A born worrier, I find myself looking at the oil temperaturein the AJS/Matchlesstype pear shaped oil tank on the side of my N15CS. I initially thought the oil warmed up quickly, by checkingwith myhand how hot it got on the front tankface. However, recently I poked about around the back & lower oil tank area & found a significant difference in temperature (lower).
I think there might be a couple of reasons for this, (a) the return line is routed up thru the oil right at the front of the tank & discharges directly below thefiller cap/above the intake feed gauze & (b) there is a baffle within the tank which effectively divides it in two. So quite naturally perhaps, the oilat the front of the tank would be inclined to heat up far more quickly.
It occurs to me that this plumbing arrangement may not be ideal, as it appears to effectively sideline the oil at the rear of the tank behind the baffle &may be inclined to recirculate the hot oilat the front of the tank.
Therefore I propose to reroute the return oil line via the 3/8ths engine breather inlet at the topback of the tank. I believe this would put the return feed into or above the rear part of the tank (behind the baffle) although I have yet to confirm this. Either way, it shouldstopany tendency to recirculate the front contents, eliminateheating of the front contents via the internal return pipe, and hopefully bully the system to heat the oil more evenly& usethe entirecontents of the tank.
What does the panel say?
I bought my first Matchles…
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Hi Anthony. I'm not worri…
Hi Anthony. I'm not worried about the oil overheating, just the uneven heating which this baffled tank appears to suffer with (but also not a fan of positioning the return pumpoutlet directly over the filter gauze for the feed pump).
I have the six-start pump, oil holes in con-rods, pressure feed rockers, smooth spindles, tank heat shield washers, & anoil filter kit fitted above the gearbox. June 1964 bike though.
The 3/8th engine breather inlet spout does appear to be behind the baffle, so I plan to reroute & see after the next oil change in a week or so, pending dissuasion here. My engine breather already exits at the rear number plate ala Royal Enfield, as I found the tank was pressurising & pushing oil out the filler cap hole. So the 3/8ths inlet spout is already spare.
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You can also buy and there…
You can also buy and therefore the later oil tank or 1966 onwards oil tank as this does not have the oil feed to the rockers from that piece of pipe off of the lower part of the oil tank. In 1964 Mike Patrick won the Cross Country championship in District 37, in the Mohave Desert California, USA on a 1963 Norton Atlas Scrambler, using the earlier rocker feed set up,and he won in the desert.He did change the front forks from the standard Roadholder's with the Teledraulic internalsto the Italian Ceriani's and he told me thatthey nearly killed him so he reverted back to the original factory forks. My own Norton Atlas Scrambler has that earlier rocker feed set up and it has never given me any cause to worry about is as it just always works.
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Cancelled op. Oil now appe…
Cancelled op. Oil now appears auniform heat in tank. Must have dreamt the whole thing.
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That oil supply to the roc…
That oil supply to the rockers from the oil tank adapter has been used on Norton twins since the first Model 7 up till 1966 with out any problems. Use an SAE 50 oil or MorrisGolden Filmas I use this in all my own twins.
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I've alreadygot the six-s…
I've alreadygot the six-start pump drive & full pressure feed to the rockers. Also am a 20/50 bloke who changes oil frequently. These things I do not worry about.
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I bought my first Matchless G15CSR in December 1970, and I have never had any concerns or problems with the oil over heating. The oiling system changed in 1966, to a larger oil hole in the crankcase, larger oil junction block, oil holes in the con-rods,a pressure feed to the rocker arms with smooth spindles via an oil feed off the timing cover and the six start oil pump.My 1963 Norton Atlas Scrambler has the earlier oil system where bythe oil feed for the rockers comes off the oil tank, and it has the three start oil pump. There is a heat shield on the side of the oil tank, that should have two washers 000012 between the outside of the oil tank and the heat shield. This moves the heat shield away from the oil tank to allow the air to pass over it. I always use a straight 50 oil in my Norton twins, and I have been using the Morrisbrand of late. You do not have to try to out trick the factory as they did a really good job with the oil system on the Atlas twins in the hybrids. I have seen oil filters added to the G15, N15 series of bikes, but it can be awkward to place then in a good place on these bikes. You could try the Hi De Hi oil filter kit as this is much smaller and may be easier to fit into an N15, G15 model.