Oil pressure gauge to the rescue again.

click · Jul 7, 2020

JimNH said:
Nothing fancy here. I used a banjo fitting and a long banjo bolt and tapped it from the rocker feed line on the LH side, , so there's double banjos with one feeding a SS braided line to the gauge. It started to be a temporary fitting so simply Ty-wrapped to bars but it became permanent. Rockers were already fed by a SS line. I wish I could tell you part numbers, etc., but I did it many years ago.

Thanks for the info. I know there's a few commercially available 'kits' but they use, I think, plastic hoses, which I'm not keen to use as it might create more issues than solve!

click · Jul 7, 2020

olympus said:
I also had a gauge but no bracket or tubing....
Scrounged a piece of 3mm stainless for the bracket which is secured with a length of M8 studding through the hole in the centre of the steering shaft
purchased the stainless hose and fittings from Venhill & the 1/4 gauge fitting off flea bay
The feed for the hose is taken off the rocker feed port on the TIming case as I diddnt want to spoil the symmetry by connecting onto the cylinder head rocker ports
View attachment 17494

Thanks for the reply and shiny picture

swooshdave · Jul 7, 2020

click said:
Thanks for the info. I know there's a few commercially available 'kits' but they use, I think, plastic hoses, which I'm not keen to use as it might create more issues than solve!

Keep in mind that Commandos had plastics hoses and people still use them just fine. Just replace them every once in a while as they aren't meant to last forever.

acotrel · Jul 7, 2020

Matt Spencer reckons the top part of the early Triumph oil pressure indicator screws straight onto the Norton bottom part. What is the specification for the conical seal which fits behind the Norton timing chest and stops the oil from leaking ? - I have got a fat neoprene O-ring in there.

concours · Jul 7, 2020

click said:
Thanks for the info. I know there's a few commercially available 'kits' but they use, I think, plastic hoses, which I'm not keen to use as it might create more issues than solve!

Oldbritts kit features braided stainless.

baz · Jul 7, 2020

acotrel said:
Matt Spencer reckons the top part of the early Triumph oil pressure indicator screws straight onto the Norton bottom part. What is the specification for the conical seal which fits behind the Norton timing chest and stops the oil from leaking ? - I have got a fat neoprene O-ring in there.

The MK3 timing cover takes a different seal to the earlier (pre MK3) conical type

click · Jul 8, 2020

concours said:
Oldbritts kit features braided stainless.

Thanks for the reply but they don’t ship outside the USA anymore

olympus · Jul 8, 2020

You can purchase the hose and fittings from Venhill here in the UK, and you don't need special tools to install the fittings onto the hose.... this way you can construct the hose to exactly the length you require

JimNH · Jul 8, 2020

olympus said:
does the hollow dowel protrude above the seal level?
Are you lubing the seal before offering you the timing cover?
Burs inside the timing cover damaging the seal?

Not lubing. I didn't notice if the delivery tube was flush or above the seal. Seal just is soft and spongy but the replacement seal is considerably firmer. Perhaps some property of the oil is attacking the seal? This happened probably 4 + years since installation so I don't recall if the last seal, similarly failing, was soft as well. There are no burs or other defects in the cover or on the pump. This is a MK III, a bit different than earlier versions. The point of the post is to encourage the use of an oil pressure gauge. The seal had not completely failed, yet. Had it done so there would've been little or no oil delivered. The pressure had not yet fallen to zero so an idiot light may or may not have detected the imminent complete failure.

olympus · Jul 8, 2020

JimNH said:
Not lubing. I didn't notice if the delivery tube was flush or above the seal. Seal just is soft and spongy but the replacement seal is considerably firmer. Perhaps some property of the oil is attacking the seal? This happened probably 4 + years since installation so I don't recall if the last seal, similarly failing, was soft as well. There are no burs or other defects in the cover or on the pump. This is a MK III, a bit different than earlier versions. The point of the post is to encourage the use of an oil pressure gauge. The seal had not completely failed, yet. Had it done so there would've been little or no oil delivered. The pressure had not yet fallen to zero so an idiot light may or may not have detected the imminent complete failure.

+ 1 on the pressure gauge front

click · Jul 8, 2020

olympus said:
You can purchase the hose and fittings from Venhill here in the UK, and you don't need special tools to install the fittings onto the hose.... this way you can construct the hose to exactly the length you require

Thanks for the info. I'll check the Venhill site

lazyeye6 · Jul 8, 2020

olympus said:
+ 1 on the pressure gauge front

The idiot light sending units are typically calibrated to switch the light on at 7-8 lbs. Glancing downward while riding what would you probably
see first: A red warning light or the needle on an oil pressure gauge? Why not both?

olympus · Jul 8, 2020

lazyeye6 said:
The idiot light sending units are typically calibrated to switch the light on at 7-8 lbs. Glancing downward while riding what would you probably
see first: A red warning light or the needle on an oil pressure gauge? Why not both?

Why not...

Hortons Norton · Jul 8, 2020

Or like yachts that have a loud warning sound that goes off if there are problems in engine room. Water, oil pressure, over heating, smoke and other things. But it would probably sound every time you were at a traffic light lol. But talking about oil pressure I brought the MKIII out of hibernation 2+ years and took it for a ride with the wife on the back and at 4,000 rpm I was only showing about 30psi, is it time to check the pump?? It was warm outside 80 degrees.

baz · Jul 8, 2020

Hortons Norton said:
I was only showing about 30psi, is it time to check the pump?? It was warm outside 80 degrees

If you were showing 30psi !! How much was the bike showing???
Sorry couldn't resist
I'll get me coat!

JimNH · Jul 9, 2020

Hortons Norton said:
Or like yachts that have a loud warning sound that goes off if there are problems in engine room. Water, oil pressure, over heating, smoke and other things. But it would probably sound every time you were at a traffic light lol. But talking about oil pressure I brought the MKIII out of hibernation 2+ years and took it for a ride with the wife on the back and at 4,000 rpm I was only showing about 30psi, is it time to check the pump?? It was warm outside 80 degrees.

It may be time to check the seal that was failing on me. Since it splits and squeezes away from the seats on the pump and timing cover it begins to relieve pressure. Both seal failures I experienced over a period of years did not fail completely rather tore and moved away from the seats on both sides dumping oil into the timing case. It's quite possible it could have stayed in that relative position for quite some time and I would never have picked up on it without a gauge. An idiot light, set at 8 psi, would likely have been on at idle but off above idle.

I had warning buzzers on my boats. My Wellcraft had twin 454s and at idle, as when docking, the only way you'd know that one had died is the buzzer went off or lack of response when you needed it! I tried to keep the idle as low as possible without having them die as it was a lot of thrust in close quarters requiring slipping in and out of gear. I found the sweet spot and never hit anything

Hortons Norton · Jul 9, 2020

Next order will include a new seal and maybe lapping the pump. Thanks.

Oil pressure gauge to the rescue again.

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