Crankcase oil, spark plugs, and why won't this contraption start?

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Nortorious said:
A previous owner removed the choke and it's nowhere to be found.

From what you said about keeping it off, I wonder if I should bother replacing it?
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If it continues to start in reasonably cool temperatures using the tickers then there's no need to replace the chokes.
 
Nortorious said:
Question about the choke.. A previous owner removed the choke and it's nowhere to be found. From what you said about keeping it off, I wonder if I should bother replacing it? The PO seems to have known what they were doing, but lived in warm weather..

Thanks for all the advice and even offering to be there for a call! I got it going and took my first ride on a Norton today. It felt really solid so against my better judgment for a "new-to-me" bike of somewhat unknown inner condition, I revved out the gears and had an absolute blast. I can't believe the torque. For a bike of this vintage I've never ridden something so powerful. It just feels good.

Next I'll need to dial in the idle. This bike has lived in warm weather at sea level (nice life). I am at altitude with a chill on many days. Also need to sort the brakes. It took quite a bit of lead time to stop it..
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First thing I do to any Amal MK1 carb equipped bike is remove the chokes.
 
Nortorious said:
Question about the choke.. A previous owner removed the choke and it's nowhere to be found. From what you said about keeping it off, I wonder if I should bother replacing it? The PO seems to have known what they were doing, but lived in warm weather..

Thanks for all the advice and even offering to be there for a call! I got it going and took my first ride on a Norton today. It felt really solid so against my better judgment for a "new-to-me" bike of somewhat unknown inner condition, I revved out the gears and had an absolute blast. I can't believe the torque. For a bike of this vintage I've never ridden something so powerful. It just feels good.

Next I'll need to dial in the idle. This bike has lived in warm weather at sea level (nice life). I am at altitude with a chill on many days. Also need to sort the brakes. It took quite a bit of lead time to stop it..
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As mentioned before, follow the Bushman's guide to Amal tuning to know how to best sort them out. Guide is found under the Technical Information sticky-thread at top of this forum.

They are notoriously hard to keep working to spec, as not only do the jets clog with all but impossible to remove precipitate, the slides can wear in the bores and make for poor performance no matter state of jets. Needle/needle jet, float/float needle/float level all need looking at.
 
Nortorious said:
Thank you! From the diagrams I found it appears that the pilot air adjusting screws are the ones right under the tickler. Does that sound right?

How delicate do I need to be when poking in there with a wire to clean it? I'm thinking of using a bare16 gauge electric wire to do the cleaning, does that sound reasonable?
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16ga won't work. Too big
 
By the way, avgas does not foul up the pilot hole. I know from experience.
 
DogT said:
By the way, avgas does not foul up the pilot hole. I know from experience.
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Ya, and I bet you can even buy kerosene at your local gas station and maybe even non-ethanol gas :) Going to Dulles or National isn't going to get you an avgas unless you have a plane to fly in! Living NEAR DC sucks. Also, the EPA and FAA are working hard on getting rid of lead in avgas.
 
If you haven't changed the EI, then don't use R (resistor) plugs. Use BP7ES.

I lived in Seattle most of my life, and never had chokes installed and it always started fine, even in frosty weather.
 
Nortorious said:
Question about the choke.. A previous owner removed the choke and it's nowhere to be found.
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Many people remove them. 750's usually don't need them, but my 850 likes them on a cold morning.
Very pretty Norton BTW. What are those 2 oval things in your battery compartment?
 
maylar said:
Very pretty Norton BTW. What are those 2 oval things in your battery compartment?
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And thank you! I am loving it. The big question I have now is to take the paint original to a "correct" paint scheme. The color on there is extremely well done and looks good but not my favorite. Just feels bad to paint over a good job.
 
Nortorious said:
And thank you! I am loving it. The big question I have now is to take the paint original to a "correct" paint scheme. The color on there is extremely well done and looks good but not my favorite. Just feels bad to paint over a good job.
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It's unique and looks the part. I'd leave it. Let's see it with the side covers on too.
 
maylar said:
It's unique and looks the part. I'd leave it. Let's see it with the side covers on too.
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Here it is all assembled. I think the seat is a dark brown to slightly match the paint. I'm not positive though, when you look at it by itself it could be black, but I think it's a little brown.

It is unique and good looking. Maybe not what I would have chosen but damn nice.
 

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Nortorious said:
Yep, @maylar L.A.B. nailed it. There horns were upgraded to some nice loud Fiamm blasters. I'm going in there today to replace the semi dead battery with another lithium which is required to make space for the very important horns ;)
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Be sure to research use of lithium batteries on this forum. There have been disasters and if I recall a fire situation. It is important to have the correct cell chemistry (LiFe I believe) and an appropriate reg/rec that can charge at the different voltage required.
I placed my Fiam Freeway Blaster in the original horn location, under battery tray, forward of swing arm pivot.
 
Tornado said:
Be sure to research use of lithium batteries on this forum. There have been disasters and if I recall a fire situation. It is important to have the correct cell chemistry (LiFe I believe) and an appropriate reg/rec that can charge at the different voltage required.
I placed my Fiam Freeway Blaster in the original horn location, under battery tray, forward of swing arm pivot.
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Thanks for the advice! As I get into the bike more I'll consider that relocation.

I have a LiFePO on my two other bikes (and my wife's badass 50cc scooter). It's definitely important to charge them right. When using a traditional trickle charger on lithium disaster ensues. The Norton is the oldest bike I've put one in, but it looks like then PO was the tester so I'm replacing it like-for-like.

Still, I'm going to do some reading to make sure I don't miss something. Don't want my brand new love to go up in flames. I already tempted fate by putting a space heater on the engine while fiddling with the carbs and fuel..
 
i use a shorai LFX14L2-BS12 in my 70 commando without any drama. it's not the right size for the carrier because i took it off my 72 triumph for reasons i honestly cannot remember. the norton officially takes a smaller battery. i have it padded with bubble wrap, of all things, to make it fit tighter.

anyway, i use a shorai trickle charger in the off seasons, but the lucas alternator along with a podtronics? rectifier/regulator keep the norton to a one-kick start, even if it's sat all winter.
 
dorset said:
i use a shorai LFX14L2-BS12 in my 70 commando without any drama. it's not the right size for the carrier because i took it off my 72 triumph for reasons i honestly cannot remember. the norton officially takes a smaller battery. i have it padded with bubble wrap, of all things, to make it fit tighter.

anyway, i use a shorai trickle charger in the off seasons, but the lucas alternator along with a podtronics? rectifier/regulator keep the norton to a one-kick start, even if it's sat all winter.
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Thanks it's good to know what works. I started using the Antigravity brand with the restart function. It saves a tiny bit of juice in reserve in case you leave the light on or something, then you can hit a button to release the reserve.

Similarly, I use the Antigravity trickle charger and standardize on one brand rather than mix and match, more out of superstition than science I suppose.
 
marshg246 said:
Ya, and I bet you can even buy kerosene at your local gas station and maybe even non-ethanol gas :) Going to Dulles or National isn't going to get you an avgas unless you have a plane to fly in! Living NEAR DC sucks. Also, the EPA and FAA are working hard on getting rid of lead in avgas.
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I've got a Sunoco station in Warrenton that sells racing fuel. Same thing except more expensive. I have a couple local stations that sell non-ethanol too. Yeah, the last time I went to the Fauquier airport they didn't want to sell me any, but they did and told me not to come back. That was probably 5 years ago. But around DC, forget it.
 
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