TOPIC:

Not a new topic for sure.

I've just changed the belt on my No 1 NordWest, and all went well, using a good puller got from the chap who sold me my No 2 Nordie last summer. It did need a rather longer 'button' to take the puller bolt pressure than I expected, but I had some brass which did the job.

The surprise came with the fly-wheel/rotor loose on the taper, when I found that no way would it come off past the base-plate of the ignition pickup. Fortunately it appears that the pickup can only go back in one position, but nowhere have I seen any mention of this needing to come off. Has my pickup got a wider base-plate, or could the flywheel on the back of the rotor be larger in diameter than normal? I've not looked at the situation on No 2 yet, but that has got a kickstart shaft protruding from the RH case, so I'm guessing that it might be an early model, even though it has an electric starter.

Any comments, please?

Nick

I think David Champions original 'How To' was for a Saturno.

I seem to recall having to unship the sender on my Nordwests. Unless the early true CDI flywheel was smaller diameter than the later induction ignition engines? It will go back in the right place, but you have to check and adjust the clearance between it and the 'pips' on the flywheel rotor for good starting. I though all RCs had a kickstart but no Norwdests did, unless retro fitted with RC parts.

Aha. The GenDMS comes up trumps - searched on ignition rotor.

GeN#3:
USEFUL GEN
Changing the Cambell
Dave Morris having recently changed the belt on
his Nordwest writes:
.. David's article in GeN#2 was more help than
the Manual. However there are a couple of
variations which I found while doing the job which
may be worth noting.
1. 4 screws on alternator cover not 3 as stated.
2 .. The sprocket cover and geralever should also be
removed.
3 On my Nordwest it was impossible to remove
the alternator without removing the ignition
pick-up, as the steel weight riveted on to the
alternator rotor is of a greater diameter than the
rotor.
4. T may just be lucky but T have 4 washers behind
the rotor

There used to be a how to change timing belt on the Bob Wright website,
Agreed with 72degrees regarding kick start, only ever seen one on an RC
John

Thanks for the comments, chaps. Bob Wrights little piece on his web-site is just photocopied from the manual and doesn't mention ignition pickup removal, but it's good to hear that others have found the same minor problem. I wondered about setting the clearance from the flywheel, but there is very little latitude. If the motor won't start, I'll go back in and try to adjust the gap, but the magnetic attraction between pickup and flywheel means it is probably as close as possible already.

I had my suspicions about my No 2 bike having an RC motor, even though it has an electric starter too. Do we know of any differences between RC and Nordie motors, such as cam timing? It'll be interesting to see if the two bikes behave the same. I really like the Nordie motor...

Nick

I thought there was a recommended value for pickup to pip clearance. I may be mis-remembering though. When the 604 wouldn't start from cold I found that cleaning up the pickup and slight corrosion on the rotor helped plus closing up the pickup/rotor clearance. I will have a search. The North Leicester Motorcycles 'performance pickup' uses a tiny clearance (much less than the Gilera). On those you really need brass feeler gauges because of the magnetism.