TOPIC:

Hi I recently become the owner of a box of bits that I belive is a gilera Nordwest. before comencing a refurb , I want to see if it runs so have put it together . I have power, spark ,compression ,petol in the firing chamber but IT WONT RUN .I have no manuals so don't know if there are any switches or other things that will stop it from running . Please HELP

Hi Warren,
Good to hear of another Nordie being revived, welcome aboard, look to your left and you will see Handbooks and Manuals where you can download a Nordie manual, there is a kill switch on the R-H bar switch, but if you have a spark it must be on, they do need a good battery to crank them over and still provide enough volts to power up the ignition system.
John

I'll look for the manual . I've got a good car battery connected up . Are there any clutch or side stand switches ?

Hi Warren, no clutch or side stand switches, Before I got glass mat batteries I found it better to use jump leads onto a car battery with the car engine running cranking a big single is quite a task and if the battery voltage drops enough during cranking there will be no spark
John

Yes without the right battery voltage/amps it might be reluctant to go

A good strong spark is required, particularly on a cold day. From what you say the plug is getting wet so the carb is working OK at least at idle settings.

Any signs of life at all?

My tuned 604 was very tricky to start when the weather was cold and I used to run a grade 'softer' plug which helped a lot.

As John said, the bigger the battery turning it over the better. Presumably it is turning over smartly and not suffering the dreaded starter sprag clutch problem

I also found that cleaning up the ignition sensor and 'pips' on the flywheel plus checking the gap between the pips and sensor is worth doing - but perhaps more of an issue on the early CDI system.

Keep at it. There must be a logical reason. No mouse nest in the air filter or silencer ?