Metal sliver in oil -- time to panic?

Schwany said:
Guess don't test. Be a hero. 🤣 Not meant for anyone in particular. It just makes me laugh that all the "test don't guess" people are guessing most of the time. I guess all the time before doing any testing.

That piece of metal has been in there for 20+ years hasn't it? Why hasn't the engine blown to pieces already?

Crank shims wouldn't last long enough to be in that solid shape. They are incredibly thin. Well, at least the ones I've used are. Must have been a thick one. or something that was dropped in there during a barrels off pistons and top end rebuild.

Is there anything that could get past the tach gear and get in the sump if it was dropped into the tach hole? I don't have a Norton with a tach hole in the cases, so I know nothing.
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Not a crank shim .
 
monkeyodeath said:
I think this is my dilemma. I don't necessarily mind stripping the engine down and looking directly at things to get some peace of mind and avoid big downtime and $$ rebuild bills later.

But also, this is my first Commando, and first old British bike and I've only gotten 2 rides on it. I would really like to get some seat time on the bike and get the chance to fall in love with it before committing big money and time to an elective engine rebuild.

If I did choose to take the engine apart, it would be primarily for inspection/diagnostic purposes, to make sure things are shipshape and repair any damage I find. I have little interest in going down the rabbit hole of "while you're in there" stuff like vapor blasting and whatnot, or performance modifications. My main focus is making sure nothing terrible is imminent and no glaring issues are present -- not rebuilding the engine to "like new". Hopefully I love this bike enough and put enough miles on it to want to do that some day in the future.

The bike has done few miles since the rebuild, and the person I bought it from was a Norton enthusiast who had owned multiple Commandos and was very knowledgable about the state of his bike and had done plenty of work on it himself. Based on the receipts, the previous owner, who commissioned the rebuild, imported it from the UK to Germany and then on to the US, was much the same.

Not saying that's any guarantee that everything's fine or that I should trust some unknown mechanic from 20 years ago. But I would primarily be stripping it down, verifying things look OK, addressing any "time bomb" issues and then putting it back together and riding it. I want to get some miles on it and understand what it needs and what I want from it before putting it up on the lift for a couple months and breaking out the credit card. I am very much *not* looking for an excuse to crack into the engine and polish, blueprint, and upgrade it.
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My comment whatever it was wasn't directed at you at all. Sorry if it seemed that way.

Anywho, if you take it apart, you'll need some fire retardant for your credit card. Keep it close to stock.
 
Schwany said:
My comment whatever it was wasn't directed at you at all. Sorry if it seemed that way.

Anywho, if you take it apart, you'll need some fire retardant for your credit card. Keep it close to stock.
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No worries, I didn't take it that way at all. I hear you on the $$ comment. Is it possible to take these apart, verify and put them back together while only spending money on replacement gaskets and seals? I'd be doing the work myself. Or are there other expenses I'm not considering? I realize that if I find damage that I'm in it for whatever it costs to fix, but I assume I'd be spending that anyway. What if I take it apart and it looks fine and this piece is a remnant from the rebuild that never affected anything?
 
You should be able to do that for the most part.

Get new exhaust header seals. Get new rings. Be sure to clean the sludge trap.

I would suggest getting or borrowing the Mick Hemmings videos. They really helped me on my first teardown


Based on my experience, I would also suggest you consider dynamically balancing the crank. Commandos shake alot, and every bit helps.

Speaking of shaking, when the motor is out you absolutely should replace the isolastic rubbers all around. If they havent been done lately they will certainly be perished.
 
monkeyodeath said:
No worries, I didn't take it that way at all. I hear you on the $$ comment. Is it possible to take these apart, verify and put them back together while only spending money on replacement gaskets and seals? I'd be doing the work myself. Or are there other expenses I'm not considering? I realize that if I find damage that I'm in it for whatever it costs to fix, but I assume I'd be spending that anyway. What if I take it apart and it looks fine and this piece is a remnant from the rebuild that never affected anything?
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Take an engine apart and put it back together exactly the same ??

Didn’t even know that was possible !

It’s never happened in my shed !!
 
FWIW, I once found a screwdriver in the oil pan of a v8 engine I was working on. The engine was being refurbished after 120k miles when I discovered it. How long it had been there was unknown and the owner could think of no work that had ever been done where the oil pan had been removed. Frankly it looked to me like the only way it could have gotten in there was for someone at Chevrolet to have intentionally placed it there!!:eek:

Maybe a disgruntled guy at Wolverhampton (or wherever the engine was assembled) tossed that piece of metal in there to confound future Norton owners!
 
monkeyodeath said:
I was doing my first oil change on my new-to-me MKIII when I noticed a small sliver of metal sticking to the magnetic sump drain plug.

The piece is ferrous and fairly stiff. No glitter in the oil or any other pieces I could find. Engine seems to run fine.

Any ideas what this might be and how worried I should be about it?

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It looks like it’s a piece of one of the rocker shaft Thackeray washers.
 
monkeyodeath said:
No worries, I didn't take it that way at all. I hear you on the $$ comment. Is it possible to take these apart, verify and put them back together while only spending money on replacement gaskets and seals? I'd be doing the work myself. Or are there other expenses I'm not considering? I realize that if I find damage that I'm in it for whatever it costs to fix, but I assume I'd be spending that anyway. What if I take it apart and it looks fine and this piece is a remnant from the rebuild that never affected anything?
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My honest replay to taking a motorcycle engine of any marque apart and putting it back together more or less like it was is no. You'll probably end up spending more than you planned on. I have never been able to do it, but I may not be right in the head either. On the plus side Nortons are not really very hard to work on as long as you have the right tools and they don't require machine shop work that holds up the process. Getting the engine out and back into the frame is weird as hell the first time. So is removing and reinstalling the head.

I'm sticking to the keep it stock as much as possible scenario.
 
Is the oil drain hole from the head large enough to let that piece pass? Only way it could get from the head to the sump.
 
Metal sliver in oil -- time to panic?
 

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