Norton maiden voyage...fail!

I was just finishing up the last few details of my MK3 restoration when I realized that the bike would be ready to at least cruise up and down the street, thus allowing me to start shaking things down before really riding it. Well, that did not go so well. Just a little bio-- this bike has been rebuilt from the crankshaft out. Everything including the gearbox, which is where my problem lies. I took off just fine in low gear, a little over-actuation of the clutch so I turned around and pulled the plug and adjusted the clutch. No big deal. I took off again, and clutch felt perfect. GREAT, right? Nope. I got a little bit more nerve and decided to shift into second gear. Well, I got neutral. No second gear. No third gear. No top gear. Brought it back into the garage, and at the risk of burning all of my arm hair off, adjusted the neutral switch out a ways. Back out on the street and I can feel it start to go, but still nothing. So I adusted the neutral switch out most of the way just to eliminate that as a variable. I put the center stand on 2 stacked pieces of plywood and ran it thru the gears. I can only get low, neutral and 2nd gears, with some noise going into 3rd. Still not top gear. I'm thinking I just need to bite the bullet and pull it out and go thru it again. I thought I had the cam and quadrant lined up as per the manual, and the tech articles from Old Britts. Any suggestions before I go about this? Man, what a pretty bike, though! The good news is that the engine runs so sweetly. I'm very happy to have that going for me. Thanks in advance!

I had the same problem after a rebuild. I found I had installed the hairpin spring that goes around the gearshift shaft upside down. It's very easy to do. Go to old Britt's website http://www.oldbritts.com/ob_main.html and look in his tech articles section at gearbox rebuilding. He has a clear picture of how it should be installed. The dog leg needs to be at the bottom. Also make sure the clearance is set correctly. I used .010" clearance. With the outer cover off you should be able to move the quadrant up and down with a screw driver. Helps to spin the back wheel a little, zip tie the clutch lever down. If you can shift into all four gears this way you know it is indexed correctly and the problem is in the ratchet shifter.
What kind of 0ring did you install on the kickstart shaft? The stock ones are very prone to leaking. If you have the cover off, I would recommend you change it to a SKF 3815 seal, available at NAPA. Install lip inward.
Bummer being so close and not being able to ride. I've spent the last four months sorting out little issues on mine since a crank up restoration. Carbs, gear box, timing, speedo ect ect.

I just realized yours is a lh shift but I think the principal is the same.

2+ htown's pawl spring issue, but it can still be pawl spring even with the crook at the bottom. Legs need to be made parallel to each other and just enough space, more or less the pawl can swing past. Another area can be primary chain too tight. I figure about 1000 miles to shake out most the faults and grimlins, so carry electrical and tie down/up wire zip ties and tape. Don't forget fuel level before riding off too far.

Could your camplate and quadrant be out of sync?

When I've gotten one tooth off, either way, the cases either would not close or gb would not engage after closure. As he's is engaging some gears likely not that deep an issue. If the pawl diddle don't do it then maybe he's flipped a cog or a dog to open up all the way for, ugh.