It must be British

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bmwbob

bmwbob

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So I’m tooling along on the Norton on Uvas Rd. enjoying the ride. Every once in awhile I hear a light backfire on deceleration, but thought it sounded kind of neat. Hung a Left on Croy Rd. towards Uvas canyon and the backfire became a little more pronounced and figured one of the coil wires must be loose so I pulled off and started checking wire when I discover gas pouring out of the left carb float bowl. A screw had worked its way out and was somewhere back on the road!

What to do! No cell service and a ways from Gilroy! So the plan was to see if I could make it to town or at least cell service if needed. I found if I keep the RPMs up the gas was sucked up fast enough to keep it from spraying all over the place. Off I go down Croy Road stuck behind some local in a beat up Toyota truck going just fast enough to make it unsafe to pass, but slow enough that the bike keeps back firing. I finally got around the Toyota and headed down Uvas Rd. passing anyone that went at a pace that made the bike backfire. Down Watsonville road and left on Day and on to 156 East through Gilroy , but now more fun begins.

So stop lights and poorly running Norton’s seem to go together! At the lights my option was to race the engine to suck enough gas to keep it from dying (normal procedure), But at the second light I had a moment of inspiration! Hold the float bowl up so the gas doesn’t leak! So at every light till I arrived at Home Depot I held the throttle with my right hand and left carb float bowl with my other hand. Strange sight indeed! Luckily (once I got help) Home Depot had the screw in packs of two only of course. But turns out two pack came in handy because the replacement screw came out a couple miles down the road. Second screw held!

I actually contemplated selling the beast as it seems to be the norm for anything English that when it’s running perfect, look out!!!

After getting home and thinking about it I figured out a points cover screw would be a good temporary fix!
 
bmwbob said:
So I’m tooling along on the Norton on Uvas Rd. enjoying the ride. Every once in awhile I hear a light backfire on deceleration, but thought it sounded kind of neat. Hung a Left on Croy Rd. towards Uvas canyon and the backfire became a little more pronounced and figured one of the coil wires must be loose so I pulled off and started checking wire when I discover gas pouring out of the left carb float bowl. A screw had worked its way out and was somewhere back on the road!

What to do! No cell service and a ways from Gilroy! So the plan was to see if I could make it to town or at least cell service if needed. I found if I keep the RPMs up the gas was sucked up fast enough to keep it from spraying all over the place. Off I go down Croy Road stuck behind some local in a beat up Toyota truck going just fast enough to make it unsafe to pass, but slow enough that the bike keeps back firing. I finally got around the Toyota and headed down Uvas Rd. passing anyone that went at a pace that made the bike backfire. Down Watsonville road and left on Day and on to 156 East through Gilroy , but now more fun begins.

So stop lights and poorly running Norton’s seem to go together! At the lights my option was to race the engine to suck enough gas to keep it from dying (normal procedure), But at the second light I had a moment of inspiration! Hold the float bowl up so the gas doesn’t leak! So at every light till I arrived at Home Depot I held the throttle with my right hand and left carb float bowl with my other hand. Strange sight indeed! Luckily (once I got help) Home Depot had the screw in packs of two only of course. But turns out two pack came in handy because the replacement screw came out a couple miles down the road. Second screw held!

I actually contemplated selling the beast as it seems to be the norm for anything English that when it’s running perfect, look out!!!

After getting home and thinking about it I figured out a points cover screw would be a good temporary fix!
Click to expand...

A float bowl screw came loose? That's a strange one. I guess you could try using Blue Loctite to secure it. Alternatively, you could slap a single Mikuni on and forget about Amal!
 
Not much help now but maybe you could have regulated the flow of fuel with the fuel tap/taps. :?:
 
I had a similar problem, except on my T140, and I lost the whole float assembly.

I robbed a screw from each carb top and kept topping up the 'empty' float bowl with the Left fuel tap, so I kept my throttle hand free for making progress. Every time it started missing a quick turn on and off kept it going, and a carbful was good for about 2-3 miles.

See - could have been a easy fix :wink:
 
I had a 750 VFR, it started, steered and stopped whenever I asked it to, didn't vibrate, it cruised at 100 plus all day and never broke down. But it bored the arse off me. I'll take my Norton every time. I've worked on it so much I know most of it inside out, with the exception of anything eletrical which I know but don't understand at all. I can't think of many things that didn't go wrong when I first got it, but that was my fault for not taking a preventative maintenance approach. If I maintain it, it's great. The comments about loctite are a perfect example of a preventative measure. A useful thing with Loctite is that when you go to undo the bolt or screw, if you heat it first with a hot air blower it melts it and makes it easier to undo.
Please accept my apologies if everyone knew that, I'm new to this blogging buisiness. Cheers, Steve.
 
Hi

Where can you get a single carb conversion in England and do they come set up with correct jets etc?

Dave
 
Davehilliard said:
Where can you get a single carb conversion in England and do they come set up with correct jets etc?
Click to expand...



Amal Mk2: RGM http://www.rgmmotors.co.uk/
"RGM083 AMAL MK2 CARB CONVERSION KIT. THIS KIT COMBINES GOOD FUEL ECONOMY & PERFORMANCE WITH NEATNESS & EASE OF INSTALLATION.THE KIT CONSISTS OF A SUITABLY JETTED RUBBER MOUNTED 34MM AMAL MK2 (WITH CHROME BRASS SLIDE) MANIFOLD, RUBBER, THROTTLE CABLE & AIR FILTER"

Mikuni: Motocarb
http://www.motocarb.co.uk/index.php/con ... /p_90.html


"This kit replaces the standard twin Amals with one VM34 (34mm) Mikuni roundslide carburettor.
The single Mikuni is simple to fit, simple to tune and offers much better reliability than your existing Amals.
The kit includes everything you need.

1 x alloy inlet manifold.
1 x Manifold adaptor
1 x Pre-jetted VM34 carburettor
1 x chrome backed pancake air filter
1 x Throttle cable
Fuel lines, fittings/clamps
Fuel T
extra tuning jets
Instructions"
____________________________


You may find you still need to alter the main jet by a size or two, or move the needle position to suit your own Commando's engine.
 
Question,
Why did the screw fall out just because it was British?
 
I had some stainless allen head float bowl screws that stripped out of the carb. I don't know if they had been damaged already or if the threads on the stainless screw was too sharp. Anyway it waited until I was 50 miles from home and started dumping fuel on my boot.

I've been leery of those allen screws ever since.

I always carry a couple sizes of cable ties and was able to take a small one and hold it together for the rest of the day.
 
Flo said:
Why did the screw fall out just because it was British?
Click to expand...

Gasket compression?
Vibration?
Or the screw hadn't been tightened enough? Although it's certainly not a good idea to tighten them too much, as the bowls warp very easily!
Or a combination of all three?
 
Its never too late to learn that the greatest tool box accessory is a length of fencing wire and a pair of pliers.

Mick
 
Flo said:
Question,
Why did the screw fall out just because it was British?
Click to expand...

I thought most things of British origin had a few loose screws (sorry couldn't help myself)

m
 
Loose screws, we are downright crackers.
Perhaps, we could do an online screw tightening course.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
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