Tappety noise from engine

Sounds like a loose exhaust pipe/nut.

Just had a thought, moving the needle from the bottom groove to the middle is actually weakening the mixture when in the needle range! am I correct?

pvisseriii said:

Sounds like a loose exhaust pipe/nut.

Click to expand...

Pipe nuts are solid and wire locked.

willy mac said:

Just had a thought, moving the needle from the bottom groove to the middle is actually weakening the mixture when in the needle range! am I correct?

Click to expand...

Yes.

There is a short segment of the video when you walk around the rear of the bike. It doesn't last long, but the bike sounds normal to me during that short bit. Sorry to say, I think the microphone may be amplifying the normal sounds and causing a lot of negative comments. I really do think you should park the bike outside of the garage and approach it from the side, starting back at least a few yards so that people can listen in that environment.

Listen to how much valve noise Swooshdave got when he set the camera up on his handlebars...

riding-video-fail-t10203.html?hilit=first%20trip

Das Boot was a real killer diller. If ya really want to get worried about a running Cdo definitely put a hose or probe to ear on various engine locations. Its worthwhile to get a baseline sense. Cdo's are a crap shoot as even if ya do find and fix something on the surface who the heck knows what else lurking. Traditionally unto today we all basically just run em till suddenly we can't, then take it from there. Catch 22 is if they just set up they also decay. All's I know is considering all things most efficient path is soup to nuts go through at your time and pace before major items let go, or piecemeal at random inopportune occasions till gone through soup to nuts w/o repeated accessing tasks done repeatedly. How many weekends ya got left and how do ya hope to use most of em? If not for the Commando most us wouldn't have nothing to do with each other. On a decent Commando you are something special, even if you're the only one feeling that way, world feedback will tend to support your mood.

Here's some of my own travails with Trixie Combat in case ya care to suffer it through ... Ya can hear the normal valve train sound and how I don't spare the whip on first run up...then let down again...
trixie-combat-4th-recovery-ends-begins-t7439.html?hilit=trixie%204th&start=60

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HmiZ0QI18ks#![/video]

I listened to that video and I can hear aluminum ringing. Not much up front other than pushrods that will do that. Are you experienced with setting valve clearances? Not to be critical, just asking how good you are with feeler gages.

Also, does it seem to come from one cylinder?

Oil...carbon monoxide... noise ...mmm.

willy mac said:

pvisseriii said:

Sounds like a loose exhaust pipe/nut.

Click to expand...

Pipe nuts are solid and wire locked.

Click to expand...

OK at risk of insulting you, when you set the gap on the rocker to pushrods, did you do one side, turn the motor so the you were at tdc on the other side and do that one.

Can you isolate the issue to one side.

Broken lifter?
Bad main, crank/rod, wristpin bearing?

It may come down to 2 choices. Plan A: Rebuild it now. Plan B: Wait for it to break and rebuild it then.

Just taken the bike out for a quick blast with the tank shroud off to make getting at the plugs easier, the noise is definately louder when pulling away but then seems to clear as the revs clear 2500-3000 is this a significant range? Don't seem to hear it above that but then the exhausts take over plus the wind noise!
Ran out for approx 5 miles at a steady 4000 and chopped the engine pulled the plugs and I think I might be a wee tadge weak, opinions please.

http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab11 ... C02805.jpg

http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab11 ... C02806.jpg

I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

OK at risk of insulting you, when you set the gap on the rocker to pushrods, did you do one side, turn the motor so the you were at tdc on the other side and do that one.

Clearances were done as per the manual i.e L/H Inlet fully open, check gap on R/H and Vice Versa then do the same for the Exhausts.

plug chop looks good on today lean burn gas, some soot on rim but not on procelin. The timing is scoosh advanced maybe going by the hook thermal stain boarder. it should land about mid bend but unless detonating timing is not the source of the ring. Again I'd listen to your Father seasoned ear as basically sounds normal. Do check the lash by turning engine till opposite jug's valve in all the way down and the one being adjusted is all the way up. Thicker oil quiets a tad. Take a screw driver and rap the sides of the rocker boxes for sense of the head ring tone.

Eureka ,

According to N.O.C. Lore ( beaer with me here ) its the THACKERY WASHERS . Damn Cheepskates .

Dunstall & a few others did kits , or Rocker Arm Spindle Head / rocker SPACERS . If I recall right

One type was four spacers and a pack of shimms. Other was grub screw set type , like a wheel collar for a radio control wheel / axle .
Tangental allen head screw bites shaft to set, with a 2 thou clearance .

WHAT THE PROBLEM IS , if it is evedent . IS the 720 degree spring washer ( Thackery / spacer ) END wears a step in the end of the rocker arm .
Eack occurance THWACK , Thwack. Thwack . ( Weve been into all this before ) A Test is covers of , flick rocker along shaft with screwdriver tip .

Supposedly , ALSO the rocker can shift sideways on Ea Occurance , if its being awkwar . Twang, Twang. Twack .

EGAD , in this case , may well be the issue .

Real Spacers were lapped to give the 1 1/2 - 2 thou. endfloat . T^here ya go .

Thacker's going Twackie, huh. Maybe just push the rocker over and spin the Thacker a bit to start it chewing on a smooth area? Anywho not likely a show stopper if so. Peel's head has custom spacers. I need to review all the sources of extra dinging mentioned so far, but putting it off to avoid mood swings.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

Click to expand...

I don't think so either but without knowing more of the bike's history it's difficult to say. For example, has the noise developed recently after engine work?
I did respond to Willy M on the NOC site with the attached video of Norman White starting one of the Motorcycle Museum PR rebuilds. Willy reckons its noisier than his and that's the thing; some Commandos are superquiet, some rattle like buggery due to wear etc. That PR presumably has a PW3 cam like mine which also makes a similar noise. Mine had new tappets with the cam a few years ago but installed in probably 18,000 mile old barrels, so some wear existed from using the old scored and knackered tappets. Do you know what cam is installed in there Willy? I recall from the NOC site you have owned it a while and the noise was noticed after a major engine rebuild. You installed used rods and worn small ends typically make a tapping sound but yours has more of a ring to it which suggests general valvegear wear. I'll try and do mine which also has a fairing amplifying sounds at some rpm's when the fairing sides and screen start to flutter and move considerable amounts of air!

http://s424.photobucket.com/albums/pp32 ... short2.mp4

Matt Spencer said:

Eureka ,

According to N.O.C. Lore ( beaer with me here ) its the THACKERY WASHERS . Damn Cheepskates .

Dunstall & a few others did kits , or Rocker Arm Spindle Head / rocker SPACERS . If I recall right

One type was four spacers and a pack of shimms. Other was grub screw set type , like a wheel collar for a radio control wheel / axle .
Tangental allen head screw bites shaft to set, with a 2 thou clearance .

WHAT THE PROBLEM IS , if it is evedent . IS the 720 degree spring washer ( Thackery / spacer ) END wears a step in the end of the rocker arm .
Eack occurance THWACK , Thwack. Thwack . ( Weve been into all this before ) A Test is covers of , flick rocker along shaft with screwdriver tip .

Supposedly , ALSO the rocker can shift sideways on Ea Occurance , if its being awkwar . Twang, Twang. Twack .

EGAD , in this case , may well be the issue .

Real Spacers were lapped to give the 1 1/2 - 2 thou. endfloat . T^here ya go .

Click to expand...

Hi Matt

I'll look at that when I get back from work in 3 weeks time, it certainly seems to have that ring to it.

Can I just thank everyone for they're two peneth in helping to diagnose the problem.

Hello Again

Just had a Norton owner of many years try out something, with the front wheel against a wall, engine running and in gear we let the clutch out nice and easy without stalling and it clattered like anything, so the concensus of opinion is that it's small ends.
Now I've just looked at a few parts suppliers (Norvil /RGM) and don't seem to be able to find replacement small end bearings/bushes surely I won't have to buy new Conrods! Has anyone replaced small ends before, if so where did you get the replacements from?

willy mac said:

Now I've just looked at a few parts suppliers (Norvil /RGM) and don't seem to be able to find replacement small end bearings/bushes surely I won't have to buy new Conrods! Has anyone replaced small ends before, if so where did you get the replacements from?

Click to expand...

The gudgeon pins run direct in the unbushed small ends although I believe it is possible to have them bushed. However I'm not sure that it's a particularly good idea?
I suggest you strip it down and check as even the experts can get it wrong occasionally.

All I can say is be careful of being Too careful. As a dipp shit 18 year old with my 1st Commando, a 1972 with a bunch of Dunstall add ons that whent like a banshee one day after a long high speed ride in upper 90 degree heat I thought I geared a bad noise. Tore the engine apart & rebuilt it to have a Norton expert tell me that noise is normal. I was & felt like a dumb sh%^#t