Manxman breather pipes

Where are you Anna?!! The one from the oil tank was designed to lubricate the chain (Not the tyre!). I am sure Anna will soon put you right about the other two. A plugged pipe seems to make no sense. John.

No. It is the currently plugged pipe from the rear of the engine which should go to lubricate the rear chain. according to manuals. I don't see why there would be two pipes venting the oil tank. One of those could probably be plugged, and the other one just kept out of the way of the rear tyre.

Let's see what wisdom Anna has on this subject.

Previously wrote:

Hi Manxman owners

I need your help to figure out the rubber engine breather pipes on my Manxman.

This is the position of them at the moment.

The first one goes from the top of the rear engine cover into 12"of rubber pipe, which has a plug in the end

The second one goes from the top of the oil tank near oil filler cap into a small fillter ( 1" dia ) in the tool tray.

The third one goes from rear side of oil tank stright down to the ground in front of the rear tire.

Their is a hole in the top front of the rear chain cover were I think one of the breather pipes should go.

Thanks Geoff

Well guys lets put you right on the breath issue First Breather pipe would come from the top of the inlet rocker cover via a banjo fitting to the cover domed nut at hole it in place , this links in with the pipe that comes from the oil tank breather and you can also fit the breather from the crankcases in there too this all goes too the pipe from the chain guard or you can fit you own catch tank in between the old tank and battery box you will need some T pipe to do this fitting you can get a T pipe from Ebay with 1/4 diameter pipe fitting , So the one from the back of the filer is the top rocker cover fitting , the one looking down to the ground it the one you need the T pipe fitting in and then this goes to the chain guard T peace goes of the the crankcase breather so you any oil coming out of the crankcase breather then get directed via the T pipe too the Chain guard , do you under stand all this , or do you want me to come over and show you how its all fits , right you can all jeer now! yours Anna J

On an common or garden 650SS or Atlas, one goes from the engine crankcase breather to the oil tank (separator tower inlet), one goes from the oil tank breather to the rear chainguard. No extra breather pipe from the rocker cover - not that I suspect it would do any good.

Of course a Manxman might well be different. Gordon.

Geoffrey,

Are you the guy who bought the Manxman that was on Ebay a bit ago that went for around $8K? That bike had some restoration, so the first thing to do is to figure out what was changed on the bike from how it left the factory.

The USA specification Norton Manxman 650 had an oil tank with no "froth tower" with for and aft inlet and outlet tubes as did the oil tanks introduced later in 1962-onwards.

Also the oil tank had a welded on panel that closed the gap between the front of the oil tank and the battery box with a single hole in it which was for letting a connection to a hidden air cleaner on early slimline Nortons with a single carburettor.

The breather from the rear rocker cover was only put on 1961 and 1962 650cc Norton twins, and it is supplied this way in the parts book for 61-62 Nortons, a different part # is listed in the parts book for the 650 Manxman for the rocker breather hose and oil tank hose, if there were one hose connecting the two points then only one hose would be listed.

The early slimline oil tank used on the Manxman had a single outlet on the top that pointed forwards. When I got the Manxman that I rode for many years from it's original owner, an acquaintance of my father, the breather hose from the rear rocker cover simply fell straight down to empty onto the ground, so too did the breather hose from the crankcase, both emptying on the ground in front of the rear tire, which came to my attention the first time I went around a highway on-ramp in a sideways drift!

The hose from the Magneto breather was routed straight up and sat between the two carburettors. If anything was run to the rear chainguard at all, the only thing left to do so would be the hose from the top of the oil tank, but since in the parts book it states that this was only 12" long, this could not have been so and it is likely it did just dump on the ground.

The original routing of the oil tank hoses and breathers was at least silly, and at worst deadly to the rider as it oiled his rear tire. After my incident sliding sideways on the highway, I ran the crankcase breather all the way back to empty out at the bottom of the rear license plate. This because my bike had it's original oil tank with no froth tower to connect to. If you connect a crankcase breather to the early oil tank that has nowhere for the crankcase gases to go, then you will simply make the crankcase breathing worse and you will pressure the oil tank with who-knows-what result.

If you have the original oil tank with one vent pipe on top, the best thing to do is to just keep it as it is with the small filter on it. Something similar could be done with the rocker breather as on my bike no amount of oil ever came out of it even though the engine was well worn.

I rode my old Manxman this way for many thousands of miles, oil dumping on the ground behind the rear tire upon startup. If I had not ridden the bike for a week I would drain the engine sump into a tray and dump it back in the oil tank, which would help things out quite a bit and keep the oil off the driveway that day.

Of course the best setup for practical purposes would be to someday get the later oil tank with the froth tower which has to large vent pipes pointing for and aft. Then the crankcase breather could be connected to one and the other could indeed be either run to the chain or back out to the license plate area. A reed-style PCV valve in the hose between the crankcase and the oil tank is the current hot setup for those wanting the latest applied technology.

My early 1962 650ss, #1017xx still did not have the oil tank with froth tower, but I have recently swapped one onto the bike. In one of his books written with the help of John Hudson and other Norton factory people, Roy Bacon states that the first bikes with the froth tower were the limited production 88ss bikes and later 650ss models. Lo and behold my two 1962 88ss bikes indeed do have the froth tower.

In summary, you need to route the engine crankcase breather either out to the rear license plate, or if your oil tank has the tower with fore and aft pointing pipes, then you need to run the engine breather to the front one and the rear to the chainguard. The breather from the rear rocker cover would be well served by connecting to your filter in the tool tray. That simple setup should get your bike breathing as well as those did 50 years go anyway.......

Previously wrote:

Previously wrote:

Previously wrote:

Hi Manxman owners

I need your help to figure out the rubber engine breather pipes on my Manxman.

This is the position of them at the moment.

The first one goes from the top of the rear engine cover into 12"of rubber pipe, which has a plug in the end

The second one goes from the top of the oil tank near oil filler cap into a small fillter ( 1" dia ) in the tool tray.

The third one goes from rear side of oil tank stright down to the ground in front of the rear tire.

Their is a hole in the top front of the rear chain cover were I think one of the breather pipes should go.

Thanks Geoff

Well guys lets put you right on the breath issue First Breather pipe would come from the top of the inlet rocker cover via a banjo fitting to the cover domed nut at hole it in place , this links in with the pipe that comes from the oil tank breather and you can also fit the breather from the crankcases in there too this all goes too the pipe from the chain guard or you can fit you own catch tank in between the old tank and battery box you will need some T pipe to do this fitting you can get a T pipe from Ebay with 1/4 diameter pipe fitting , So the one from the back of the filer is the top rocker cover fitting , the one looking down to the ground it the one you need the T pipe fitting in and then this goes to the chain guard T peace goes of the the crankcase breather so you any oil coming out of the crankcase breather then get directed via the T pipe too the Chain guard , do you under stand all this , or do you want me to come over and show you how its all fits , right you can all jeer now! yours Anna J

Thanks Anna

Just needed a Yorkshire lass to set me stright (Ihave beenmarried to one for 46 years).

Looks like the rocker cover pipe and the oil tank breather pipe go together and then to the chain guard hole.

Would the crancase breather pipe be too much oil if I connectedit in with the other two. I see that on my 69 Bonneville it goes outthrough theback mudguard near the number plate.

Thank you all for your input.

Geoff

Hi Jeff

If I were you I would take Benjamin's advice, I have had a few Nortons 650 and 750 with this set up and it worked fine.

Previously wrote:

Previously wrote:

Previously wrote:

Hi Manxman owners

I need your help to figure out the rubber engine breather pipes on my Manxman.

This is the position of them at the moment.

The first one goes from the top of the rear engine cover into 12"of rubber pipe, which has a plug in the end

The second one goes from the top of the oil tank near oil filler cap into a small fillter ( 1" dia ) in the tool tray.

The third one goes from rear side of oil tank stright down to the ground in front of the rear tire.

Their is a hole in the top front of the rear chain cover were I think one of the breather pipes should go.

Thanks Geoff

Well guys lets put you right on the breath issue First Breather pipe would come from the top of the inlet rocker cover via a banjo fitting to the cover domed nut at hole it in place , this links in with the pipe that comes from the oil tank breather and you can also fit the breather from the crankcases in there too this all goes too the pipe from the chain guard or you can fit you own catch tank in between the old tank and battery box you will need some T pipe to do this fitting you can get a T pipe from Ebay with 1/4 diameter pipe fitting , So the one from the back of the filer is the top rocker cover fitting , the one looking down to the ground it the one you need the T pipe fitting in and then this goes to the chain guard T peace goes of the the crankcase breather so you any oil coming out of the crankcase breather then get directed via the T pipe too the Chain guard , do you under stand all this , or do you want me to come over and show you how its all fits , right you can all jeer now! yours Anna J

Thanks Anna

Just needed a Yorkshire lass to set me stright (Ihave beenmarried to one for 46 years).

Looks like the rocker cover pipe and the oil tank breather pipe go together and then to the chain guard hole.

Would the crancase breather pipe be too much oil if I connectedit in with the other two. I see that on my 69 Bonneville it goes outthrough theback mudguard near the number plate.

Thank you all for your input.

Geoff

hello Geoff you can alway use a catch tank , and work from there . my bike has a froth tower but some one as welded its one on there , as its not like my friends atlas oil tank , and I fitted a T pipe connector to the pipe coming out from the oil tank to the chain guard and fitted the pipe from the rocker cover in there so No oil on my tyres

If your oil tank has the "froth tower" with the for and aft pointing tubes then run the engine to the front one and the rear-facing one connect either to the chainguard or run it out the back of the bike. Too much oil on the chain will end up all over the rear wheel and tire also. Every one of these bikes is different at this late date as far as condition of engine and various parts so once you have the general idea of what the breather system consists of you may want to experiment to see what suits you and the bike itself.

At this stage of the game, as long as the world economy does not completely tank no one will ever lose investing in any featherbed Dominator, they will always give a good return in pennies and outright enjoyment in riding and tinkering.