This afternoon the Norton ran like a charme. It was a nice sunny day, warm, but yet with a soft wind. While there are still some minor oil leaks left and right, for the moment at least, I can’t think of anything wrong; The Norton truly ran like a charme today.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the carburators at all, just me not knowing (yet) how to handle the Norton, but I’m getting there.

Starter cold start position

Fueltap open, starter position closed as shown above, a couple of pushes on the Amal floaters untill gas flows over, opening the throttle a couple of times and a couple of kicks and the Norton runs. Previously, I wouldn’t touch the starter anymore and leave it in this position. Sure, the Norton runs with it, but uses a lot of gas and doesn’t want to accelerate that well (more or less limited to 4500rpm). So this time, after the engine ran for a while, I’ve opened the starter.

Starter running position (warm engine)

I might not have a lot of material to compare to, but the engine really ran like a charme. She had a lot more punch, one could also hear it (though that doesn’t surprise me, because I must have been choking the engine to death before.. duh).
The engine still runs idle quite well, just around 800rpm, which gives it a typical sound while running idle. A bit irregular, as if it skips sometimes, but which smoothens out as soon as the throttle goes open.

Then, as I start to learn more about the past of the Norton and on the technical part from members of the French Norton owners club, there were some questions and answers about my Norton’s carburators; Yes, they’re old maybe, to my knowledge it are still the original carburators (dual Amal 932′s with 230 main jets), but, if they are preserved well, is age really important? I guess it could be, due to wear and usage, but then actually, how much have they been used?

I admit, I didn’t even look and didn’t even pay attention when I purchased the Norton, because I already decided for myself that I would have bought it anyway, but how many kilometers did it have? I’ve checked, 9324 Km.
Hum… For a bike of 35 years old, that can’t be right, or could it be? Did it go around the clock or not?

9358 original kilometers

So, I called my mother on the phone to figure out how much actually my father used it. He bought the Norton new in 1974 and had the Norton for nearly 11 years, but only used it in the neighbourhood, never made long distances and, due to his health condition, he used it less and less. Then it got sold in 1984, where it remained in a private collection of a motorbike store of which I know the owner too. It got displayed, but not ridden. Then it got sold to the collectionner, who has over 300 bikes and who restored the bike, but only used it a couple of times in town, from who I bought the Norton in turn. This afternoon I took the Norton out for a small ride from Sevres, direction Velizy, Versailles, Chaville and back to Sevres, making it total to 9358 kilometers.

Well, I guess I’ve found the problem why the Norton didn’t want to go beyond 4500 rpm. I took the Norton out for a ride this afternoon (coming weekend the forecast says rainy again) and, when at acceleration the engine started hesitating again around 4500 rpm, I’ve opened the starter a bit. From there, the Norton took off like a rocket, powerful and well beyond the 4500 rpm!
Since I had problems starting the Norton with a cold engine, I’ve closed the starter and didn’t touch it since. Eventhough I might not know how exactly it works, I guess it is pretty much obvious that it does change the carburation mixture and adds more air. Probably that also explains why she used so much gas… Duh…
But I start to wonder now; when they told me that it may be better to take away the “starter” completely, if I would do so, will I fall back in a situation where she will be difficult to start or will it remain like this, meaning too much gas and more or less limiting the engine to 4500 rpm?

It has been a couple of weeks, as the last past weekends were rainy, that I had a chance to look at the Norton. I guess I’ve done already something stupid; The Norton started, not much of a problem, but as I was leaving the engine warm up a bit, I got called on the phone so I stopped the engine. When I got back and checked the oil level, it was waaaay too low, so I added a bit (too much?) oil and started the engine again. Oil started to come out of holes I didn’t even know the Norton had; the overflow, the oiltank breather, the air filter… After the oil rejection calmed down a bit, I took the Norton out for a ride, but already soon I noticed that the same problem persists; the engine doesn’t want to go beyond 4500 rpm. I’ve checked the spark plugs (as I just put in the Iridium ones), the contact breakers, the advance unit, .. I’m running out of ideas again. Now what can a Norton engine prevent from going beyond 4500 rpm and yet act completely normal as long as it stays under 4500 rpm ? I’ll ask the question in the French Norton Owners Club forum, maybe they have an idea..