Commando help electric starter

Hi Andrew, firstly I sympathies with your injuries, big singles and twins have always been a 'worry' regarding inflicting nasty injuries. It's rather late now but a couple of thoughts:

1) It might be worth checking the ignition timing on the bike, it might be a little too advanced resulting in a nasty kickback - this could still happen with an electric starter but at least it won't be your foot that takes the punishment!

2) I used to have occasional kickbacks on my 920cc Mk2a when it was fitted with Boyer ignition. I subsequently fitted the Tri Spark Classic Twin system (which has an anti-kickback feature) and I have never had such an issue since - starting is very easy. I believe the Pazon system may also have a similar feature. If you have an old Boyer ignition system it may not work with the electric starter fitted as the Boyer does not cope well with the votage drop often experienced when the starter button is pressed. The Pazon and Tri Spark systems will work well down to quite low voltages.

3) As the starter has been removed I assume that the battery may have been 'downgraded' to a lower capacity type - this will probably not be sufficient for the electric starter and you may need to budget for a bigger unit.

Electric starting is becoming a 'hot topic' now as the users of the old Nortons (and other Classics) are not getting any younger and often struggle to kick the bikes over.

Previously andrew_windsor wrote:

Hi, Where do i start.

I recently purchased a 1978 850 MK111 without any starter mechanism gears motor wires ect, everything taken off. I recently fitted a Novil belt drive kit and having spoken to Novil, there kit will take an electric starter. Lex at Novil says there are 85 components and i do have some new parts with part numbers in the workshop bought from RGM a while ago. Any diagrams would be helpfull and part numbers. On Sunday morning i was attempting to start the Commando and on the forth kick it backfired and broke my ankle in two places and discolated my foot very painfull. I am now out of hospital after being operated on and a friend of mine is willing too get it up and running on the starter button.

Many Thanks

Andrew

Hi Andrew. I too sympathise with your injury. For the engine to kick back with sufficient force to do you so much damage i would also be wanting to check the timing and tuning in general.

I have recently purchased a MK111 with working electric start, but not for too long as when tuning the carbs and using the kick start to fire her up whilst tuning one cylinder at a time she back fired, all but very mildly but even that was enough to destroy the sprag clutch. So tuning and timing are very important if you are sticking with the original Norton electric start set up. I have a trispark fitted but cannot confirm if it has the anti backfire. Once i have the sprag replaced i will avoid using the kick start where possible.

Mark.

Andrew

Comisserations about your broken ankle, not nice.

If you are wanting to refit the electric start to your MK3 you must use oil in the primary drive casing. This means using a belt that is oil proof or reverting back to a chain. The oil is needed to lubricate the starter drive components specifically the sprag in the engine sprocket. Anyone who says you can run adry primary drive belt on a MK3 fitted with its starter mechanism does not know what they are talking about. The consequence of a seized sprag varies from an exploded starter motor rotor to a lockedseized engine. This usually happens at speed.....!!!! No one makes good quality triplex chain anymore (one of the consequences of britain adopting the DIN standards) if you want a bomb proof primary chain you have to use a duplex chain made by IWIS (a chat with the andy the chainman will explain all) This is made for Mercedes cam chain drives I believe.

Sorry if this sounds all doom, gloom and spend more money but it would have paid dividends to do some research on this site before putting a belt drive on your mk3.

I have modified a few starter gears for clients, to make the sprag far more reliable. Along with an uprated starter motor you can have a starter that turns the engine over like a Jap bike. My MK3 so fitted i have not used the kick start once this year. From clap cold and from a six month lay off over winter it works!

Regards

Peter