My '73 850 rebuild..

I wonder if S&L has anything to do with Marshall Hagey?

Dave
69S

No, Marshall is downtown Chicago. Wauconda is north. Marshall ain't bad as long as you know what your dealing with, deal with him face to face and in cash. I'd never trust him with my bike, credit card or woman though.

D'oh. I bought a new headlight today (because it was uber cheap, on sale--$5).. Now I'm having second thoughts after reading on here.. ;(


Sylvania 6024XV; $5

Uggggggggggggh.

-Jordan

KSUWildcatFan said:

D'oh. I bought a new headlight today (because it was uber cheap, on sale--$5).. Now I'm having second thoughts after reading on here.. ;(

Sylvania 6024XV; $5

Uggggggggggggh.

-Jordan

Click to expand...

What's the issue. I have used the silverster h6024 55/65 for three season. Outstanding lamp uber wide beam, super bright. I also run a 200 watt stator and a 200watt podstronic unit.

pvisseriii said:

KSUWildcatFan said:

D'oh. I bought a new headlight today (because it was uber cheap, on sale--$5).. Now I'm having second thoughts after reading on here.. ;(

Sylvania 6024XV; $5

Uggggggggggggh.

-Jordan

Click to expand...

What's the issue. I have used the silverster h6024 55/65 for three season. Outstanding lamp uber wide beam, super bright. I also run a 200 watt stator and a 200watt podstronic unit.

Click to expand...

I was reading that the focus wasn't very good and it wasn't straight-on. Is this incorrect? Maybe I did ok after all.

-Jordan

KSUWildcatFan said:

pvisseriii said:

KSUWildcatFan said:

D'oh. I bought a new headlight today (because it was uber cheap, on sale--$5).. Now I'm having second thoughts after reading on here.. ;(

Sylvania 6024XV; $5

Uggggggggggggh.

-Jordan

Click to expand...

What's the issue. I have used the silverster h6024 55/65 for three season. Outstanding lamp uber wide beam, super bright. I also run a 200 watt stator and a 200watt podstronic unit.

Click to expand...

I was reading that the focus wasn't very good and it wasn't straight-on. Is this incorrect? Maybe I did ok after all.

-Jordan

Click to expand...

It's one of those "matter of opinion" and "mountain out of mole hill" kinda things in previous threads. It truely is a "what ever suits your eye" kinda thing. Try it and tell us what you think. For $5 it's no big whoop.

Is it a plug an play type of mod or is there adjustments to be made in the shell?

britbike220 said:

Is it a plug an play type of mod or is there adjustments to be made in the shell?

Click to expand...

Good point, pvisseri. Worth a try for $5. It's usually a $13 light but was on sale. /shrug

Tim, I don't believe the mod is terribly difficult. Dad's running a standard halogen on his Nortumph and he's very happy with it.

-Jordan

KSUWildcatFan said:

britbike220 said:

Is it a plug an play type of mod or is there adjustments to be made in the shell?

Click to expand...

Good point, pvisseri. Worth a try for $5. It's usually a $13 light but was on sale. /shrug

Tim, I don't believe the mod is terribly difficult. Dad's running a standard halogen on his Nortumph and he's very happy with it.

-Jordan

Click to expand...

If you do not already have one, it's just a matter of wiring in the plug. It takes up no more and maybe less room in the shell.
britbike 220, Adjustment is up or down and left or right is as straight as your forks and shell holders.

DogT said:

I wonder if S&L has anything to do with Marshall Hagey?

Dave
69S

Click to expand...

Rebuilding a Commando when you specialise in 70's Honda's that explains it :idea:

And now, to clean up all of the crap and put the rear end back together.. Probably won't be much progress (aside from cleaning) for the next week or two.. :/

-Jordan

Sloooooowwwww progress. The entire collection of parts (swingarm and everything else including the frame) has been cleaned and wiped down. The rear end looks NICE! very clean.

Also, just bought new shocks for the rebuild. Nevermind the cost (ow).



-Jordan

Lookin clean, only about a month to go time better get crackin.

britbike220 said:

Lookin clean, only about a month to go time better get crackin.

Click to expand...

Slow progress. Only a few hours to work on it per week.. ;(

Well, today was a real bummer.. Total fail in a lot of ways.

We bought some rubber isolators from Fastenal which we thought we were going to work (and were considerably cheaper than the correct Norton parts @ $5+ each).. Too bad they were all wrong. Dad's now going to have to return them for a refund. Hopefully they comply. I'm ordering 12 (6 for me, 6 for dad) replacement rubber isolators (head steady/exhaust mounts) along with several other items from OldBritts.

My new shocks were a big fat fail, too. They look very, very close to the stock (early) Commando shocks with the shrouds. I compared them to dad's '70 shocks.

There is one big difference, though:



I told the seller they are not right and that he has two options: give me a full refund and I will ship them back or give me a partial refund and I will make them fit. He's trying to tell me they are Commando shocks and is trying to keep from giving me a refund--good luck, buddy. I'm not cutting into them when I paid $220..I could have gotten correct Commando shocks from Clubman with the shrouds for $158.. Bleh.

Anyway, the day wasn't a *total* fail.. We got the swingarm filled with about 15cc of 190W synthetic oil and it feels very good. No side play whatsoever.




And now, to order another $110 in parts. ;(

At least my other project made a bit of progress this weekend:




-Jordan

Jordan, if you think this is the last time you'll have a bad weekend working on bikes, be had by a dealer, vendor or private party you are probably fooling yourself. You're learning about old bikes for the fist time and who to trust for parts. Over the years I can't count how many times I've screwed up, ruined stuff on my own and been hosed by a few "top" people in the business, but in hindsight I've learned who to buy from, who's advice I value and most important I've learned how to keep my bikes running for the most part on my own. I've also met a lot of good people over the years that have helped me through problems and I can call a number of people at any time for advice on issues I am having with my bikes. Long story short, slow progress is better than none and patience rebuilding and buying parts will go a long way in actually getting the project done faster than buying up every good deal you think you're getting and slapping it together. Take the time to do it right, make the bike what you want and when the time comes to ride it you won't regret it. If you hurry through it and push to go time you may be disappointed with the result. Remember there's always another day to work on it. :wink:

Hi Jordan,
Those bushes in your shocks look like they were made for a Triumph.
I know this as I bought a pair of shocks from my Triton project the other week, when they arrived the bushes were too thick and the hole diameters were larger. Never mind, they've now been fitted to my Triumph that needed new shocks anyway, the old ones will do for a mock up to give me an idea of what length I need and lesson learned, don't try and buy Norton parts from a Triumph shop!
You should be able to press the bushes out and replace them with ones that fit, probably the easiest option!

These old tarts were designed to test us and keep us poor!

Good Luck

Webby

Webby03 said:

Hi Jordan,
Those bushes in your shocks look like they were made for a Triumph.
I know this as I bought a pair of shocks from my Triton project the other week, when they arrived the bushes were too thick and the hole diameters were larger. Never mind, they've now been fitted to my Triumph that needed new shocks anyway, the old ones will do for a mock up to give me an idea of what length I need and lesson learned, don't try and buy Norton parts from a Triumph shop!
You should be able to press the bushes out and replace them with ones that fit, probably the easiest option!

These old tarts were designed to test us and keep us poor!

Good Luck

Webby

Click to expand...

Yeah, we tried hammering the mounts out but they are STUCK. No budge whatsoever. The mounts in my stock shocks came out very easily.

Looks like I'm getting a full refund. I'll just order a pair from clubman..

Wow, I haven't updated in a while..

Sadly, not a lot of progress has been made. The shocks were returned so I'm going to use the stock ones I had before, at least until I feel like dumping $150 on a pair of shrouded (NJB) shocks from Clubman.

Transmission, completely apart and cleaned:


Main transmission bearing, fried (ordered a single-side sealed bearing from OldBritts):


Some wear inside the transmission:


Cleaning up the motor--painting with high-temp black paint tomorrow:



Last pic, for Tim--MAP CYCLES!!!:


Hoping to paint the motor, transmission case, and inner primary cover black tomorrow. Next weekend will be a lot of re-assembling if paint can be finished tomorrow.

My last order from OldBritts had some transmission stuff, petcocks, and some other generic stuff to finish the project. I'm getting closer..

-Jordan

Looks as if that trans may have suffered a layshaft bearing failure.