Any Norton Commando Knowledge here? Which models were made in Wolverhampton?

Bonzo said:
I didn't know they were different, but I've got them flowing freely now :thumb
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You need to drain most of the fuel out so you can check which is reserve or you risk running out of go juice at some point.

No, I can’t remember which is which on mine but it’s not on the road so it doesn’t matter :blast
 
AndyB_11 said:
You need to drain most of the fuel out so you can check which is reserve or you risk running out of go juice at some point.

No, I can’t remember which is which on mine but it’s not on the road so it doesn’t matter :blast
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L/H on this one. There's even a little sticker on the tank to confirm.

Stripped & cleaned the carbs (adding new jets, stay up floats etc), but what a pain to get to those two middle manifold bolts!

Had to remove the bowls & adjust the floats a couple of times as fuel came pissing through. And now the throttle slides are sticking inside the body (which is odd as I havent changed the cables and I gave the slides a polish). So, I'll spend another day pissing about with them and probably making them worse than they ever were :blast

Aah, British bikes. I knew what I was signing up for though.
 
Bonzo said:
L/H on this one. There's even a little sticker on the tank to confirm.

Stripped & cleaned the carbs (adding new jets, stay up floats etc), but what a pain to get to those two middle manifold bolts!

Had to remove the bowls & adjust the floats a couple of times as fuel came pissing through. And now the throttle slides are sticking inside the body (which is odd as I havent changed the cables and I gave the slides a polish). So, I'll spend another day pissing about with them and probably making them worse than they ever were :blast

Aah, British bikes. I knew what I was signing up for though.
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The original Amal concentric carburettors fitted to the commandos were produced as cheaply as possible and therefore of poor quality. The slides and carburettor bodies experienced a high degree of wear with use resulting in poor running.

The company now manufacturing Amal carburettors (Burlen Ltd near Salisbury) recognise this and have developed a Premium range of concentric carburettors which incorporate improved design features and higher quality components which give improved carburation over the original items.

Another option for improvement is to purchase a single carburettor conversion kit using a single Amal MK 2 or Mikuni carburettor. Much easier to maintain with no balancing required.
 
norbsa99 said:
The original Amal concentric carburettors fitted to the commandos were produced as cheaply as possible and therefore of poor quality. The slides and carburettor bodies experienced a high degree of wear with use resulting in poor running.

The company now manufacturing Amal carburettors (Burlen Ltd near Salisbury) recognise this and have developed a Premium range of concentric carburettors which incorporate improved design features and higher quality components which give improved carburation over the original items.

Another option for improvement is to purchase a single carburettor conversion kit using a single Amal MK 2 or Mikuni carburettor. Much easier to maintain with no balancing required.
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This is true.
My mate in the next village did this conversion on his Commando. Made a vast difference to rideability , starting , smoothness of the engine. A bit expensive for the manifold etc ( from Norvil) but well worth the improvement.
 
norbsa99 said:
The original Amal concentric carburettors fitted to the commandos were produced as cheaply as possible and therefore of poor quality. The slides and carburettor bodies experienced a high degree of wear with use resulting in poor running.

The company now manufacturing Amal carburettors (Burlen Ltd near Salisbury) recognise this and have developed a Premium range of concentric carburettors which incorporate improved design features and higher quality components which give improved carburation over the original items.

Another option for improvement is to purchase a single carburettor conversion kit using a single Amal MK 2 or Mikuni carburettor. Much easier to maintain with no balancing required.
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I've been pricing up the premiers. They're £400. I appreciate theyre much improved and may go that way if I can't get any luck with the originals.
 
Bonzo said:
Had to remove the bowls & adjust the floats a couple of times as fuel came pissing through. And now the throttle slides are sticking inside the body (which is odd as I havent changed the cables and I gave the slides a polish). So, I'll spend another day pissing about with them and probably making them worse than they ever were :blast
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I relieved the sticking throttle issue by backing off the throttle stop on the handlebar - odd, as I havent adjusted it and it worked before (I did however crack the top of my head on it getting up from installing the float bowls for the 4th time)

Now, certain I have the stay up floats at the right height, it still weeps a little, but I cant get any fuel into the carb as the tickler isn't ..er tickling.

My brain hurts.
 
Don't know what they cost now but single Mikuni is the best solution IMO, but Mk 2 Amal good also. Allen's in Nottingham are the folks for the Mikunis
 
Bit the bullet and spunked £400 on some premiers. While I was waiting for them to come, I had another dabble at the float on the originals, and seem to have got the height right, and sorted out the fuel leaks - so possibly couldve done without the premiers. Ah well, they will be an upgrade I'm sure.

While (attempting to) set up the air/idle screws with the engine warming up, the right hand exhaust rose nut popped off. It was caked in old HT RSV suggesting the head thread may be shot. :censor:

Oh goody! I didn't want to ride it in this lovely weather anyway.
 
Stripped exhaust port threads is a common fault on Commando's and may require repair by fitting inserts.

There is a company called Seager Engineering who specialise in this type of repair on Commandos. They also supply new exhaust pipe retaining nuts made of better material for use with their inserts. there web site address is WWW.seager-engineering.com

Maybe worth a look at their web site to see if you need their services.
 
Don’t panic yet about the exhaust. They used to rattle off my 750 Commando to the point I drilled a fin and subtly lock wired on.

Barry
 
norbsa99 said:
Stripped exhaust port threads is a common fault on Commando's and may require repair by fitting inserts.

There is a company called Seager Engineering who specialise in this type of repair on Commandos. They also supply new exhaust pipe retaining nuts made of better material for use with their inserts. there web site address is WWW.seager-engineering.com

Maybe worth a look at their web site to see if you need their services.
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Seager are very good, they fitted new inserts in the head on my Commando which had been previously inserted by a semi trained monkey.
 
The website indicates £275 per thread - and they only do them in twos.

As for removing the cylinder head... I can just about do an oil service on my K100RS.

Losing heart.
 
You can double that cost if you get someone to remove and strip the cylinder head then rebuild and refit it after the threads have been repaired but that’s the downside of owning a classic motorcycle :blast
 
I have neither the time, equipment, space or skill to remove/refit the cylinder head at this stage in my life. And I'm well aware that this could be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of getting this lovely looking machine running at anywhere near its best.

In all honesty I'm teetering on the brink of throwing a cover over it and parking it up in the back corner of my already rammed garage, and either returning to it when I'm retired, or else taking the financial hit and getting rid, as is, putting it all down to a rose tinted-springtime fueled error of judgement.

Of course, over the next few days I may fall into a well of positivity and emerge feeling refreshed, energized and up for the challenge.

I think I'm going through a late life crisis :loopy
 
I had exactly the same problem with my Norton but to make it worse I bought the bike with a receipt showing that the cylinder head had been repaired. The problem was that the guy who started the restoration sent the head to a bodging bastard who bored it out, dropped in an insert and then welded around the edge rather than screwcut the head and screw in an insert which is how Seager do the job. I gave the spanner a rap with a hide hammer when I was tightening the nuts and it suddenly went loose so as soon as that happened I knew I'd either stripped the threads or there was something else that I wasn't going to enjoy looking at.

Think positively, I'd never removed the cylinder head on a pushrod twin but managed it well enough. Just take a lot of photos as you do the strip down, make sure you keep the parts from each port clearly marked up so you don't mix them up and take your time. It's not actually that difficult to do, I did struggle with the push rods but that could have been made easier if I'd bought the proper tool to hold the rods in place and once you'd done it and bike is running you'll know it's right and you got it to that point :thumb2
 
Thanks for the words of comfort mate. Appreciate it.

I was actually going to delete my above post due to the alarming amount of negativity on show, concerned that a casual Sunday morning reader may end up reaching for a foot stool and a suitable length of rope.

I obviously woke up grumpy because I can't jump on the bike and go and enjoy the sunshine, but I've had a word with myself, and have accepted that, though its a less than ideal situation and needs more money throwing at it, it is, as you mentioned, one of the aspects of owning a classic British bike.

:beerjug:
 
Go for it. Take your time removing the head and strip the rocker assemblies yourself because while they’re happy to strip them they don’t normally rebuild them for you so you need to know you’ve got them clearly identified.

It might not make a difference but I smothered all the parts in oil when I put mine back together and kept moving them as I tightened everything so I knew nothing was binding up. As I said before, if I can do it anyone can because while I work with mechanical shit every day of the week I don’t build engines and you’ll get a lot of help on here.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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