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Inter oil system- tell-tale in particular.

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Hi. I recently took on stewardship of my late uncle's 1949 International which hadn't run since about 2012. Cleaned the tank, deep-cleaned the Amal carb, watched some videos and talked to people, and now it is running fairly well.

I am doing a lot of learning! (I know Hondas and Volkswagens and can rebuild engines, but Norton-specific details are all new to me). 

Today I managed to change the oil. Wow. I wasn't expecting that to be such a marathon! (Tank drain bodged and bolt too long so had to unbolt tank to get clearance). "Filter" bolt cleaned, "dry" sump plug cleared and dried, tell-tale and rear-cylinder-feed-bolt looked at. Hmm.

My tell-tale and rear-cylinder-feed-bolt have both been 'attended' in the past. I'm looking for help. I have tried to remove them, but neither is playing ball. The tell-tale is solidly 'up'. I even knocked it with a (small) hammer to try to free it up. The two brass nuts had been soldered together. The r-c-f-b  isn't right, and resultingly I can't get the tell-tale out to check/clean/fix. 

Oil does seem to be pumping around. I've had it running happily at 60, even occasionally up to 70+, and it hasn't seized, so it must be ok. The oil feed from pump to head is bubbling through. But should it not be flowing steadily? 

 

I guess my two questions for you would be:

Should the oil from pump to head be a steady stream from the moment I start?

Does the pressure tell-tale need replacing? (Is this possible?)

oh- and- how can I be sure enough oil is reaching the cams/valve-stems? Enough oil is leaking out of the top end to keep me relatively happy in this respect, but I don't want to presume too much!

 

 

 

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i'm reading through old posts of owner's experience's with the Inter and am a bit surprised Jules' post received no replies and wonder how he is faring with his '49 assuming he's still around and still is care taking his Inter...

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Odd...sometimes other stuff happens

Regarding the telltale.   They fitted it when the recirculating dry sump system arrived in the late 20's, to satisfy the suspicious owners that the newfangled lubrication system was working. Prior to that, riders had to make oiling decisions themselves...hand pumping or adjusting delivery. The telltale was dropped after WW2, so if it's a problem to fix, I wouldn't bother.

The cam lubrication pressure can or should be checked with a pressure gauge on a T piece.  Lots of advice on the web (8psi I think but it's a job I've not yet done..

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Active Forums window holds 8 -10 headers, these can scroll through quite quickly and the call may have disappeared before anyone noticed it. Let’s see if he’s still with us…

I now keep a page open for SINGLES only….

best regards all

Jon

 

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...for your replies and an explanation how a thread can be missed.  David, thanks for sharing those interesting details on the Tell Tale; revealing of the perceptions of those early eras when so many things were being invented before anything like that existed, not to mention the improvements.   

 


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