Trying to cure a slight clutch slip on my 1972 Roadster I soon found out that the the clutch wasadjusted completely wrong. First of all there was no slack at the lever, this was the first thing to catch my attention. When I removed the inspection cover on the gearbox, the actuating lever had noslackeither, so all parts in theactuating mechanism were running up tight. No wonder theclutch is slipping, even thoughits only under hard acceleration.
Now I have read the ownersmanual andthe Haynes manual. Only the latter deals in detail with the adjustment procedure. All theusual stuff about taking all tension out of the cable, andstart by adjusting the clutch plate adjuster screw up tight and then half a turn back, is clear to me. What puzzles me is that the Haynes manual mentions, that it is possible to "displace"the actuating lever in the gearbox, making clutch actuation impossible. If this happens you have tolift the actuating lever back into its proper position. What the h... are they talking about? How and when can that happen?
Maybe I'm just over cautious and reading things into this, that will be obvious when doing the job, but any tips from the more experienced members would be appeciated.
The clutch activation leve…
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Thanks, I think I get the…
Thanks, I think I get the picture. Your point about taking the end cover off is absolutely valid and will give me a chance to see if any other surprises lurk in there. It does feel as if the first two or maybe even three cogs on the kicstart quadrant has worn away, allowing the kickstart lever not to engage before parallel with the ground. This gives me 90 degrees of actually spinnning the engine. So far its a reliable starter, but in case of a flooded engine or any other anomaly kickstarting could become impossible.
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Previously wrote: Thanks,…
Previously wrote:
Thanks, I think I get the picture. Your point about taking the end cover off is absolutely valid and will give me a chance to see if any other surprises lurk in there. It does feel as if the first two or maybe even three cogs on the kicstart quadrant has worn away, allowing the kickstart lever not to engage before parallel with the ground. This gives me 90 degrees of actually spinnning the engine. So far its a reliable starter, but in case of a flooded engine or any other anomaly kickstarting could become impossible.
Clutch sorted! Turned out to be a wrong cable, with the outer cable being too long. Once shortened about ?", it was possible to apply proper adjustment procedure and clutch action. I cleaned the friction plates, which did show quite a bit of wear, but I will correct that at a later stage, when and if it starts to slip again.
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The clutch activation lever is a cam located on a ball bearing, this ball is constrained to move in and out and push the clutch rod when the clutch lever is squeezed by forcing the cam to be displaced by the fixed roller. It is possible to allow the cam to drop into the fork of the mechanism and the ball is no longer acted on by the correct part of the cam. If this happens, slacken the adjusting nut on the clutch centre, grip the cable attachment fitting on the cam with some needle nosed pliers and lift it until the ball can be relocated in the correct part of the cam by pressing on the push rod from the clutch side.
It's worth taking the clutch outer cover off if you are a new owner. ( it won't bite) quite often this area has some rust where water runs down the clutch cable. You can familiarise yourself with the mechanism and take the opportunity to check that the roller hasn't thrown up a burr on the cam, making it difficult to operate. Some early cams were soft and had a poor profile. A better hardened one is available from your friendly Norton dealer. While you've got it off, you may consider getting it machined to accept two proper lip type oil seals on the kick start and gear change shaft instead of the crappy o rings fitted originally.