welding timing cover

snail · Dec 17, 2015

I need to have a fuel pump mounting welded onto the timing cover. Before I go to see my friendly welder, can anyone tell me what material is used for the casting?
May not be critical, but I'd like to make things as easy as possible for him; I'm sure its going to be a PIA job!

Brian the snail

bwolfie · Dec 17, 2015

Norton aluminum welds nice and clean. I've always used 4043 filler with no issues, and once polished it matches well.

snail · Dec 17, 2015

bwolfie said:
Norton aluminum welds nice and clean. I've always used 4043 filler with no issues, and once polished it matches well.

6 minutes, what took ya?

.Thanks, that's what I needed to hear.

Stephen Hill · Dec 17, 2015

You might get lucky welding on a timing cover. For one thing, the shape should be more stable. I have never seen a welded Commando primary cover that I would want on my bike. You can find threads on this forum about porosity, oil contamination, warpage, discolouration, etc.
Please let us know how it goes. It would be good to hear an upside story.

Stephen Hill

snail · Dec 17, 2015

I'm assuming that it will warp like crazy, so will need machining. Visual porosity is not a problem, provided it doesn't leak.
I had a pre unit bonnie motor in the distant past which had a similar mod. That was a good 2mm out of flat, but the weld was OK. I'll post details of the finished product.

Cheers, Brian

Tintin · Dec 18, 2015

snail said:
Before I go to see my friendly welder, can anyone tell me what material is used for the casting?

Most cast alloy Norton bits from that era were probably made from RR5x series alloys aka Hiduminium. The manual mentions RR53B for the head e.g.

Tim

snail · Dec 18, 2015

I'd read that somewhere, but wondered if they used something cheaper for the less stressed and polished bits.

I'll mention it to the welder anyway.

Brian

grandpaul · Dec 19, 2015

snail said:
I need to have a fuel pump mounting welded onto the timing cover.

What am I missing here?

Top fueler? LSR?

lynxnsu · Dec 19, 2015

i once welded/mated 2 timing covers to make one up , and the alloy is crap , the more i welded , the more cracks appeared.
in the end it looked reasonable but took a lot of polishing
one half was commando , the other half dominator
(look at NOT A CAFERACER post)

all that epoxy was there to make sure i did not miss any blowholes........

snail · Dec 20, 2015

grandpaul said:
snail said:

I need to have a fuel pump mounting welded onto the timing cover.

Click to expand...

What am I missing here?

Top fueler? LSR?

Just reviving this old girl

Originally carbed, but I want to put a Hilborn setup on it.

grandpaul · Dec 20, 2015

snail said:
Just reviving this old girl

Originally carbed, but I want to put a Hilborn setup on it.

THAT explains it!

Tons of fun for a few seconds at a time...

snail · Dec 20, 2015

Tons of fun for a few seconds at a time...

That's all I can manage nowadays!

grandpaul · Dec 20, 2015

Well, the way I understand it is: the fewer the seconds, the more fun?

Mark · Dec 20, 2015

Go snail Go!

those ol' drag bikes are cooler than hell!
seriously................. I wish that I had one to play with.

Post a bunch of pictures of this project.

snail · Dec 20, 2015

Warning, the following graphic image may offend some viewers!

Paddy_SP · Dec 21, 2015

Excellent - keep the photos coming, please!

toppy · Dec 21, 2015

snail said:
Warning, the following graphic image may offend some viewers!

I hope its fast enough to out run those concourse purists who will be chasing you down brandishing parts lists and large heavy Whitworth spanners (original factory ones of course) :lol:

snail · Dec 21, 2015

toppy said:
snail said:

Warning, the following graphic image may offend some viewers!

Click to expand...

I hope its fast enough to out run those concourse purists who will be chasing you down brandishing parts lists and large heavy Whitworth spanners (original factory ones of course) :lol:

I was a little worried about that!
This is, however an original bike. The frame has a date of 1975 on it . Rumour has it that it was raced until the early 80's. It's even got it's original paint!
It could be argued that the commando's biggest racing success was at the hands of TC/ John Gregory. Oh boy, I'm treading on dangerous ground here!

Maybe I need to start a thread on Norton dragbikes.
I'm attempting a "period correct" rebuild here, using as much of the original as possible. Ok, the original H*nda forks have been replaced with 32mm Cerianis, the slick is an inch wider ( I think) and I'll be a little more confident with Hilborn vs Amal when it comes to a small dose of "Pop". What could be more "Purist" than that?

It's amazing what a glass of wine can do to bolster your confidence.....

Brian the snail

Paddy_SP · Dec 21, 2015

snail said:
What could be more "Purist" than that?

Brian the snail

Sod the purists - do it the way you want to do it!

snail · Dec 21, 2015

Paddy_SP said:
Excellent - keep the photos coming, please!

Not much to show at the moment, but to give you a christmas smile, I made this fork brace with a "personal touch"

My welder's gone on holiday, so there won't be much progress on that front till next year.

welding timing cover

Similar threads