1936 16H settings

Antony,

My first targets would be

Oil - have you checked that the oilway to the back of the barrel/piston skirt is clear and functioning. I assume the 1936 models have this, my 1944 does and i can confirm that leaving the oil tap off does take a few miles but things will tighten up.

Piston/bore clearance - have you rebored or fitted a new piston, i understand that due to their hot running sidevalves need more clearance than OHV's.

best of luck

Iain

Previously wrote:

Antony,

My first targets would be

Oil - have you checked that the oilway to the back of the barrel/piston skirt is clear and functioning. I assume the 1936 models have this, my 1944 does and i can confirm that leaving the oil tap off does take a few miles but things will tighten up.

Piston/bore clearance - have you rebored or fitted a new piston, i understand that due to their hot running sidevalves need more clearance than OHV's.

best of luck

Iain

Hi after checking the oil circulation the next thing to check is the carbie settings. A lean mixture will quickly over heat and could cause any bike to seize

I would raise the needle to its highest setting and run the biggest jet i have. good luck Marcus Deutscher.(Australia)

After checking the oil circulation the next thing to check would be the carbie settings. A very lean mixture will quickly over heat and will soon cause any bike to seize. I would raise the needle to its highest setting and use the largest jet i had My 37 16H had this problem when I first ran it and all the book settings were only good for a new engine.

good luck Marcus

How are you getting on with your hot 16H? I've been checking up my copy of a mid 1930's Norton handbook. The ignition timing for the side valve engines is listed as:

"25 degrees (7/32 inch) before TDC" (fully advanced)

Valve clearances are: .004" inlet and .006" exhaust (cold - "will be less when hot")

But over-advance is more likely to lead to pinking than overheating. Anyway - it looks like your valve clearances are OK.

Now I see the post war manual says "7/16" - looks like the prewar manual contains a misprint. I wonder how many 16H's were set too far retarded?

big difference's listed there maybe it's tocompensatefor different grades of fuel available at the time. as you say the engines are all basicly the same so should in theory require the same timing.

Saying this i wonder what would actually be the best setting for modern petrol