Big_Jim59
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2010
- Messages
- 618
I am very disappointed with myself and with my Norton. It has never been right and it seems that I can't make it right. Every time I gear up for a ride I spend the day jacking with it. Bear in mind that this is Debby's old bike and it was built with care. According to my notes from Debby, the engine is a 1974 840 and has been rebored to first oversize with new JCC pistons. The head was rebuild by Jim Comstock and included exhaust thread repair and new exhaust valves. Plugs are Autolite AP64.
Running analysis: The bike runs great in mid range. It pulls hard on acceleration and runs great at speed. I have had the bike up to 70mph on the highway. It may be my imagination but it seems to take a lot of throttle and some time to get there. It has always been hard to start when hot. It is an issue that even Debby couldn't seem to remedy. I live in fear of a flame-out in traffic. Stops are the worse. It's not like I expect it to idle but it pops and farts, stumbles just as I am coasting to a stop. The fear of hard starting makes the bike un-fun to ride in any kind of traffic.
Some History: Debby used non-ethonol gas. I have no access to non-ethonol gas so I use the highest octane ethonol gas. The gas usage does not effect the running or starting issues. The only changes I made, in the beginning, were installing bigger jetting for Texas flat lands. I am running a 240 main, needles at mid position. Debby was running 180 mains and the needle was set one notch lower in Colorado. It uses two Amal 932s. These carbs have the brass sleeves. I just got through tearing both carbs down. I drilled factory plugs for a straight and open pilot circuit. I then cleaned the pilot circuits (clear and open with carb cleaner clearly squirting through every orifice.) I checked needle heights, jet sizes, float height settings, the carb balance and everything else I could think of. Timing is Pazon Electronic Ignition set at 28* at 3000 rpm. (Today, I retarded the timing by 1 degree to see if this made a difference. It maybe made it worse but that's hard to tell.) Plugs are new and have no color. The old plugs were light ash brown in color.
Note 1: I had an issue with the left side farting and popping but the right side seemed to be fine. After writing this screed, I installed new plugs. No change. I swapped plug wires side to side and the popping and farting stopped. Strange. Road test today indicted that the popping and farting is worse. It acts like you would expect a bike to act if it were cold.
Note 2: In the recent past I have been able the start the bike consistently by holding maybe 1/3 throttle.
Note 3: Tickling the carb in hot starts does not help at all. Pulling the choke on does seem to help.
I have been considering replacing the Pazon EI unit with a Wassel unit. I am running a Wassel on my Triumph which works fine. I have also considered replacing the dual lead coil and the plug wires but I hate firing a parts canon at a problem when I do not know what the problem is. (I am starting to think it is ignition related.)
Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I really want to ride and not wrench.
Running analysis: The bike runs great in mid range. It pulls hard on acceleration and runs great at speed. I have had the bike up to 70mph on the highway. It may be my imagination but it seems to take a lot of throttle and some time to get there. It has always been hard to start when hot. It is an issue that even Debby couldn't seem to remedy. I live in fear of a flame-out in traffic. Stops are the worse. It's not like I expect it to idle but it pops and farts, stumbles just as I am coasting to a stop. The fear of hard starting makes the bike un-fun to ride in any kind of traffic.
Some History: Debby used non-ethonol gas. I have no access to non-ethonol gas so I use the highest octane ethonol gas. The gas usage does not effect the running or starting issues. The only changes I made, in the beginning, were installing bigger jetting for Texas flat lands. I am running a 240 main, needles at mid position. Debby was running 180 mains and the needle was set one notch lower in Colorado. It uses two Amal 932s. These carbs have the brass sleeves. I just got through tearing both carbs down. I drilled factory plugs for a straight and open pilot circuit. I then cleaned the pilot circuits (clear and open with carb cleaner clearly squirting through every orifice.) I checked needle heights, jet sizes, float height settings, the carb balance and everything else I could think of. Timing is Pazon Electronic Ignition set at 28* at 3000 rpm. (Today, I retarded the timing by 1 degree to see if this made a difference. It maybe made it worse but that's hard to tell.) Plugs are new and have no color. The old plugs were light ash brown in color.
Note 1: I had an issue with the left side farting and popping but the right side seemed to be fine. After writing this screed, I installed new plugs. No change. I swapped plug wires side to side and the popping and farting stopped. Strange. Road test today indicted that the popping and farting is worse. It acts like you would expect a bike to act if it were cold.
Note 2: In the recent past I have been able the start the bike consistently by holding maybe 1/3 throttle.
Note 3: Tickling the carb in hot starts does not help at all. Pulling the choke on does seem to help.
I have been considering replacing the Pazon EI unit with a Wassel unit. I am running a Wassel on my Triumph which works fine. I have also considered replacing the dual lead coil and the plug wires but I hate firing a parts canon at a problem when I do not know what the problem is. (I am starting to think it is ignition related.)
Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I really want to ride and not wrench.
Last edited: