Camshaft woes

Oh boy - just what I suspected. Luckily (if you can call it ‘lucky’) I’m doing a complete engine strip - new bearings, bushes, oil seals etc. Plus I’m pulling the crankshaft apart. Funnily enough, the big ends (on +20 already) are absolutely fine - there’s no up/down movement and the journals aren’t scored. I think I know where one bit of the hardened camshaft surface went - one of the big end journals in the crank was blocked. I hooked out the blockage and most of it was steel. I hadn’t thought about pulling the oil pump apart  - if I do that and clean it thoroughly, will that be good enough or do I need another pump? I guess I won’t know the answer to that one until I see the state of the pump gear pinions.

To add insult to injury, when I pulled out the camshaft, the breather plate that fits in the end was full of water/oil mix. Triumphs use a similar part and it’s only £3 or £4 so I assumed the Norton part would be similarly priced. That being the case, I binned the plate and the equally mucky spring. When I checked the price of the plate I couldn’t believe it - it’s about £18 - that’s a rip-off - there’s no reason to have such a big difference in price even if the volumes produced are different. It looks like the limited suppliers of Norton spares are coining it in.

This is my first Norton rebuild so it’s a real baptism of fire. Oh well, what else would I be doing on a Bank Holiday Monday?

Thanks again for all the advice.

regards

Tony

This was supposed to be a ‘quick fix up’ bike that I could run this summer but it’s going to be a long haul. I’ve managed to find a good set of STD barrels, so that’s a bonus, but they weren’t cheap. I’m removing every nut, bolt and washer to find out what else is wrong - I now believe that the speedo reading of over 91,000 miles is correct!

I think I better check the air in the tyres just in case that’s wrong as well - knowing my luck, the previous owner fitted metric air.   ;-)

Tony