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Post by buttybach1932 on Jun 25, 2023 15:37:16 GMT
Hi Norton John Next month ( 23rd July ) is VMCC Founders Day. There is a huge Autojumble and it is the best event of the year to find parts for 1920s and 30s motorcycles. A lot of the Autojumbles have become Japanese orientated as this is the big growth area in old motorcycles. Riders who were teenagers when Honda 750s and Kawasaki Z1's came out, but could not afford one, or purchased a car, can now buy one as an investment or a toy. This has driven up the prices and there is a growing market for old Japanese bikes and parts. A lot of the collectors and riders of old British motorcycles have reached an age where the bikes are getting too heavy to man-handle and too difficult to start, so they are selling them off and prices have dropped noticeably over the past couple of years. Your friends Husqvarna Red Ant is a model that I have never come across in the UK. Its an interesting little bike with its rubber band leading link front suspension. In the UK Husqvarna became known for their Motocross bikes in the second half of the 1960s. There were quite a lot of Jawa's sold in the in the UK but they were normally larger capacity models the 250cc two stroke single and later the 350cc two stroke twins. The smaller capacity 250cc two stroke twin plus the 125cc /175cc singles were badged as CZ and the 50cc models as Simpsons. The other famous Jawa product was their 500cc speedway / grasstrack engines. There was a BTSC member who collected early Jawa's, who took his family on holiday to Turkey every year, so that he could search the local motorcycle dealers for early Jawa spares that were not available in the UK. He used to write about his exploits in 'The Independent'. Coming through UK Customs with a pair of mudguards and other parts in his luggage. The changeover to 'Unified' ( American ) threads caused problems with BSA's and I presume other British motorcycle manufactures. BSA only partly changed over to using Unified threads around 1966. BSA's from the late 1960s have Cycle Thread in 26tpi and 20tpi, BSF, Whitworth, BSP, UNF, UNC and BA threads and you need three sets of spanners to work on them. They also had one metric thread, the sparking plug M14 × 1.25mm. Very frustrating to work on because whatever spanner you pick up it is the wrong size and you end up being surrounded by a clutter of tools. The Unified thread was introduced in 1948 after compatibility problems with aircraft production during the war. The Unified thread was an agreement between the USA, Canada and the UK but was based on the American National thread system with a few changes. The British car industry used it for a number of years before changing to Metric but the British motorcycle industry was on its last legs by the late 1960s so it was never fully adopted. I used to come across a lot of ANP ( American National Pipe threads on American heating equipment that was imported into the UK. They would fit but not very well because BSP is 55° and ANP is 60°. Running a BSP die or tap down the ANP thread solved the fit problem. Attached is a photograph of my father-in-laws 1930 Velocette GTP I have ridden this bike in a number of events, as currently I do not have a pre 1931 or girder fork two-stroke that is running. Hopefully my 1930 Rex Acme V10-A will be on the road next year. Regards Butty Bach
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Post by nortonjohn on Jun 26, 2023 14:52:53 GMT
My but that is a beautiful bike. I have a good friend who has a 350 Velo. He likes to take it up to the Sandia Crest outside of Albuquerque New Mexico. A lot of the "sport bike" riders like to take that road too. He enjoys embarrassing them when he passes them going uphill. As you know they don't weigh much and handle very well. I am more than familure with the mixed fastener issue having 2 Norton Commandos. The engine is CEI or Whitworth while the frame and other body parts are unified thread. Sold my 70 750 Norton last year. very low milage. Need to sell my 74 Mk2A Norton Interstate. My right knee isn't happy kicking it over.
At Davenport there are lots of Jawa's. My friend picked up a 350 with a sidecar for under $1000. One of his friends in NM wanted it. Not much British stuff there I'm afraid. Lots of Harley stuff which doesn't interest me in the least. Yeah I know what kind of an American am who doesn't like Harleys.
Cheers John
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Post by buttybach1932 on Jun 28, 2023 13:22:27 GMT
Hi Norton John We have rather drifted of the subject of Villiers Flywheel Magnetos but never mind. I have had no involvement with Norton's and none of my friends own one. About 50 years ago one of the lads at College showed me a con rod out of a 750cc Combat engine that had a very interesting spiral twist in it. No one could work out how it could happen but the Combat engines were notorious for going bang. Last Winter I was reading an article in an early 1970s copy of 'Motor Cycle Sport'. The article did not mention the names Norton or Commando but from the description of the problems encountered it was obvious what machine it was about. The article described the issues that caused early main bearing failures some at only 3000 miles. The surprising revelation was that a lot of the early main bearing failures were caused by the failure of the Lucas automatic advance-retard unit. The rivets that held the advance-retard together were failing and it was going to full advance. The over advanced ignition timing put additional stress and vibration on the main bearings causing their early failure. But what was more revealing was that the experimental and testing department knew of the problem and welded up the advance-retard units on the road test bikes so they did not suffer from the early failures. The big problem was that they did not tell the production department about the fault and this ended up costing the company a lot of money in warranty claims for engine rebuilds. There must have been some very silly inter-department politics going on in the company. There were other issues that caused the main bearing failures such as poor machining accuracy on the crankcases and crankshaft whip exacerbated by the high compression ratios. Improved quality control and fitting the barrel roller Superblend main bearings improved the bearing life to an acceptable mileage. I am not surprised that you struggle to start your Commando's. When I see people starting them they leap on the kickstart with their whole body weight. If it kicks back it is going to do you a power of no good. I understand that the electric starts are very marginal. No good for a cold morning start but OK if you happen to stall the engine in traffic. A couple of months ago I carried out a study and produced a Technical write up on Amal Mk1 Concentric carburettors. The 932 carburettor used on the Commando has some peculiarities caused by the external dimensions of the body not being large enough for a 32mm choke size. The tops have to be modified to allow full throttle and the throttle needle is too short so it comes out of the needle jet orifice at full throttle. This may be why the choke tube has a stepped top. I would love to be able to talk to someone at Amal would was involved with the development about these quirks and the similar peculiarities with the Mk1 1000 series carburettor. Unfortunately they are either no longer alive or their memory has gone. I can understand why you do not like Harley's they are not a bike that I would want to own. But what about the DKW copy Harley Hummer and if you really want to annoy Harley owners turn up at a rally on a Topper Scooter. We had a lady entrant at some of our runs who road a Harley Topper and it was a nightmare because it broke down every few miles. This weekend is the BTSC Annual Rally but I am only attending on the Saturday. I will ask around to see if anyone has a James ML as it would help you out with your rear wheel spindle parts dimensions and assembly order. I also need to measure and photograph a petrol filler cap for a late James Cadet because a friend needs one for his bike and I do know exactly what I am looking for. It's a cheap and nasty bayonet fixing type. What do you think of my trail bike ( see attached picture ). It's a Wassell Bantam. The later versions with Sachs engines were imported into the USA and sold as Penton's. Regards Butty Bach
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Post by 1951superlux on Jun 29, 2023 8:17:15 GMT
But what about the DKW copy Harley Hummer and if you really want to annoy Harley owners turn up at a rally on a Topper Scooter. We had a lady entrant at some of our runs who road a Harley Topper and it was a nightmare because it broke down every few miles. There's this too...
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Post by buttybach1932 on Jun 29, 2023 11:42:43 GMT
Hi 1951superlux & Norton John. I like the look of the Harley Davidson Scat. It has the off-road look but it is low and compact looking. The problem with my Wassell Bantam is that it is a bit tall for me with my short legs and the kickstart is very high with a short movement so it can be a pig to start when the engine is cold. Warm or Hot it usually starts first kick. Regards Butty Bach
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Post by nortonjohn on Jul 8, 2023 22:13:43 GMT
Butty, I didn't know about the Wassell Bantum and didn't know they had been imported to the US. Learn something new every day. I do like how it looks. A few years back there were a lot of the Harley Hummers and Hummer parts at Davenport, not sure why. I don't think I knew about them welding up the auto advance on the early Commandos. I knew about the main bearings and their tendency to dig in under a hard load. The 70 750 I sold was missing the timing side crankcase and the crank when I got it. It did come with a replacement engine. The crankcases matched up perfectly so I could keep the matching numbers. Installed Super Blends which took care of the digging in issue and a Pazon ignition took care of the timing dancing all over the place. On my first Commando the advance unit died at 6000 miles, the second at 15,000 miles and the third at 21,000 miles. I then got a Boyer which was a wonderful replacement for the Lucas mess. I installed a starter kit from Colorado Norton Works on that bike a few years back. I have around 250,000 miles on that bike. I say around because the first speedometer died at 97,000 miles and every rebuild only lasts 30,000 miles.
My friend in New Mexico picked up a Flying Flea and just like that was offered a second one for free. Wish I had his luck. He already has the first one running and will pick up the second one in a week or so.
I borrowed a wheel truing stand to sort out the rear wheel on the James. I have only done that once and that was on my Panther Stroud which I have since sold.
Between the heat and my shoulder issues I haven't gotten as much done as I wish. As they say getting old isn't for sissy's.
Cheers John
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Post by nortonjohn on Jul 8, 2023 22:19:53 GMT
I placed an order with Villiers Services on Thursday. I wanted some other items that weren't on their website. I emailed them and they had those parts too. I didn't see a way to add those items to my order and it looks like I will have 2 orders coming in. Wish shipping to the US wasn't so expensive. But I blame our postal service on that one. Oh well such is life.
Cheers John
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Post by buttybach1932 on Jul 10, 2023 17:08:53 GMT
Hi Norton John
I am very impressed that your Commando has clocked up 250,000 miles. I have never managed that in or on any vehicle. The most that I have done is about 190,000 miles in a company car and a company van. I think I have clocked up between 900,000 and 1,000,000 miles adding together all my vehicle mileages. It would have been quite a bit higher if I had not 'let the train take the strain' for my last 10 years at work.
Fitting electronic ignition can make a huge difference to the way an engine runs, especially if the advance retard curve is matched to the engine requirements. Most Two Strokes can use more advance at low revs to boost bottom end torque and need less advance at high revs. The only Two Stroke motorcycles with mechanical advance / retard and contact breaker points ignition that I have come across are the air cooled Yamaha RD twins. Modern electronic ignition systems with programmable advance / retard curves can transform Two Stroke engine performance.
I have had a lazy couple of weeks. I need to finish re-building a Miller dynamo for one of my Velocette friends and tomorrow I am looking at a sick BSA Bantam that belongs to an elderly friend. Next weekend is VMCC road racing at Darley Moor Circuit when I can catch up with what new bikes are being raced this season and I might even get a chance to wield some spanners if someone I know is in trouble.
Regards Butty Bach
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Post by nortonjohn on Jul 31, 2023 17:17:21 GMT
All, I am still picking at my 47 125ML James. This project will take some time to sort out. Right now, I'm trying to remove the coils both ignition and lighting. From the look of things, it hasn't ever been apart. Is there an easy way to remove the screws that hold the coils in place? Thinking I may have to drill them out. What size are the screws? Are they all the same size? Would using a heat gun damage anything? (From what I can tell I doubt that heat will hurt anything) Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. John
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Post by buttybach1932 on Jul 31, 2023 22:05:47 GMT
Hi Norton John
I would not use any heat on the magneto as it is likely to damage the insulation on the coils. Looking at the photograph that you posted a while back four of the screws have definitely been replaced in the past because they have Phillips heads. There are still two original screws holding the two smaller lighting coils which have slotted heads.
The best way to remove the screws is with an impact screwdriver. I purchased one nearly 50 years ago made by Vessel to remove the screws in Japanese motorcycle engines. But you need a solid support to prevent the magneto moving when you whack the impact screwdriver with preferably a copper hammer. A strong mate pushing on the other side of the engine usually does the trick.
If the screw heads are badly damaged and there is some screw shank visible when the coils are removed the best solution is to drill the heads off, remove the coils then use a pair of Vice Grip locking pliers to remove the remains of the screw. American Vice Grip pliers are the best, sadly they are no longer manufactured in the USA and I doubt that the copies that Irwin Tools sell in the UK are as good quality. I have had the palm of my hand caught in British Mole grips too many times and the crap release handle on the old versions meant you needed to jam a screwdriver in to release them. Not easy when you are dancing around in pain.
Best of luck. I am playing with a friends Suzuki CS125 Roadie scooter tomorrow, vacuum fuel tap problems 'we think'. Hopefully I can get it running so that he can sell it. Unfortunately he has had to give up riding / driving due to a macular degeneration problem, so he is now restricted to a 5 wheel Quingo electric mobility scooter.
Regards Butty Bach
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Post by nortonjohn on Aug 1, 2023 20:16:21 GMT
Hello Butty Bach, How did I know you would be answering my questions. The screws I am referring to come from the back (engine) side of the mounting plate. I have ordered and received the correct plate mounting screws from Villiers Services. My sympathies to your friend. I too have a friend who is afflicted with the same malady. It's very sad. Reguards John
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Post by buttybach1932 on Aug 2, 2023 17:38:57 GMT
Hi Norton John The same advice applies do not use heat, use an impact screwdriver. Make sure the screw slots are cleaned out before you start and use the widest blade that will fit the screw heads. You just need to be careful how you support the magneto so you do not damage the lighting coils etc. Attached is a photograph of my Vessel impact screwdriver. I do not use it much but it is very useful when I rebuild Lucas and Miller dynamos, to remove and refit the field coil pole shoe screws. They have to be really tight with metal caulked into the screw slot to prevent them coming loose. Lucas show a weird 'wheel screwdriver' in their Workshop Instructions to carry out this job but the impact screwdriver it probably more effective. My friends Suzuki CS125 Roadie scooter is up and running. The vacuum fuel tap was in a horrible state but I managed to rebuild it and then found all jets in the Mikuni CV carburettor were blocked with black gunge. I think the modern petrol is dissolving the inside of the rubber fuel lines. Hopefully now that it is running he can sell it and the next owner can worry about that problem. Next weeks favour job is to replace the brake pads on a Lomax three wheeler. It uses a Citroen 2CV engine and running gear. The owner has a serious back problem so he cannot do the job himself. However in exchange he has given me a set of valve seat cutting tools, so fair exchange is no robbery. Regards Butty Bach
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Post by nortonjohn on Aug 2, 2023 21:34:32 GMT
Butty, In a former life I used to work for the City of Phoenix in the parts department. When they started using ethanol it caused the gas tank liners in the Kawasaki KZ1000's that the police used to dissolve. So, when the cops needed fuel, they had to return to the shop to gas up with non-ethanol gas. Just at the shop I worked out of there were around 100 of the Kawasaki's at any one time. Always something.
Cheers John
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Post by 1951superlux on Aug 3, 2023 15:10:13 GMT
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Post by nortonjohn on Aug 11, 2023 21:34:21 GMT
Is there a way to identify the flywheel on the 9D Villiers engines? I am beginning to think that the one that came with my project isn't the correct one. I haven't found any numbers on mine but the cover that screws onto the flywheel doesn't fit. There are no screw holes in the flywheel for the screws to attach the cover and the cover is smaller.
Cheers John
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