My 1971 Norton Commando

Keep up the good work! Nice to see the progress too
Ben

Dennis C said:

Working on the electrical wireing, This could be over my head and will take some time.

I have the tail lights working, Is the brake light the bright light or is the tail light the bright one?

Dennis

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Brake should be the brighter of the two; schematic shows it to be the Brown (N) wire, while the running light is Brown with a Green tracer (NG).

Nathan

The eliktrikery is elementary . :wink:

That is easy for you to say

Dennis

Rattle can shiny but no depth, still looks better





Dennis

Starting to look a lot closer to the way it did a long time ago.

Needs a real paint job







Dennis

I have the new Emgo fork tubes and seals and bushings, will finish the triple crown when I get the old tubes of





Dennis

Right there, just like that, it looks like a classic "survivor".

Not sure what you mean about a "real" paint job, that'll just mean spending all kinds of money on polishing, replating chrome, and other new bits that will look too rough if you put new paint on the bodywork.

Rebuilt the forks, new fork tubes, seals and bushings. polished the sliders and instrument housings , head light and headlight mounting brackets.

painted the triple crown

How do you get the gaitors to go over the slider?



Dennis

Heat

Front end is back together, but I have some stiction in the fork sliders, the bottom bushing on the fork tube is sticking when depressed, I'll take the forks back off and try the old fork tubes to see if they stick, I do not remember that they did. If they are smooth I'll mike the bottom bushing and may replace it with the old one. only sticky on one fork.









Once I get this sorted it is on the electronic ignition, I think I will go for the power arc from Old Britts.

What oil is every body using. regular or synthetic, and which has the best Z content. Motor is still dry, so I have to add fluids every where.

Fork oil?

Thanks Dennis

Looks a lot less long in tooth ragged rat with the finger smudges wiped off and if ya use elbow grease and buffing wheel to polish out the clear coat the paint job will please with depth of smooth shine even more. Just don't put on too much clear coat at once so it don't dissolve paint or wrinkle up on itself and can dry well before the polishing-hand job labor of love. Ink the parts ya can see easy to see where its rubbed off to relieve. If ya did not roll the new or old stanchions against each other to assure true-ness then might be one leg bowed, so might try twisting one or both legs to see if eases the bind for another clue. May only take oil in forks to make the bind a non issue. 20 grade oil is ballpark to start with and can fill up 175 ml for better bottoming resistance w/o lock up worry. My yokes for some reason, wind blast grit or sun light, tend to bleed rust again with just paint well applied and dried so consider clear coat there too but don't have to rub as much d/t the slight texture of casting surface. If ya ain't done the bottom out damper hole blocking and moving holes up mod now is good time.

Do you have a link for the mod?

Thanks
Dennis

Dennis C said:

What oil is every body using. regular or synthetic, and which has the best Z content. Motor is still dry, so I have to add fluids every where.

Fork oil?

Thanks Dennis

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The shiny parts and black paint makes for one badass looking Norton!

"What oil is EVERYBODY using" Now that's funny!!

My pick is Mobil Synthetic V-Twin 20-50. Expensive, but has all the proper vitamins & minerals.

Silkolene makes good fork oil.

Ugh, is there ever...
https://www.google.com/search?site=&sou ... 7W5MCfdYqg

The bottoming mod to get silent hydro stop action is very simple. Plug the lower two damper holes on the taper by JBW, welding or Fauth's and prior kits > 2 Aluminum rods ya pound ends to rivet like hold/seal in place, then make similar size holes 1/2 to 3/4" above the damper tube lip. I made one normal size hole at 3/4" and 2 more half-ish size holes stagged in height a bit at 1/2 & 3/8" level for a progressive sense of bottoming w/o feeling hearing it jar back in bars. Nothing travels over the useless factory holes so don't have to sweat grinding back but for sense of man hood mechanic finishing to reflect on while grinning in the wind. If ya get new damper caps like Greg Fauth and others offer ya get tighter fit of damper tube which dampers rather better and if really good close fit [10 mm OD Al rod] ya can sand rod in resting sag area with pilot on, ~1" section, a few thousandths narrower waist tapper to take up the fast nuisance road textures w/o feeling much of it. Definitely use anti-seize on the damper caps.

Thanks for that,

The manual call for 100 ml of 10 wt oil, are you saying to over fill and use heavier oil

Dennis

I'm saying almost everyone [but those with hobot- Greg Fauth Roadholder] complain 10 wt is too low on dampening action for rough roads or fast brake applications. I found forks got better and better dampening action til I got past 175 ml to have air pumped out in a few 100 yds and forks hydo lock for a bucking bronco reversed control action I returned on so slow and scared I had both feet down for 1/2 mile to return and drain some. IIRC manual say 150 ml per leg. Similar complaints of full size men trying the after market progressive springs, which is non issue on Greg's spring rate tunable and sag setting kit. I weigh about 165 suited and guite happy with my Trixie's factory Roadholders comfort and security with only the damper hole mod and somewhat extra volume of 20/50 motor oil inside > for sane travel as know better than press un-tamed isolastics on factory Roadholders into THE Hinge onset that gets a bit worser on the let offs before settles down in time. Fork fluids have been analyzed by racers a long time to find the grade label has such varations of reality in fluids its trial and error to actually get the grade ya expected. I liked ATF in Peel's special Roadholders until I advanced in off road wild ness then found brake fluid a treat but brake fluid does not protect from rust and attracts water like crazy which can rust springs inside stanchions so rust prevention is a factor on which fluids to leave inside a while.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fork+fl ... OX_hc7Fd7w

Had bothers once with ATF & STP on rubber McP strut seal .

Before the Belray , the ATF was anti foaming and the STP was to up the vicosity , typically 10 to 25 % . Std Moto Cross fare . No harm in friction proofing stuff in there . They can be fairly stiff - so check action and alignment un capped .

I have been using hydraulic oil for years with no bother. I weigh the same as Hobot. Only the rare occasion have I bottomed or topped out my front unit. [ and that's generally when I have forced myself to go off road, round corners. getting good at that bugger it ] You can buy Hydraulic oil in different grades and the beauty of that is that it does not foam up with use [ its not supposed to. ] Hobots suggestion of putting in 175 mls seems ok, but consider that tere ought to be some air in there to allow it to telescope in and out. If you have too much oil in there, would it be forced out the top seals. Hobot did mention that when he carried the experiment too far, the bike was very scary to ride. This sort of discussion is very good to have. Thanks Hobot, I will have a go with the 175 mls next time. [ its a bloody shit to get that oil in though isn't it. ] I have thought about making a screw in funnel, but I only ever seem to remember after I have started changing the oil.
Happay riding
On On

kerinorton said:

Hobot's suggestion of putting in 175 mls seems ok, but consider that tere ought to be some air in there to allow it to telescope in and out. If you have too much oil in there, would it be forced out the top seals. Hobot did mention that when he carried the experiment too far, the bike was very scary to ride. This sort of discussion is very good to have. Thanks Hobot, I will have a go with the 175 mls next time.

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My '78 XS650 Yama-slob was the first bike that I really dove into for heavy-duty mods. I was steadily upping the oil level to experiment with increasing the spring's progressiveness and having great joy! One 30 mph dive off the side of the road into the dirt parking lot through a pot hole, and I found myself covered with fork oil. Ah, the enthusiasm of youth!
On the Norton, I went back to Bel-Ray 10 viscosity in the forks as my riding style searches more for long-term comfort, rather than cutting-edge performance. My wrists were much relieved...
Nathan