Anybody need any iron filings -

Yes, but not on a Norton (apologies to Al Oz). I fitted a new camshaft to an A10 and shortly after the filings appeared. I had the camshaft tested at the local Uni engineering department and they confirmed that it had never been hardened.

So either the camshaft or the followers have lost or have never been hardened. I suspect the followers may have lost their hardening as a result of the re-profiling.

Something has to be amiss, I am running my orriginal cam and followers from 1960 and no measurable wear. No filings on my magnets either. New cams /followers must not be allowed to idle at first , Cam tunnel must be filled with oil by pouring some down the pushrod tunnels . Valve springs must not get coil bound .followers must move freely over full action. valve rockers must not hit the underside of the head.

Newman are pretty good, so surprising if they returned followers in an unsuitable state. Can you assess valve lift to see if a lobe is badly damaged?

I don't know about the earlier cam followers but the later ones are stellite tipped, so if they are wearing then its non magnetic so the iron fillings are from the cam.

.. they couldn't remove 5 grams from the piston as that's nothing. I'm even more surprised at their "solution" as again a 5 gram slug wouldn't have enough meat to press in securely. A 1p piece weighs 5 grams!

Why not take 5g off the heavy sides gudgeon pin if the piston could not take it.

Hi Tony, I am most impressed by your  determination in the face of the setbacks . I'm pretty sure I removed more than that from the Atlas pistons when i found how much heavier they were than the orriginals. You seem to have had plenty of  issues.  I think I am due for some sort of award for the most breakdowns on our surrey runs out.  After talking about punctures I found my tyre flat . Don't tempt fate!. The AA  did good.  Far better than the RAC clowns.

Tony,

I used A JP Piston in my ES2.

It had all the issues you mentioned  plus it was about 40 grams heavier than the old piston (BSA I think)

I got sick of all the smoke so I got a GMP piston. It is very good, rings bedded in almost straight away. 

I've also got them in My Atlas. No problems their after about 8 thousand miles.

Don Anson

Melbourne 

well, I would insist that customer chooses the pistons , given what has just happened!!!

JP pistons have their uses, ie only when absolutely no others are available and only if non JP rings are used. 

Don't think that will polish out !!.   Are you taking the motor right down ? I would expect rubbish to have got in everywhere.  If you are re-sleeving and cant find good new pistons you could get some good  standard size SH  solid skirt  650  pistons and  bore to fit those  , I would go for 4 1/2 thou. clearance  which may be a few thou less than  a std  bore  so ring gaps need carefull work.

I had a similar experience to Don when I fitted standard size JP pistons to my re-sleeved 650SS some seven years ago. They were way heavier than the old +60 thou ones and caused much worse vibration plus the rings were taking ages to bed in causing much smoking. I ended up with so much oil getting past the rings into the silencers that when I had to stop in traffic the oil in them smoked like mad, which was rather embarrassing. In the end I gave up with them when there was little improvement after 750 miles and fitted a set of Gandini pistons and rings which were pretty much perfect from day one with almost instant bedding in and with them being about the same weight as the old pistons my vibration problem was gone. I had even tried getting the engineers who did the rebore to lighten the JP pistons but they were so far out they couldn't remove enough to improve things. If it was me I'd steer clear of them unless you can't get anything else.

After a worn bore on my +60 ES2 (Poor man's Manx) and a lot of smoke (about 9 years ago), I had the barrel re-sleeved and fitted a new JP piston, complete with rings already fitted.

At the time I didn't realize the weight issue. The engine ran well but was a little lumpy to what it was, not enough to warrant taking the barrel off and decided to live with it.

2,600 miles later it is still running well.  (Just slightly lumpy over standard, but not much)

While on the subject; I found that GMP rings work well with Hepolite pistons where there is a little bore wear (16,000 miles on my 99) Same goes for Cords rings on singles. In both cases they save the early cost of a re-bore. Well done Tony for sticking with it.  Thanks for sharing...Good Luck.

Hi Tony,

A bit obvious but don't forget a thorough clean of the oil tank, etc.

How the oil pump never got wrecked I'll never know but I'm sure you will service it.

Looks like you will need to re-sleeve the barrels, don't forget to hone them.

As for your T / S bearing: Wash it in some clean petrol (Ethanol stuff is OK for this) then examine under magnification for damage and wear. Check they rotate smoothly and if so, oil up, wrap up and ready for re-use.  Any doubt, sling it out.

You are never bored with a classic bike, apart from getting the rev counter to work via a magneto on my last build, a Dommie Racer, I thought I had them all sorted. But after starting my Mk3 Commando today; I find I have some electrical issues.I was planning to re-fit the electric start next year, God willing, so the whole lot can wait till then.

ATB...

Surly the engineering company should be replacing all the bearings, seals, gaskets and the pump for you, Its the least they could do. Why should you be out of pocket because of their mistakes? You could have taken the whole bike to them and demanded they put it right or you would sue. It could have resulted in a nasty accident, they’re getting off lightly.

Al.