Kick starting the 850 bastard. [ nothing to do with iso's and other shit ]

tricatcent · Feb 27, 2023

I have been using BP7ES NGK plugs in my Norton for about 20,000 miles. I almost never change them, they get rusty before they soot up. They should stay clean if you are not burning a lot of oil. If you use BP8ES plugs they will carbon up unless you are alway riding really aggressively. Amals run rich when the needle jets wear to an oval shape. This can happen in less than 10,000 miles.

ashman · Feb 27, 2023

Needles and jets wear oval from vibrations and should be replace every so many years of riding, but rubber mount your Amals will reduce that problem, when I was using my Norton as a everyday rider I did a rebuild, clean and replace needles and jets with a carb kits every 3 years, it's a good practice to get into for good reliable riding all part of major maintenance, all part of ownership, don't just ride the bike and expect it to run great forever just doesn't happen.

possm · Feb 27, 2023

Dereck, my friend Jim that I was with at the rally had a similar problem with his N15 before he left home, was running BP8ES changed to BP7ES it run great all weekend. I note you mentioned BPR which is a resister plug, the Pazon Altair that I fitted to my Mk3 came with 5 OHM resister caps, you're not resistor plugs and caps?

gortnipper · Feb 27, 2023

possm said:
Dereck, my friend Jim that I was with at the rally had a similar problem with his N15 before he left home, was running BP8ES changed to BP7ES it run great all weekend. I note you mentioned BPR which is a resister plug, the Pazon Altair that I fitted to my Mk3 came with 5 OHM resister caps, you're not resistor plugs and caps?

I had a bad R cap that badly fouled plugs on that side. It measured at 16 ohms instead of 5 ohms.

kerinorton · Feb 27, 2023

Hi Al. I think the R was a miss print by me. I am running with NGK resistor caps. The N7Y plugs I put in the bike at Turangi are in my hand now. I will get a photo of them and send them to Dave, as I don't have access to putting photos on the forum. When I was at Dave o's place in Maungaturoto, I did notice smoke coming out the left pipe on start up. looking at the left hand plug, I see signs of oil burning. That hadn't been obvious before. Alsoi the slow speed running has started to get a bit rough just above the idle.

gortnipper · Feb 27, 2023

Here are Dereck's plugs

The left one looks a bit rich and a bit hot to me.

The right one looks like it is fouling, and assume that is the primary side plug you refer to above?

If it is oil fouling and you fix that, and if you lean out th other side and the insulator cleans up, keep an eye on the strap. If the band moves closer to the threads you may need a cooler plug.

Shelby-Right · Feb 28, 2023

TheCounty said:
NGK's locally have turned out to be crap' for both Norton and Skidoo. Life expectancy 2 short rides.
Found that Chinese knockoffs were prevalent and the plugs I had matched imperfections mentioned on a few forums.
Switched to Champions & problems gone on both units. (Not something I ever would have said a few years ago. )
Cheers

I had nearly a full set of NGK plugs actually for a Ford V8 and they were bought from Repco a local pep Boys, same number and heat range , anyway I bought 2 more from trade me website, when I compared them the insulator was really different lengths , I did actually get these returned , but it was quite difficult with questions asked , and I was passed on to a 3rd party , the packing was different, I'm 100% sure they were fake . Cheers

kerinorton · Feb 28, 2023

Hi Dave. Thanks for adding those photos for me. Its funny you mention the l h plug looks a bit rich. It is very slightly richer than the right one. The right exhaust has as slightly purple look and has for quite some time. It was dam hard to get them the same . Main jet needle adjustment wasn't fine enough so left it alone. [ it had new main jets and needles several years ago ] N7Y was the plug recommended in the service manual so I bought a box of them for my 750 over 20 years ago. I think that was well before the pirate or fakes became available.
Its been a while since I have had to do much to the bike apart from the oil changes etc. I am 1 minute from the 100 kph area so I am up to speed early on nearly all of my rides around here [ when I have had time to do them in the past ]. Kind of like leave well enough alone while its going well.

My other project has been taking precedence lately. Hoping my wife will enjoy riding in the thing. She doesn't like the commando and buggered if I am going to buy a tractor with an arm chair no matter how well they ride in a straight line. She always complained about not knowing where the bumps were coming [ which jarred her back ], and after the ride over those lovely NZ roads last week, I now know what she means. Ikon shock and Lansdown inserts are no match for NZ roads.

concours · Feb 28, 2023

tricatcent said:
I have been using BP7ES NGK plugs in my Norton for about 20,000 miles. I almost never change them, they get rusty before they soot up. They should stay clean if you are not burning a lot of oil. If you use BP8ES plugs they will carbon up unless you are alway riding really aggressively. Amals run rich when the needle jets wear to an oval shape. This can happen in less than 10,000 miles.

I run BP9ES, they are snow white.

gortnipper · Feb 28, 2023

kerinorton said:
Hi Dave. Thanks for adding those photos for me. Its funny you mention the l h plug looks a bit rich. It is very slightly richer than the right one. The right exhaust has as slightly purple look and has for quite some time. It was dam hard to get them the same . Main jet needle adjustment wasn't fine enough so left it alone. [ it had new main jets and needles several years ago ] N7Y was the plug recommended in the service manual so I bought a box of them for my 750 over 20 years ago. I think that was well before the pirate or fakes became available.
Its been a while since I have had to do much to the bike apart from the oil changes etc. I am 1 minute from the 100 kph area so I am up to speed early on nearly all of my rides around here [ when I have had time to do them in the past ]. Kind of like leave well enough alone while its going well.

My other project has been taking precedence lately. Hoping my wife will enjoy riding in the thing. She doesn't like the commando and buggered if I am going to buy a tractor with an arm chair no matter how well they ride in a straight line. She always complained about not knowing where the bumps were coming [ which jarred her back ], and after the ride over those lovely NZ roads last week, I now know what she means. Ikon shock and Lansdown inserts are no match for NZ roads.

Reread Comstock’s comments in post 10 and 13.

https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/plug-pics.17561/post-259823

This is about the best I have been able to do with mine running around my roads. BP8ES

possm · Feb 28, 2023

" I am 1 minute from the 100 kph area"

Dereck I wouldn't be making that public the Govt fun police will have your speed limit down to 80kph or less before you can blink!

Shelby-Right · Feb 28, 2023

NorLuck said:
Yeah so I've bought a bunch of NGK plugs for the Mercury and Commando and I can tell you one plug out of all the plugs was not right.. Had to argue with them to get a swap ahhh crazy but at $14 a piece why not that's like a decent burgers worth of suspect spark plug (now they charge $19 which is crazy). They're all from Repco bought in pairs at various times. I'd buy from Tim but he's further away and now I'm suspicious of NGK

Packaging was different, plug looked wrong, size didn't seem right. Weight in hand was off. AND THIS WAS REPCO!!! Repco for anyone not in NZ is basically a chain like AutoZone or as mentioned above PepBoys.

If I can purchase the correct number in iridium , I get them from rockauto , their freight was better pre covid but if it's on the light side they are really good too many middle men all paying GST .

johnm · Mar 1, 2023

NorLuck said:
Yeah so I've bought a bunch of NGK plugs for the Mercury and Commando and I can tell you one plug out of all the plugs was not right.. Had to argue with them to get a swap ahhh crazy but at $14 a piece why not that's like a decent burgers worth of suspect spark plug (now they charge $19 which is crazy). They're all from Repco bought in pairs at various times. I'd buy from Tim but he's further away and now I'm suspicious of NGK

Packaging was different, plug looked wrong, size didn't seem right. Weight in hand was off. AND THIS WAS REPCO!!! Repco for anyone not in NZ is basically a chain like AutoZone or as mentioned above PepBoys.

Back in the 1960s Repco was more than a auto chain.

Actually Australian and two F1 world drivers championships for Jack Brabham and Dennis Hulme. And two constructors championships for Brabham.

Phil Irving of Vincent fame was the engineer.

Shelby-Right · Mar 1, 2023

johnm said:
Back in the 1960s Repco was more than a auto chain.

Actually Australian and two F1 world drivers championships for Jack Brabham and Dennis Hulme. And two constructors championships for Brabham.

Phil Irving of Vincent fame was the engineer.

Back in the 80s and 90s, at times I was on the Berco boring bar we used sets and sets of oversize pistons and bearings cylinder sleeves all repco branded, for all types of vehicles on the road, now they sell blue gear knobs and exhaust tips that make your car sound like its under water ,actually like many Hawke's bay cars ! .

kerinorton · Mar 1, 2023

Hi Al. they are already considering to lower the speed limit on my nearest 100k road down to 80. They were thinking of making the max speed limit on all our main roads 80 kph just like the Jaffa's and us have to put up with on S H 1, Auckland to Wellsford.

Repco used to be Motor Specs until the Aussies took over and changed the name.

Dave , those plugs look super clean. Look like that have been in the bike for a few minutes. What fuel are you running them on? What oil are you using?
I used 91 for years until I got down to Spring Creek, then changed to 95 and 98 on the way home. Made no difference.

Looks like it may be the oil causing the problem. Now that I have made new parts for my side stand, time to change back to Caltex or something else.

gortnipper · Mar 1, 2023

kerinorton said:
Hi Al. they are already considering to lower the speed limit on my nearest 100k road down to 80. They were thinking of making the max speed limit on all our main roads 80 kph just like the Jaffa's and us have to put up with on S H 1, Auckland to Wellsford.

Repco used to be Motor Specs until the Aussies took over and changed the name.

Dave , those plugs look super clean. Look like that have been in the bike for a few minutes. What fuel are you running them on? What oil are you using?
I used 91 for years until I got down to Spring Creek, then changed to 95 and 98 on the way home. Made no difference.

Looks like it may be the oil causing the problem. Now that I have made new parts for my side stand, time to change back to Caltex or something else.

I always use 95, most usually from Z. But remember my motor is slightly hotter than yours.

I try and use Royal Purple HPS. In a pinch will use Mobil V-twin, but the RP is better and tends to be cheaper.

How are your valve seals? ;-)

kerinorton · Mar 2, 2023

gortnipper said:
I always use 95, most usually from Z. But remember my motor is slightly hotter than yours.

I try and use Royal Purple HPS. In a pinch will use Mobil V-twin, but the RP is better and tends to be cheaper.

How are your valve seals? ;-)

Valve seals. Hmmm. Could be. Do I ant to look yet. I Have been thinking about it. My other project is going to take precedent first. Yes my motor is std. good enough for a lightweight like me.

BTW its still starting first kick at the moment.

Do those oils you use have higher zinc properties. Mind you, the older fuels with T E L in them never game me problems. And lead is a conductor.

gortnipper · Mar 2, 2023

The RP is one of the oils that tested very well in Comstocks tests. It tested far better than Castrol. M1 V twin tested good and you can get it anywhere, but RP was cheaper last times I bought it.

marshg246 · Mar 3, 2023

NorLuck said:
Wait so what oil can I get anywhere and did well? Because I looked up M1 V twin and none of the usual drive up places have it?!

Unless it's a race bike Castrol GTX 20W50 is more than enough for a higher performance street Commando according to Comstock's tests. Don't know about there, but in the US it is available at most auto parts and it's available from Amazon.

Not trying to restart the oil thread for the umpteenth time. Hope to stop this tangent and get back to the thread title (stupid me)

gortnipper · Mar 4, 2023

NorLuck said:
Wait so what oil can I get anywhere and did well? Because I looked up M1 V twin and none of the usual drive up places have it?!

A Mobil station? ;-)

Kick starting the 850 bastard. [ nothing to do with iso's and other shit ]

tricatcent

ashman

possm

gortnipper

kerinorton

gortnipper

Shelby-Right

kerinorton

concours

gortnipper

possm

Shelby-Right

johnm

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