Strobe light question

Try tapping with a rubber mallet and possibly some heat from heat gun/light propane flame/hair dryer. Using a screw driver/impact will likely damage the finish and leave a nasty looking divet in the slot. There is a proper curved tool for these covers...but you can easily make one from scrap aluminun or steel flat with a grinder/dremel/file.
I've used a good sized washer held in an adjustable wrench as a workable option...but not much torque needed on mine thankfully.
Have a long oil drip catch pan beneath the primary prior to removing...I suctioned out most of the oil (via the middle chain inspection hole) using large syringe or hand suction pump.

Oh, and upon replacing the primary, seems like the tip is to use sealant on the rubber seal and groove & contact surface to prevent oil leaks. Do not be too agressive with the single primary hold on nut...it just seems to distort the cover (inner/outer/both?) to the point where you get metallic rubbing going on inside the casing (chain/clutch?? against casings)...and the seal still leaks....don't ask me how I know this....

Thanks Tornado. The primary case looks great, but the slot is already a bit damaged from things that went on before I had it. The other two small covers look fine. This one is the worst of the three. Good call on making a tool, and using a bit of gentle heat. I'll give that a go when I can find something to make a tool out of. I might try with a hair dryer and a washer in an adjustable wrench. And if that doesn't work I can find a bit of scrap metal.

Tornado said:

One point to note....doing the timing on your own with a strobe is tricky. The fact the throttle & timing rotor are on other side of bike from the timing marks on the primary...means you need to have a helper running the strobe while you hold throttle at 3000+ rpm, then fiddle the rotor a bit and repeat. Also note, using the centerstand basically leads to the bike taking a walk across the floor as rpm's go up....so best to have both wheels on ground and someone straddling the bike or perhaps it's OK on sidestand?

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With the right technique it can be done alone, just turn steering column hard to the right, right hand on throttle, left hand holding strobe light. Don't worry to much about the RPM's, just figure out what your maximum advance is and make sure the timing mark doesn't go past that.

Confirming the accuracy of the timing scale with a piston stop & degree wheel is essential. In my case they were 4 degrees out.

If you are fiddling with setting the timing on a Boyer, try setting it 2 degrees retarded at 3000 rpm. Then as a final check run it up to 5000 and it should be very close. A lot less bike dancing.

Excellent, thanks all! And hey Tornado, your suggested methods for removing that small cover worked . A little bit of time with a hair dryer, and then I used a large washer in a thumb wrench and it came right out with ease. Strobe light is on the way and I'm about to head to the shed to try cutting the back off of an old spark plug.

Tornado said:

Oh, and upon replacing the primary, seems like the tip is to use sealant on the rubber seal and groove & contact surface to prevent oil leaks. Do not be too agressive with the single primary hold on nut...it just seems to distort the cover (inner/outer/both?) to the point where you get metallic rubbing going on inside the casing (chain/clutch?? against casings)...and the seal still leaks....don't ask me how I know this....

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If this rubbing is happening it is probably that the inner cover needs some or more shims behind it on the center stud so it is not bent inwards when the outer cover bolt is tightened. If the inner primary case is touching the little round cover on the left swingarm pivot it is a clue that something isn't right. Mine was like this but it never got to the point where anything rubbed.

Supercat said:

Excellent, thanks all! And hey Tornado, your suggested methods for removing that small cover worked . A little bit of time with a hair dryer, and then I used a large washer in a thumb wrench and it came right out with ease. Strobe light is on the way and I'm about to head to the shed to try cutting the back off of an old spark plug.

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Here's a simple method. 1/4-20 bolt with a nut to lock at any depth.
View attachment 5328

Thanks Mr. Rick. That's along the lines of what I'm going for. I managed to smash all the porcelain and electrode out of a plug this afternoon with considerable effort. It was pretty hard, and now I'm shattered - lol, sorry . It wasn't too bad actually. Managed to drill and cut my muffler brackets so they can be properly mounted this morning too, so it's been a reasonably productive day. It's looking like I should be pretty ready to roll when the strobe light and the last of the parts show up over the next couple of weeks or so.

https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/timing-disk.22909/#post-340037

This is a link to an earlier post about making and using a degree wheel. For me, the whole purpose was to verify (or refute) the existing timing mark in the primary case.
I think we have another member far north. In the Yukon, maybe he cd point you to a source for some actual motorcycle oil?

What you can't see in the picture is an oversize nut, jammed inside the hex portion of the plug body.

If you have got the bike running , then advance until when kicking it kicks back very occaisonally . Then retard it a smidgeon ie about one hundreth of an inch on the stator plate. That should be ok .. beyond that find a stretch of road where you can experiment with incremental adjustments... The trouble is that the Boyer will keep advancing ie strobe it to 31 btdc at 5000 revs and the timing is over advanced at 7,000 . You will not get a stable image of the rotor mark at more than 5,000 . Work out the circumference of the circle the magnet describes then divide it by 720 and that is the amount you have to move the stator plate to get 1 degree alteration.. Mark the stator and the casing to give a reference point and do use a magnifying glassto see how far you have moved it when adjusting. Final point always double check for when the stator securing bolts are tightened , it tends to move back to its original position

Large washer to engage in slot and pair of mole grips to hold should do it then it will just unscrew

Supercat said:

I managed to smash all the porcelain and electrode out of a plug this afternoon with considerable effort. It was pretty hard, and now I'm shattered - lol, sorry . It wasn't too bad actually.

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As I said earlier, I had a hard time
too until I found a video on the tube showing to trim off the upper metal flange of a plug using a cut off wheel or hacksaw....then the whole porcelain section just slides straight out.

I've heard it's best to use a smaller diameter bolt/rod for the actual stop post as the valve clearances are pretty tight on our bikes. I used an old spoke...about 1/8" maybe.

Thanks a million guys - this is all super helpful. I didn't realize that I would need to take the piston stop out between readings and that a valve would hit it otherwise. That is very good to know. How will I know when to put the piston stop in to avoid the valve hitting it?

I haven't run the bike yet this year, but she was running good last fall. I just acquired the bike last year in not-running condition. I was able to get her going with help from the good folks at AccessNorton, and I've done quite a bit of work on her over the winter de-chopperizing her and sorting out electrics etc. She's nearly ready to be started, but I'm waiting on some exhaust rubbers, spark plug leads - and I think I'm probably going to need to bite the bullet and get a MK 3 kick start lever as there is quite a bit of overlap between the stock one and the new muffler on that side. I'm going to start a separate brief thread to solicit a bit of advice on that decision now.