Mysterious part found

Hi all,

I followed the sage advice and pulled the cylinders up and out (I was not going to lift them completely, but the base gasket was thrashed).

Lo and behold sitting on top of one of the cam lobes was a mystery part:

http://www.bndracing.com/norton/mystery.htm (sorry for the blurring).

It looks like some type of shaft clip. It's 1.25" at the widest, and looks like it got bent, but not chewed up. :shock:

I don't have a clue, but I was hoping somebody would recognize this wayward part and advise wether or not I should crack the cases (please say no).

The cam lobes look fine with no signs of unusual wear or scoring. The pistons and cylinder walls look nice with minor coking and no scoring. I don't know what else to look for ... everything looks hunky-dory (a quaint US phrase for our overseas friends).

Thanks you all again for the advise. I'm glad I took a look see

mystery part

Looks like a sump filter circlip part number NM.16948 to me.

also look to see if you are missing a piston pin circlip.

bill

Looks like the oil sump filter circlip. Check to see if your engine has an oil sump filter located under the crank case. It takes a wrench of about 1-3/8" to remove it. Inside the sump filter housing is a brass mesh screen, held in place by a large washer, which is in turn held in place by the circlip. If the circlip was floating around in your crankcase, the washer and filter may also be floating around in your crankcase, so you need to find all parts before restarting the engine.

Randy
64 featherlastic
"flog your f'lastic"

Ding! Ding!

Sway wins the prize, and Guest guessed correctly.

When I took the sump filter apart the first time, I didn't know the missing washer and clip needed to be present (the screen was glued in place by sludge :shock: ).

I just removed it again this morning, and yes, the washer and clip are not there.

:idea: PHEW! That explains the crunched up piece of metal I pried out from inside of the screen. I'm guessing it was the washer in a past life.

Time to go out and buy a 1-3/8 socket (cha-ching) to go along with the newly purchased 1-1/8" one I bought yesterday for the oil tank filter.

Thanks guys!!!