it since but it must be more.. There is a knock going on when idling slow. May be rod bearings. No big deal, I can fix it and it will be a super easy teardown, teach my some some things.

I have been to South Padre a long time ago in my 20s when I was in the USAF. It's all a blur now though. I remember OD'ing on some chewing terbaccy, or 'chaw' that a guy from Tennesee had, and drinking warm Budweisers in a hot car with no AC in the hot summer. Hurl city. Good times!

Pardon my rambling as I am hijacking my own thread. So shoot me - I just like anything with an engine. When I was about 10 years old, my older brother got a side shaft Tecumseh 3.5HP motor (those were sought after for minibikes) and we went to the dump looking for any bike frame to put it in. We had no money. We scored with an actual minibike frame. I felt like I won the lottery.

It all went together well, and my dad, who hated any two-wheeled motorized contraption, seemed to be none the wiser. We got it running and would tear around our 3-acre lot, digging big grooves into the turf, building jumps, etc. Dad wasn't amused, but he didn't confiscate the bike. It didn't run great though, and my brother told me to go ask Johnny Winters across the street to help. Johnny had done a tour in Vietnam and had PTSD. and other things ending in 'SD' were a factor I heard. He had 'hair down to his knees' and a big beard. I was afraid of him. But I had to ride! So I took it over and he taught me how to set the idle mixture. I learned two lessons that day, how to set the idle, and how to not judge a book by its cover. He was as nice as can be.

Onto the ATC110
So, as purchased, it ran but was pretty noisy with what I thought might be a rod knock or piston slap, and it was puking out 'smoke'. It's got a DG pipe and a nicely re-covered and re-foamed seat, and Chinese carb. Otherwise stock. I'm his mechanic, ha!

The DG pipe had no gasket, and on one side it had a large sheet metal screw on an angle which butchered the head a bit, and galled threads on the other. I heli-coiled the bad one and chased the other's threads and put in studs, they are plenty strong. The valves were tight, carb was crudded up, points were pretty far off, and timing was much too far advanced.

With all those fixed (plus oil change, brake and chain adjustment, idle jet leaned out etc) it no longer rattles or smokes, has 155 compression and shifts/rides fine. It also had a leaking/broken front valve stem so I broke the bead with my Grand Cherokee & popped in a new one. Pretty cool little machine.

I did some maintenance on the Norton yesterday and today. I gave it a good cleaning, put on new valve cover gaskets as there was a bit of weeping, added some gearbox oil, checked valves, and checked primary ATF.

Nothing surprising but there's one niggle - my throttle cable is tired and I think it's hanging things up. There is some fraying down by the carb end, just one strand that I can see, but that's not good. I looked at the CNW single Mikuni conversion kit they sell for the Commando and that looks like the cable I want - a ~45 or 60 degree bend will help. Mine is straight vertical and I have to tip the carb to allow it to clear, and it still isn't right and has become unpredictable, which is unwanted in a throttle.

I sent CNW a message asking if they sell them. Could be the same as Mikunioz but will find out. Anyway, I went for a little ride and it was fun. The wind has started to die down. We are hosting some relatives who are on mandatory fire evacuation from Sierra Madre. Stressful situation.

Although listed as out of stock, maybe they will be in soon.

This stuff could resolve your cable issue. Also have new cables for this setup.

franko said:

Although listed as out of stock, maybe they will be in soon.

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I have some small copper tube and a bender, will see if I can rig something up but just temporary as I see one strand of wire has given up the ghost.

Map Cycle has throttle cables. That is where I got them for the Mikuni setup.
Throttle cables

Schwany said:

This stuff could resolve your cable issue. Also have new cables for this setup.

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How did you like that setup?

Hortons Norton said:

How did you like that setup?

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Those 34mm Mikuni carburetors worked well. It was originally a Mikuni kit for the Commando I got from Bob Raber. I modified the intake manifolds so I could install the carburetors on a P11. Best jetting turned out to be what the kit came with. Engine had a SS cam, Combat/Commando +.020 pistons, a ported head, a 2 into 1 exhaust, and Boyer ignition.

Schwany said:

Map Cycle has throttle cables. That is where I got them for the Mikuni setup.
Throttle cables

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Oh yes. That looks like the solution. I know my N15 is a bit pokey with a single VM34, tall gearing, and 7.5:1 pistons, but I have fast bikes when I want to go fast. I just like putting along on the Norton. It'll pull freeway speeds and get along fine but it's no fire-breather.

My son just returned from a 30-minute ride, trying out his new Dianese jacket, which I got him for his birthday. We were up in Costa Mesa and decided to drop in at the Dianese store. He's been looking for a simple/nice leather jacket online and at some local places, but nothing jumped out, and prices were very high. We found this one on clearance, marked down from $579 to $340. He's stoked. First test on the Norton, which is running beautifully.

gpzkat said:

Oh yes. That looks like the solution. I know my N15 is a bit pokey with a single VM34, tall gearing, and 7.5:1 pistons, but I have fast bikes when I want to go fast. I just like putting along on the Norton. It'll pull freeway speeds and get along fine but it's no fire-breather.

My son just returned from a 30-minute ride, trying out his new Dianese jacket, which I got him for his birthday. We were up in Costa Mesa and decided to drop in at the Dianese store. He's been looking for a simple/nice leather jacket online and at some local places, but nothing jumped out, and prices were very high. We found this one on clearance, marked down from $579 to $340. He's stoked. First test on the Norton, which is running beautifully.

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Brite and shiny. That is a top drawer N15 example for sure.

The dual carb thing was a joke. Although even with dual carburetion of the Mikuni flavor straight cables without the angled fitting are under stress entering the top of the carburetors.

Did you make an angled fitting or look at what MAP Cycle has in the way of throttle cables?

I've had that P11 for over 50 years. It has never been a fire breather no matter what I've done to it. It does sound like it might be a fire breather opened up over 3/4 throttle, but it's still just an old putt putt.

Schwany said:

Brite and shiny. That is a top drawer N15 example for sure.

The dual carb thing was a joke. Although even with dual carburetion of the Mikuni flavor straight cables without the angled fitting are under stress entering the top of the carburetors.

Did you make an angled fitting or look at what MAP Cycle has in the way of throttle cables?

I've had that P11 for over 50 years. It has never been a fire breather no matter what I've done to it. It does sound like it might be a fire breather opened up over 3/4 throttle, but it's still just an old putt putt.

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Oh, for sure, on the dual carb, I got it. I'd like to have those, but being a cheapskate, I tend to talk myself out of the 'good stuff'. The carb I have on it was in the original $150 basket case and only needed the right jets, a cleaning, and the rebuild kit. I have the twin Monoblocs from an earlier year, and a nice original chrome air filter housing. I'm not the Amals are serviceable or worth fiddling with. They would look cool and cure my mashed-up sock filter bodge though. The slides are tight so the barrels (chambers? I'm not sure of the name for that part of carb) are not perfectly round.

You run stacks and not the conical filters (K&Ns?).

I did check out MAP Cycle and think that's the go. I need to confirm the throttle end is right for mine, which is an Amal. That end's not pictured on their site. I was checking out the Mikunioz one (too much, too far) here and they have this pic to guide you on the type. I have the one on the left. I don't know what the difference is between them. I'll call MAP Cycle today.

Does my throttle cable routing look right?

It's a 45" cable which seems a tad too long but I don't think I want to go for the 40" one and risk having it be too short.

I'll likely just mimic this one in length and routing unless it is wrong of course. Seems OK, just checking.

gpzkat said:

Oh, for sure, on the dual carb, I got it. I'd like to have those, but being a cheapskate, I tend to talk myself out of the 'good stuff'. The carb I have on it was in the original $150 basket case and only needed the right jets, a cleaning, and the rebuild kit. I have the twin Monoblocs from an earlier year, and a nice original chrome air filter housing. I'm not the Amals are serviceable or worth fiddling with. They would look cool and cure my mashed-up sock filter bodge though. The slides are tight so the barrels (chambers? I'm not sure of the name for that part of carb) are not perfectly round.

You run stacks and not the conical filters (K&Ns?).

I did check out MAP Cycle and think that's the go. I need to confirm the throttle end is right for mine, which is an Amal. That end's not pictured on their site. I was checking out the Mikunioz one (too much, too far) here and they have this pic to guide you on the type. I have the one on the left. I don't know what the difference is between them. I'll call MAP Cycle today.

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MAP should be able to take care of you. They have been around for a long time.

I had a short single cable pulling on a dual cable adapter for those Mikuni carburetors, so can't help with cable length for a single carburetor.

That pic was just one I had handy that showed the carburetors on the engine. I rode around with those velocity stacks for about 10 miles to see how they would work, but I actually put those on for showing the bike in the back of my El Camino at car shows. When I went for a longer ride, I used those fake K&N shorty cone gauze filters. I got those from Dime City. They are cheap repo filters good enough to keep gravel out of the combustion chamber.

Schwany said:

MAP should be able to take care of you. They have been around for a long time.

I had a short single cable pulling on a dual cable adapter for those Mikuni carburetors, so can't help with cable length for a single carburetor.

That pic was just one I had handy that showed the carburetors on the engine. I rode around with those velocity stacks for about 10 miles to see how they would work, but I actually put those on for showing the bike in the back of my El Camino at car shows. When I went for a longer ride, I used those fake K&N shorty cone gauze filters. I got those from Dime City. They are cheap repo filters good enough to keep gravel out of the combustion chamber.

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Since the cable's frayed and hanging up I'm sidelining the bike till the new one arrives (ordered it today). I have about 900 miles on the bike since the full rebuild and realized I hadn't done a compression check since early on. I'm pleased with the numbers for 7.5:1 pistons - 160 & 157.5 left to right.

The only things I farmed out were the boring/milling of the spigot (gave them the pistons up front), the crank regrind (10 thou), and the head refresh - with cast iron valve guides. I was super lucky to find OEM .040 over pistons, big end bearings, valve guides, and other stuff like the FAG ball bearing on one side, and superblend on the other- I researched each and every bearing for the gearbox and the engine to get the right one at the right price. And I was lucky on the 'float' at crank and kickstart. I didn't have to do nuthin'. I am so happy how this came out.

It will live on with my son, I've got some time to ride it yet but as Bob Dylan said so well "It's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there".

You have a beautiful well-prepared Norton N15 and I'm sure it's fun to ride every chance you get.

I doubt I'll get back out on my P11 until heck if I know, May probably. I do pull it out from the back of the garage to the garage door, open the garage door and start it on occasion when the neighbors are at work. It has been sitting since Thanksgiving, and I fired it up Tuesday.

I have not checked the compression on my P11 engine for a while. It's a PITA to do without a 3rd arm. If it starts right away, I figure it's got adequate compression. It always starts on the kick with the key On, so must be good. lol

I hope things are getting better down your way.