...and the sage continues. This is what it looked like in the middle of May.
Stuck the front fender on and rode just over 550 miles this past Saturday with 125 of it in a driving rain. Now that the bike is settling in and I'm settling in with the bike, I've made some observations about my Norton and related items from a Norton newbie perspective…if you care. Midway on shakedown day.
Cooked on road funk and grime after a long hard rain....
Consentino Cartridges...provide everything as advertised. They do require the owner to do everything necessary to insure the basic fork assembly is well sorted to gain the benefits (i.e., if the forks are not smooth, chatter/sticktion-free without any internals (of any kind), don't expect them to be smooth with cartridges or stock internals...common sense. The dampening/rebound control of the cartridge is excellent. The 30 lb/in springs are entirely too soft for my application. If you weigh 135 lbs and don't do any spirited riding, the 30 lb. springs are fine. I've swapped back to the 40 lb/in springs with a light spring pre-load and the ride/handling is and feels more precise especially over irregular surfaces in the corners.
Hyde Fork Brace....Like the retro appearance, its rigid shape and the eccentric sleeves. Poor design on the seal holder's aluminum bearing/guide surface, poor design on the orientation of the pinch bolt slits (have to over-compensate on eccentric adjustments to offset inward forces when tightening), poor design on "sandwiched" O-ring between the seal holder & slider (O-ring added due to position of "canned" seal in the top of the seal holder) as tightening the seal holder squirts out the O-ring. After "dealing" with it for a couple of weeks, I faced off the bottom of the seal holders to accommodate installing "Leak Proof Moly Seals" with .020" clearance below the seal holder...similar to the stock seal holders. This mod eliminates the need for the sandwiched O-ring and allowed me to bore out the "stepped" ID (bearing surface/guide) below the old canned seal location. After fooling with this thing a bit, you can see the designer's intentions....just some of the features didn't work out too well.
Autometer Gauges....No regrets, easy install. First short ride (+/- 20 miles) after calibrating the speedo, the odometer reading was not retained....went back to zero miles. Rode it 50-60 miles the next morning, all mileage since has been retained. Needles are smooth for the most part but are subject to some bouncing due to rigid mount and vibration at certain rpm ranges/road conditions.
Brembo Front Disc Kit.... Nice kit, easy install. Very possibly more brake than needed. I am making a valiant effort to learn to use one finger (as opposed to my usual two finger) application on this bike as you can easily lock up the front wheel with little effort. This is one of my favorite upgrades after dealing with questionable drum brakes on British bike all these years. It shifts the limitations from the stopping equipment to the rider.
520 X-ring….I turned my rear sprocket and bought a 21t front sprocket (520…for Dominator??) and installed a TiN coated RK X-ring chain. After 600+ miles, the chain doesn’t look like it’s even been used. Adjustment appears to be the same. If I had it to do over again, I would have opted for the 22t sprocket for a little taller gearing and the rear axle would have been at the front of the adjustment slot as opposed to the middle of it. May order one anyway as I need to tweak my clutch stack (engages too far out on the lever) and should install it then.
Boyer Bransen MkIII....I run these on all my Triumphs. Easy install. Like the set and forget, etc. However, when I bought this Norton it was in terrible shape before it was stored for 12 years, I did enough work on it to get it running to "check it out" before the major teardown. I cleaned up the old, pitted points and got it running. The carburetors displayed a lot of slide/bore wear and I knew they would be marginal, at best. In its questionable state and now, having a before and after to compare, it displayed more low-end grunt with the points than it does with the Boyer. Up in the rev range, it runs great but by no means does it qualify as a "stump puller" on the low end and I don't need a dyno to make that statement. Very noticeable difference. If I'd never run points, I'd probably never would have questioned it and would have just assumed that was normal for Nortons. I'm okay with a very little performance sacrifice for maintenance-free but don't want to give up that much. Although I can't find any info on the advance curve of the Tri-Spark, I bought one to give it a try as I expected more and would prefer to avoid going back to points, if possible. I’m going to get past my carburetors issues before I install it to prevent too many changes at one time.
Amal Concentrics...I love/hate them. Amals are, by far, the easiest to safely get a bike running in the right range. I wouldn't think of running-in a fresh re-build on anything other than Amals. However, all my Amals from back in the day are basically worn out including the 932's that came on this Norton. Understanding that Concentrics where designed around financial constraints, it is a fine carb as far as their performance initially but, as everyone knows, they are lacking in the longevity department. Some time back, I bought a pair of later generation Amals for a Triumph I'd had for years which about the same time, a friend bought a Triumph project which needed carbs. When I pulled off the 35 year old pair, I gave them to him as I knew my Amal issues were over with receipt of the new ones. Not so. Within a week, I was about ready to trade him the new ones to get my old ones back. The new ones were, basically, workable cores which are pretty much what I had given away. Very disappointing and those were soon replaced with a pair of Mikuni VM's (with great results). These on the Norton have served their purpose of getting the re-build run-in but, for me, it's time to look at long term. Rumor has it that the most recent Amals have improved to some degree but I'm reluctant to purchase a pair of new door stops when I already have all these old ones. I've entertained the idea making modifications to the existing but based on my Amal/Mikuni comparisons in the past, even if the Amals are at the top of their game, they will fall short on performance (compared to more modern units). I, personally, don't want to go to a single carb to run a Mikuni; therefore, I am going to try the Keihin approach.
Sparx Alternator/Regulator....Right, wrong or indifferent, I run the hi-output 3-phase units on all my British bikes. I have had nothing but good experiences with the Sparx systems. Dirt simple installation. Life is too short to be worried about marginal output and don't want to be concern if I'm going to be stranded if away from home after nightfall. On my "long-distance" Triumph, I run lights full time, GPS (life, also, too short to be lost with limited time off), charge cell phones (mine & others), ipod, etc. Never had any problems. On the Triumphs, I always strobe a degree wheel off the timing side but, remarkably, on the Norton installation, after dialing in TDC, the marks on the rotor were reasonably close to indicated. Some have had issues with interference with mounting nuts/casting material but I have not experienced this in 4 or 5 installations. Most of my electrical problems on my older bikes revolve around trying to use the gel cell batteries. Haven’t found a good one yet.
Old Britt’s Belt Drive/Barnett’s....Good system...good people. I had bought this system several years back and it just sat on the shelf until this past May when I jump started this project. Cruising around Old Britt’s site, it appears to have taken a jump in price. Pulled the primary cover (un-ventilated now...donor for milling on the way) and no unusual wear or tracking issues. Get an occasional "chirp" from the clutch on hasty take-off but that is just an indication that the Dave Comeau clutch rod seal is doing its job keeping it all dry.
Old Britt’s Head steady...appears to be the same as offered by BCS. Don't really know how it’s working. Probably would know it if it wasn't. I was a little disappointed in only two of the three mounting points on the head were used. The middle bolt would intersect the big cross hole for the rubber in the casting but I think it could be done. Looking at how it would be loaded, I settled for the two mounting points and figured I'd fight that battle later if needed. In retrospect, the Heim joint affair may have been a better option.
RMA cam chain tensioner. Two thumbs up on this one. Very inexpensive considering construction. Steady when strobing off the timing side. Easy install and takes the guessing out of chain tension on models with no inspection plug. Even if I had the inspection plug, I wouldn’t want to strip the ignition bits to adjust the chain.
18” Rear Rim/Avon RoadRiders Went with the 18” rear rim for better rubber selection. Heard from several sources that I was going to “mess up” the sweet handling geometry of the Norton as everything was hinged around 19” front & rear, etc., etc. I mounted Avon RoadRiders and the back wheel is just as tall as the front, so no geometry issues here. This is the first old bike that I’ve shod with modern tires and so far, I’m enjoying the benefits of the rounded profile. I don’t have enough time in on wet roads and curves to fully make the determination on grip in the rain but I like them so far.
XS650 Crankcase Check Valve. This is the first time I’ve tried these on any Brit bike. Mine is mounted just above the oil tank using the typical vent hose from the back of the timing cover. With the cap off the oil tank, when you first crank the bike, I can hear a faint sound in the first few seconds that sounds like the bike is “passing gas”. Although I really expected some, there are no oil leaks to be found. I bought two extra valves and will be installing them on Triumphs that are known to seep to see how it affects them. I can only guess that its working as I don’t think I’ve ever assembled an engine that was this “dry” initially.
Keihin FCR carburetors. After putting +/-600 miles on the bike, I’ve swapped over to Keihins. The swap, in my case, wasn’t exactly straight forward but not too far off. The kit from CNW replaces the manifolds, carburetors, air cleaner (canned ham, in my case), throttle cables and throttle grip. When I first installed the carburetors, they were (two small allen-heads) in contact with the plate or webbing of the frame under the front of the seat. I contacted CNW and they said that the clearance should be ¼ to ½ inch. I sent some pics to CNW and they determined that I didn’t use the manifold to head gasket provided in the kit. I pulled them back off and measured the thickness of the two. Mine was .060” and the one provided with the kit was .030” thick. Put them back on, angled the back of the carburetors up slightly and the most clearance that I could get was +/- 1/16”.
CNW claimed that the carburetors would be close to the petcock on the right side but not in the case of an Interstate tank. However, the bottom of the tank was right on the throttle cable plate of the carburetor and required the tank to be shimmed up (used two of the think foam tank rubbers at the rear of the tank) and spacers on the rear tank strap. The removal of the “canned ham” air breather required that I move my ignition switch. Also, now I need a small pair of needle-nose pliers to engage the dzus fastener for the side cover. After riding a time or two, I am already missing my spring-drag “cruise control” of the stock throttle grip but I do like the throttle not requiring as much twist to WOT. As far as running, the carburetors were supposed to be jetted for sea level and I think they did an excellent job in that department. When I initially cranked the bike and got it warmed up, within a minute or two it was tweaked-out and running great. The idle is smooth with a regular gait and the accelerator pump improves the response. It pulls hard from the bottom up through mid-range. No stammering, popping, etc. Even hot, it will sit at a traffic light and idle perfectly. The main jets, as shipped, are a tad on the rich side but how can you complain about that. I will run these mains another 1,000 miles and then, jet it down a size or two. Even with the tank shimming, dzus access, ignition switch moving, etc., I am very pleased with performance of the carburetors and the kit. The next step for me is to install the TriSpark and see if the advance curve is any better as compared to the Boyer.
I’m almost there.
Z
I have to change my main jets too because my bike is running way too rich.