1962 650ss Build

Just got my new “old style” spring Today. Going to compare the two. If not a huge improvement will try the different inner case

this is the old spring. pretty pooched. also, it didn't look this bad when I fit it back into the case after the rebuild. I'm also reasonably confident that it was a "new" spring from an Andover rebuild kit when I fit it.

the new spring is a much much tighter fit. was quite difficult to get on to the kickstart shaft, and I'm hoping that's a good sign.

going to give it a few kicks tomorrow mid morning. a bit too late for the neighbors right now for a bike with no baffles.

looks overly unwound.

That spring looks like it was on a kick starter that worked in the opposite direction from a Norton kick starter. It seems to me it would take some serious effort to unwind it that much. Wow!!

Schwany said:

That spring looks like it was on a kick starter that worked in the opposite direction from a Norton kick starter. It seems to me it would take some serious effort to unwind it that much. Wow!!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't know, pretty wild.

The new spring has it kicking fine, and don't seem to have the issue anymore. Had my first little run on the bike in and around the driveway. Feels great. Wishing I had gotten rid of the Pollen that just fell from all the oak trees first tho. . . Like a carpet of pollen out here.

seanalex said:

Yeah, I don't know, pretty wild.

The new spring has it kicking fine, and don't seem to have the issue anymore. Had my first little run on the bike in and around the driveway. Feels great. Wishing I had gotten rid of the Pollen that just fell from all the oak trees first tho. . . Like a carpet of pollen out here.

Click to expand...

Good to hear. Sounds like things are coming together on the SS.

Ahh the pollen carpet. We have 190 foot tall Douglas fir trees around the house that drop yellow pollen for a month. It basically turns into baby poop from the Seattle drizzle. It fills every crack and crevice in the cars not in the garage. When they are not doing that they are dropping widow maker size branches small cones and sap. Nature at it's best.

went through the wiring again tonight, as the rear of the bike wasn't working, neither was the horn. Headlight and tach were getting good power with the motor running. I'm pretty sure I had the polarity of the key switch backwards, not to mention a ground in the wrong place causing a short.

Will check all electrics with the motor running tomorrow when the neighbors are at work. Hoping that my VT plates come tomorrow too. Almost positive I'll be getting pulled over on this bike, so want to make sure its all actually legal.

I also have to get a mirror fitted on the bar end, then I'll feel good to road test.

Wiring is so much fun when it is bass akwards. I wired in a cheap LED head light that is Negative ground. It is isolated from the rest of the bike, and good for interweb "you're asking for trouble" comments.

My bike turns heads two blocks ahead of me if I turn the wick up. It is rude and obnoxious. Sort of like its owner.

Getting pulled over in Seattle would require police. Seattle is the world epicenter for the defund the police movement. Same people bitching about the police will be the first to complain when they don't drop everything and come save their asses. Current end result is the police are not concerned with minor traffic violations. Not enough cops to go around anymore.

There are two types of springs! Are you sure you are using the correct one?
See: https://andover-norton.co.uk/en/shop-drawing/516/gearbox
Items 72 and 72A

Slick

Yes. Was using the correct one, but I think that I had never replaced it when I rebuilt the box.

All is well now.

Had it out today on an actual road for about 10-15 miles. Have a bit of small work to do to get it proper.

Gearbox is a little notchy, but seemed to be getting smoother as I rode. All four gears select easy enough, engaging first as long as the bike is rolling.

Front brake lines need a bit of adjustment. I think I need to make them a bit tighter. The lever has a good bit of pull before the break REALLY comes on. I didn’t go too crazy pulling on the brakes. Just trying to listen for any strange sounds or vibrations. I did not notice any.

Throttle cables seem to have a lot of Slack. Too much. I’m out of adjustment at the carb top, so need to look again at the cables. I feel like they would benefit from being an inch shorter.

Lots of oil drips here and there. I have the nyc Norton sump breather. I’m thinking of fitting this once I dial in the carburetors.

The throttle is smooth until about 2700-3000 rpm. Then it starts to break up a bit. Either fuel starvation or needle jet needs to be raised or lowered. I currently have it set running off just one petcock. Tonight will
Put in a second line, and the banjo with dual inlets. If this does not help then will raise the needle.

Im reasonably confident that it’s jetted correctly. I went with what was suggested in the dunstall tuning workbook for a 650ss with open Megas.

Electrical system is a riot. Im
Not sure what I did wrong, but the key in the “on” position, all the electrics turn off. Also tail lamp is in full “on” mode. Not activated with rear switch. There is no battery on this bike, and no Lucas three way switch. Just magneto, and Wipac horn/kill/dip.

The dip lever turns the lights on and off. Horn is not working. Magneto kill button works.

Other than all this. Have my legal VT registration. Once it’s running properly I’ll worry about the electrical. I think I just overcomplicated it when I set it up. Then was rushing to get it done. And made mistakes. I wanted to have a key in the system, and a capacitor to help with the lights running off the magneto.

I’m less concerned about super bright lights at this point. But will get it sorted in the coming weeks.


Other than that, this thing sounds absolutely insane. Couldn’t be happier. Cannot wait till it’s running super smooth.

so much for fitting this dual banjo.

Too much time in the gym ??

seanalex said:

so much for fitting this dual banjo.

View attachment 96047

Click to expand...

WOW!

In 20+ years of working with already old Amal carbs, I've never had so much as a CRACK in a metallic Amal banjo...

Just one more tug on the wrench is all I need to seal this thing up... oops! and Ouch!!

The ugly plastic banjo fittings are hard to break with the little cylindrical filter inside. Probably not period correct though.

Thing crumbled like clay

Anytime you are working with "potmetal" parts, resist the urge to say " another quarter turn should do it". Instead say " I had better leave it alone".

Slick

Ok, so both lines now fit and tubing run smooth and short. Also I replaced the fuel hose that connects from carb to carb, as upon further look there was a decent kink in the line.

The best part of this whole "now the bike has proper fuel" situation, is it now runs like shit. Kinda funny that it ran super smooth at idle and low throttle when it had not enough fuel. I think tomorrow I will take the carbs off the bike, and make sure that all the holes etc are clear, and that everything is properly set.

Its a bit weird to try to find both petcock valves when sat on the bike, but I'm telling myself that it's mostly since I'm used to where it is on the Triton.


Also fit the center stand tonight, and my lord that was more work than I was prepared for this evening. I initially was hoping that I could get away with just a side stand on this bike. So I fit a decent one that I bought from RGM. I had put the same side stand on my Triton, and I really liked it. It felt super sturdy, secure, and strong. The center stand that came in the box of bits with this bike was a bit twisted at the mounting points to the frame, so I didn't bother.

When I had the bike out on its first ride last week, I went around my "country" block twice. All in, probably about 6 miles. I was at this point feeling super confident and decided to go a bit further. I was about 8 miles from my house, and I stalled the bike at an intersection. I think my clutch is a bit far out of adjustment, but also the notchy gearbox, coupled with the fact that the shift pattern is opposite my other right side shift bike, I think I just missed the gear or something.

So . . . pulled into the side of the intersection, put my "trusty" side stand down. And gave the bike a second to relax. I noticed it was leaning a bit more than I was comfy with. It was at this moment I realized that I have yet to kick this bike over with it not in a wheel chock, or on a paddock stand. It was also a wicked hot day, and I live pretty much in deep country. Just a stop sign intersection in the middle of 3 fields, and a cemetery. I tried kicking it over a few 20-30 times, but I just didn't have the leverage to give it the full kick. Normally I can get this bike on the first go (on a stand).

Called a friend to see if he was close enough with a truck just incase I had to get it home. No dice.

As I stood there looking through my phone of who I could call, I noticed the bike was now REALLY leaning. As I looked at it with scrutiny, noticed that it was now actively falling over. So I Straddled the bike to keep it upright. Tried to kick it now a few more times. Still no love.

After about 20mins time, a dude pulled to the stop sign and rolled the window down asking if I needed a hand. He pulled over into the grass, and asked if I needed him to call anyone. I asked him to put the front wheel between his feet and hole the top yoke to keep the bike upright. Then showed him that he'd have to keep the throttle open just a crack as soon as it started. I would have to walk away from this running bike, as all my shit was about 5 yards away where I was making my earlier phone calls.

Bike fires first kick, I'm stoked, the dude is super stoked. I get my gear on, ride it home. Hence . . . center stand.


(you can also see my sweet custom blanking plug off the back of the cases)

Had an old breather pipe that was previously cut down, tapped it for a 5/16" bolt, teflon'd the bolt. I'll come up with a better solution once the bike is a bit more dialed in. It is kind of wild tho, no oil leaks anymore with the breather now fit.

Back to the stand. Heated it up in a vice and was able to bend back the bent parts by eye, using some hammer tuning. Its much more straight now. Bead blasted it real quick, then hit it with some black paint. Side stand will go back on the shelf. It won't fit with this center stand, and the primary cover/exhaust combo. I did trim off the doglegged bit on the stand, and it hides well under the exhaust. With the dogleg on it, it stuck out a bit further than the footrests. I'm going to put a footrest rubber on it as well just so it doesn't destroy this exhaust on release. Just need to check that it won't melt.


That spring is no joke either. Good lord. In an effort to keep all of my teeth in their current location fashioned up this. Stainless lock wire just to give me a good section to pull using a spring puller. Not too shabby. I honestly don't know how anyone would get this spring on any other way.

So ..... do I understand what I see in these pics?

Two fuel taps are feeding one float chamber (left side) via a dual banjo. Nothing to be gained by that arrangement. The needle and seat are the limiter to fuel flow. One fuel drop will be adequate.
I assume the right carb is a chopped Amal and is fed by a tube between banjos on the jet blocks.

The center stand spring can be managed by pressing washers between the coils to extend the spring. Once the spring is on the stud, the washers can be pushed out.

Slick

texasSlick said:

Two fuel taps are feeding one float chamber (left side) via a dual banjo. Nothing to be gained by that arrangement. The needle and seat are the limiter to fuel flow. One fuel drop will be adequate.
I assume the right carb is a chopped Amal and is fed by a tube between banjos on the jet blocks.

Click to expand...

Yes you are correct the right carb is chopped. So there should be enough fuel to flow just from one line to keep the float bowl up? Makes me think that maybe the hose that I had between the two jet holders was Kinked that bad.

The other thing thats creeping into my mind is if the Auto Advance is not opening and closing properly, thus throwing off the timing at a higher RPM.

Just to rule out Timing as the issue, if the engine starts easily, and Idles quite smoothly, is that enough evidence that timing is where it should be? Its also just occurred to me, that now would be the ideal time to recheck the Timing since I have the entire primary off already.