help with single.

This is my 58 500t. Curious to know what the hole to the right of the shaft and the half moon directly under the crank shaft is for. It is constantly leaking oil from it when the bike is on its side stand.

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This is a 64? Engine from what I believe to be from an es2. Numbers may help verify, no hole right of crankshaft and no half moon under crankshaft.

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The circa 62 engine would have had an alternator, so about everything is mounted and fitted different.

The hole to the crankshafts left (our right) was to mount the inner tin chaincase - there should be a bolt there, holding it on.
You may note that some PO has cut the (black) tinwork away, so the hole in the tin to suit has been removed.
I could show a similar inner chaincase off my ES2, but its being reworked and rewelded to repair that area.

The half moon cutaway and oil leaks don't sound standard either.
There are usually pen steel washers inside the crankcase, and possibly some felt seals, to keep the oil in.
I'm a bit fuzzy on this, been a while - a study of the parts book and diagrams may bring it back.
If your engine is wet sumping (oil leaking through the oil pump into the crankcase) while standing,
it may well get enough to leak through there while on the sidestand.
Have you drained the oil in the sump when it does this, to see how much comes out ?
It should only be a half cupful or so.
If its more, and the oil level in the oil tank is also dropping, then the oil is not staying in the oil tank,
but escaping through the oil pump into the sump, and then out around the crankshaft there.
Measure the sump contents, and we'll go from there.

I didn't even know they made the 500t as late as 1958.
Maybe we could see a pic of the whole bike sometime, be interesting.

Yeah to the right, and derp totally looked past the cover mount when I saw the river of oil leaking from under the shaft. I will check the sump hopefully tomorrow while getting my commando up and going.

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I have it propt up straight and it has not leaked a drop about 2 months. I'm thinking my side stand is worn out causing it to lean more then it should. Will get more pictures tomorrow with tank on and maybe the side car.

Could the bite under the crankshaft be a legacy of a main bearing disaster?

I had thought that possible but has no play that I can measure. And it looks to have been cast this way. Not totally sure. Hopefully getting to the garage in a little too see about the sumping issue.

Is the next step in my fix for wet sumping be replace the oil pump? What should my next step be?

If it doesn't leak oil while parked standing upright, do you need to do anything ??

All Nortons drain their oil into the sump over time, just some more than others.
Draining the sump and tipping back into the oil tank for the ocassional ride is a quick-n-dirty fix.
You can also fit a tap into the feed line - but the penalty for forgetting to turn it on is a wrecked engine.

The manual describes dismantliing the oil pump, and flatting down the endplates and pump body to minimize leakage.
This can help, considerably.

I was wondering if it was similar to the commando pump fix by taking up the play. Can you recommend a good place to get a shop manual for the singles?

NoiseyNorton said:

I was wondering if it was similar to the commando pump fix by taking up the play. Can you recommend a good place to get a shop manual for the singles?

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Its about identical to the Commando pump fix, but pump is a mirror image.

"Shop manual' is a bit sketchy, and available on ebay as a reprint sometimes.
Probably online someplace, will have a look.

I sourced a wideline ES2 manual from Bruce Main-Smith - only a photocopy but quite readable.
I see the company has since been taken over by the National Motorcycle Museum and currently no online search/order - but there is an email address for contact.

http://bruce-main-smith.co.uk/

Thanks for the help, and Rohan you were correct it's not a 58 it is a 52. Didn't notice that until now. I am going to taclke the pump on this and maybe do my commando also.

The three holes are for a alternator mounting bracket, which doesn’t go with your tin ware, it is held on with 3 counter sunk screws, look up 650ss, Atlas or Commando to get an idea.

Whole engine is wrong for the frame, it should have mounting on the front , if it is a road bike for a dynamo, but ignore this if it is a competition bike, but it is still a later alternator engine.

Yeah, they were two totally different engines. My main cause for this post was to help identify the half moon under the first picture. The es2 was used to compare the two engines.

NoiseyNorton said:

Yeah, they were two totally different engines. My main cause for this post was to help identify the half moon under the first picture. The es2 was used to compare the two engines.

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For mounting the front of the slim non alternator chaincase.
The earlier 500 domi dynamo powered crankcases has a similar boss on the crankcase, with a probably bsw tapped thread , & the inner chain case has a single hole drilled into this position.