Model 18 1946

Welcome to the club!

I have a 1934 Inter and a 1951 ES2, both are on straight 40 engine oil, as are my Royal Enfield and Triumph singles.

The gearbox I used to run on straight 50 but found it spewed out everywhere, especially on the ES2! I went over to Miller gearbox oil, in the hope that thicker oil would stay in longer... No such luck on the leaks but I think the gearbox might be a little quieter, or maybe my hearing is going after to many miles with the Brooklands can onâ?

I use a Castrol 20/50 oil in the primary chain case, I can look up which one it is later, but it is designed for BMW's with combined engine, clutch and gearbox. We have plenty of it as my dad has a Henderson which runs everything in the same oil; I figured if it was designed to work with wet plate clutches it would be ideal for the primary chain case. It's quite expensive though and I know most people use ATF for the primary drive, it seems to work fine.

I also know quite a few people that run the primary chain dry and spray the chainâ? I tried this when I first put the ES2 on the road but cooked to clutch in traffic, pulled the lever in at a T-junction and nothing happened, got away with it but only just and have had oil in there ever since, I use a foam weather proofing strip instead of the original rubber band and it is completely oil tightâ? If only the rest of the bike was as good!

What oils do you use in your BSA? If it works in that it will probably be fine in a Norton.

Hope this is of some help

Andy

Engine oil is always a touchy subject. Any good quality oil or even a cheaper one changed regularly will be OK. I use Harley 20/50 for earlier shovel head motors or any good classic oils.

Primary needs only a small amount of oil and it is best with a thin oil and auto transmission oil is very good. Again regular changes give best benefits.

Gearbox, this has no proper seals. Originally it used 50W with grease. You can use transmission grease with some EP90 or EP140. I also add a bit of Active 8 teflon based goo. It all helps. You will have fun filling the box. I use a plastic syringe with a rubber hose to seal around the filler neck to squirt the gunge in and all around the gearbox. You will soon see what I mean!!!!!

Have fun.