From: Rob Brotherston
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 08:41:14 CST
Lou says:
> And so Marshall says to me, "Did you wash the barrels with hot,
> soapy water?"
I was reading an article in Canadian Biker last night concerning the different properties of metals. One of the things mentioned was that you should never wash cast iron in a solvent tank. Apparently this will remove some of the free carbon from the cast iron and make your barrels wear faster. Hot, soapy water was recommended as the substitute.
Something you may consider telling your hole driller before they start a job, just in case.
<Rob B>
Ride Free Citizen! (Moto, Biker Mouse From Mars)
From: Mike Taglieri
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 01:00:20 -0400
>I checked the compression on both cylinders with a rubber nosed
>compression checker, and both cylinders read about 100 psi. I
>don't know what the 'normal' psi is for an 8.5 to 1 stock head is.
Did you check your compression BEFORE any of this stuff happened? Compression readings on kickstarted bikes are affected by everything from throttle to oil thickness to strength of leg. On my 750 Commando, with 20W-50 oil, both plugs out and throttle and choke completely open, half a dozen kicks would give me 150 lbs in both cylinders. With throttle closed, however, I'd consistently get 90. Try rechecking with the above conditions for the highest reading, put some grease on the rubber nose to prevent possible leakage, and (of course) have someone else hold it so you can devote yourself to kicking.
In my experience with many vehicles, compression seldom goes in all cylinders equally, so your identical readings make me doubt that anything serious was damaged. Finally, did your bike overheat on this trip? Running on low oil is bad because the smaller amount of oil has to absorb more heat than the maker intended and gets too hot, thins out, etc. If this did not happen (and you didn't run OUT of oil!!), I don't see how just being low could cause ring damage.
Mike Taglieri
From: Steve Bacon
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 1994 17:55:38 -0600 (CST)
Howdy racers,
I've seen mention of Aluminum barrels in 1 or 2 magazines, and now here in brit-iron. What's the advantage (beyond lightness I assume) of these? Better wear? Better heat dissipation?
What do they cost? Are they worth it for a street bike? Would one also have to get different pistons for use with these?
- Steve "He of many questions."
72 Norton 750
76 Triumph T140V
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 94 16:04:00 -0400
From: Robin Tuluie
>I've seen mention of Aluminum barrels in 1 or 2 magazines,
>and now here in brit-iron. What's the advantage (beyond
>lightness I assume) of these? Better wear? Better heat
>dissipation?
Advantages: light weight ( Ithink 6 or 7 lbs), much stronger than 750 barrels (due to flange breaking on stock barrels), greater freedom to use the best piston/rod combination b/c barrels are easy to machine (sleeves are replaceable, too (I use a long rod in my motor in conjunction with a *very* trick slippery skirt type custom piston. This gives more top end, lighter piston, less friction.). The cooling is at least as good as the stock cast iron barrels, but it's hard to tell exactly.
Disadvantages: no problem with them so far (2 1/2 racing seasons), so I really can't complain. The first run of barrels (I actually had the first barrel in the U.S.) had some problems with the nut surfaces not being machined right, but the later runs have been corrected.
>What do they cost? Are they worth it for a street bike?
>Would one also have to get different pistons for use with
>these?
Cost I don't remember, but they are worth it for any hopped up high rpm Norton, especially the 750's as now the barrels won't break at the flange. You can use stock pistons with these (but why?).
You can get these from Left Coast Racing in C.A.. Ken (owner) is as knowledgable about building *fast* racing Nortons as anybody I have ever met in 9 years of racing Nortons and great to talk to.
Cheers, R.T.