Café Commando build thread

[grandpaul]

Jean, I'm going to send you a roll of masking tape packed in newspaper, so you will have some masking materials to work with.

hee hee

 

[napanorton]

What brand/type of paint did you go with? I too am thinking of a black motor...

 

[Jeandr]

What brand/type of paint did you go with? I too am thinking of a black motor...

This is the paint I used

I put the head in the oven at 250 degrees farenheight for about 45 minutes then sprayed the paint on while it was still hot. After it had cooled down, I reheated it on my hot plate to put in the rocker shafts. I first painted the rocker covers cold but the paint did not look good, so I heated them too on my hot plate then sprayed them again, they look a whole lot better.

Jean

PS GP, as you can see, I masked what needed to be masked and painted what needed to be painted :wink:

 

[swooshdave]

I think he was talking about where the rocker shaft plate go.

 

[Jeandr]

I think he was talking about where the rocker shaft plate go.

OK, what's the deal about NOT painting those :?: or what would be the consequences of painting them :?: There is no paint inside the rocker shaft holes nor in any of the threaded holes. AFAIK, there should be no problems with paint on the head near the rocker shafts, the gaskets and silicone will take care of any possible leak and even if there is a little seepage, it will be less apparent on a black head :mrgreen:

Jean

 

[grandpaul]

I was just joshin' you.

 

[comnoz]

If you read the posts on breathers, Jim mentionned he did get more power from the engine as the volume of the crankcase was increased. He did that by hogging out bigger and bigger holes in the timing side until the strenght of that part was compromised and the engine was destroyed. His solution was to put the breather with a reed valve directly in the crankcase to get a slight vaccum in the case thus preventing oil leaks, apparently an increase of power was also a side benefit although no claims are made of that feat (probably for liability reasons). He probably won't say, but he is reserving the bump on the timing chest for his electric starter so there is no possibility of putting the breather there on his design.

Jim wrote that too much oil in the timing chest is not good, the oil gets wipped like a mayonaise by the timing gears and chain(s), he said there is enough with the oil return hole down low to lube the whole gear train, this was the result of his tests with a transparent timing cover.

The reed valve is there to get air out of the engine and create negative pressure to keep the beast from leaking.

Jean

Jean,
Increasing the crankcase volume didn't increase the power. What made the power increase was larger holes reduced the pumping loss from moving air back and forth from the timing chest to the crankcase with each revolution.

Moving it in and out through 3 -1/2 inch holes took the most power.

Moving it in and out through 6- 3/4 inch holes took less power. Drilling more holes resulted in a fracture.

Plugging up all the holes except a single 1/4 inch hole for oil drain was by far the best. That way no power was wasted moving air in and out of the timing chest.

Reducing the volume of the crankcase by plugging the holes and moving the reed to the crankcase made a substantial difference in the crankcase depression. The most depression I ever got with the reed on the timing chest was 2 to 3 inches. After plugging the holes and moving the reed I was seeing peek readings of 8 inches. The amount of depression was dependent on rpm as the reeds would resonate at certain frequencies. I tried several different reed sets to find one that worked well in the normal operating range of a Norton. Jim

PS: I like that black cylinder head.

 

[Jeandr]

If you read the posts on breathers, Jim mentionned he did get more power from the engine as the volume of the crankcase was increased. He did that by hogging out bigger and bigger holes in the timing side until the strenght of that part was compromised and the engine was destroyed. His solution was to put the breather with a reed valve directly in the crankcase to get a slight vaccum in the case thus preventing oil leaks, apparently an increase of power was also a side benefit although no claims are made of that feat (probably for liability reasons). He probably won't say, but he is reserving the bump on the timing chest for his electric starter so there is no possibility of putting the breather there on his design.

Jim wrote that too much oil in the timing chest is not good, the oil gets wipped like a mayonaise by the timing gears and chain(s), he said there is enough with the oil return hole down low to lube the whole gear train, this was the result of his tests with a transparent timing cover.

The reed valve is there to get air out of the engine and create negative pressure to keep the beast from leaking.

Jean

Jean,
Increasing the crankcase volume didn't increase the power. What made the power increase was larger holes reduced the pumping loss from moving air back and forth from the timing chest to the crankcase with each revolution.

Moving it in and out through 3 -1/2 inch holes took the most power.

Moving it in and out through 6- 3/4 inch holes took less power. Drilling more holes resulted in a fracture.

Plugging up all the holes except a single 1/4 inch hole for oil drain was by far the best. That way no power was wasted moving air in and out of the timing chest.

Reducing the volume of the crankcase by plugging the holes and moving the reed to the crankcase made a substantial difference in the crankcase depression. The most depression I ever got with the reed on the timing chest was 2 to 3 inches. After plugging the holes and moving the reed I was seeing peek readings of 8 inches. The amount of depression was dependent on rpm as the reeds would resonate at certain frequencies. I tried several different reed sets to find one that worked well in the normal operating range of a Norton. Jim

PS: I like that black cylinder head.

Thanks for the clarification, are you talking about inches of water or inches of mercury? I am not too worried about power, adding a reed valve is only to aid in reducing leaks and I don't want a gush of oil coming out of it since it will not be going back to the oil tank.

Jean

 

[comnoz]

Water.

You will have to run the line back to the oil tank as you will get a lot of oil from that line. Jim

 

[Jeandr]

Water.

You will have to run the line back to the oil tank as you will get a lot of oil from that line. Jim

When my Commando was stock, I ran the line from the timing cover directly out the back of the bike and I was only getting a few drops.

Jean

 

[Jeandr]

Made the parts holding the "O" ring on the swing arm spindle because mine were all bent and full of melted rubber (that came from either the fire which destroyed the original JPN or from getting the cradle and swing arm powder coated as a unit when it was done in the early '90s)

Jean

 

[comnoz]

Water.

You will have to run the line back to the oil tank as you will get a lot of oil from that line. Jim

When my Commando was stock, I ran the line from the timing cover directly out the back of the bike and I was only getting a few drops.

Jean

I guess you can do that but if we get together for a ride sometime I get to lead. Jim

 

[Jeandr]

Water.

You will have to run the line back to the oil tank as you will get a lot of oil from that line. Jim

When my Commando was stock, I ran the line from the timing cover directly out the back of the bike and I was only getting a few drops.

Jean

I guess you can do that but if we get together for a ride sometime I get to lead. Jim

No problem, you (and many others) are probably much faster than this chicken on a motorcycle, but I think I could give you (and many others) a good run on a bicycle :mrgreen:

Promise you won't eat any beans :wink:

Jean

 

[comnoz]

I am sure you are right, since I gave up on bicycles when I was 14 and got something with a motor. Jim

 

[Jeandr]

Started to put it togeher with temporary bolts while waiting for my cad plated stuff to come back from the plater.

Here are the ISO without the hardware to limit side to side motion, I replaced the steel pieces with aluminium parts and the rubber boots are there to keep water and grime out of the tubes. I guess I could have done without those, but it looks better with the boots in place.

Jean

 

[Jeandr]

A bit more progress, put together what I could with the hardware I have. Took the whole day to clean the fork lowers, even if the powdercoater did his best to keep the powder on the outside, the sandblasting did a nasty job on the insides. I had to make cleaning brushes to really scrub the gunk from inside the fork tubes, but it all worked out.

I will see what else I can do befor e I leave on wednesday.

Jean

 

[Hobot]

For some reason your mock up sure reminds me of that Vampire Commando.

 

[Jeandr]

Steve, what is a "vampire Commando" :?: :?: :?:

My breather is in place, made my own gaskets cuz I didn't have any

Cleaned up the brake torque arms a bit. Sharp eyes will notice how they are held to the forks

I had such a hard time putting the screws from inside the fender, behind the torque arms, I was praying to some 42 gods about not ever getting a flat tire and having to deal with the removal of the fender and torque arms any distance from my garage and close to all the tools I would need. Then I was looking at pictures and saw a set of forks on an Italian bike with the screws inserted from the outside :idea: Now why couldn't I do the same thing :?: Lucky for me these forks (1982 Kawasaki GPZ 550) had lots of meat, I could drill the holes right through, face the outside and trim the heads on 3/8" socket cap screws and voilà easy as pie to put on. I have a good idea on how to hold the fender on, I just need time to make it.

Jean

 

[Hobot]

Say What! Oh oh, maybe its taken possession of your pricject so you don't realize what you are creating?
Just something about the angles and edges and nubbins and stance I guess, as if it was equipped to suddenly transform under you.

 

[Jeandr]

I'ts been a while since I did anything because I was on a cycling trip and I was waiting for a few parts namely all the nuts and bolts which I sent to be cad plated. Yesterday my Acewell 3250 gauge came in so I made up a bracket to mount it to the forks, I also punched out the serial number plate with the number punches I had on hand and mounted it to the headstock with screws since I didn't have the little drive in "rivets"

I should make better progress next week when I get my cad plated hardware.

Jean