1972 Norton Commando Combat Rebuild (3) - preparing to remove the blown engine

[@vtrials9577]

Thank you for all these excellent videos. I’m on my way soon to pick up my first Norton a 1975 850 and have been brushing up on repairing and procedures with your maintenance videos. While I was a motorcycle mechanic for many years working on all Japanese brands and since retiring doing restorations on vintage motocross machines I’ve only worked a couple of times on British brands mostly to get them running for friends. I’m looking forward to the new challenges that the Norton will take me through as I restore it from its resting place of over 30 years

[@TheMightyGarage]

Many thanks for your note and congratulations on your MK3 Commando. They are great bikes and I hope you will have a lot of fun working on it. Best wishes

[@thakery5720]

Seeing you having fun taking the airbox off reminds me of doing the same to my 850 Mk3.... it required removal of the swingarm according to the NVT manual - I wanted to get the carbs in sync and the easy way was to stick a finger in the carb. But as the airbox was plastic I merely persevered with a hacksaw blade and took it off in pieces and fitted some 'Genuine Amal' velocity stacks that cost a bomb back in the day. They were held on the carb mouth with three little grub screws that liked to loosen off so the stack fell off - always the right hand side - and it would fall onto the top of the gearbox between the engine plates. I learned the lesson of wiring things for security.....

[@kevinschilling1368]

excellent video,,,,,,and very interesting and educational to follow Dave's efforts on the forum as well, nicely done!

[@TheMightyGarage]

Thanks a lot Kevin. We have a couple of videos being edited now and hope to release them soon. Best wishes, Mike

[@andyward5866]

love your videos i own a 750 combat its a nice original bike motor is tired runs well just purchased a 2 motor so time to build another fresh donk your videos are fantastic wish i could get you to do my motor

[@motorcyclegarage2307]

An incrediblely interesting vidio. I am very pleased that Dave was not hurt in any way. Con rods bearings and casings can be replaced

[@swooshdave]

TEST Me too!

[@TheMightyGarage]

Thanks a lot. We should have more videos to follow soon! Best wishes, Mike

[@piercems3]

Love your videos. They are very helpful. Please keep up the great work!

[@TheMightyGarage]

Thanks a lot Tony, I appreciate your note. Best regards, Mike

[@caahacky]

Looking forward to seeing your new project Mike - can't have too many old bikes I guess. Best wishes John

[@TheMightyGarage]

Hehe, thanks John. I learned recently that there is a simply but highly scientific formula that accurately calculates the exact number of vintage motorcycles someone should have. It is n+1, where "n" is the current number of motorcycles in your garage ;) Best wishes, Mike

[@soldtobediers]

1:15 Brought to mind my Dad, who'd been an auto mechanic all of his life's comment about a thrown rod... ''Well Now, looky there, that motor's gotta' Turkey Foot a stickin' out of it!'' 2319

[@TheMightyGarage]

Hehe, there are some fun scenes coming up in the next couple of videos that I hope you will enjoy! Best wishes, Mike

[@TornadoCAN99]

Where I live we call that a "Ventilated" crankcase! Sure nicer to watch someone working on a bike than doing it myself! I'm in the middle of gearbox open-heart surgery...going after the dreaded layshaft bearing as preventative maintenance. Doing it all with gearbox still in the bike. Not so bad really. just need to be methodical and well studied on the matter. Cheers.

[@TheMightyGarage]

Haha. Thanks. Good luck with your project! I hope all goes well. Best wishes

[@akday80]

Hi Mike, thank you for the upload. Always informative and enjoyable 🙂 As for the new project I'm thinking maybe a G15CS, N15CS or even P11....? Looking forward to the next instalment! Cheers.

[@TheMightyGarage]

Thanks a lot! You’re getting very warm concerning the project bike 😉

[@crozwayne]

Any reason for the MK3 electric start 850 timing cover?

[@TheMightyGarage]

If I remember correctly, I think @swooshDave got that because he knew it was an improved cover.

[@tadpoles10]

Long time since seeing anything akin to a hole that big Mike, Dave sure was a lucky guy. Looking forward to finding out what caused such a 'catastrophic' failure, was it without warning at all? atvb t ..

[@swooshdave]

Tadpole Yes, the cause was discovered after the fact.

[@TheMightyGarage]

Thanks Terry for reminding us about this. We haven't actually said what the problem was. We'll be sure to include that in a video and it's pretty sad to hear what silly little thing caused this whole catastrophe! Best wishes, Mike

[@neilwilliams7957]

He was one very lucky man. A lovely looking bike ☹️. Weren’t the Combat engines known for being fragile? although I’m not sure of the actual differences. I do like the clutch conversion, that’s surely an improvement. As for the Portland Pebble Dash Co’s next project...that’s not Shep I fear🤔.

[@swooshdave]

Neil Williams This failure had nothing to do with it being a Combat. The general issue with the Combat was the cam that loves to rev and the rest of the engine that wasn’t up to revving.

[@neilwilliams7957]

swooshdave thanks for your reply. Although I love these bikes and would dearly like to own one I’m not too well up on their eccentricities. I suppose like many in the past I just thought Combat... it’s broke! I look forward to seeing the rest of the ‘investigation’ as to the cause, which hopefully won’t be too painful. Good luck and best wishes.

[@TheMightyGarage]

Hehe, I might just try and do both this new project and Shep simultaneously, since they are quite similar. Shep is beginning to look angry now ;) Best wishes, Mike

[@54macdog]

1:11, Good Heavens, that is horrible. Best wishes you blokes.

[@TheMightyGarage]

Thanks a lot! I'm just glad that Dave is here to laugh about it! Best wishes, Mike

[@Cobra427Veight]

Hi that's a real bummer , wouldn't your engine start to get noisey and knock a little at first ? I had a junker car that had a stuffed bigend , for about 3 days , that lucas thick oil stabilizer works amazing to cover the bad noise till the conrod really wanted to get out .

[@piironengarage8030]

Where could I buy a Norton motorcycles hoodie like the one you had?

[@TheDavey333]

Hi Mike, your teasing us now, what’s the new project 🥺😂 What a mess, the Norton is, hope you sort it 👍

[@TheMightyGarage]

Thanks David. Sorry for teasing so much ;) I promise to do the big reveal soon. I'm trying to keep up with all the videos and work seems to be getting in the way ;) cheers, Mike

[@jimh.5286]

Riding along, loss of power, big bang, smoke, oil, parts falling on ground...I hate it when that happens.

[@TheMightyGarage]

haha! Yes, Dave was pretty lucky!

[@shoshone3]

My Honda dosen't do that. ;)