Faulty cam follower

Previously ian_goodhall wrote:

Were they new?

Yes

Previously david_evans wrote:

The latest cam followers have a stellite foot that is recessed into the base of the follower i believe before brazing. I must say that the machining of those two followers looks poor and nothing like the genuine article. So almost certainly pirate copies. I hope the damage to the rest of the engine is recoverable. I tend to buy engine components from Andover Norton. con rod bolts, crank fixing screws etc. The problem is that if you send back items that have lead to a failure, the vendors first question is "what are the qualifications of the engine builder" as if we are all rank amateurs. Many of us so called amateurs have engineering qualifications far in excess of those in the "trade"

I sent my cam followers to be re-faced by a company that had done a very accurate rebore for me. Presuming they would be done on a surface grinder with an angle plate The result had obviously been done on a linisher and was way out of square. They refunded my £20 without a word of apology

The crankcase I can repair but the barrels,camshaft,conrod and cam followers will need replacing.

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Previously william_youngson wrote:

Previously david_evans wrote:

The latest cam followers have a stellite foot that is recessed into the base of the follower i believe before brazing. I must say that the machining of those two followers looks poor and nothing like the genuine article. So almost certainly pirate copies. I hope the damage to the rest of the engine is recoverable. I tend to buy engine components from Andover Norton. con rod bolts, crank fixing screws etc. The problem is that if you send back items that have lead to a failure, the vendors first question is "what are the qualifications of the engine builder" as if we are all rank amateurs. Many of us so called amateurs have engineering qualifications far in excess of those in the "trade"

I sent my cam followers to be re-faced by a company that had done a very accurate rebore for me. Presuming they would be done on a surface grinder with an angle plate The result had obviously been done on a linisher and was way out of square. They refunded my £20 without a word of apology

The crankcase I can repair but the barrels,camshaft,conrod and cam followers will need replacing.

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Previously david_evans wrote:

Hi William,

If you want I have a single con rod surplus after replacing both of mine after a seizure due to a anti wet sump valve failure, also a set of cam followers that as i said in my first reply will need refacing. (They will probably be 0.040" shorter after that) Both these are from My 1970 engine and are original The con rod has genuine AN bolts and I have a further two genuine bolts, I would fit new nuts. In an effort to keep your costs down You can have them for nothing as they will just sit around collecting dust.

I also have an original camshaft in good condition after fitting a PW3 (In hindsight I would not bother with a PW3 again as the original cam is quite a good performer in the real world) I can send you the lobe dimensions if you are interested in that.

I Dont know where you are in the world but you might speak to Jim Comstock who is well known in the American Norton scene you might be able to have the barrel tunnel sleeved though I suspect that a sleeve might break through into some stud holes. Barrels will be your biggest outlay as 750 ones are becoming rare. I believe there are some advertise in this months roadholder

Hi David, That's very kind of you to offer these parts,I would be very grateful to have them and quite Happy to pay for them. I have managed to get a good set of barrels from the US and am waiting for these to arrive. I am in Applecross ,north west Scotland.

Previously joe_seifert wrote:

David Evans got it right- these cam followers don't look like the real deal, not even like old NOS ones. There are certain dealers out there Andover Norton decline to supply who make their own parts, and this looks like a typical example.

As for Mk3 camfollowers failing, I had the Stellite tip fall off on my then new Mk3, too (must have been in 1977 or 1978).

The Andover Norton cam followers have been made in the way Dave Evans describes because those failures were known and people like Richard Negus, Bob Rowley and others at Norton knew their Commandos well, so knew what to change on the original design.

The revised drawing with the tip having the "hat" into the tappet body is dated 08th January, 1988, so it is safe to assume tappets sold after 1990 were all the revised and, in my experience, failure-proof type.

Hi Joe, Thanks for your input,I think David Evans and yourself are right about the cam followers. I have sent a letter with photos of the damage to the supplier to see what they have to say about it. Billy.

Previously michael_sullivan wrote:

William:

You state that you bought the followers off EBAY.

But, did you buy them from a reputable dealer of from a private seller.

Mike

Hi Mike, I bought them from Hawkshaw Motorcycles Ltd in Liverpool. They were about the same price as the Andover Norton ones but they were out stock at the time. Billy.

Previously michael_sullivan wrote:

William:

Were the followers represented to you as being Norton factory OEM spare parts?

If they were so represented and were actually not Norton Factory parts I would think that you would have a recourse in the Courts.

Mike

Hi Mike, I have had a look back at the eBay page but all I can get now is the first page but not the item description,I can not remember whether it said original as it was a few months ago. Billy.

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